followed Him about all the time. They came from Perea, and from
Judaea, and from other places too, to see the wonderful new Teacher.
And Jesus preached to them all, and healed their sicknesses. The most
wonderful sermon that was ever preached in all the world is called the
Sermon on the Mount, because Jesus sat down on a hill to preach it.

After a time Jesus went up again to Jerusalem. In or near Jerusalem
there was a spring of water which was as good as medicine, because it
made sick people well if they bathed in it often enough. This spring
ran into a bathing-place called the Pool of Bethesda. Numbers of sick
persons came to bathe in that pool. One Sabbath day Jesus saw quite a
crowd there. Some were blind, some were lame, some were sick of the
palsy. They were sitting, or lying, by the side of the pool. Jesus
was very sorry for one poor man there. He had been ill thirty-eight
years. So Jesus said to the man, 'Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.'
And at once the sick man was well, and took up his mattress and walked.

Now the Rabbis had a number of very silly rules about the Sabbath day.
Even if a man broke his arm or his leg on the Sabbath the Rabbis would
not allow the doctor to put the bone right till the next day. So they
were very angry when they found that Jesus had made that poor man well
on the Sabbath day, and had told him to carry his mattress home. They
told the man he was doing very wrong, and they tried to kill Jesus.
But Jesus told them that His Heavenly Father was never idle, and that
He must do the same works as God. That made the Rabbis more angry than
ever. They said, 'He calls God His own Father, making Himself equal
with God.' From that time the Jews in Jerusalem made up their minds
more than ever to kill Jesus; and wherever He went they sent men to
watch Him and listen to His words, so that they might make up some
excuse for putting Him to death.