"But, Master," urged Simon, "look at the things that the Pharisees do!
They educate our children in religion in the synagogue schools. They never have anything to do with the Sadducees or priests who take money from the Romans. They study the Scriptures more than anyone else; don"t these things count for anything?"
"Men may do all these things and yet have no real faith in G.o.d,"
answered Jesus. "The Kingdom of Heaven comes to men who love G.o.d above everything else. There was something that meant more to that young man yesterday than G.o.d--and that was his money. Other men depend on other things; whatever they are, they must get rid of them. Even the most upright Pharisee must forget his pride in goodness and trust G.o.d as simply as a little child."
John shook his head doubtfully. "The people will never understand that,"
he said. "Even though the Pharisees are often very sn.o.bbish, they are the best people in our nation."
Jesus suddenly became grim. "The whole religion of the Pharisees sets them against the Kingdom of Heaven!"
The men looked at him in surprise. "But Master," urged James, "we need them to help us set up the new Kingdom! They are more loyal to G.o.d than anyone else. Besides, we can do nothing without their friendship."
"I know them, James," answered Jesus. "Men who are sure of themselves will never welcome what we have to tell them!"
John shook his head but said no more. This was not his idea of the way the Kingdom would come. The disciples felt sure Jesus could not mean all he said. But two days later they realized they were wrong. Jesus had meant every word.
After a short trip through lower Galilee, the men arrived in Nazareth where Jesus had lived until a few months before. His mother and brothers were still there, but Jesus stayed outside the town until Sabbath morning and then went with them to the synagogue.
The rumors of Jesus" miracles had spread through all Galilee, and when Jesus entered the synagogue many people looked at him curiously. He saw many people he knew. There was the woman who had lived next to them for twenty years and who was a special friend of his mother"s; there were several young men whom he knew well. He smiled across the congregation at one young man who had helped him in the carpenter shop after his father Joseph had died, when Jesus was forced to support the family.
The minister of the synagogue, an old friend of Jesus", invited him to lead the service. After the prayers, he sat down at the desk in the center of the synagogue and opened the scroll to the Prophet Isaiah.
Looking into the faces of many people who had known him from boyhood, Jesus knew it would not be easy to tell them about the Kingdom. He read the same pa.s.sage he had read in Capernaum: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has consecrated me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release for captives and recovery of sight for the blind. He has sent me to set free the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord"s blessing."
Jesus rolled up the scroll. Everyone waited for him to speak. "Today,"
he declared, "these words of the Prophet Isaiah have come true right here. G.o.d has sent his Holy Spirit upon me to tell you that he is now among you. If you truly know that you need G.o.d, your ears will be open to hear this word from him; but if you are proud, you will be deaf. Put your entire trust in G.o.d and seek his will! I declare to you that G.o.d"s Kingdom is not far in the future; G.o.d has brought it to your door!"
He paused and looked from person to person. "Who would have thought Joseph"s son would turn out so well?" whispered one of the elders to a neighbor.
"He does speak with ease," replied his friend, a grudging note in his voice.
"If we could see him do a miracle, we should know for sure whether he is all he claims," said the elder.
From the very first, Jesus had known that the people of Nazareth would find it hard to believe in him. Looking at the elders, he said: "No doubt you are ready to say to me, "Do for us here in your own home town the things you have been doing in Capernaum." But prophets are never accepted by the people of their own country. There were many Jewish widows who needed Elijah"s help when the great famine came over all Israel, but G.o.d did not send him to any of them--they would not believe in him. He sent him to a widow in Sidon, a gentile!
"Elisha could have found many Jewish lepers who needed to be healed, but not one of them was made clean. They would not believe in him! Rather, he healed Naaman, a Syrian and a gentile!"
A deathly silence settled over the synagogue. They were not as good as gentiles! Gentiles, who were unclean outsiders! A carpenter"s son telling them that G.o.d would pa.s.s them by for gentiles! The men began to murmur angrily. Jesus" voice rang out: "How can I do great deeds among you when you do not really believe G.o.d at all?"
Open anger swept through the synagogue. "How dare he talk like this to us?" demanded one man, leaping to his feet. All over the room men began to crowd toward the front where Jesus stood.
"Let us have order here!" The minister could hardly make his voice heard. A group of men rushed toward Jesus, who did not even step back.
"Over the cliff with him!" shouted someone. In a moment they were shoving and hustling Jesus toward the door, yelling, "Over the cliff with him!"
Carrying Jesus with them, the crowd moved swiftly toward a place outside the town where the hill dropped straight down. Then a peculiar thing happened. The men seemed suddenly to realize what they were doing. This was Mary"s son! The son of Joseph, the carpenter who for many years had made yokes for their oxen.
Wrath seemed to melt away. The men let go of Jesus" robe. They seemed almost afraid of him. None laid a hand on him as he walked through the mob which only a moment before had wanted to kill him.
An instant after Jesus was gone, anger again came over the men like the backwash from an ocean wave. Some shook their fists in the direction Jesus had gone, but not one had the courage to follow.
The disciples did not attempt to follow Jesus. They were glad that no one in the town knew them, and they wasted no time in leaving. They all realized that men who were afraid of Jesus might take out their anger on his followers. It was late that night before the disciples found one another and started to hunt for their Master.
Jesus had left the city and climbed to a high ridge where he had loved to go as a boy. Now he looked down on the broad valley of Esdraelon, stretching south to the foothills of Samaria, where so many of the great battles of ancient Israel had been fought. Had he not always felt that someday he would be rejected by his own home town?
Nevertheless, Jesus was not scorned by everyone in Nazareth. A few people remembered the place he loved and they came to him there. They were not rich people, and there were no elders from the synagogue among them. They were the sick and crippled; they were people for whom life was hard, and they believed the word which Jesus had spoken to them. The disciples found him teaching and healing these few.
"These have heard my word," said Jesus to the followers. "To them the Kingdom is given." The disciples listened to Jesus telling the poorest folk of Nazareth the news of the Kingdom. When they left, Jesus spoke very plainly to the disciples.
"Why are you so discouraged?" he asked. "Have we not preached the gospel of the Kingdom here?"
"They turned us out!" burst out James. "They laughed at us! They tried to kill you!"
Simon was bitter. "We should never come near this miserable village again. We might have been killed!"
"If men are to enter the Kingdom of G.o.d, they must repent," answered Jesus. "It cuts them to the heart to confess that they have forgotten G.o.d and his righteousness. They hate us for teaching them the truth about themselves."
The disciples sat in gloomy silence. Simon gazed out over the plains below. Here through many defeats in battle the Jews had paid the price of their sin--but Israel had not yet learned. Still the nation spurned the prophets whom G.o.d sent. Would the Kingdom never come?
[Ill.u.s.tration]
5. WHO IS THIS CARPENTER?
After their harsh experience at Nazareth, the disciples were prepared for other disappointments. Before they entered the next town on their journey through Galilee the men talked soberly, a little fearfully, about what might happen. But, one after another, the villages of Galilee welcomed Jesus. The common people listened eagerly to the news that he proclaimed, and many believed. The disciples began to forget that Jesus had been driven out of Nazareth.
Late one Friday afternoon just before the Sabbath began, Jesus led the disciples into Chorazin, a town crowded in by the steep walls of a valley north of Capernaum. A full hour before sunset the hills to the west threw deep shadows over the village. It was cooler than Capernaum, thought Simon. Soon he would be home with his wife and children! But he was as glad as the others to rest in Chorazin over the Sabbath. They had traveled all week, pausing only to tell the good news in the towns they had pa.s.sed through, and they were very tired.
The men rose the next morning greatly refreshed, ready to worship at the synagogue. They were sure Jesus would be asked to teach. Most of the disciples expected the people to receive Jesus gladly, but Simon could not forget the last time they had been in a synagogue--at Nazareth. It was in the market places and on the streets, Simon remembered, not in the synagogues, that Jesus had been most gladly welcomed.
As soon as they entered the synagogue, Simon decided that the whole town must have seen them arrive the night before; everyone was expecting them. Invited by the minister of the synagogue, Jesus took his place behind the desk on the low platform in the center of the room, and read from the Prophets. Then he told the people very plainly that G.o.d was among them in great power; that they must immediately give up everything that kept them from understanding G.o.d"s purpose and devote their lives to him. Both the people and the elders listened closely, and Simon was not surprised when many people gathered around Jesus as soon as the service was over. The minister and the elders asked many serious questions, and Simon saw that they were very sincere. The things Jesus had said disturbed them deeply. No one noticed a very short woman quietly walking up behind the men who surrounded Jesus.
When at last there were no more questions, Jesus turned to go. The men stepped back. For the first time, Jesus saw the woman. Shyly she moved away. Instantly he realized why she had come. Her back was terribly bent.
"Do not be afraid," he said to her encouragingly; "come here!" She hesitated.
_Does he realize that this is the Sabbath?_ Simon thought in alarm.
As though he were alone with the woman, Jesus laid his hand on her twisted back and raised his eyes in prayer: "Father, I thank thee that thou hearest me when I pray. Set this woman free, I beseech thee, from the deformity which has bent her body these many years. This I ask in order that she may know that thou hast sent me with thy message of life." While Jesus was praying, Simon glanced at the elders of the synagogue.
They were utterly amazed at what Jesus was doing. _Doesn"t this Nazarene know this is the Sabbath?_ wondered the minister.
Jesus had finished. He said, "You are freed from your infirmity." She stood up straight. "May G.o.d be praised!" she exclaimed. There were tears of joy in her eyes.
"G.o.d"s blessing on you. Rabbi!" The woman"s friends had been watching from the balcony and now they ran down to the main floor of the synagogue and gathered around her.
Amazed and outraged, the minister looked from the woman to Jesus and back again. Angrily he turned to the people. "The Law says there are six days in each week for work. That means there are six days for getting healed. What more do you need? Why do you come on the Sabbath?"