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 XXXIII.

WITH THE CHILDREN.

In spite of all our Lord could do and say, the minds of the Apostles were still full of the coming Kingdom and of the first places there. Whether it was the favour shown to the three who had been taken into the room of Jairus' little daughter when the rest were left outside, and had been with the Master on the Mount, where it was plain they had seen something wonderful and heard some secret which they would not tell the nine; or whether the great promise made to Peter after his confession at Cæsarea Philippi had aroused jealousy among the others, there was a dispute among the Twelve at this time as to which of them was the greatest. Andrew was the first called; James and John were cousins, or, in Jewish language, "brothers" of the Lord; and John was plainly His best beloved. On the other hand, Peter was the most noticed by the Master and was the Rock; Judas came from the south, and spoke the best, and was better off than the rest. Which of them, then, was the greatest? This was the kind of talk among them as they walked one day behind our Lord on the way to Capharnaum. When they came to the house He said quietly:

"What did you treat of in the way?"

"But they held their peace," says St. Mark, "for in the way they had disputed among themselves which of them should be the greatest."

At length one bolder than the rest answered the Master's question after a fashion by putting another: