Philochristus

Now it came to pass that when Jesus came forth from Simon Peter’s house, and saw the faces of all these sick people, and the faces of their friends, all waiting if perchance he would help them, his countenance was altered, and the shadow of sorrow fell upon him, and he sighed and said, “Verily for the sorrowful I am sorrowful, and for the sick I am sick.”4 Then he passed along the ranks of the sick people; and wheresoever he perceived that any could be healed, he laid his hands on them, and lo, they were at once freed from their infirmities; and many unclean spirits were driven out from those whom they had possessed. Now most of them that were healed had been possessed with evil spirits; but others were lunatic, or sick of the palsy, or of fever, or had impediment in their speech. But Jesus had a marvellous power to discern, methought, not only them that had faith from them that had not, but also such diseases as were to be cured, from such as were not to be cured, because it was not prepared for him that he should cure them. But when Jesus had made an end of healing, the multitude still followed us; and the friends of such as had not been cured, vexed us with importunities; and others, whose friends had been cured, called down blessings on Jesus, and refused to leave him. Thus, go whither we would, we could not be alone. So Jesus returned to the house, and I went back to the house of Manasseh.

I opened my mind to my uncle that night, and said to him that I purposed to go with Jesus of Nazareth whithersoever he went; and Baruch said the same. But my uncle no longer opposed himself against our wills; only he forewarned us that evil was in store for us; “For,” said he, “I have sojourned in Italy among the Romans three years, and I know well that nothing can withstand their power. But whoso gainsayeth them gainsayeth the strength of a king: according as it is written, ‘Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?’ ”

All the night long no sleep came to my eyes for musing on all the things that I had seen and heard that day: “For this day,” said I, “is, as it were, the birthday of the Redemption of Israel,” But when I thought thereon, and considered with myself that I had now joined myself unto Jesus as the Redeemer, and when I compared Jesus with the image of the Redeemer of Sion (such as I had framed it in my mind from the reading of the Prophets, and such as my countrymen expected), then was I as one astonied and amazed to find myself believing in Jesus, and standing on his side. For I had imagined unto myself one that should perchance appear, riding on the clouds of heaven, encompassed by thousands of angels, taking vengeance upon the enemies of Sion, according to the word of the prophet Daniel; or else I had thought to see a royal deliverer, even such another as David himself, mighty with the sword, riding at the head of his ten thousands, ruling the Gentiles with a rod of iron, or breaking them in pieces like a potter’s vessel; or else I had fashioned in my mind a Deliverer after the manner of Elias, rebuking kings in their pride, and calling down fire from heaven for a sign, or for the destruction of the Gentiles.

Now before this time, I had had no leisure to consider the matter; for, in the presence of Jesus, I had been drawn towards him as by an enchantment: but in the stillness of the night, Jesus being no more before my face, I thought on all the signs and wonders wrought by Moses and Elias aforetime, and doubt fell upon me; and it seemed to me not possible that Jesus of Nazareth could be greater than they, so as to be the Messiah. But when I asked myself, “Could it then be that Jesus is a deceiver?” my heart made answer, “Nay, that could not be. And if thou trust not in Jesus, there is not any one in the world in whom thou canst trust.” So I comforted myself in my perplexity, saying to myself, “Perchance the time hath not yet come for Jesus to manifest himself as the son of David, nor as the Son of man spoken of by the prophet Daniel: but doubtless that time will come; and then shalt thou see Jesus, as the Messiah indeed, in power.”

But on the morrow, very early, when we went forth to the house of Simon Peter, behold, a mixed multitude had gathered round the doors waiting for the coming of Jesus. And I also waited, standing with them, and heard how they conversed with each other. But it seemed that one had but now come forth from the house of Peter, saying that Jesus could not be found in the house. Then arose a murmur in the crowd; and a certain man from Antioch said that Simon had set a snare for Jesus of Nazareth, and had betrayed him to Herod the Tetrarch. But there was in the press one Gorgias the son of Philip, a man well known to Simon; and he laughed the man of Antioch to scorn. He had been in the army of Herod the King in former times, and his father was a Greek; but he conformed himself to the Law and joined himself to the sect of the Galileans; and his word prevailed greatly with them, because he was versed in warlike matters. This man declared that Jesus had withdrawn himself, that he might not be shut up in prison by the Tetrarch: “And no marvel,” said he, “for, seeing that the tyrant hath but now taken John the son of Zachariah, why should he not also adventure to take the new prophet?”

Others, beside myself, had not heard before that John had been cast into prison. So we questioned Gorgias, and heard that the prophet had been cast into prison in the Black Castle at Machærus three days ago. Many of them that were in the crowd had been disciples of John; and they cried aloud that the men of Galilee ought to rise up and deliver the prophet. But Gorgias beckoned with his hand that they should be silent, and when silence was made, he said, “Let us rise up, indeed, but not without a leader. Now the Lord hath sent to us this Jesus of Nazareth: and that he is a prophet sent from God none can deny.” The multitude shouted that it was even so, and one or other uttered praises of Jesus; and a certain man said, “Yea, never man spake as this spake.” But Gorgias answered and said, “It is known to all that I am a soldier, neither do words prevail with me without deeds. Wherefore I also, until yesterday, did but lightly esteem Jesus of Nazareth. But now he hath shown forth his power in deeds. And he that can do such deeds as Jesus hath wrought in our streets, shall he not do even greater deeds than these when the time shall come for them? Yea, doubtless, all things are possible to him. And what will avail squadrons of horse, or legions of foot, against one that can call down fire from heaven, or cause the walls of a city to fall to the ground? Choose we therefore Jesus to be our leader, and no one shall be able to stand against us.”

At this instant Simon Peter came forth, and he confirmed what had been said, to wit, that Jesus of Nazareth was not in the house: but he thought that he was gone forth to be alone. And so it was. For when we had made diligent search for him we found him alone on a mountain, about three miles from the town. We besought him to return; but he answered that he must proclaim the Good News in other villages also, for to that end he had been sent. So Simon Peter and the rest of the disciples accompanied him, and Baruch and I went with them; and for the space of four or five weeks we continued with him, going from town to town in Galilee; and Jesus preached the Good News, and healed the sick; and a great multitude of all sorts was added to our number.

Now the greater part of our band were honest people, hungering and thirsting for the Redemption of Sion: but some were vain men, children of iniquity, seeking the wages of unrighteousness. Especially they that had been formerly soldiers resorted to Jesus, as to a prince or general, like vultures hasting to the prey, supposing that they should gain much spoil if he prevailed against the Romans. And so it was that once when Jesus spake to his disciples, saying that they must be “fishers of men,” then Baruch, being offended by the presence of these children of mammon among us, answered and said, “But must the fishers catch vile fish as well as good?”

Hereat Jesus turned and looked sorrowfully on Baruch, and said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the age. The messengers of God shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Another parable spake he to the same effect, that the tares must needs grow with the wheat till the day of harvest, for not till then can the division be made between good and evil. When we heard this, we grieved thereat; for we had supposed that none save the faithful should have been admitted into the Kingdom, and we marvelled why Jesus should first suffer the bad to enter, and then drive them forth. Howbeit, we besought him that he would give us ordinances which we might observe, to the intent that we might not be cast out of the Kingdom. For some of our number had begun to say that Jesus had come to destroy the Law, so that every one might do what he listed; as though Jesus had said that God loveth the wicked as much as the righteous, even though the wicked abide in wickedness. Thus they brought shame upon us, and they set stumblingblocks in the path of many that had otherwise believed. Moreover the disciples of John the Baptist compared us with themselves, and asked us concerning our laws and customs and prayers; and, when they found that we had none of these things, then they despised us, saying that our Master was not equal to John. For at this time the fame of John the son of Zachariah overshadowed the fame of Jesus; yea, and for some time after this, even after John had been cast into prison. For this cause we intreated Jesus that he would both teach us how to pray, as John also had taught his disciples, and also that he would lay down laws for the new Kingdom, even as Moses had laid down laws for the kingdom in old times.

Jesus hearkened to our petition in silence. Then he said that he must depart from us for a season and go to the top of a certain mountain; but he appointed the third hour of the following day that we should come to him. Certain of the Scribes that followed with us murmured at Jesus, because he had appointed that we should come to him on the mountain: and one, finding fault for that Jesus was often wont to spend the whole night praying alone on some mountain, said, “It is written, ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord;’ therefore it is good to pray from a low place, and not from a high place.” But Nathanael answered and said that Jesus loved to be alone on the mountain by night, to meditate on the greatness of the Lord and how He hath exalted the Son of man, according as it is written, “I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained:” and “these very words,” said Nathanael, “I heard the Prophet but yesterday repeat, when we were upon the top of yonder mountain.” Hereat the Scribes murmured the more, saying that it was not written that any prophet in old times thus took counsel with the heavens after the manner of a Chaldean. But Gorgias the son of Philip murmured for another cause, saying that the Prophet ought not thus to mistrust his followers, nor to be so fearful for his own safety, and that it behoved the friends of Jesus to take him by force, if need be, and to make him a king. And to this Judas of Kerioth consented and some others.

But to the most of us the words of Gorgias seemed an abomination; for we knew that Jesus did not depart for fear: for indeed fear was not in him. But he desired to be alone because he wished to pray, and because of the burden of his heart. For it grieved him, more than can be told, to see the misery and wretchedness, yea, and the ignorance and the sinfulness of the mixed multitude which pressed round him. All their pains pained him and all their sufferings he suffered, insomuch that more than once I have heard him saying in a low voice to himself, “For them that are hungry I hunger, and for them that are athirst I thirst, and for them that are sick I am sick.”5

Notwithstanding he was not so much distressed with the pains and diseases of the body as with the pains and diseases of the soul. For the sins of souls seemed to him as real and loathsome as the diseases of the flesh to us; and oftentimes a transgression that would appear slight to us, he counted as a work of Satan; so that whithersoever he moved, he saw sins more than could be seen of common men, yea, a very sea of sinfulness; albeit, underlying the sea of sin and sorrow, he still discerned the Everlasting Arms.

Moreover, because he loved all men with an exceeding great love, for this cause every hour in his life brought unto him a burden passing the power of words to describe. For the sins of men were not unto him as the sins of aliens and strangers, but as the sins of his own brethren: yea, they were even as his own sins; for, although he himself sinned not, neither knew sin, yet what pain cometh from the bearing of a brother’s sin, that he knew full well. Wherefore in him was fulfilled the saying of the prophet Isaiah; who prophesied that the Messiah should be a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, and that he should carry our sins and bear our iniquities.

CHAPTER VIII

On the morrow, about the second hour, we began to go up the mountain which Jesus had appointed. But having strayed from the path, we knocked at the door of a house which was near the foot of the mountain, and besought the goodman of the house that he would guide us. There opened the door a man of churlish appearance; but he would neither come out, nor so much as speak with us. This delayed us for a time, but we soon found the path, and the way became steep. The sun shone, but not with too fervent a heat, and the north wind blew gently from Hermon, whose top we saw clearly toward the north, clad in snow. On the west was the Mount Carmel, shining with a brightness as of purple; and further off the Great Sea, resembling a blue plain, whereon appeared many sails, almost too small for sight by reason of the distance. We climbed upward through groves of terebinth and oak. As often as we turned round to recover breath, the houses and fields grew smaller, till, at the last, when we drew nigh unto the top, the whole plain of Esdraelon seemed but as a small ground-plat; and large towns appeared as little hamlets, and all the works of man became very small in our eyes, as though we were leaving earth and approaching heaven.

Then said Baruch, “Is not this a second Sinai? For verily Jesus of Nazareth is about to give us a new law.” But Eliezer the son of Arak, the principal Scribe of Capernaum (for he at this time followed Jesus and was now with us) rebuked him, saying, “Even though Jesus of Nazareth were the greatest of prophets, yet were he not equal to Moses; for it is said, Sinai is to be preferred even to the uprooter of mountains!” And another said, “Behold, the Word of God, when it went forth from Sinai from the mouth of the Holy One (blessed be His Name), was like sparks, and lightnings, and flames of fire; a torch of flame was on his right hand, and a torch of flame on his left hand: it flew and hovered in the air of the heavens, and returned and graved itself upon the tables of the covenant which were given into the hands of Moses. How then is it possible that the like wonders should be wrought on this mountain?”

Then said Nathanael to Simon Peter that it might perchance please the Lord not always to speak by the whirlwind or by the fire, but, as in the days of Elias, by the still small voice. And to this Peter agreed, but others did not agree: for though they inclined not to Eliezer the son of Arak, yet it was because they thought that Jesus would of a surety soon work some sign in heaven to prove that he was the Redeemer. But Judas of Kerioth affirmed that Jesus would not, at this present time, lay down laws for the Kingdom, but only ordinances for a season, to instruct the host in the journey towards Jerusalem; but until Jerusalem should be ours, lasting laws would not be made.

While we were disputing among ourselves concerning the saying of Judas, Peter cried “Peace:” for, said he, “yonder is the Prophet:” and looking upward, we saw Jesus on a rock stretching out his hands in prayer. When he had made an end of praying, Peter approached him and besought him a second time to teach us to pray; and Jesus gave us that well-known prayer which is used in all the churches. Afterwards he beckoned to us to follow him, and he came down and stood in the bed of a torrent, which was dry by reason of the drought. While we were following him, I heard the companion of Eliezer murmuring because there were no words in the prayer concerning the Redemption of Israel; “moreover,” said he, “albeit the prayer asketh for bread, yet is there no mention of wine, nor oil, nor even of raiment. But how can a man sit and search the Law and the Traditions, and know not whence he is to drink as well as eat, and whence to be clad and covered?” To this I would have made reply; but Peter again cried to us to hold our peace, for Jesus was beginning to speak.

When he opened his lips, every one was silent for expectation; but, as he proceeded, the silence was a silence as of them that are astonished and disappointed. For he began with setting forth in his discourse a character and image of a citizen of the New Kingdom; and lo, it was not the image of a conqueror, but of one conquered. Also he drew as it were a model of the palace of the Great King, and of the princes and nobles which stand about His throne; and behold, when we compared the model with that which we had imagined in our hearts, and with that which we had read of in histories, the model of Jesus was in all things contrary to the model in our hearts. For in old times men had done reverence unto the valiant, the proud, the strong, the rich and the wise; but Jesus said that the chief places about the throne of God should be given to the hungry and thirsty, and poor; to them that were innocent and simple; to them that made not war, but peace; yea, even to them which resisted not evil, but rewarded evil with good. Upon all these, as being the nobles and princes of the New Kingdom, Jesus pronounced a blessing; to wit, that all things should work together for good to them, so that they should have all that they needed, according to the words of the prophet, “Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.” Even so did Jesus ordain that they which hungered should be satisfied, and that the makers of peace should conquer and inherit the earth.

Next, he described the statutes and judgments of the New Kingdom; and, behold, instead of an easier yoke, he seemed to be placing upon us a yoke even heavier than the yoke of the ancient Law, too heavy to be borne. For the old Law forbade us to commit murder; but the new Law forbade us even to hate our enemies. Again, the old Law forbade us to commit adultery; but the new Law forbade us even to entertain a lustful thought in our hearts. In a word, the old Law laid down certain ordinances, which if a man obeyed, he should live therein; but the new Law laid down nothing fixed nor certain for us, so that we might say “I have done this or that, and therefore I have fulfilled the Law of Christ.” For the Law of Moses touched the life of man, as it were, in certain points; as for example, in sacrifices, and feasts, and purifications, and Sabbaths, and in the obeying of the Ten Commandments: but the Law of Christ covered the whole of the state of man, the thoughts as well as the deeds; even as the encompassing air, which pierceth into every corner and cavern of the earth, wheresoever human life is. In fine, whereas the Law of Moses commanded us what we should do, the Law of Christ commanded what we should be. For this cause Jesus set himself against all bookishness, and against all worship of Traditions, and even of the precepts of the Scriptures; for he taught that precepts, howsoever they may shape the outward action, shape not the inner man.

Again, as concerning the laws, and the judgments, and the rewards, and the punishments, in the New Kingdom, he spake as if they were not laws of man’s device, but rather Laws according to the nature of things, like unto the ordinances of the rain and the sunshine, the harvest and the seed-time. For he said that righteousness was not any such thing as could be attained by a price, nor by the doing of deeds; but that it consisted in a seeing of that which may be seen of God. He also spake of a certain eye of the soul, which, if it were clear, the man would be righteous; but if it were darkened, the man would be unrighteous. Also he spake of a certain law of retributions, which decreeth that whoso judgeth shall be judged, whoso forgiveth shall be forgiven, whoso giveth shall receive: adding thereunto this most strange doctrine, that if we would go forth into the world, giving and ready to give, then, from all sides, the world would give to us again; yea, the angels of God, and the elements of the world (which are His ministers) and even the children of men, should make us marvel by reason of their gratitude, giving us back good measure pressed down and running over. Now there is a saying in the Traditions that, “Whensoever a poor man standeth at thy door, the Holy One (blessed is He) standeth at his right hand. If thou givest him alms, know that thou shalt receive a reward from Him who standeth at his right hand.” Jesus therefore added to this doctrine, teaching that God standeth at the right hand not of the poor only, but of every one that is in need of aught, that is to say, of every one of the children of men: wherefore whatsoever is given to men, is given to God, and from God cometh back multiplied to the giver. Howbeit, we were neither to give alms, nor to do aught else, for hope of reward; but only out of love.

Concerning citizenship in the Kingdom and how men should become citizens therein, he spake little to us, as being already citizens therein: save only this, that whoso would come, must come unto him; and through him, as through a door, they should pass into the Kingdom. And behold, the Kingdom was no other than a family, wherein God was at once Father and King, and all men were as children of the Father in Heaven. For the foundation of all was, that the heart and not the hands shaped the goodness and badness of all deeds, and made men to become citizens of the Kingdom: wherefore the heart and not the hands must be purified; nor could any be in truth citizens of the Kingdom except they had the thought of the Kingdom always in their hearts, so that their hopes and treasures were all stored up, not in the banks of money-changers, but in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Then he spake of the exceeding joys of the citizens of the Kingdom of God, and how they are free from all troubles and all disquietudes. But none, he said, could serve God and Mammon at one time; neither was it possible to serve God aright and yet to be distracted and torn asunder by cares concerning meat or raiment. Hereat the companion of Eliezer murmured again, saying that Jesus had before spoken blasphemously in joining the forgiving of sins by God with the forgiving of sins by men, and now he had spoken as a madman, in forbidding us to be careful about food and raiment; “Can a man sit,” said he, “and search the Law, and not know whence he is to eat, and drink, and to be clad?” Now whether Jesus perceived his murmuring I know not: but he pointed, first upwards to the birds (for even at that instant there was a flight of pelicans above us) and then downward to the flowers, which bestrewed the side of the brook, and he said that our Father in Heaven fed the birds and clothed the flowers; and should He not much more care for us? Then he bade us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else should be added unto us.

Now concerning this Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven, for he called it by both names) we understood not much at this time: but my judgment now is that Jesus desired that all the Lord’s people should be as Prophets, not teaching one the other and saying “Know the Lord,” but all knowing the Lord from the least to the greatest. For he perceived that all the tribes of the earth were joined together under one emperor through desire of wealth and ease, and that Israel was joined together through hatred of the Romans and through desire to be rescued from them; but he saw that neither love of ease nor hatred of enemies could bind men together in an enduring Kingdom: but that which bindeth men together is the Spirit of love, which is a Spirit of brotherhood among men and of childhood unto God. For all nations begin with being first families, and then many families together; helping one another by reason of kindred, and not by reason of manhood. Now such a nation as this, and all men of such a nation, Jesus called “born of flesh and blood:” and he said that no nation could leave off to be a tribe and become a nation indeed, except it were born again, not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit; so as to enter into a certain government of God, which the Greeks called theocratia, but Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Such a theocratia Moses had partly established in old times; howbeit the King in the kingdom of Moses was the God of Abraham, but the King in the kingdom of Jesus was the Father of the Son of man.