The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-10
The FRIENDSHIP OF JESUS.

We have but few hints in the Gospels re-
specting the private and personal life of JE-
sus as a citizen and neighbor. That he pos
sessed all the social instincts of refined
human nature, we cannot doubt. That he
was capable of strong friendship, and mani
tested special affection toward those with
whom he was in frequent intercourse, is
quite apparent from the few glimpses we
have of him in social intercourse. He seems
to have sustained the usual relation to his
family and friends till his entrance upon his
public ministry. We find him at a marriage
in Cana. He enters as familiar visitor the
house of Peter at Capernaum. John was a
disciple whom he especially loved Peter,
James and John were his favorite compan-
ions among his chosen followers. He ap-
pears to have sustained very cordial and af
fectionate relations with family at Bethany,
comprising the sisters, Martha and Mary,
and their brother Lazarus. To this little
suburban village, beautifully situated on the
Mount of Olives, two miles away, JESUS fire.
quently went for rest and congenial compan-
ionship, when attending the festivals of his
countrymen at Jerusalem. and the public re-
ligious ceremonies of the Temple. In the
great city and its Temple he might be found
during the day teaching the assembled null
titudes and performing the mighty works by
which he was accredited as Teacher sent
from GoD but at its close, with few of his
most intimate disciples, he seems to have
been pleased to withdraw to Bethany and
find lodging and entertainment there in some
of its humble homes. May not this family,
comprising the two sisters of so different
temperaments and their brother Lazarus, all
of whom JESUS loved, have been of one of
these homes where he frequently reposed,
after the exciting scenes of the day in the
thronged city? Whatever other intimate ac-
quaintances he may have had in this village,
or elsewhere, it is certain that his relations
with this family were most intimate and af-
fectionate. He was a very dear friend of
the family whose hospitality he accepted, and
with whom he held most familiar social in
tercourse, as is evident from Luke K. 38-42,
as we'll as from the incident of the Lesson;
and his subsequent intercourse with these
members of the family at the house of Simon
the leper (John xii. 1-3).
The relations of JESUS to this family at
Bethany, like the scene at Cana, lets us into
the secret of his affections. He did not, in
consciousness of the power lodged III him, or
of the authority confded TO him, or of the
mission on which he was sent to his country
men and the world, disregard these kind
nesses and tendernesses which sweeten life,
and make it glad. He was the Friend of all,
but he was especially the Friend of some.
He sympathized with all humanity, but he
had especial sympathy for a happy few.-S.
S. Helper, September, 1915.
Nowhere, in all probability, did JESUS pass
more restful and happy hours than in the
quiet house of that little family at Bethany
which, as we are told by st. John, she loved"
. The lonely little hamlet, lying among
its peaceful uplands, near Jerusalem, and
yet completely hidden from ii by the summit
of Oliyet, and thus