Philochristus

“But come, let us reason together as though thou wert altogether right in this matter, having a message from God to us touching the Sabbath. Notwithstanding, is there not a place and a time for delivering a message, and a place and a time for concealing it? There is a time to go forward; but is there not also a time to make a stand? It is good to set thy face toward the light, that thou mayest advance; but it is good also to turn thy face from the light, that thou mayest see whither thou hast advanced. Moreover, why dost thou cause the Pharisees to stumble, and the rich to take offence at thy doctrine? Art thou not the Redeemer of all Israel? Are not the Pharisees also thy brethren, and the rich also sheep of the flock? Why therefore dost thou drive them from the fold and cast them forth into the wilderness? If thou sayest, ‘They are weak,’ then take pity, O my son, on the weak ones of Israel, yea and perchance on thine own disciples, lest they that may come after thee drink of thy doctrine and die, and the Name of Heaven be profaned.”

Now at the first the face of Jesus was not altered toward Jonathan the son of Ezra, and he heard him kindly, yet patiently withal, and as if he knew what the old man would say, before he said it. But when Jonathan begged him for compassion’s sake not to cause the weak ones to stumble, then the fashion of his countenance was changed as if he would have wept, and he seemed to us like one in sore straits, for he changed colour and was silent. Judge, therefore, how great was our astonishment when he stood up and rebuked Jonathan as though his words were from Satan.

Perplexity and sore grief fell upon us all, and the old man would have retired abashed. But Jesus took him by the hand and constrained him to stay, and made him sit down by his side and spake kindly unto him. Yet he began to speak again of the words of Jonathan as being a sore temptation, telling us how in former times he had undergone a like temptation from Satan. He had been in the wilderness, he said, and lo, in a moment of time he had been borne to the top of a mountain, whence he saw the kingdoms of the earth and the glory thereof, and Satan said to him, “All these things will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”

While we marvelled at the words of Jesus, and disputed among ourselves how that temptation in the wilderness could be like unto this temptation, behold, Judas of Kerioth came into the chamber, saying the same things which Barabbas had said, to wit that the Pharisees in Capernaum were laying a snare for Jesus, for to catch him in his teaching, that they might cause the people to stone him. But Jesus gave command that we should pass over on the morrow to the other side of the lake.

On the morrow, while we rowed across the lake, I asked Nathanael what seemed to him the nature of the temptation of Satan whereof Jesus had spoken. Nathanael made answer and said, “Thou perceivest that the heart of our Master overfloweth with pity for the miseries of men; and even to redeem them from these miseries he hath been sent by the Lord. Now as for silver and gold, or fame, or wisdom, none of these things can in any wise tempt him once to go aside either to the right hand or to the left from the straight path of Redemption. Howbeit, pity and love can tempt him. Wherefore the only temptation that can befal him is from the Voice that saith, Be pitiful, even though thou transgress in pitying; Do evil that thou mayest do good; Gain power by crooked ways, that thou mayest straighten the paths of salvation for them which wander astray; Wink thou at falsehood, that they which err may be guided toward truth. Now this Voice, as it seemeth to me, is to our Master the Voice of Satan; and to listen to it is to bow down to Satan. And Satan, perchance, knowing that in this way alone can our Master be tempted, hath caused Jonathan the son of Ezra to tempt him. But I know no more than thou; only such is my conjecture.”

While we thus conversed together the boat drew nigh unto the eastern shore. The mountains came down to the water’s edge, so close, and so precipitous withal, that there was scarce space enough to land: and, because the sun still lay low in the east, all was dark before us, though the waters behind us shone fair and bright. But when we were now entering under the shadow of the cliffs, so that we could discern things more clearly, we perceived that there was a margin of shore, but narrow and exceeding rocky, strewn all over with large and small fragments of black rock, which had fallen from the mountain above. Then suddenly there fell on our ears a marvellous strange cry, neither as of a man nor yet as of a wild beast; and while we ceased rowing for to listen, behold, yet another cry, more piercing and strange than the first, and then straightway another: and withal the rocks and cliffs took up the sound and multiplied it, and tossed it this way and that way till all the land seemed alive with the clamour. But Gorgias trembled and said it was an evil spirit, for, said he, “There be burial-places in this part of the coast.” Then Peter cried aloud and said, “I see a form as of a man, lank and lean, coming out from the rocks; and it is naked.” Then some of us bade steer towards another part of the coast; but Jesus commanded to keep on our course.

Now when we landed, we perceived that it was a man, but he was one possessed with evil spirits. For he had chains about his body; and he had cut and lanced his flesh with grievous wounds. When he saw us, he took up stones to cast at us, so that we feared to approach him; and certain shepherds from afar off beckoned to us to go back from him. But Jesus went before the rest of us and accosted him. And lo, at the voice of Jesus, the man straightway let the stones fall from his hands; and, for a moment, he stood as one astonied and in a trance. Then he shrieked aloud and made answer to Jesus in two voices, after the manner of those possessed with unclean spirits. For at one time the man spake, and at another the devils. But the devils, speaking in a deep hollow voice, declared that they were swine, and three thousand in number, and that their name was Legion. Moreover they besought Jesus that he would not send them into the abyss (for by this name do the evil spirits use to call that place wherein they must needs wander so long as they have no bodies of men to dwell in), but that he would suffer them to remain in the man’s body. But Jesus drove them out, and the Legion went forth into the abyss, to the number of three thousand, and in the shapes of swine. But Jesus did not suffer the man to accompany him, but bade him return to his friends, and to tell them what great things the Lord had done for him.

This mighty work of Jesus I have set down the more exactly, because no such unclean spirit as this was ever cast out by any other exorcist. For other men have been possessed with swine, or toads, or scorpions, or serpents, but not with many in number, seldom with more than seven. But this man was possessed with three thousand swine. For I not only heard him say this to Jesus, but he also repeated it to me; for I conversed with him. He told me also that he himself saw the three thousand swine go forth and run, first upward, and then violently down from the cliff, even to the abyss. Now the man was a Gadarene, a Jew by birth, and a patriot, one of the sect of the Galileans. Howbeit, living in Gadara, which is a Greek city, he had suffered himself to become defiled, and had rejected the Law and the Worship, and had eaten swine’s flesh. But it came to pass that on a certain day, even at the hour of prayer, when he thought on these things, a darkness fell upon his soul, and he saw sights of demons; and sometimes also he saw the sun as though it were red as blood; and he loathed his food as it had been poison. And this continued for the space of six months. But at the end of the six months, on a certain Sabbath, as he stood in the streets of Gadara, so it was that there came a cohort, which is the tenth part of a Roman legion, marching through the town. And he turned and cursed them in the name of the Lord; and lo, as the curse went forth from his mouth, the devils entered into him in the shape of a legion of swine; and they possessed him even to the day when Jesus healed him. All this I heard from the demoniac himself.

When Jesus had worked this miracle we all rejoiced greatly; for we thought that whoso could do so mighty a work, to him all things were possible; and we desired Jesus to go back to the other side of the lake, and there to work miracles that he might convince the Pharisees. But we marvelled that Jesus set so little store on his mighty works, insomuch that he even seemed oftentimes unwilling to work them. Many also he wrought in private; and many he would fain have kept secret, but he could not. Now when I asked Nathanael (for he was as it were an interpreter unto me to explain such sayings of Jesus as were hard to understand) for what cause Jesus lightly esteemed his own miracles, he asked me whether I had not noted how the common folk resorted to Jesus as a mere worker of wonders, so that sometimes they even interrupted his discourse, being desirous that Jesus should cease to teach that he might begin to work cures. “Now Jesus,” he said, “doth not desire that men should come to him merely as the healer of their bodies, but as the healer also of their souls.”

“For this cause,” said Nathanael, “Jesus often biddeth such as he healeth in Galilee to keep silence, although he suffered the Gadarene in these distant parts to make it known. For he deemeth it his especial work not so much to drive out diseases and evil spirits from the body, as rather to heal the soul, ministering bread to the hungry and wine to them that are athirst, loosing the tongue of the dumb, and causing the deaf to hear, opening the eyes of the blind, and making the lame to leap as a hart in the paths of salvation.”

We made no long stay on the eastern side of the lake; but when we came again to Capernaum we found the hearts of the people turned from us. For not only did the chief ruler and the elders of the synagogue watch us, as before, if perchance they could take us at an advantage; but the zeal of the townsmen also seemed to have waxed cold. Scarcely had our boat touched the strand at Capernaum when my uncle Manasseh met me. He took me aside and spake with me very earnestly, saying that he had rebuked his son Baruch for his slackness at business, because poverty was coming upon them as an armed man, by reason of his constant attending on Jesus; and he added, “It is true also of thee as of Baruch, ‘He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.’ ” “And what said Baruch?” I asked. “He hath consented to my words,” said Manasseh, “and hath promised that he will no longer accompany this Jesus of Nazareth in his wanderings: and do thou the like.” But this I would not do; so we parted in anger.

Not a few left Jesus at this time, mostly they of the wealthier sort, as were Baruch and Manasseh; some going back to their vineyards, others to their olive-presses, others to the dye-works and glass-furnaces, whereof there were many in Galilee. But the poorer sort joined themselves to Jesus as much as before, being drawn unto him by the fame of his mighty works. Howbeit they also began to wax impatient that Jesus should give the sign for war. Nor did they give now much heed to the words of Jesus; but they paid regard to him as to some great exorcist and sorcerer, who useth his art for good ends. Therefore the heart of our Master was sad at this time; and he was grieved that the simple folk knew him not: and their words of praise were an abomination to him.

Now it came to pass that on the third day after we had returned to Capernaum, the fame of Jesus, how he had driven out the legion of swine into the abyss, having been now noised abroad on our side of the lake, behold, the common people thronged him more than before; insomuch that, when he began to teach the people on the shore after his manner, during the cool of the evening, they pressed in upon him and interrupted him, so that he was not able to continue his discourse. But Jesus, being grieved thereat, gave command to Peter and to Andrew that they should straightway launch a boat; and he went on board. When the people saw it, they made lamentation; but the boat was stayed at about fifty paces from the land; and Jesus sat in the boat and taught us while we stood on the shore.

When he opened his mouth, we perceived that he taught after a new fashion. For he no longer said “Do this,” “Do not that”; but he spake in parables. Now almost all the teaching of the Wise is in parables, and Jesus also had before taught in parables; but these parables had been short, and along with the parables there had been added the interpretation thereof. But it was not so now; for the parable was naught but a tale about a certain sower, how he sowed seed on several kinds of ground: of the seeds, some falling on rock were destroyed by birds; others by heat and the shallowness of the soil; others by weeds; but some brought forth fruit.

Hereat certain murmured, and Gorgias said aloud, “Doth he think to redeem Sion with a tale? Lo, the prophet John is in prison, and the men of Galilee wait but for a nod from Jesus to rescue him; and our Master rescueth him not, but openeth his mouth in dark sayings.” But the greater number listened all agape, as though spell-bound; for the very voice of Jesus had power to bind the souls of a multitude. Howbeit, when evening, or at the most when the morrow came, the parable had clean vanished out of the minds of the greater part. Notwithstanding some (but these only a very few) stored up the words of Jesus in their hearts, and diligently pondered them.

In the evening I went with the rest to Jesus; and we besought him to tell us what the parable might mean, and also why he taught thus in parables. When he had answered, I perceived the meaning of the parable, how that Abuyah the son of Elishah, and Eliezer the son of Arak, were the rocky ground from which the birds picked up the seed; but Baruch, and such as Baruch, were the shallow ground; and Manasseh and the rich merchants and artificers were the fertile ground wherein weeds choked the seed. But still we were fain to know why he spake in parables.

When we again questioned him of this, behold, Jesus cried aloud with an exceeding bitter cry, saying, in the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And the Lord said, ‘Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and be healed.’ ”

Then were we all sad, and sat silent for a while; for our Master’s face was full of sorrow, and this was, as it were, the first shadow of evil that had fallen upon our path. Moreover we began to fear that, as in the days of Isaiah, so it would be now. The Lord had sent his prophet, even Jesus of Nazareth; but the hearts of the people would be hardened against the words of the prophet; yea, the prophet himself would seem to make the hearts of the people hard and not soft, as it was with Abuyah the son of Elishah and Eliezer the son of Arak, whose hearts were made fat and their ears heavy by the words of Jesus of Nazareth.

For we perceived in part his meaning, to wit, not that he desired in truth to shut the eyes of the people, but that he was constrained of the Lord to preach the Gospel, and all pressed to hear it; yet could he in no wise preach it so as to make it plain to all, but only to a few. For behold, he had made trial of the plain way of teaching, and men had thought they had understood him, but they had understood him not; but had esteemed him lightly, as little better than an exorcist. For his words had not pierced into their hearts, but had rested without, as seeds on the wayside; insomuch that they had been carried away by the angels of Satan. Therefore must he now adventure a new path of teaching to the end that, at the least, some few of us might be convinced of our want of understanding, so that we might seek and find the truth; but, to the most, all things should be in darkness, yea, the light itself should be as darkness unto the most.

All this the Lord Jesus spake more clearly afterwards, when he perceived the will of the Father that only a few should be chosen, though many were called: but at this time (perchance because it had been but newly revealed to him) he spake more darkly and with a greater bitterness of sorrow. Howbeit when he had lifted up his head and perceived that we also were weighed down with his affliction, then straightway he made himself to be of a cheerful countenance, and comforted us, saying, “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables.” Then he bade us take heed that we taught others even as he had taught us; for, said he, “with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.” He said also, “Take heed how ye hear; for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.” These latter words we understood not then; but, as I take it, the meaning of Jesus was twofold; first, that whoso had not faith nor honesty would receive damage (even as Judas received damage, and not advantage) from the doctrine of Jesus; but, secondly, he seemed to mean that the doctrine was, as it were, lent to each of the disciples, as money upon usury; each being bound to traffic with the doctrine in the commerce of his own thoughts, so as to add thereto. In the same way he told us, at another time, that we were to bring forth out of our treasuries things new as well as old; and he also bade us to “be trustworthy bankers.”7 For of all things Jesus misliked that we should repeat his words by rote; nor did he even bid us copy his actions exactly (but he even said that a time should come when we should do greater works than he had done); and the like also of his words. For this cause perchance, Jesus spake afterwards to us also, even to us his disciples, sometimes in dark sayings; to the intent that we might ponder, and ask and know the truth. For albeit we often feared to ask him questions (because of our folly and our want of faith), yet did he ever desire us to question him; teaching us that only to them that knock, is the door opened; and only to them that hunger, is given of the bread of Life.

When we went forth from the chamber, Gorgias said, “What meaneth the Prophet? Doth he say that whosoever is rich, he shall be made richer? And whosoever is poor, shall he also be made poorer?” Hereat we all smiled; for we knew that our Master spake not of money, but of wisdom: and one made answer to Gorgias to this effect. Then said Judas, “But if Jesus mean wisdom, then how sayeth he ‘With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you?’ ” But Jonathan the son of Ezra replied, “Is not this even according to the saying of the Wise, ‘Man is born to learn in order to teach?’ And again, ‘He that learneth the Law and doth not teach it, he it is that despiseth the Name of the Lord.’ Therefore the meaning of Jesus is, that if a man teach others what he hath learned, the angels give into his bosom a hundredfold reward.” To this Nathanael agreed, and he added, “The reward is not as a price that is paid, so many shekels for so much teaching; but it is even as the rain cometh from the cloud, or as heat cometh from the fire. Even so doth wisdom come from teaching. For wisdom is not as a dead block that wasteth with the using, but as a living thing that groweth with exercise. But most of all is this true of that kind of wisdom whereof our Master speaketh.”

Then Judas said, “But I would to God that our Master would leave off to speak of wisdom and would do somewhat.” And Gorgias said Amen to that. But Simon Peter replied: “It is said, ‘Take to thyself a master, and be quit of doubt.’ Now my Master is Jesus of Nazareth, and I purpose not to spend the time in doubting, nor to halt between many opinions. For the man that is given to much doubting, to what is he like? He is like unto a ship with many pilots, which attaineth not to the harbour. Therefore have I settled my mind to believe that whatsoever Jesus doeth, that is righteousness, and whatsoever he purposeth, that is wisdom.”

To this we agreed, and no more was said. Howbeit many of us could not so far constrain ourselves, but we had some searchings of heart; and passing clouds of trouble sometimes crossed our souls for that the Pharisees were set against us, and because Jesus himself had that day seemed like unto one bearing a burden of the Lord. Notwithstanding on the morrow, when we looked upon his countenance, full of brightness and cheerfulness, and when we heard him speak, after his wont, of the greatness and the glory of the Kingdom that was to come, behold, all our dark thoughts had immediately vanished away.

CHAPTER XI

Among them that came to Jesus, a few were outcasts from the synagogues, or, as they were called, “sinners”; and it grieved the chief ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum and the elders of that synagogue that Jesus should receive such people. But Jesus received them gladly, and his anger waxed daily hotter against the rulers of the synagogues and against the Scribes, “because,” said he, “they kept the key of the Kingdom, and yet they would neither enter in themselves nor suffer others to enter in.” He also spake sometimes of a new Key which he must give to his disciples; but this, as yet, he spake not clearly. But as I remember, these words concerning the Scribes were spoken when Jesus first heard of the story of Hannah; which I will set down here, though the matter occurred some days before.

There lived in Capernaum a certain woman whose name was Hannah, sister of the mother of Nathanael. This woman was afflicted by Satan, so that she could not stand upright, but was bowed down to the earth. Now it came to pass that on a certain day when Nathanael visited her in her affliction, behold, the Rabbi Eliezer was in her house, questioning her touching her sins. And Eliezer had persuaded the woman that she was guilty of many sins; for enquiring whether she had visited any of her acquaintance on the Sabbath, he found that one of them, a widow, old and bed-ridden, lived somewhat more than two thousand paces from her house; wherefore he declared that Hannah had broken the Law in visiting this poor widow on the Sabbath. Moreover he reproved Hannah because she had borne burdens on the Sabbath, in that she had worn ribbons upon her garment during the Sabbath, which ribbons were not sewn to her garment; neither had she observed the Law of the Sabbath as touching things that are not living. Many other like sins did Eliezer reprove in Nathanael’s kinswoman.

But when she sought how to be forgiven, he said, “Thou hast not sinned against man, but against God. If a man sin against men, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? But give of thy substance to the treasury of the synagogue, and I will entreat for thee if perchance the Lord will deal mercifully with thee. Howbeit thou must needs wait till the Day of Atonement: for until that day thou mayest not be forgiven. But in the mean season fast, and eat no pleasant food, nor drink wine: but afflict thy soul before the face of the All-merciful (blessed is He) if perchance He may incline His ear unto thy prayer.”

Now when Hannah heard these things, her spirit fainted within her, and she knew not what to do, and she cried aloud to Eliezer, “Alas! the Angel of Death is even now upon my threshold, and my sins weigh heavily upon me. I beseech thee therefore, entreat the Lord for me, that He may forgive me immediately, lest I die unforgiven.” But he made answer, as before, that she must needs wait till the Day of Atonement; and he made ready to depart. Then she caught him by the garment to entreat him; but he would not stay, but went out.

On the third day after these things, it came to pass that seven evil spirits entered into Hannah and possessed her in the shapes of swine; and Eliezer heard it, and said that it was a judgment of the Lord. Then was Nathanael sorely grieved, and he came to Jesus and told him everything; both that which Eliezer had said, and how Hannah had cried unto him, and afterwards how the evil spirits had entered into her. But Jesus (as it was reported to me by Nathanael), being exceeding wroth, arose in haste upon hearing of this story; and he went forth straightway to the house of Hannah and cast out the seven devils, and bade her be of good cheer and live in peace. And then it was that he uttered this saying against the Scribes, whereof I made mention above, namely that they kept the key of the Kingdom of God, but would neither enter in themselves, nor suffer others to enter in.