by Roma Downey
The phenomenon grows with every mile and every footstep, every village and town. The disciples do their best to shield Jesus, but people long for a look from those powerful eyes, or merely to touch the hem of his cloak. “Mercy, mercy, Lord have mercy,” Peter mumbles again and again as he sees this growing adulation. “Where do they all come from? So much hunger. So much need.”
In one small town the scene grows even more bizarre. Knowing that they cannot get to Jesus through the throngs, four young men clamber from roof to roof, carrying another man on a stretcher.
For a practical man like Peter, the decision to follow Jesus brings tests and challenges he never imagined—tests like the one that unfolds when he attempts to get Jesus away from the crowds by drawing him into a small empty house for a few moments of peace. No sooner do they enter the home than Peter hears the sounds of roof tiles breaking, and those four young men dragging their paralyzed father to a perch on the roof.
Peter goes outside to wave them away, but the men pretend not to hear him. They punch a hole in the thatch roof. Daylight appears in the room. From inside the open doorway, silhouetted against the mass of sunlit followers outside, Jesus begins to speak to the crowd outside. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” he continues, even as Peter tries in vain to keep the intruders out of their house. But it’s too late. One young man has already dropped into the room, and his father has been lowered into his arms. Even if Peter had the power to reverse this situation, there’s no going back.
“For I am gentle and humble in heart,” Jesus continues, “and you will find rest for your souls.”
Only now does Jesus acknowledge the ruckus behind him. He turns to see the paralyzed man lying on the floor, surrounded by Peter and the man’s four sons.
Jesus walks toward the man. Peter stands back to make room. The paralyzed man cannot walk, but he can move his arms. He reaches up his fingers to touch Jesus.
Jesus does not extend his arms to the man. Instead, he slowly pulls his hand away. As he does so, the paralyzed man, so desperate to touch Jesus, reaches out farther and farther—and the more he reaches, the more Jesus pulls back.
The look on Jesus’ face is one of complete calm. He sees the struggle in the eyes of the man, a struggle that he quietly encourages. Finally, Jesus touches his fingertips to those of the paralyzed man. “Your sins are forgiven.”
Mary Magdalene, who has followed Jesus along with the disciples, knows firsthand what Jesus can accomplish. She thought she had seen everything, but her mouth opens wide in shock at what is taking place.
The man realizes he is no longer lying down, unable to move. He is sitting completely upright. Jesus says nothing. The man is emboldened and tries to stand. Everyone in the village knows this is impossible; he has been completely handicapped for years—his sons have had to care for him around the clock. His eyes fixed on Jesus, the man stands.
The crowd closest to the doorway backs away in shock. Those farther back press forward to see what has happened. Heads crane upward to get a better look. Some close their eyes in prayer.
The once-paralyzed man is swept away in euphoria. He hops and jumps like a child, dazzled. These simple movements soon become an impromptu dance, and his sons soon join in. The disciples dance, too. Hands start clapping in the small room, and soon the crowd outside joins in. Men start singing as the crowd sways to the beat of this unlikely and profound miracle. They know that this proves Jesus’ real connection to the power of God.
The healed man is exhausted. He stops dancing and comes to Jesus, who softly places his hand on the man’s forehead. “Go home now, friend,” Jesus tells him. “Your sins are forgiven.”
These are not the words the man expected to hear. He shuffles his feet and looks at the ground. His friends stop dancing, the smiles gone from their faces. Soon, the entire crowd has gone silent. Jesus’ words could be viewed as an act of blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. To condone his words would be to act against God’s authority.
Those in the crowd who belong to the religious sect known as the Pharisees understand that Jesus’ words are more significant than his casting out demons or healing broken bodies. Devoted students of God’s law, they distinguish between the powers God assigns to men and those He keeps for Himself. Pharisees listen to every teacher in Israel, paying close attention to their words for signs of either truth or blasphemy. No man equals Jesus. The claims he makes and the command with which he speaks is unsurpassed. The masses have never rallied around a teacher so quickly and with such enthusiasm. Jesus knows what the Pharisees are thinking in their hearts.
One of the Pharisees speaks up. “You can’t do that.”
“Do what?” Jesus asks.
“Forgive.”
Jesus looks at him. Then he looks at the man he has just healed.
Peter leans over and whispers to Jesus, “Don’t these people understand what you just did?”
Jesus looks calmly upon Peter. For the world to understand his mission, Jesus must begin by making those closest to him understand. “Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” he asks rhetorically.
The leader of the Pharisees, a man named Simon, shakes his head in disgust and leads his men away. He knows Jesus has become someone to follow very closely. They will deal with him some other day.
“Come on,” Jesus tells his disciples. He leads them out the door and into the crowd, in the opposite direction from the Pharisees. “Our work here is done. We have a long way to go. We’d better get moving.” Then he turns and begins walking out of town, leaving the people of the village to wonder what exactly they just witnessed.
Jesus’ disciples have chosen to be brothers and sisters in Christ. Though they may not yet realize it, this puts them in the vanguard of a revolution—a religious revolution, one not found in ancient texts or in Jewish oral history. Rather, it is a new promise that connects God’s will to people’s daily lives. This is a difficult concept to grasp, but if the disciples are ever to lead, they need training.
Jesus takes the time to teach his disciples during their daily walks from city to city. His simple, poetic words are delivered casually and gently. Jesus prefers to explain a difficult concept over time, never talking down to his followers, patiently letting the words soak in until they understand them fully.
But Jesus doesn’t just preach to the disciples. His revolution is a grassroots movement: he preaches on dirt roads, in fields and villages, to farmers and fishermen and all manner of travelers. These working-class people of Israel form the backbone of his growing ministry. He stops often, standing on a hillside or by a river to address the thousands who flock to hear him, and preaches his new vision for the relationship between God and man. His goal is to liberate these oppressed people, who suffer so dearly under the Roman tax burden. But Jesus has no plans to form an army to save the Israelites from Rome. He wants to free them from something far more dire: sin.
Many don’t understand. When Jesus says, “Blessed are they who hunger for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” it sounds like a call to arms against Rome.
But then he says things like, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Sons of God.”
While many in the crowds hear his words as those of a political radical, many more are coming to understand Jesus’ message of love. One evening, he stands on a rocky hillside as the sun sets. He has chosen this moment because his audience of farmers, shepherds, laborers, and their families do not have the financial luxury of taking time away from their occupation during working hours. They stand before Jesus, their long day finished, hands and arms sore from backbreaking labor, and listen to his words. They experience peace washing over their bodies, minds, and hearts. His loving presence touches them.
The evening sun is a dull orange, and the crowd is silent as Jesus tells them about his Father. He teaches the people h
ow to pray, and even what words to say: “Our Father,” Jesus begins, “who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”
Jesus prompts them to really think about what this new prayer says. It begins by praising God’s name. It continues with a plea for their daily bread, so that their bellies will be full. Then it turns to a request for forgiveness, because sin will keep them out of heaven. “Forgive us our trespasses,” Jesus says, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
He continues, and the crowd goes right along with him, memorizing the words so that they may say them in their own time of prayer. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
So there it is. This is the new way to pray: Praise God. Depend upon him for your daily needs. Ask forgiveness. Forgive others. Ask God to keep you from trouble, and the pain that comes with sin.
The people know they can pray like this. But it all seems so… easy. Where is the animal sacrifice? Where is the need for a grand Temple, since they can say this prayer anywhere, and at any time?
The sun is almost set by the time Jesus is finished. His audience presses forward to touch him. Their souls have been renewed by this new approach to prayer and God. They are strengthened, encouraged, and comforted. They go back to their homes, brimming with new hope for their future, thanks to Jesus’ insistence that God has prepared a place in heaven for all of them. This life of toil and strife and Roman oppression will end someday, but the peace and love of heaven will be forever. To the people of Galilee, Jesus’ words feel like a spiritual rebirth.
To the Pharisees, they sound dangerous.
It is daytime, in a small town in Galilee. Hundreds of Israelites wait in line for the mandatory audience with the taxman to pay their tribute. The sound of coins being dropped onto the counting tables fills the air.
The first portion of these monies go to Rome. That much is decreed by law. Failure to pay can mean imprisonment or death. But Rome has long had trouble collecting taxes, so they have farmed out the work to a group of freelance collectors. These men are all Jews, just like the people lined up to pay. So what they’re doing is an act of extortion against their own people. For to impose additional fees upon the burden that the already overwhelmed Israelis are suffering is not just onerous, it is treason. The covenant between God and Abraham does not exist between these cruel men and the people they extort. Those who gather taxes are thought worthy of nothing but contempt.
Jesus and his disciples now pass by the lines of sullen men who wait to pay their taxes. “Collaborators and traitors. Taking money from their own people. Sinners all,” Peter grumbles beneath his breath. Criticizing the tax collectors is the same as criticizing Rome. He could pay for this indiscretion with his life.
The disciples are stunned to see Jesus carefully scrutinizing one of the tax collectors, whose hands count coins more slowly, his eyes, unwilling to look directly at his victims, betray sadness and doubt. The man’s name, the disciples are soon to learn, is Levi. Despite appearing soft or even supportive to his fellow Jews, he is a taxman nonetheless.
“What do you see, Lord?” asks the disciple named John—not John the Baptist, who is still interred in the grisly jails of Herod Antipas.
Jesus doesn’t answer. So John tries to see Levi through the eyes of Jesus. What he sees is the look of a man lost in sin, longing for a way out but not believing that such a path exists. Jesus’ gaze has been so hard and so direct that soon Levi raises his head to stare back at this powerful energy he feels. His eyes soon connect with those of Jesus, just as the Son of God issues the following order: “Follow me.”
In the blink of an eye, Levi understands the summons. “Follow me” is the same as saying, “Believe in me.” Free from sin and doubt and worry and faithlessness. No matter what else happens in my life, I am free to choose. The moment Levi places his faith in Jesus and follows him, his sins are forgiven and he is free. Levi stands up and walks away from the table, leaving piles of uncounted coins in his wake. The clink of coins from the other tax collectors goes on undiminished until they see what Levi has done. Struck dumb, they stop their work and stare openmouthed at the utter stupidity of Levi walking away from a life of wealth and ease… and for what? To follow this revolutionary named Jesus?
The disciples are incensed. Peter glares at Jesus, enraged that the new disciple is the lowest form of life known to the people of Israel.
“You don’t like that I talk to tax collectors and sinners,” Jesus says to Peter. “But search your heart and hear what I have to say: It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I’m not here to call the righteous. I’m here for the sinners.”
Peter has no response. His name means “Rock,” and it fits. He is as sturdy and hard as the day is long. His hands are calloused and his ways are not always polite. Following Jesus is a huge gamble, meaning the loss of income during those times when they are not out fishing. Levi becomes a disciple, and will from now on be called Matthew. Like it or not, Peter is loyal to Jesus and follows him to the next town on their journey.
Jesus squats in the town square, drawing in the dust with his finger. He is not drawing a picture, but a series of letters. He is not alone, nor is the scene tranquil. Directly behind him, a crowd is gathering to watch a stoning. A woman is forced to stand in front of a high wall, facing this crowd. Between the woman and the crowd rises a pile of smooth large stones. When the time comes, each man in the group will be asked to lift a stone and throw it hard at her face. They will do this again and again until she is unconscious, and then keep throwing stones until she is dead—or the pile is depleted, whichever comes first. Death always comes before the pile is used up.
The Pharisees have seen Jesus’ popularity grow and watched with dismay as their own followers have taken up with him. They firmly believe that he is a blasphemer, and they have been searching for a way to prevent their entire populace from following him.
At one of his sermons, Jesus quite clearly told the crowd to uphold the law, knowing that to ignore Roman law would mean a wave of punishment against his new followers. In Israel, Roman law and religious law are closely intertwined. If the Pharisees can catch Jesus in the act of breaking a religious law, then they can try him before a religious court. Based on the words of the Pharisees, if Jesus is also shown to be a radical or a revolutionary whose teachings will incite rebellion against Rome, he could also be tried before a Roman tribunal. But there is absolutely no evidence that Jesus has committed a crime nor broken the Law of Moses. A test is their last refuge.
The young woman standing before the wall has been accused of adultery. She is an outcast in the local society. Absolutely no man or woman will stand and come to her defense. Her guilt is assumed. Her fate is sealed.
The men in the crowd grasp their stones, eager to throw. The disciples and Mary Magdalene stand to one side, with Mary holding the condemned woman’s sobbing infant daughter. The Pharisees lord over the proceedings, eager to spring their trap.
Jesus, meanwhile, scribbles in the dirt.
Simon the Pharisee steps before the crowd. He is grandstanding, making a very public point. So when he speaks, it is not to the terrified woman standing behind him. His focus is on Jesus, always Jesus, even as the man from Nazareth continues on dragging his forefinger through the dust. “Teacher,” he says to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone this woman. Now what do you say?” He is using the question as trap, looking for a basis to accuse him.
Jesus ignores Simon.
The disciples cry out to Jesus: “Please, say something to help her.”
Then, to the shock of all who watch, Jesus reaches down and selects a fine throwing stone from the pile. Mary’s face shows utter bewilderment, and there is a mild gasp from those who are gathered. Jesus walks over and lines up next to the Pharisees, each of whom now hold a stone, facing the condemned woman.
Now the Pharisees and each of the men so eager to draw blood see the words Jesus has wri
tten: JUDGE NOT, LEST YOU BE JUDGED.
As they stare at the words, letting them rest upon their hearts, Jesus strolls back and forth in front of the throwing line. He holds his rock up in his hand for all to see as he scrutinizes the rocks held by the others. “Let the man who is without sin throw the first stone.” Jesus offers his rock to each man, even as his eyes challenge them all with the utter certainty that they have all sinned.
Even the Pharisees cannot look Jesus in the eye.
Jesus walks over to the woman. His back is to the throwing line, leaving him vulnerable to attack. Just one angry throw could end his life. “Have they thrown anything?” Jesus asks the woman, his voice thick with mercy and grace. Behind he hears the dull thuds of rocks hitting the earth. But the rocks are being dropped, not thrown. All the men turn silently and walks quickly to their homes as their own sins—theft, adultery, and much more—nag at their consciences.
“Go,” Jesus tells the woman. “Go and sin no more.”
She doesn’t need to be told twice. Breaking past him in a second, she grabs her baby from Mary’s arms and runs quickly into the distance.
Simon the Pharisee looks angrily at Jesus. But there is no stone in his hand.
“I desire mercy,” Jesus explains to him with his palms upraised, “not sacrifice.”
But Simon is not done with him. Jesus has saved a sinner, but the chances of his reconciling his differences with the Pharisees recede with every sinner that he saves. Unless they do, however, Jesus is sure to come out the loser. The Pharisees are politically connected and powerful. One day they will set a trap for Jesus that he won’t escape.
The Pharisees now focus on ensnaring him in a debate about the scriptures—theological ambush. Two things the Pharisees don’t realize: their trap could catch either side; and as a devout Jew, Jesus knows scripture better than anyone. The Pharisees now begin to follow Jesus, watching his every move. They even invite him to break bread with them, on the pretense that both sides can talk and get to know one another better.
