Men Called Him Master Part 29

"No! This beast will not do."

"But I brought this bull all the way from Galilee," protested the farmer.

"I can't help that," answered the priest. "He is not good enough."

"Not good enough!" cried the man in dismay. "That is the best bull I ever raised!"

"All right, then; look!" The priest pointed to a small cut on the rear leg of the bullock.

"But that happened on the trip," explained the farmer. "There is nothing really wrong with him."

"Do you want to offer a sacrifice to G.o.d which is not perfect?" The man did not answer. "I'll tell you what I will do," the disciples heard the priest say. "I will trade you a perfect sheep for this bull."

The farmer's face reddened angrily. For an instant he seemed about to strike the priest; then he jerked at the tether and led his bullock out of the Temple court without replying.

Jesus turned to the disciples, his voice indignant. "That man brought the best he had--and was turned away!"

Jesus walked toward the Beautiful Gate, between the outer courtyard and the inner court where the Temple building stood. At the foot of the steps which led through the gate he stopped. On each side of the gate were money-changers. Everyone who wished to give money had to go to the tables where these men sat and buy Jewish coins with their Roman and Greek money. Because there was a profit on this exchange, the Temple treasury had grown rich. Pilate had forced the high priest to use some of this money to pay for the great aqueduct that brought water to Jerusalem.

The men were weighing coins on their scales. Clinking money and noisy arguing made the scene all the more like a public market. Jesus stood before the row of tables, looking at the money-changers. Suddenly he spoke in a voice that was firm and clear. The arguing stopped; men forgot the money and looked up. Silence settled over that part of the Temple courtyard; Jesus had taken command. "It is written in the Scriptures, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations!' But you have made it a den of robbers!"

Jesus stepped swiftly toward the first table and with a sweep of his arm threw the table over into the dust. The scales crashed to the ground; money rolled everywhere. In an instant Jesus was striding down the whole row. The money-changers were terrified. Jesus did not leave a single table standing. Scales and coins, records on parchment, and chairs lay in confusion on the ground. The onlookers could hardly believe what they saw; who could this be, who dared clear this courtyard as though it were his own?

Judas moved quickly toward Jesus. "Stop! Stop!" he cried out.

But Jesus paid no attention. He turned to those who were selling animals and pigeons and cried out: "Take these things away! You shall not make my Father's house a house of trade!" He picked up a piece of rope and, knotting a whip of cords, began to drive the bullocks out of the Temple.

People stood as though paralyzed. Heavy swirls of dust hung in the morning air. The empty cages from which the pigeons had escaped lay scattered. Judas stood stock-still behind Jesus, not daring to protest again. The Roman guards peered alertly from the Tower of Antonia, but now all had become quiet below them.

"Come! Let us leave this place!" Jesus walked across the broad royal porch and down toward the market place of Jerusalem.

The disciples finally started after him. "All Jerusalem saw him do it!"

exclaimed Andrew.

Judas could hold back no longer. "Why did he have to do a thing like this!" he cried pa.s.sionately. "This will turn everyone against us!" The other eleven men knew that the Romans had seen it all; within a few minutes it would be reported to Pilate. "The priests will be against us!" burst out Judas again. "What can we do when every important person will say that we are wrong?" Not even the Zealot could find an answer.

The disciples heard rus.h.i.+ng footsteps behind them. Fear clutched them as they caught sight of a crowd pouring down the street from the Temple.

They gathered around Jesus. "Hosanna! The Son of David has come to rule his eternal kingdom! Save us now!" Through the narrow streets on every side, people came running.

"These people are not against us!" cried the Zealot. Peter caught sight of the man whose bullock had been rejected by the priest. Of course, this man would be on Jesus' side!

Jesus waved his hand, and the crowd gradually became quiet. "The Kingdom of G.o.d is present among you!" he said to them. "G.o.d rules every man who trusts him. Nothing is impossible for a man who has faith!" For a moment an outburst of hosannas drowned his voice. "G.o.d does not desire more offerings and sacrifices! He wants you to trust him as your Father! He wants you to love his will above everything else and to obey him faithfully. Any man who hears and believes my word shall have eternal life in G.o.d's Kingdom!"

Already the crippled, blind, and diseased were pressing forward to the place where Jesus stood. Looking at them with pity, Jesus repeated words now familiar to the disciples: "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 this is the year of the Lord's blessing!" It seemed a long time since Peter had heard Jesus read from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth.

"You are the One the Prophets tell about!" cried a beggar in the crowd.

"You are the Son of David!"

All day Jesus remained in Jerusalem, teaching and healing. Roman soldiers came to investigate, but they did not disturb him.

"Look at all these people," the Zealot said enthusiastically. "He must be getting ready to declare himself king! He did just the right thing this morning!"

Judas turned on him. "The people cannot make anyone king," he said bluntly. "The Romans and the priests are all that count!" The other disciples wavered between hope and discouragement. Later in the day Pharisees and priests joined the crowd. "See?" said Judas. "Already they are spying on us." The hearts of the Twelve sank. Judas must be right.

They urged Jesus to leave Jerusalem immediately, but not until evening did Jesus lead them back to the Hill of Olives.

"At least he is not going to risk being arrested by staying in the city at night," sighed Peter in relief. "The Roman soldiers will never find us here unless someone tells them where we are."

None of the disciples slept soundly that night. Again Jesus spent most of the night in prayer. The men rose early, glad to be rid of the discomfort of the cold ground, but dreading to enter Jerusalem again.

Jesus did not seek the crowds in the market place; he walked straight to the Temple. The money-changers had not come back; no animals stamped their hoofs in the courtyard. James glanced up at the Tower of Antonia.

Did the guard know that Jesus was the man who had caused the riot yesterday?

Jesus paid no attention to guards or priests. He sat down near the gate where the Jews entered the inner court to put gifts into the Temple offering box. Within an hour the rumor spread through Jerusalem that he was in the Temple. People began to come in great numbers. Scribes, Pharisees, and Roman soldiers were there too. After Jesus had been teaching awhile one of the scribes interrupted. He lived on the Temple grounds.

"What I want to know," he demanded, "is what right you have to call the Temple of G.o.d your Father's house? How do you dare act as you do?"

"I will ask you a question," replied Jesus. "If you answer it, I will tell you what right I have to act as I do. Where did John the Baptizer get his right to preach? From G.o.d in heaven, or was he given it by some man, perhaps a priest?"

_From G.o.d, of course_, thought all the people instantly.

The scribe knew what the people believed. He reflected, _If I say, "From heaven," then he will ask us why we did not believe John's word. But if I say, "From men"--no, that will never do! These people all think John came from G.o.d!_ After a long pause, the scribe said, "I do not know."

"All right, then," said Jesus. "That is why you cannot understand where I get the right to act as I do! Listen to a story I shall tell you. A man planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a wine press, and built a guard tower to protect it. Then he leased his vineyard to some farmers and went away. At harvest-time he sent a servant to collect the rent, but the farmers beat the man and sent him away with nothing. The owner sent another servant, but the farmers clubbed him on the head and insulted him. The farmers abused every man the owner sent; they even killed some of them. Finally the owner thought, 'I am sure they will respect my son.' So he sent his only son to collect the rent.

"When the wicked farmers saw the young man coming, they said to each other: 'This young fellow will inherit the vineyard. If we kill him, we will possess it!' So they beat the young man to death and threw his body over the fence of the vineyard.

"What will the owner of the vineyard do?" demanded Jesus. "He will utterly destroy these evil farmers and will give the vineyard to other people whom the farmers hated!"

The scribe backed away and went into the inner court. "Look at him!"

whispered Judas to Peter. "Do you know what he is going to do? He is going to report to the others!" Judas began to move away.

"Where are you going?" asked Peter.

"I don't want to be seen around here." Peter followed him to the outer gate of the Temple. He was disturbed by what had happened the day before, but he put on a bold manner with Judas.

"I don't think there is any reason to be afraid," remarked Peter.

Judas looked at Peter as though he had no sense at all. "Anyone can see that we haven't a chance. The priests are plotting against us right this minute. Look at that guard," he pointed at the tower; "he sees everything we do!" Peter did not reply. "Anyhow, did you hear that story Jesus told? You heard him say that they killed the son too, didn't you?"

Peter jerked up his head. "Do you mean...."

Judas nodded. "All the way from Galilee he has told us that he would be killed here."

Peter looked over at Jesus. "He acts very deliberately. He seems to know what he is doing."

Judas laughed bitterly. "He knows what he is doing, all right!" He caught sight of some Pharisees coming down the steps of the Beautiful Gate. "There are some more!" He turned his face away from them.

Peter started toward Jesus, but Judas hung back. "Don't you want to hear what they say?" asked Peter. "Come on."