Chapter 30 - At the Feast of Dedication

CHAPTER 30

AT THE FEAST OF DEDICATION

AS THE camp at Pella was being established, Jesus, taking with him Nathaniel and Thomas, secretly went up to Jerusalem to attend the feast of the dedication:

• "I would give these teachers in Israel another opportunity to see the light, before my hour comes."

They reached Jericho about half past four and prepared to lodge there for the night.

Story of the Good Samaritan

That evening a considerable company gathered about Jesus and the two apostles to ask questions. In the course of the evening a certain lawyer, seeking to entangle Jesus in a compromising disputation, said:

• "Teacher, I would like to ask you just what I should do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus answered:

• "What is written in the law and the prophets? How do you read the Scriptures?"

The lawyer, knowing the teachings of both Jesus and the Pharisees, answered:

• "To love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself."

Then said Jesus:

• "You have answered right. This, if you really do, will lead to life everlasting."

Drawing a little closer to the Master, he said:

• "But, Teacher, I should like you to tell me just who is my neighbor?"

Jesus discerned the lawyer's motive, and instead of falling into the trap, he proceeded to tell his hearers a story, a story that would be fully appreciated by any Jericho audience.

Said Jesus:

• "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of cruel brigands, who robbed him, stripped him and beat him, and departing, left him half dead. Very soon, by chance, a certain priest was going down that way, and when he came upon the wounded man, seeing his sorry plight, he passed by on the other side of the road. And in like manner a Levite also, when he came along and saw the man, passed by on the other side. Now, about this time, a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed down to Jericho, came across this wounded man. When he saw how he had been robbed and beaten, he was moved with compassion, and going over to him, he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and setting the man upon his own beast, brought him here to the inn and took care of him. And on the morrow he took out some money, and giving it to the host, said: `Take good care of my friend, and if the expense is more, when I come back again, I will repay you.' Now let me ask you: Which of these three turned out to be the neighbor of him who fell among the robbers?"

And when the lawyer perceived that he had fallen into his own snare, he answered:

• "He who showed mercy on him."

And Jesus said:

• "Go and do likewise."

Healing the Blind Beggar

This Sabbath morning, as Jesus and his two apostles drew near the temple, they encountered a well-known beggar, a man who had been born blind, sitting at his usual place. As the Master stood there before the blind man, engrossed in deep thought, Nathaniel, pondering the possible cause of this man's blindness, asked:

• "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"

Said the Master:

• "Neither did this man sin nor his parents that the works of God might be manifest in him. This blindness has come upon him in the natural course of events, but we must now do the works of Him who sent me, while it is still day, for the night will certainly come when it will be impossible to do the work we are about to perform. When I am in the world, I am the light of the world, but in only a little while I will not be with you."

When Jesus had spoken, he said to Nathaniel and Thomas:

• "Let us create the sight of this blind man on this Sabbath day that the scribes and Pharisees may have the full occasion that they seek for accusing the Son of Man."

Then, stooping over, he spat on the ground and mixed the clay with the spittle, and speaking of all this so that the blind man could hear, he went up to Josiah and put the clay over his sightless eyes, saying:

• "Go, my son, wash away this clay in the pool of Siloam, and immediately you shall receive your sight."

And when Josiah had so washed in the pool of Siloam, he returned to his friends and family, seeing.