Christ as the Example and Teacher of Youth
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continues, “He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was
subject unto them; but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.”
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Besides the written word, Jesus studied the book of nature, find-
ing delight in the beautiful things of his own creation. He was in
sympathy with humanity in all its varied joys and sorrows. He iden-
tified himself with all,—with the weak and helpless, the lowly, the
needy, and the afflicted. In his teaching, he drew his illustrations from
the great treasury of household ties and affections, and from nature.
The unknown was illustrated by the known; sacred and divine truths,
by natural, earthly things, with which the people were most familiar.
These were the things that would speak to their hearts and make the
deepest impression on their minds.
The words of Christ placed the teachings of nature in a new aspect,
and made them a new revelation. He could speak of the things which
his own hands had made; for they had qualities and properties that
were peculiarly his own. In nature, as in the sacred pages of the
Old Testament Scriptures, divine, momentous truths are revealed; and
in his teaching, Jesus laid these open before the people, bound up
with the beauty of natural things. But no mention was made of the
contrast between the earth’s present state, before their eyes, and the
Eden glories which sinless eyes looked upon.
As interpreted by Jesus, flower and shrub, the seed sown and the
seed harvested, contained lessons of truth, as did also the plant that
springs out of the earth. He plucked the beautiful lily, and placed it
in the hands of children and youth; and as they looked into his own
youthful face, fresh with the sunlight of his Father’s countenance, he
gave the lesson, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow [in
the simplicity of natural beauty and loveliness]; they toil not, neither
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do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Then followed the assurance,
“Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O
ye of little faith?”
In later years these words were heard by others besides children and
youth. They were spoken to the multitude, among whom were men and
women full of worries and perplexities, and sore with disappointment
and sorrow.