ALIVE: Chapter 161, Stupid Stones
/“Do you have to leave again so soon? You just got here?” said Peter’s wife that night while in bed before they fell asleep when he told her that they were going back to Judea. Peter rolled over and hugged her and gave her a long warm heartfelt kiss. “My dear, “He is my Master. I can’t love you unless I love Him. I can’t be true to you unless I am true to Him. He shows us what it means to be sons of God. I don’t know why we have to go back so soon. That doesn’t matter.”
“Well, I’m going to miss you again. We need you here too.”
“I know. You’ll be fine. You don’t need me, you just want me. The Lord is taking good care of you and your mother and my father. Let me go with peace in your heart, this is your chance to show the same devotion and sacrifice that all of us show. But you can stay in this comfortable home. Be grateful.”
“Yes, I guess you’re right. I don’t know why, I feel a little scared this time.”
“I do too. Be brave and trust God. Now, let’s go to sleep.”
She cuddled up to him, nesting her head on the hollow between his shoulder and rib cage , listening to his heartbeat and quickly fell asleep. Peter didn’t sleep so soon, but thought about why he felt uneasy. It was probably because there was more hostility lately than when Jesus was healing more often and everyone was so amazed and grateful, but now He is making Himself out to be a special son of God, and rousing so much hostility. He keeps saying that they want to kill Him. He needs defense. Peter knew without a doubt, because of all that he had seen and heard for almost three years, that Jesus was who He said He was. Peter knew that he needed to be a faithful servant, no matter what happens. There was no other life for him.
He woke up the next morning, feeling like a new man, like the night before he had been elevated in rank from Sargent to Lieutenant. Peter felt stronger, surer in his role as a disciple which had become more tense. Oh for the days when Jesus turned water into wine, or calmed the raging sea! Now that He was bolder, turning tables of the money changers, proclaiming God to be His own father and calling Pharisees sons of the devil, Peter knew that they too had to step up. He was sure that he would never ever leave or forsake Jesus. There was no where else to go. There was no turning back. Peter felt strong and determined to be faithful.
After a hearty breakfast all the disciples who weren’t staying at Peter’s house met Jesus there to head back to Judea by sea. John thought how grateful he was that the Lord God had provided the Jordan River in the middle of their arid country to ease their travel north and south through the long narrow land.
They arrived just before nightfall. Jesus and His disciples disembarked. They camped there and headed for Jericho in the morning.
“Let’s go back to Hadessah’s house. She can put us up for a few days.” said Jesus.
The disciples remembered her and were glad for her rich hospitality. By then the locals in Judea recognized Jesus and His disciples as they walked the road in their familiar large group.
“Jesus! It’s so good to see you again! Please come to my home and let us give you a meal. Bring your men. What is a dozen more?!”
‘We would be happy to. Thank you.” replied Jesus knowing that they would tell the neighbors to bring their ill for healing, which is exactly what happened. As usual, the disciples managed the crowd. The ill people lined up to be healed and to be blessed while the meal was being prepared. Jesus truly enjoyed healing people. He loved to see the transformation from illness to wellness and He loved sharing their joy and receiving their hugs.
After almost a week with Hadessah and her husband in Jericho, Jesus, knowing that the end was near, was fortified more than ever by His early morning time with His Father on the nearby mountaintop and the strength He received with the healings. He was getting ready as He steadfastly set His face to Jerusalem.
“Must you leave so soon?” asked Hadessah in a motherly voice.
“Yes, thank you very much as usual for your hospitality.” replied Jesus.
Not all the disciples were as intuitive about this trip to Jerusalem as was Peter.
No sooner had the troupe arrived on the outskirts of Jerusalem than a pack of Pharisees spotted them and approached Jesus.
“Welcome rabbi.” said one sounding sarcastic when he said rabbi.
“Can I help you?” replied Jesus.
“My colleagues and I were discussing divorce. Maybe you could call it an argument. How fortunate that You appeared. Please tell us, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?”
Jesus, knowing that they were setting Him up to say what people did not want to hear answered, “What did Moses command you?”
The same Pharisee quickly replied to show his knowledge of the law, “ Moses said to write a bill of divorcement, and send her away for any reason, or for no reason.”
Jesus, not afraid of the corner He was painted into said to them, “ For your hardness of heart Moses said that. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female so that a man should leave his father and mother, and shall be just as bound to his wife as he had been to his parents, and the two would become one flesh: so that they are no more two, but one flesh.”
After one of His familiar pauses, Jesus added, “What God has joined together, no one should separate for any reason, except adultery.”
A different Pharisee spoke up to defend the common practice of divorce. “How can You say that?! People have been divorcing as long as we can remember. It is natural that when a man is tired of his wife, perhaps she nags him, corrects him to much, or she has grown old and unbecoming, or her cooking is terrible, how can he be expected to endure this?”
Unafraid of conveying the truth of God’s intentions and commandments, no matter how unpopular, Jesus replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice to the charged question, “Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against his wife. The same goes with the woman, if she sends her husband out of the home for being cruel or for whatever reason or for no reason, just because she is tired of him, and marries another, she is committing adultery.” God knows that loyalty and commitment, patience and love, endurance and humility are the characteristics essential of a citizen of the kingdom of God. No one who cannot develop these qualities is fit for the happier immortal life. The marriage relationship shows God who would be a welcome citizen of His Kingdom, and who would not.
The Pharisees all either chuckled or sneered at what they considered an absurd statement. They were glad to hear such an unpopular reply hoping to turn the crowd, and maybe even His disciplines against Him.
When Jesus knew that He had given them what they wanted and had no more to say about that, and that the Pharisees had no more questions, having received their ammunition, Jesus said, “We must be going, please excuse us.”
“Gladly.” said the Pharisee who asked the question and the two groups parted even though they were both heading for Jerusalem.
It was hard for Jesus and His disciples to go very far these days when they were so easily recognized. Besides the suffering ill, parents were bringing their children to be blessed with a touch by Jesus, hoping the blessing would protect the vulnerable babes.
Judas and Bartholomew tried to shoo away the parents who were following Jesus as He was trying to move on, and told them, “The Master has more important things to do! Go home; we must be going.”
Jesus heard that, stopped and became furious with them saying, ”Hey! Let the little children come to Me! Do not send them away!” And to confirm His seriousness He said, “To people as innocent, and as pure as children belongs the Kingdom of God. In fact, I tell you that whoever does not try to approach the Kingdom of God as a little child, shall not be able to enter.” Then He picked up a cute little 3 year old boy with big blue eyes and full red cheeks; He blessed the boy by saying a silent prayer for him. When He set the boy down, He gently placed His two hands on the heads of two children, and gently moved His hands to two other children, one hand here the other there and on and on until all the children around him had been blessed. The children giggled, all with beaming faces looking up at Jesus, and waiting for their bop on the head. Jesus chuckled too.
Judas and Bartholomew stood corrected along with all the rest of the crowd who learned one more important lesson that day. Some mothers giggled too, sensing the joy of their children and feeling their own blessing through the holy touch.
“Now we really must be moving on. Excuse us.” said Jesus and continued to walk. He didn’t get very far when one young man ran in front of Him and fell to his knees, creating an obstacle on His path. He looked up at Jesus and asked, “Good Teacher, what should I do that I can inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered matter-of-factly, “Why call Me good? No one is good except God. You know the commandments. Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. God gave you the commandments to follow, so you can be like Him who is only Good.”
“Teacher, I have been following all the commandments to the best of my ability, and when I fail, I sacrifice an animal. I have done these all my life.”
Jesus looked down at him lovingly and stretched out His hand to lift the man off his knees and and said to him, “One thing you lack: go, sell all your possession, give to the poor, so you may have treasure in heaven: and then come and follow Me.”
Standing in front of Jesus, the young man lowered his head to think through what was being asked of him. The crowd and the disciples looked on. “Thank you, I will try. Thank you.” The young man turned in sorrow and walked back to his ranch and his horses and his big home housing all his treasures with a lot on his mind.
Jesus watched him walk away with a heavy heart and said, “How hard it is to have riches and be able to enter into the kingdom of God!”
Hearing that, Thomas looked at Bartholomew in disbelief. Bartholomew shrugged his shoulders as of to say, “Let’s ask Him to explain this later.”
Jesus repeated Himself and added, “Yes, children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom.’
Andrew spoke up and said, “Well, then who can be saved?”
Jesus replied, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Peter said, “ We have left everything to follow you Master.”
Jesus responded, “To tell you the truth, there is no man that has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for My sake, and for the sake of the good news that I will bring. Such a person,” looking straight at Peter, “will receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.”
Most of the disciples, the ones paying attention, admitted to themselves that they were confused by this. If it was impossible to be rich and enter the Kingdom, then why would God give those who sacrificed an hundredfold in this life houses and lands? After that, they walked in silence over to the temple thinking and not thinking about that exchange.
It was Hanukkah, the commemoration of the dedication of the second temple. The people, surrounded by cold air, and in woolen jackets were teaming with preparations for the eight-day celebration of the Festival of Lights. Small contained fires were scattered around the streets to warm the people in their travels throughout the city. Jesus and Hisndisciples were walking on the eastern side of the temple in the colonnade known as Solomon’s porch, about to enter the building when four men who were also about to enter the temple recognized Him.
“Look! Isn’t that Jesus the rabbi and healer over there?” said Asa excitedly to his friends.
“Yes! I’m sure of it, I saw Him recently, let’s go talk to Him!”
The men rushed over to Jesus before He could enter calling to slow Him down, “Hey Jesus, hey!”
Jesus turned to see who was calling Him. His men looked to see if they were friends or foes.
“Can I ask You a question?” said Asa loudly.
Jesus stopped to wait for the men to approach, and when they did He said, “Yes. Of course. How can I help you?”
Asa had been thinking about this question for weeks and was very excited that he was given this opportunity, as if God orchestrated this assignation for him. He asked, “How long will You hold us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered Asa and his friends who looked just as curious, “I already told you, and you people don’t believe Me. If you did, you wouldn’t have to ask. Okay, don’t believe my words. Pay attention to My works. The works I do, the healings, I do these in My Father’s name; these bear witness of Me. But you don’t believe Me because you are not one of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give them eternal life. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of His hand.” Jesus paused to let those bold words sink in. Then He gave them no doubt about the meaning, when He said, “I and the Father are one.”
Jesus watched as, not Asa, but others around him looked down at the ground for stones to throw at Him.
Jesus wasn’t afraid. He didn’t try to escape, instead He continued because He knew that they wouldn’t find any stones on that ground that could hurt Him. He said loud and clear so even the young guys busy looking for stones could hear, “Many works that have I shown you are actually from the Father; for which of those works do you want to stone Me?”
One irate man pulled himself looked up from his search for stones and shouted, “We aren’t going to stone You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God. How dare You?!” His face was turning red in anger for that young man loved God, the God he thought he knew, the God he had prayed to and sacrificed to and humbled himself before. This Jesus, even though He was able to do marvelous things, He was only a man. The anger was from confusion from an inability to translate his knowledge of God and scripture with the Person before him. And it wasn’t just this bold young man, but most of those who had tarried over to the scene out of curiosity to hear the hubbub. These people weren’t just ignorant, they were insensible. Their rational minds overwhelmed their spiritual sensibilities.
So, to try to speak to their intellect in hopes that they would take in the meaning of His words, the power of them, Jesus answered, “Isn’t it written in your law, “I said, you are gods? If God called them gods, from whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), how can you say of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world that I am blaspheming because I said, I am the Son of God? If I don’t do the works of My Father, then don’t believe Me. But if I do them, then fine, don’t believe My words, but believe the works that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”
They heard with open ears but closed hearts, not perceiving truth. The effect was that many of the men wanted to grab Him and take Him to the chief priests for punishment, but the Spirit would not allow His abduction. It wasn’t time yet. In the fray of the men trying to organize among inner confusion Jesus stealthily slipped away.
These two thousand years later, it is only the works that lasted. And new works continue to occur all the time; not stories, but living works, millions of people who experience first hand the miracles, the healings, the uncanny timing of blessings the awareness of the Holy Spirit in their lives. People in every generation, around the earth, of every position in the world and away from the world. These works cannot be denied. Such denial would be another betrayal. They would be blindness and hardness of heart. For aware people there is not a scintilla of doubt that the Messiah lived on earth and is still as Alive as ever.