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Jesus is Contradicted
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His words after Him, which they did. His discourse lasted without interruption from nine in the morning till about four in the afternoon. Once only there was a pause, during which they brought Him a little refreshment, a glass of wine and a morsel of bread. The listeners came and went, according as their business in the city demanded. Jesus taught of penance and Baptism, of which He here spoke principally as of a spiritual purification and cleansing. No women were baptized before Pentecost, though among the children admitted to Baptism were little girls of from five to eight years old, but no grown girls. The mysterious signification connected with this, I no longer remember. Jesus spoke also of Moses, of the broken tables of the Law, of the golden calf, and of the thunder and lightning on Sinai.
When he had made an end of speaking and the instruction was quite finished, many of the people including the Governor having returned to the city, a tall, prepossessing old Jew with a long beard stepped boldly up to the teacher's chair and thus addressed Jesus: "Allow me now to speak with Thee. Thou hast enumerated twenty-three truths when, in reality, there are twenty-four," and he proceeded to name them one after another and to argue with Jesus on the point. But Jesus replied: "Desiring thy conversion, I have suffered thee here. I might have sent thee away before the whole crowd, since thou didst come hither uninvited. Thou sayest that there are twenty-four truths, and that I have taught only twenty-three. But thou hast already added three to my number, for I taught twenty only." And then Jesus counted up twenty truths according to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, although it was by the same manner of reckoning that His opponent had proved that there were twenty-four. He then descanted upon the sin and punishment of those that add something to the truth. But the old Jew would by no means acknowledge his error, and he was supported by some
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present who were glad to hear Jesus contradicted. But Jesus said to him: "Thou hast a beautiful garden. Bring Me some of the best and soundest of its fruits. They will rot away as a sign that thou art in the wrong! Thou hast an erect, robust body. Thou shalt grow crooked if thou art wrong, that thou mayest see how the noblest gifts are ruined and deformed as soon as additions are made to the truth! But if thou canst show forth some such prodigy, we shall admit that there are twenty-four truths."
Thereupon the old Jew hurried with his associates to the garden but a short way off. In it was to be found all that was rare and costly in the shape of fruits, plants, and flowers. All kinds of choice animals and birds were there in cages, and in the center was a large basin in which were kept rare fish for the delight of the beholder. The old man, with the help of his friends, quickly gathered the most magnificent fruits, yellow apples, and bunches of ripe grapes, which they put into two little baskets; the small fruits they put into a cut-glass dish that looked as if made of threads of colored glass intersecting one another. Besides that, he took with him in latticed baskets various birds and rare animals of the size of a hare, or a little kitten.
All this time Jesus continued to speak of the evil of obstinacy and of the ruinous consequences attendant upon arbitrary additions to the truth.
When now the old Jew and his companions placed around Jesus' chair the rare flowers and animals in the baskets and cages, intense excitement prevailed in the crowd. But when he proudly and obstinately maintained his first assertion, the words of Jesus were fulfilled in all that he had brought. The fruit began to stir and from all sides broke forth horrible maggots and worms that soon devoured it, so that of a magnificent apple, nothing more could be seen than a tiny piece of peel on the head of a squirming maggot. The beautiful birds and other rare animals
Wonderful Conversion
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began to grow faint and exude matter from which were formed worms that turned and gnawed their flesh, now become red and raw. The sight was so disgusting that the crowd, which had pressed forward through curiosity, began to turn away with expressions of horror, and this all the more as the old Jew, turning pale and perfectly yellow, became shrunken on one side.
At this miracle the people set up a frightful noise and clamor, and the old Jew bewailing himself acknowledged his error and implored Jesus for mercy. There was so great a tumult that the Governor of the city, who had returned home, had to be called to quell the disturbance. As for the old Jew, he loudly proclaimed his fault and confessed that he had indeed tampered with the truth.
In consideration of the man's vehement sorrow and his entreaties to all present to pray for him that he might be cured, Jesus blessed the fruits and animals that had been brought to Him. All were immediately restored to their first state, including the man himself, who cast himself in tears at Jesus' feet, giving thanks.
He was so truly converted that he became one of the most faithful of Jesus' followers and the instrument of many other conversions. In a spirit of penance, he shared with the poor a great part of the magnificent fruits of his garden. This miracle made a deep impression upon all that had now returned from the city, whither they had gone to take something to eat. And indeed such a miracle was necessary here; for these people, as is often the case among nations of mixed origin, were obstinate in maintaining opinions that had been proved to them to be erroneous. They sprang from Samaritans who had entered into mixed marriages with heathens, and who had, in consequence, been banished from Samaria. They were fasting today not on account of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, but on
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account of their own expulsion from Samaria. They, indeed, acknowledged and lamented their having fallen into error, but at the same time they cared not to abandon it.
They had given Jesus an extraordinarily gracious reception, because many signs contained in an old tradition received by them from the heathens had been fulfilled, and in accordance with the same, they were now expecting some great favor from God to befall them.
This promise had been made at the place afterward named the "Place of Grace." I know only this, that these heathens had once in great affliction prayed on that spot with hands raised to Heaven, and that it had been foretold to them that when new streams should flow into the lake and another into the bathing spring, when the city should have extended as far as the spring, then should the favor be received. And now all these signs had been fulfilled. There flowed at this time, I think, five new streams either all into the lake, or some into it and some into the Jordan nearby. Another sign was fulfilled in the taking place of some change in an arm of the Jordan, and a new stream of good water had begun to flow into the well at the "Place of Grace."
It was at this place that Jesus was about to baptize and it was, very probably, to this that all the prophecies concerning the water referred. The water here, too, was bad. The city had also extended entirely on this side. The northern side lay low and black, full of exhalations arising from its marshes; only some poor heathen outcasts dwelt there in little huts. But toward the southeast of the city were many new houses, gardens, and buildings all the way to the "Place of Grace." The place was low and the country around level. By a change in the river banks and the sudden elevation of a mountain, an arm of the Jordan had bent its course westwardly as far as the garden, where it united with a little stream, and
Jesus Teaching
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then flowed back into its bed. This bend covered a considerable area. The waters of the Jordan flowing hither constituted one of the aforementioned signs.
As Jesus on the following day was again teaching in the synagogue, in the center of which stood a magnificent chest containing the rolls of the Law, the Jews entered barefoot. Ablutions were prohibited on that day, therefore after the instruction of the preceding eve, they had washed and bathed. Above the clothes of the day before, they wore in the synagogue a long, black mantle with a hood and train. It was open at the sides and fastened with cords. On the right arm hung two rough, black maniples, and on the left arm one. They prayed and chanted in a mournful tone, enveloped themselves for awhile in sacks, open in front, and prostrated face downward in the galleries around the synagogue. The women practiced similar penances in their homes.
The fires had been covered the day before. Not till evening did I see any meal taken, and then it was at an uncovered table in the inn where Jesus ate with His disciples alone. The others took theirs in the large hall of the court. The meal consisted entirely of cold viands brought from the Governor's house. Jesus spoke words of instruction on the subject of eating. Many people, among them the lame and crippled, came in turn to the table upon which were some shallow dishes filled with ashes. The old Jew who had been converted gave many of the best of his magnificent fruits to the poor.
On the next day also, the Sabbath, Jesus again taught in the synagogue and after the instruction walked with His disciples and about ten Jews to the mountain north of the city. The country in that direction was wild and savage. The little party tarried awhile under the trees in front of a house and partook of some food and drink offered them by its inmates.
Jesus gave His companions all kinds of rules for
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their direction for, as He said, He would soon leave them to return but once again. Among other things, He exhorted them not to make so many motions when at prayer, a custom here carried to excess; and above all, not to be so severe toward sinners and heathens, to be more lenient to them. Thereupon He related the parable of the unjust steward, proposing it to them in the form of an enigma. They wondered at it, and He asked them why the conduct of the steward should be praised. It appeared to me that Jesus symbolized the synagogue by the unjust steward and the other debtors by the heathens and the various sects. The synagogue should reduce the debt of the sects and heathens while she is furnished with power and grace; viz., while she undeservedly and unjustly possesses opulence in order that, when she is herself about to be ejected, she may flee to the mediation of the kindly treated debtors.
Even as a child, I saw this and the other parables passing like living scenes before my eyes, and I used to think that, here and there, I recognized occasional figures from them in the life around me. And so it happened also with this steward whom I have always seen as a hunchback with a reddish beard, a receiver of revenues. I used to see him running very briskly and rapidly among the under-tenants, making them sign their contracts with a pen. I saw the unjust steward living in a tent castle, in the desert of Arabia, not far from the place where the Children of Israel murmured. His lord, who dwelt far away across Mount Libanus, owned here on the frontiers of Palestine a corn and olive plantation. On either side of the field lived two peasants to whom it was rented. The steward was a diminutive, humpbacked fellow, very cunning and full of expedients. He thought: "The lord will not come yet awhile," and so he feasted
The Unjust Steward
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freely and let things go as they would. The two peasants were pretty much of the same stamp, and spent their time in carousing. All on a sudden, I saw the lord coming. Far over a high mountain range, I saw a magnificent city and palace from which a most beautiful road led straight to the plantation. Then I saw the king and his whole court coming down with a great caravan of camels and little, low chariots drawn by asses. I saw all this very much as I see paths coming down from the heavenly Jerusalem. The king was a heavenly king who owned a wheat and olive field on this earth. But he came in the manner of the patriarchal kings, attended by a great retinue. I saw him coming down from on high, for that little fellow, the steward, had been accused to him of dissipating his revenues.
The lord's debtors were two persons in long coats buttoned all the way down. The steward wore a little cap. The castle of the latter was nearer the desert than the wheat and olive plantation, on either side of which the peasants lived. That was more toward the land of Canaan, and formed a triangle with the castle. And now came the lord down over the cornfield. The two debtors had squandered the fruits of the field with the steward, although toward their dependents they were hard and exacting. They were two bad parish priests, and the steward a bishop far from good; or again, it was like a worldling putting his affairs in order. The steward, having espied the coming of his lord while yet he was a long way off, fell into the greatest anxiety. He prepared a grand feast, and became very active and servile. When the lord arrived, he thus addressed the steward: "Why, what is this that I hear of thee, that thou dost squander my property! Render an account, for thou shalt no longer be my steward!" Then I saw the steward hurriedly summoning the two peasants. They presented themselves carrying rolls, which they opened. He questioned them as to the amount of
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their indebtedness, for of that he was utterly ignorant, and they showed it to him. With the crooked reed that he held in his hand, he made them quickly change the sum to a lesser amount, for he thought: "When I shall be discharged, I shall find shelter with them and have whereon to live, for I cannot work."
I saw now the peasants sending their servants to the lord with camels and asses laden with sacks of corn and baskets of olives. They that had charge of the olives carried money also, little metal bars done up in packages, larger or smaller according to their sum, and fastened together with rings. But the lord, glancing at the packages, saw by what he had before received that these were far too small, and from the false account rendered, he understood the design of the steward. Turning to his courtiers, he said with a laugh: "See, the man is shrewd and cunning. He intends to make friends of those under him. The children of the world are wiser in their doings than the children of light, who rarely do for good what the former do for evil, who rarely take as much trouble for a reward as this man has done for punishment." Then I saw that the hunchbacked knave was discharged from his office and banished into the desert. The soil there was metallic (yellow, hard, unfruitful ferruginous sand, ocher), its only vegetation the alder tree. He was at first quite confounded and troubled, but I saw that he afterward set to work to chop wood and to build. The two peasants also were sent away, though to them somewhat better places amidst the sand of the desert were allotted. But the poor under servants, formerly the victims of cruel extortion, were now entrusted with the care of the field.
Jesus and the disciples separated and went in different directions throughout the whole city of Adama.
Jesus in Seleucia
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Jesus took the central portions for Himself, while the disciples went to the most distant quarters even as far as the homes of the heathens. They stopped at almost every house inviting the people, who were already prepared, to go on the following day to the Baptism, and on the day after to the great instruction that Jesus was to deliver in a larger grassy enclosure, on the other side of the lake near Seleucia. The invitations were accompanied by words of instruction. The disciples were thus occupied until dusk, when they left the city and proceeded along the western side of the lake to where some fishing vessels were lying. They went on board, and instructed the fishermen who were fishing by torchlight on the broad side of the lake below the spot where the Jordan flowed into it. The glare of the torches allured the fish, which were then taken with hooks and darts. The disciples told the fishermen to bring their fish over to the green square near Seleucia, where the instruction was to be held, and they should be well rewarded. The green square, of which they made mention, was a kind of zoological garden surrounded by a wall and a hedge. Wild animals taken alive were confined there, consequently it was provided with all kinds of dens and cages for that purpose. The place belonged to Adama and was about one hour and a half from Seleucia.
When morning dawned, Jesus joined the disciples, and they went back to the city together by a roundabout way on which were several huts. Invitations and instructions were given at these huts as at the other houses. Arrived at the city, Jesus and the disciples went to the residence of the Governor, which stood in an open square, and there took some refreshment. The repast consisted of little rolls joined in pairs, and small fish with upright heads. These last were served in a many-colored, shining glass dish formed like a ship. Jesus laid one of the fishes on a roll before each of the disciples. All around the edge
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of the table were cavities hollowed out like plates, and into them the portions were put.
After the repast, Jesus gave an instruction in the hall opening on the court in presence of the Governor and his household, all of whom were to be baptized. After that He went to the place of instruction outside the city where He found many already waiting for Him, and there, too, He taught in preparation for Baptism. The people in bands came and went by turns, proceeding from this place to the synagogue where they prayed, sprinkled their head with ashes, and did penance. They repaired afterward to the bathing garden near the "Place of Grace," where two by two they performed their ablutions in a bathhouse separated from each other by a curtain.
When the last band had left the place of instruction, Jesus and His disciples followed. The baptismal well was that into which the water from the arm of the Jordan flowed. The basin here, as in other places, was surrounded by a canal so broad as to afford a passage for two, and from it five conduits connected with the basin. These conduits could be opened or closed at pleasure, and at the side of each ran a path over the little canal. In the center of the basin rose a stake which, by a crosspiece that reached to the bank, could be made to open and close the basin.
This reservoir with its five canals had not been especially constructed for the Baptism. The number five was a frequent recurrence in Palestine, and the five aqueducts leading to the Pool of Bethsaida, to John's fountain in the desert, to the baptismal well of Jesus, bore reference no doubt to the five Sacred Wounds, or to some other mystery of religion.
Jesus here gave instructions as an immediate preparation for Baptism. The neophytes were clothed in long mantles which they laid aside at the moment of stepping into the canal, retaining only the covering for the loins and the little scapular on the breast. Water from the basin had been let into the
The Disciples Baptize
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canal. On the pathways over it stood the baptizers and the sponsors. The water was thrice poured from a shallow dish over the head in the name of Jehovah and Him whom He had sent. Four disciples baptized at the same time, two others imposing hands as sponsors. This ceremony, with the instructions of Jesus in preparation for it, lasted until evening. Many of the aspirants to Baptism were not admitted to its reception.
At daybreak next morning, the disciples embarked for Seleucia and the appointed place nearby. The lake at some distance from Adama took the figure of a violin, narrowing off to about fifteen minutes in breadth. Seleucia, a city of only moderate importance, was, however, a well-fortified place, being surrounded by two walls and an intervening rampart. On the northern side, especially, it was so steep as to be wholly inaccessible; in that quarter the pagan soldiers dwelt. The women lived to themselves in a separate part of the city in long rows of buildings, each occupying a private apartment. The few Jews here residing were very greatly oppressed. They lived in miserable holes in the walls, and had to perform the lowest and most painful labors on the canals and marshes.
I saw no synagogue here but only a round temple, which stood on a circle of pillars upon which were enormous figures in the attitude of supporting the building. In the center was an immense column, in which were the steps that led up into the edifice. Underneath were subterranean vaults, wherein the urns containing the ashes of the dead were deposited. Nearby was a somber-looking place in which they were accustomed to consume the bodies of their dead. In the temple were idols of serpents with human faces, human figures surmounted by dogs' heads, and one holding the moon and a fish.
The soil around these parts was not very productive, though the inhabitants were remarkably
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industrious. They made all kinds of cordage for the harness of horses as well as various kinds of armor, everything necessary for military equipments.
The disciples went around in Seleucia inviting the people to the instruction and to partake of the repast prepared at the appointed place. Meanwhile, Jesus went for the same purpose through the pagan quarters at Adama. Then the disciples repaired to the grassy enclosure of the zoological garden, which was beautifully sodded and filled with flowers and bushes, and there, with the fishermen who kept their fish in a cistern, prepared the meal. The tables were broad beams about two feet wide, that had been drawn up out of the lake. Back of the garden were furnaces in which the fish were roasted. It appeared as if meals were often prepared here, for in the caves around were kept a number of flat stone plates, which looked as if formed by nature, and upon which the viands were served up. There were at this repast bread, fish, herbs, and fruit.
When all had been prepared and about a hundred of the pagan men were assembled, Jesus came over the lake. He was followed by about twelve Jews, the Governor, and several heathens from Adama. He taught on a hill. The Governor and the other Jews took part in the management of the repast, and served at table with the disciples. Jesus taught of man's twofold composition, body and soul, and of the nourishment of both the one and the other. The people were free either to listen to His instruction or to partake of the meal. Jesus granted that permission to try them. Some went straight to the table and others soon followed, so that about a third only remained to hear. Jesus taught of the vocation of the heathens and told about the Three Kings, whose history was not unknown to these people.
When the meal and instruction were over, Jesus went toward evening with the disciples and Jews to Seleucia, an hour and a half to the south and at
Jesus Instructs Pagans
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some distance from the lake. The people had already returned thither. Here Jesus and His party were received by the most distinguished men of the city, and a luncheon was served for their refreshment. After that they were conducted into the city and Jesus saluted and instructed the heathen women, who had assembled in a square not far from the gate in order to see Him. They were clothed as Jewesses, though not so modestly veiled. Like most of the people of this region, they were not tall, but stout and robust.
Jesus entered a large public hall wherein a banquet had been prepared in His honor. There was a great deal of feasting going on in these parts. Jesus, the disciples, and the Jews sat by themselves at one of the tables. At first, the Jews were unwilling to partake of the entertainment. But Jesus told them that what entered the mouth did not sully the man, and added that they who would not eat with Him, would not follow His doctrine. He taught unweariedly during the whole of the entertainment.
The heathens used tables higher than those of the Jews and also small single ones. They sat cross-legged on cushions, like the people in the land of the Three Kings. The viands consisted of fish, herbs, honey, fruit, also flesh meat roasted brown.
Jesus so impressed them by His teaching that they were very much grieved when He had to leave. They begged Him so earnestly to remain with them that He allowed Andrew and Nathanael to do so. The heathens were very curious when there was question of novelty. It was already dusk when He left them.
The houses in which the women dwelt faced on a broad street, though their rear was built in the wall or the rampart of the fortification. Some of them were very beautiful, separated at intervals by gardens and squares in which the women carried on their domestic affairs and did their washing. Jesus addressed them in their usual meeting place.
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In Seleucia, also, Jesus spoke of the Baptism as of a purification; and when they wished to detain Him longer, He told them that they were at present incapable of understanding more.
From Seleucia Jesus returned to Adama. In the synagogue a feast of thanksgiving was celebrated by the newly baptized who occupied the places of honor and chanted canticles of praise. Numbers of others were baptized when Andrew and Nathanael returned from Seleucia. The converted Jew exhibited naught but humility and a desire to render assistance to Jesus, delighted to act as servant and messenger on all occasions.
A great number of sick had been unable to attend Jesus' instructions and the Baptism; consequently, with Saturnin and the disciple who was related to Him, He went to hunt them up in their homes. The other disciples started for the cities Azor, Cades, Berotha, and Thisbe, all from two to three hours north of Adama, in order to invite the inhabitants to the instruction which Jesus was going to deliver on a gently rising mountain on the road from Cades to Berotha. On the top of that mountain, which was covered with vegetation, and in an open space surrounded by a wall stood a chair used from remote times for teaching. In some places the disciples went to the chief magistrates and called upon them to invite the people to the instruction that the Prophet from Galilee would deliver on the mountain the day after the Sabbath, while in others, they themselves went to the houses and invited the occupants to the instruction.
Meanwhile, Jesus was going around in Adama among the rich and the poor, Jews and heathens, healing the dropsical, the lame, the blind, and those afflicted with a bloody flux. I was especially surprised at the sight of ten possessed men and women, all of them pure Jews. I never saw so many possessed among the heathens. Some of these ten were
Synagogue of Adama
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of distinguished families. They were confined in grated chambers in their own houses, either in the house or the forecourt. As Jesus was coming toward them, they began crying and raging in a frightful manner, but on a nearer approach, they became quiet and stared at Him perplexedly. I saw Him, by His glance alone, driving all the devils from them. They left them under a visible form, a vapor which afterward assumed the shadow of an abominable human figure, and then disappeared. The bystanders were amazed at the sight; the former possessed turned pale and sank down unconscious. Jesus addressed some words to them, took them by the hand, and commanded them to rise. Then, as if coming out of a dream, they sank on their knees giving thanks, and rose up changed men. Jesus then exhorted them and mentioned the faults they should correct.
When the disciples returned to Adama, they took a meal with Jesus at the chief magistrate's. They had purchased fish and bread at the places they had visited, and ordered them to be delivered at the mount of instruction. The food was intended for the audience. Jesus received presents from many people and various places. I saw little bars of gold that looked like twigs. These gifts were devoted to the purchase of food for the multitude. Jesus had not broken His fast since the last meal taken at Seleucia.
On the Sabbath He taught in the synagogue of Adama. There was here also a party formed against Jesus. They sent two Pharisees to where John was teaching in order to hear what he had to say about Jesus, and thence to Bethabara and Capharnaum to inform some of their friends that He was now going around among them baptizing and making disciples. When these messengers returned, they spoke against Jesus and spread the calumnies they had heard, but their efforts gained no adherents to their own party.
Once the magistrates of Adama interrogated Jesus as to what He thought of the Essenians. They wanted
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to tempt Him, because they pretended to have remarked in His sentiments some similarity to those of that sect, and also because James the Less, His relative and who was then with Him, was an Essenian. They brought all kinds of accusations against them, condemning chiefly their retired life and their celibacy. Jesus answered in very general terms: One could, He said, find nothing to reproach in those people; if they were called to such a life, they deserved great praise. Everyone has his own vocation; were a cripple to aim at walking upright, he would hardly succeed. When the magistrate objected that so few families were raised up by them, Jesus enumerated a great many Essenian families and spoke of their well-bred children. He alluded to the married state, first of the good, then of the bad. He neither took part with the Essenians, nor did He accuse them. The people did not comprehend Him, though they saw that He had family connections among the Essenians and kept up intercourse with them.
Before daybreak of the night between the Sabbath and Sunday, Jesus left Adama. He had taken leave of the people after the exercises of the Sabbath, though without saying that He was not to return, and He now went with His disciples and several of the Jews to the mountain appointed for the instruction. He left Adama by the gate through which He had entered, and that was over a bridge. Had they gone by another, they would have had to ferry over the river that ran from Azor to Cades, and which near Adama flowed into the Jordan. They left Cades to the right, and proceeded westward over gently rising mountain terraces. This region had high mountain ridges that formed great plateaus. There were fewer ravines and isolated peaks than in southern
“Thou Art the True Prophet!”
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Palestine. Thisbe was to the left of the little troop on very high ground. Tobias once lived in Thisbe and had there given in marriage his wife's brother, or brother-in-law. He had also been in Amichores, the water city. He might have taken up his abode there permanently, were it not that he preferred to go into captivity, in order to be useful to his people. Elias, too, had been in Thisbe, and Jesus had once before journeyed through it.
The multitude was already gathered upon the mountain. On the preceding evening, people had gone thither after the Sabbath and put the place in order. On the summit was an enclosed space in which stood a teacher's chair. The people living on the sides of the mountain had been busied preparing for the tents, and already the stakes and cords were at hand. They had carried them up and stretched the awnings over the teacher's chair and other available spots around. The place was one of historic interest, for Joshua had here celebrated a feast of thanksgiving after his successful siege of the Canaanites. Water had been transported hither in leathern bottles, and bread and fish in baskets. These baskets were like our beehives; they could be placed one above another, and in the several compartments various things could be put without danger of mixing.
As Jesus was going up through the crowd to the summit of the mountain, shouts greeted Him on every side: "Thou art the true Prophet! The Helper!" etc., and as He passed along, they bowed low before Him. It may have been nine o'clock when He reached the summit, for it was six to seven hours from Adama to this place.
Many possessed had been led up the mountain. They were raging and shouting. When Jesus saw them, He commanded them silence, and by His command and the glance of His eye, they became calm and were freed from the evil one.
When Jesus had reached the tribune and the crowd
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had been brought to order and silence by the disciples, He first invoked His Heavenly Father, from whom come all good gifts, the people likewise praying. Then He began His instruction. He made allusion to what had there occurred, spoke of the children of Israel, of Joshua's once appearing in these parts and freeing them from the Canaanites and from paganism, and of the destruction of Azor. Of all these events Jesus explained the spiritual meaning. Thus came truth and light to them anew, with grace and mildness to free them from the power of sin. He exhorted them not to resist as did the Canaanites, that God's punishment might not come upon them as it had done upon Azor. He also related a parable of which He again made use on a later occasion. It is in the book of the Gospels, I think, something about wheat and husbandry. He taught also of penance and the coming of the Kingdom, speaking significantly of Himself and the Heavenly Father as He had done in the neighboring towns.
The sons of Johanna Chusa and Veronica came here to Jesus. They had been sent by Lazarus, to warn Him against the two spies whom the Pharisees had dispatched from Jerusalem to Adama. The disciples brought them to Jesus during a pause in the instruction. He told them not to be at all disquieted on His account, that He would fulfill His mission, and He thanked them for their devotedness, etc. The spies sent by the Pharisees were also on the mountain with the disaffected Jews from Adama. Jesus did not address them, but He said aloud in the course of His instruction that enemies would lie in wait for Him and persecute Him, still they would not succeed in hindering Him from accomplishing what the Father in Heaven had entrusted to Him. He would soon appear among them again to announce the Kingdom of God and the truth.
Many mothers were present with their children, demanding Jesus' blessing. But the disciples were
Jesus Instructs Children
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disquieted and thought, on account of the presence of the spies, that He should not give it. Jesus, however, reproved them for their anxiety, saying that He regarded the intention of the mothers as good, and that the children would thereby derive benefit, and so He went down through the rows that they formed and gave them His benediction.
The instruction lasted from ten in the morning till near evening, when the people were ranged in order to take some food. On one side of the mountain there were grated fires whereon the fish were roasted. The order observed was beautiful. Not only the inhabitants of each separate city encamped together, but even the residents of the same streets were divided into families with their neighbors. To the guests of each street, one man was appointed to bring and divide the food. Each person or one person in each group, had a leather cover which, being spread out, served for plates. They had with them also such things as are used at table: bone knives and spoons with jointed handles. Some had brought gourds, others cups of bark, in which they received water from the leathern bottles, while others, there and then, quickly formed for themselves such cups if they had not done so on the way. The superintendents received the food from the disciples, and divided each portion among the four or five sitting together, laying the fish and bread on the leathern cover before them. Jesus had blessed the food before it was divided, and by virtue of that blessing it was multiplied, otherwise it would have been far from sufficient for the two thousand for whom it was intended. Each group received a small portion only, but all were satisfied after eating, and much remained over to be collected into baskets and carried off by the poor.
There were some Roman soldiers going around among instructions from him, for he had soldiers under his command. Perhaps they had been charged to bring him information of Jesus, for they went to
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the disciples and begged some of the blessed bread, to take with them to Lentulus. On receiving it, they stowed it away in the knapsacks that hung from their shoulders.
It was already dark and torches lighted when the meal was over, Jesus blessed the multitude and left the mountain with the disciples, from whom, however, He soon separated. They took a shorter route back to Bethsaida and Capharnaum, while He with Saturnin and that disciple, His relative, went southward to a city lying off from Berotha, called Zedad, and spent the night at an inn outside the city.
On the night between Monday and Tuesday, I saw Jesus in the mountains with Saturnin and that other disciple. As He walked alone in prayer and they questioned Him about it, He spoke to them of prayer in private, illustrating by the example of the serpent and scorpion: "Were a child to ask for a fish, the father would not give him a scorpion," etc. During these days, I saw Him again in various little places among the shepherds healing and exhorting, also in Gathepher, Jonas' birthplace, and where some of His own relatives lived. He wrought cures in this latter place also, and then toward evening went as far as Capharnaum.
How indefatigable was Jesus! With what ardor He inspired the disciples and Apostles! At first they were often overcome by fatigue; but now what a difference! The disciples while travelling along the highways went forward to meet some and to hunt up the others, to instruct them themselves or invite them to attend Jesus' instructions.
Lazarus, Obed, Joseph of Arimathea's nephews, the bridegroom of Cana, and some other disciples, had arrived at Mary's house near Capharnaum. There were present also about seven women, relatives
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