WHEN Joel went out on the streets next morning, although it was quite
early, he saw a disappointed crowd coming up from the direction of
Simon's house on the lake shore.
"Where have all these people been?" he asked of the baker's boy, whom he
ran against at the first corner.
The boy stopped whistling, and rested his basket of freshly baked bread
against his knee, as he answered:--
"They were looking for the Rabbi who healed so many people last night.
Say! do you know," he added quickly, as if the news were too good to
keep, "he healed my mother last night. You cannot think how different it
seems at home, to have her going about strong and well like she used to
be."
Joel's eyes brightened. "Do you think he'll do anything for me, if I go
to him now?" he asked wistfully. "Do you suppose he could straighten out
such a crooked back as mine? Look how much shorter this leg is than the
other. Oh, _do_ you think he could make them all right?"
The boy gave him a critical survey, and then answered, emphatically,
"Yes! It really does not look like it would be as hard to straighten you
as old Jeremy, the tailor's father. He was twisted all out of shape, you
know. Well, I'll declare! There he goes now!"
Joel looked across the street. The wrinkled face of the old
basket-weaver was a familiar sight in the market; but Joel could hardly
recognize the once crippled form, now restored to its original
shapeliness.
"I am going right now," he declared, starting to run in his excitement.
"I can't wait another minute."
"But he's gone!" the boy called after him. "That's why the people are
all coming back."
Joel sat down suddenly on a ledge projecting from the stone-wall.
"Gone!" he echoed drearily. It was as if he had been starving, and the
life-giving food held to his famished lips had been suddenly snatched
away. Both his heart and his feet felt like lead when he got up after
awhile, and dragged himself slowly along to the carpenter's house.
[Illustration: "'I PEEPED OUT 'TWEEN 'E WOSE--VINES'"]
It was such a bitter disappointment to be so near the touch of healing,
and then to miss it altogether.
No cheerful tap of the hammer greeted him. The idle tools lay on the
deserted workbench. "Disappointed again!" he thought. Then the doves
cooed, and he caught a glimpse of Ruth's fair hair down among the garden
lilies.
"Where is your father, little one?" he called.
"Gone away wiv 'e good man 'at makes everybody well," she answered. Then
she came skipping down the path to stand close beside him, and say
confidentially: "I saw Him--'e good man--going by to Simon's house. I
peeped out 'tween 'e wose-vines, and He looked wite into my eyes wiv His
eyes, and I couldn't help loving Him!"
Joel looked into the beautiful baby face, thinking what a picture it
must have made, as framed in roses it smiled out on the Tender-hearted
One, going on His mission of help and healing.
With her little hand in his, she led him back to hope, for she took him
to her mother, who comforted him with the assurance that Phineas
expected to be home soon, and doubtless his friend would be with him.
So there came another time to work by himself and dream of the hour
surely dawning. And the dreams were doubly sweet now; for side by side
with his hope of revenge, was the belief in his possible cure.
They heard only once from the absent ones. Word came back that a leper
had been healed. Joel heard it first, down at the custom-house. He had
gotten into the way of strolling down in that direction after his work
was done; for here the many trading-vessels from across the lake, or
those that shipped from Capernaum, had to stop and pay duty. Here, too,
the great road of Eastern commerce passed which led from Damascus to the
harbors of the West. So here he would find a constant stream of
travellers, bringing the latest news from the outside world.
The boy did not know, as he limped up and down the water's edge, longing
for some word from his absent friends, that near by was one who watched
almost as eagerly as himself.
It was Levi-Matthew, one of the officials, sitting in the seat of
custom. Sprung from the same priestly tribe as Joel, he had sunk so low,
in accepting the office of tax-gatherer, that the righteous Laban would
not have touched him so much as with the tip of his sandal.
"Bears and lions," said a proverb, "might be the fiercest wild beasts in
the forests; but publicans and informers were the worst in cities."
One could not bear witness in the courts, and the disgrace extended to
the whole family. They were even classed with robbers and murderers. No
doubt there was deep cause for such a feeling; as a class they were
unscrupulous and unjust. There might have been good ones among their
number, but the company they kept condemned them to the scorn of high
and low.
When a Jew hates, or a Jew scorns, be sure it is thoroughly done; there
is no half-way course for his intense nature to take.
So this son of Levi, sitting in the seat of custom, and this son of Levi
strolling past him, were, socially, as far apart as the east is from the
west,--as unlike as thorn and blossom on the same tribal stem.
Matthew knew all the fishermen and ship-owners that thronged the busy
beach in front of him. The sons of Jonah and of Zebedee passed him
daily; and he must have wondered when he saw them throw down their nets
and leave everything to follow a stranger.
He must have wondered also at the reports on every tongue, and the
sights he had seen himself of miraculous healing. But while strangely
drawn towards this new teacher from Nazareth, it could have been with no
thought that the hand and the voice were for him. He was a publican, and
how could they reach to such depths?
A caravan had just stopped. The pack-animals were being unloaded, bales
and packages opened, private letters pried into. The insolent officials
were tossing things right and left, as they made a list of the taxable
goods.
Joel was watching them with as much interest as if he had not witnessed
such scenes dozens of times before, till he noticed a group gathering
around one of the drivers. He was telling what he had seen on his way to
Capernaum. Several noisy companions kept interrupting him to bear
witness to the truth of his statements.
"And he who but a moment before had been the most miserable of lepers
stood up before us all, cleansed of his leprosy. His skin was soft and
fair as a child's, and his features were restored to him," said the
driver.
Joel and Levi-Matthew stood side by side. At another time the boy might
have drawn his clothes away to keep from brushing against the despised
tax-gatherer. But he never noticed now that their elbows touched.
When he had heard all there was to be told, he limped away to carry the
news to Abigail. To know that others were being cured daily made him all
the more impatient for the return of this friend of Phineas.
The publican turned again to his pen and his account-book. He, too,
looked forward with a burning heart to the return of the Nazarene,
unknowing why he did so.
At last Joel heard of the return, in a very unexpected way. There were
guests in the house of Laban again. One of the rabbis who had been there
before, and a scribe from Jerusalem. Now there were longer conferences
in the upper chamber, and graver shakings of the head, over this false
prophet whose fame was spreading wider.
The miracle of healing the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, when he
had gone down to Jerusalem to one of the many feasts, had stirred Judea
to its farthest borders. So these two men had been sent to investigate.
On the very afternoon of their arrival, a report flew through the
streets that the Rabbi Jesus was once more in the town. Their host led
them with all the haste their dignity would allow, to the house where He
was said to be preaching. The common people fell back when they saw
them, and allowed them to pass into the centre of the throng.
The Rabbi stood in the doorway, so that both those in the house and
without could distinctly hear Him. The scribe had never seen Him before,
and in spite of his deep-seated prejudice could not help admiring the
man whom he had come prepared to despise. It was no wild fanatic who
stood before him, no noisy debater whose fiery eloquence would be likely
to excite and inflame His hearers.
He saw a man of gentlest dignity; truth looked out from the depths of
His calm eyes. Every word, every gesture, carried with it the conviction
that He who spoke taught with God-given authority.
The scribe began to grow uneasy as he listened, carried along by the
earnest tones of the speaker.
There was a great commotion on the edge of the crowd, as some one tried
to push through to the centre.
"Stand back! Go away!" demanded angry voices.
The scribe was a tall man, and by stretching a little, managed to see
over the heads of the others. Four men, bearing a helpless paralytic,
were trying to carry him through the throngs; but they would not make
room for this interruption.
After vainly hunting for some opening through which they might press,
the men mounted the steep, narrow staircase on the outside of the
building, and drew the man up, hammock and all, to the flat roof on
which they stood.
There was a sound of scraping and scratching as they broke away the
brush and mortar that formed the frail covering of the roof. Then the
people in the room below saw slowly coming down upon them between the
rafters, this man whom no obstacle could keep back from the Great
Physician.
But the paralyzed hands could not lift themselves in supplication; the
helpless tongue could frame no word of pleading,--only the eyes of the
sick man could look up into the pitying face bent over him, and implore
a blessing.
The scribe leaned forward, confidently expecting to hear the man bidden
to arise. To his surprise and horror, the words he heard were: "Son, thy
_sins_ be forgiven thee!"
He looked at Laban and his companion, and the three exchanged meaning
glances. When they looked again at the speaker, His eyes seemed to read
their inmost thoughts.
"Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" He asked, with startling
distinctness. "Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy
sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive
sins," here He turned to the helpless form lying at His feet, "I say
unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way unto thine house."
The man bounded to his feet, and picking up the heavy rug on which he
had been lying, went running and leaping out of their midst.
Without a word, Laban and his two guests drew their clothes carefully
around them, and picked their way through the crowd. Phineas, who stood
at the gate, gave them a respectful greeting. Laban only turned his eyes
away with a scowl, and passed coldly on.
"The man is a liar and a blasphemer!" exclaimed the scribe, as they sat
once more in the privacy of Laban's garden.
"Only God can forgive sins!" added his companion. "This paralytic should
have taken a sin-offering to the priest. For only by the blood of
sacrifice can one hope to obtain pardon."
"Still He healed him," spoke up the scribe, musingly.
"Only through the power of Satan!" interrupted Laban. "When He says He
can forgive sins, He blasphemes."
The other Pharisee leaned forward to say, in an impressive whisper:
"Then you know the Law on that point. He should be stoned to death, His
body hung on a tree, and then buried with shame!"
It was not long after that Joel, just back from a trip to Tiberias in a
little sailing-boat, came into the garden. He had been away since early
morning, so had heard nothing of what had just occurred; he had had good
luck in disposing of his wares, and was feeling unusually cheerful.
Hearing voices in the corner of the garden, he was about to pass out
again, when his uncle called him sternly to come to him at once.
Surprised at the command, he obeyed, and was questioned and
cross-questioned by all three. It was very little he could tell them
about his friend's plans; but he acknowledged proudly that Phineas had
always known this famous man from Nazareth, even in childhood, and was
one of his most devoted followers.
"This man Phineas is a traitor to the faith!" roared Laban. "He is a
dangerous man, and in league with these fellows to do great evil to our
nation."
The scribe and the rabbi nodded approvingly.
"Hear me, now!" he cried, sternly. "Never again are you to set foot over
his threshold, or have any communication whatsoever with him or his
associates. I make no idle threat; if you disobey me in this, you will
have cause to wish you had never been born. You may leave us now!"
Too surprised and frightened to say a word, the child slipped away. To
give up his daily visit to the carpenter's house, was to give up all
that made his life tolerable; while to be denied even speaking to his
associates, meant to abandon all hope of cure.
But he dared not rebel; obedience to those in authority was too
thoroughly taught in those days to be lightly disregarded. But his uncle
seemed to fear that his harsh command would be eluded in some way, and
kept such a strict watch over him, that he rarely got beyond the borders
of the garden by himself.
One day he was all alone in the grape-arbor, looking out into the
streets that he longed to be in, since their freedom had been denied
him.
A little girl passed, carrying one child in her arms, and talking to
another who clung to her skirts. It was Jerusha.
Joel threw a green grape at her to attract her attention, and then
beckoned her mysteriously to come nearer. She set the baby on the
ground, and gave him her bracelet to play with, while she listened to a
whispered account of his wrongs through the latticed arbor.
"It's a shame!" she declared indignantly. "I'll go right down to the
carpenter's house and tell them why you cannot go there any more. And
I'll keep watch on all that happens, and let you know. I go past here
every day, and if I have any news, I'll toss a pebble over the wall and
cluck like a hen. Then if nobody is watching, you can come to this hole
in the arbor again."
The next day, as Joel was going in great haste to the baker's, whither
his aunt had sent him, he heard some one behind him calling him to wait.
In another moment Jerusha was in speaking distance, nearly bent double
with the weight of her little brother, whom she was carrying as usual.
"There!" she said, with a puff of relief, as she put him on his own
feet. "Wait till I get my breath! It's no easy thing to carry such a
load and run at the same time! How did you get out?"
"There was an errand to be done, and no one else to do it," answered
Joel, "so Aunt sent me."
"Oh, I've got such news for you!" she exclaimed. "Guess what has
happened! Your Rabbi Jesus has asked Levi-Matthew to be one of His
followers, and go around with Him wherever He goes. Think of it! One of
those horrid tax-gatherers! He settled his accounts and gave up his
position in the custom-house yesterday. And he is getting ready for a
great feast. I heard the butcher and the wine-dealer both telling about
the big orders he had given them.
"All the publicans and low common people that are his friends are
invited. Yes, and so is your friend the carpenter. Think of that, now!
He is going to sit down and eat with such people! Of course respectable
folks will never have anything more to do with him after that! I guess
your uncle was right about him, after all!"
Both the little girl's face and manner expressed intense disgust.
Joel was shocked. "Oh, are you sure?" he cried. "You certainly must be
mistaken! It cannot be so!"
"I guess I know what I see with my own eyes, and hear with my own ears!"
she retorted, angrily. "My father says they are a bad lot. People that
go with publicans are just as unclean themselves. If you know so much
more than everybody else, I'll not trouble myself to run after you with
any more news. Mistaken, indeed!"
With her head held high, and her nose scornfully turned up, she jerked
her little brother past him, and went quickly around the corner of the
street.
The indignation of some of the rabbis knew no bounds. "It has turned out
just as I predicted," said the scribe to Laban, at supper. "They are
nothing but a set of gluttons and wine-bibbers!"
There was nothing else talked of during the entire meal. How Joel's
blood boiled as he listened to their conversation! The food seemed to
choke him. As they applied one coarse epithet after another to his
friend Phineas, all the kindness and care this man had ever given him
seemed to rise up before him. But when they turned on the Nazarene, all
the stories Joel had heard in the carpenter's house of His gentle
sinless childhood, all the tokens he had seen himself of His pure
unselfish manhood, seemed to cry out against such gross injustice.
It was no light thing for a child to contradict the doctors of the Law,
and, in a case of this kind, little less than a crime to take the stand
Joel did.
But the memory of two faces gave him courage: that of Phineas as it had
looked on him through all those busy happy hours in the carpenter's
home; the other face he had seen but once, that day of healing in the
synagogue,--who, having once looked into the purity of those eyes, the
infinite tenderness of that face, could sit calmly by and raise no voice
against the calumny of his enemies?
The little cripple was white to the lips, and he trembled from head to
foot as he stood up to speak.
The scribe lifted up both hands, and turned to Laban with a meaning
shrug of the shoulders. "To think of finding such heresy in your own
household!" he exclaimed. "Among your own children!"
"He is no child of mine!" retorted Laban. "Nor shall he stay among
them!" Then he turned to Joel.
"Boy, take back every word you have just uttered! Swear you will
renounce this man,--this son of perdition,--and never have aught to say
well of Him again!"
Joel looked around the table, at each face that shone out pale and
excited in the yellow lamplight. His eyes were dilated with fear; his
heart thumped so in the awful pause that followed, that he thought
everybody else must hear it.
"I cannot!" he said hoarsely. "Oh, I cannot!"
"Then take yourself out of my sight forever. The doors of this house
shall never open for you again!"
There was a storm of abuse from the angry man at this open defiance of
his authority. With these two cold, stern men to nod approval at his
zealousness, he went to greater lengths than he might otherwise have
done.
With one more frightened glance around the table, the child hurried out
of the room. The door into the street creaked after him, and Joel limped
out into the night, with his uncle's curse ringing in his ears.