Level 2
Lesson 21: Our Friend Jesus

In a beautiful home by the lake all was very quiet. Everyone spoke in whispers and walked on tiptoe so as not to make any noise. For in one room a little boy lay in bed. His face was flushed and his lips were dry. He tossed about from one side of the bed to the other, but he could not find a cool place.

By the side of the bed the father sat watching him anxiously. He knew his little boy was very, very sick. Only a few days before he had been strong and well and had laughed happily as he played down by the lake. Then one day he did not feel well, and the next day he had to stay in bed. Each day he grew worse and nothing seemed to help him. The father was afraid the little boy would not get well at all.

How he wished there was someone who could help! And then he remembered that there was someone. Jesus was in a town not very far away. And Jesus, he remembered, was always ready to help people. He could even make sick people well. Perhaps Jesus would help his little boy.

“I will go myself and ask him,” said the father. Quickly he made ready. Quickly he hurried along the road. And as he went he kept saying, “Jesus is everyone’s Friend. Surely Jesus will help my little boy.”

The father reached the town and hurried straight to Jesus. There in the street he knelt before him.

“Sir,” he said, “my son is very sick. Please come and help him before he dies.”

Jesus looked kindly at him. He was sorry for the anxious father. He was sorry for the little boy who was sick. “Go your way,” Jesus said, “Your son lives.”

The father knew that Jesus was telling him not to worry but to go home because his little boy was better. How glad the father was! He thanked this good Friend who had helped him and started home again.

This time as he went along the road he kept saying gladly, “I know my little boy is better. I know my little boy is better.” He said this because he believed what Jesus had told him.

When the man neared his home one of the servants came running to meet him. “Good news for you, master!” he said. “The little boy is better.”

“When did he begin to get well?” the father asked.

“Yesterday, about one o’clock,” answered the servant.

And the father knew that was just the time when Jesus had said to him, “Go your way, your son lives.”

The father hurried home and found the little boy better. How happy they all were! He told the little boy that it was Jesus who had made him well. He told everyone in the house about the good Friend who had helped them. And you may be sure that everyone of them loved Jesus after that, for they knew he was the best Friend they could have.