The testimony of Napoleon.
When the great military hero and world conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, lived in exile on the island of St. Helena, he declared that Jesus was so supremely great that it is impossible to make comparisons between Him and any other being in the world. "I know men," said Napoleon, "and I tell you that Jesus is not a man. Everything in Him amazes me. His spirit outreaches mine, and His will confounds me."
The universal worship of Jesus.
It is wonderful that a man like Napoleon, whose natural arms were fire and the sword, should be so deeply impressed by the life and teachings of the lowly Nazarene. But Napoleon is not alone in his admiration and love. Throughout the nineteen centuries that have passed since the Master lived upon the earth, men of every clime have learned to know Him and to worship Him. Today there are but few peoples known to mankind that do not acknowledge Jesus the Christ. The wonderful story of His life has thrilled both the young and the old the world over since first it was told. The wisdom, the justice, and the loving kindness of all His teachings, have inspired the nations to make them better. No other man in all the history of the world has exerted so profound an influence on the lives of his fellowmen, and on the laws that govern them.
{14} The purpose of this book.
Now, you have read in other books the story of the life of Jesus. You know when and where He was born; how God the Father protected His Son; how he grew to manhood, waxing strong in spirit; how He taught, and wrought miracles amongst His own people; how they rejected Him and crucified Him; and how He rose from death and returned to His Father in heaven. It is a strangely beautiful story. But we do not want to retell it here. It must be our purpose, in this little book, to tell as interestingly as may be what Jesus taught. Certainly, it must be interesting to know something of the teachings of the Man who has made so profound an impression upon the history of the world. We want to know what the life-work of Jesus means to us and to our fellowmen. And to begin, we must try to find out what Jesus Himself thought about His mission on the earth.
The new duties of Jesus at the age of twelve.
When Jesus reached the age of twelve years, He entered—according to Jewish custom—upon a new and important period in His life. You may be used to thinking of Jesus as a very wonderful boy, altogether different from other boys. That is not quite true. Jesus was a perfectly natural and normal boy. He liked to run and jump and play the games that other boys played. He had to go to school as other Jewish boys did—first at His mother's knee, then at the village synagogue. Jesus was unlike other boys in that He began early to understand something of the nature of His mission upon the earth. This made Him like serious things, and often to think about the teachings of {15} God; for it was the aim of all Jewish education to learn about God and His commands, and how to keep them. Now, when Jesus became twelve years of age, there came to Him many new duties. The Jewish law required that He should assume all the religious responsibilities that devolved naturally upon a faithful Jew. Amongst other things, Jesus must hereafter go to the temple three times a year, to fulfill the demands of the law. Accordingly, when Joseph and Mary set out for Jerusalem, to observe the Feast of the Passover, soon after their eldest son's twelfth birthday, they took Him with them.
Jesus in the temple.
It is needless here to follow in detail the journey of the pilgrims over the great highway, across the Plain of Jezreel to Bethshean, down the western side of the Jordan Valley to Jericho, and then four thousand feet upward over the barren, robber-infested hills of the wilderness of Judea to Jerusalem. Jesus seems to have been much impressed by the road, for He referred to it later in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
When the celebration of the feast of the Passover was accomplished, Joseph and Mary set out to return to Nazareth. They had complete confidence in Jesus, so they did not look for Him till they reached Bethany. Jesus was not there to be found. Anxious at heart the parents returned to Jerusalem; and there, after three days, they found Him discoursing in the temple with Shammai and the learned teachers of the temple. The boy's zeal for knowledge had caused Him to remain at the temple even after the feast was over. "And all that {16} heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers."
When Mary saw her son in the midst of the learned men of Israel, she cried to Him, "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."
"And He said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
"And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them."
His Father's Business.
It was, indeed, a strange saying to understand. Not Joseph and Mary alone, but countless thousands of people have failed to understand it. Do you think you know what the boy Jesus meant? Of course, to understand, one must know what the Father's business is. Then we can understand what Jesus thought about His mission on the earth. "For," Jesus said many years later when He had grown to manhood, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me."
What, then, is the will of God? What is His Father's business? Once, many hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God gave to a man named Moses a marvelous revelation. Moses saw how the earth had been formed, and how living things were put upon it. He saw how man was shaped in the image of God and placed upon the earth to have dominion over it. Then God said to Moses, "Behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
{17} This, then, is the Father's business; this is His will. It is exactly what Jesus told Joseph Smith, the great American Prophet, in our own dispensation: "And if you keep my commandments and endure to the end, you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." And it is also exactly what Jesus taught while He dwelt among men. Said He, "And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
What is eternal life?
But perhaps it is not quite clear yet what the Father's will is. Perhaps you are asking yourself, What is eternal life? Of course, eternal, or everlasting life, is a condition of being—or of living—in which there is no death. When we gain the gift of eternal life, we shall go on living for ever and ever. Jesus gave once an excellent definition of the conditions of eternal life. He had spent considerable time exhorting His disciples, and instructing them in things that were yet to come. Then He raised his eyes to heaven and prayed; and in the course of that prayer, He said, "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
The special mission of Jesus.
Now we may begin to understand fully what Jesus thought about His mission on the earth. God did not put men on the earth to destroy them. He put them here to save them, if they would be saved. It is the glory of God to save men, to bring to pass their salvation and everlasting exaltation. This is the Father's business. But to gain the gift of eternal life men must learn to know {18} God. Here then we discover the nature of Jesus's mission. As child and boy and man, Jesus devoted His life to learning to know God and to the teaching of His brethren also to know Him. Through the love and sacrifice of Jesus, we may gain eternal life. In the temple, the boy of twelve was about His Father's business, learning and explaining. As a man, He fulfilled the will of His Father, making it possible for men to know God. In His death. He accomplished the general salvation of mankind, making it possible for them to gain eternal life.
It is small wonder that Napoleon revered the Man who thus unselfishly devoted His life to the good of His fellowmen, and finally laid it down for their salvation. We shall be glad to study the teachings of this Man. But first, we must understand what it means to know God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.
THE REFERENCES
Luke 2:42-52. Moses 1:39.
John 6:38-40. Doc. and Cov. 14:7.
John 17:1-3.
THE QUESTIONS
1. What, in your opinion, is the value of Napoleon's testimony of Jesus?
2. What does Napoleon admit in his testimony?
3. What peoples in the world today do not acknowledge Jesus the Christ?
4. Name some points in which the world has been affected by the teachings of Jesus.
5. Outline briefly the story of the life of Jesus.
6. Why should it be more important to know the teachings of Jesus than merely to know the story of His life?
7. What new responsibilities came to Jesus when He reached the age of twelve years?
{19} 8. Why did Jesus remain at the temple in Jerusalem when the feast of the Passover was accomplished?
9. What was the answer that puzzled His mother?
10. Why were men placed upon the earth?
11. What are the conditions of eternal life?
12. In what sense has Jesus always been about His Father's business?
13. What should be our attitude toward the Father's business?