Heaven
16. Tiberius Caesar’s Fifteenth Year17. Desert
18. Disciples
19. A Wedding
20. Two Baptisms
21. Jacob’s Well
22. A King’s Officer
23. Fishers
24. Sabbath in Capernaum
25. Simon’s Mother-In-Law
26. Evening
27. Early Morning
28. Fame
29. Blasphemy
30. Loved Are the Wicked
31. A Hillside
32. Down from the Hillside
33. A Centurion
34. Women
35. Near Nain
36. John’s Followers
37. At a Pharisee’s House
38. Sabbath. A Wheat Field
39. Parables
40. Home
41. At Sea
42. Daughters
43. Workers
44. The Spring Festival
45. Salome
46. Bread and Water
47. Gennesaret
48. Meat
49. Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem
50. On the Mediterranean
51. Signs
52. Bethsaida
53. Near Caesarea Philippi
54. Six Days Later
55. Children and Servants
16 Tiberius Caesar’s Fifteenth Year
Pontius Pilate is governor of Judea, Philip is tetrarch of Trachonitis and Iturea, his brother Herod Antipas tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene; Annas and Caiaphas are the High Priests. John prophesies in the wilderness.
JOHN. Turn, everyone! the kingdom of heaven is coming.
His clothes are of camel hair; his loincloth is leather. He feeds on carob and wild honey. People from Jerusalem, Judea, and both banks of the Jordan come to Bethany-across-Jordan to hear him proclaim a new life based on God’s forgiving their sins. Many are washed by him in the Jordan River as they confess their sins. Even Sadducees and Pharisees line up to be washed.
JOHN to the Sadducees and Pharisees. Venemous bedfellows—who told you to escape from the coming anger?
JOHN to the crowds. Produce the fruits of new life. Never say to yourselves, “We are Abraham’s children.” I tell you that God can make children of Abraham out of stones. The ax is already at the roots of the trees. Every tree that doesn’t produce fruit shall be hacked down and thrown to fire.
PEOPLE IN THE CROWD. What should we do?
JOHN. Whoever has two coats must give to the person who has none. Whoever has food must share it.
TAX COLLECTORS. What should we do?
JOHN. Exact no more than you’re entitled to.
SOLDIERS. What should we do?
JOHN. Don’t be brutal; don’t make false arrests; be satisfied with your pay.
The people are excited: they think John might be the Anointed One.
JOHN. I’m not.
PRIESTS AND LEVITES FROM JERUSALEM. Who are you? Are you Elijah or the prophet Moses foretold?
JOHN. No.
PRIESTS AND LEVITES. What shall we report to those who sent us? Tell us who you say you are.
JOHN. I’m what Isaiah said of me: “The voice of him that shouts in the wilderness, ’Prepare the way of the Lord.’”
PHARISEES. Why, then, do you purify, if you aren’t the Anointed One, or Elijah, or Moses’ prophet?
JOHN. I wash you in water, but near you walks a man you don’t know, a man stronger than I, whose sandals I don’t deserve to touch. He’ll wash you in holy wind and fire. He’s ready to separate the wheat from the chaff. He’ll winnow the entire harvest and gather his wheat in a granary. But the chaff he’ll burn in insatiable flames. He’s above me who come from above. Dust is dust and speaks of dust, but one is coming from heaven. He’ll tell you what he has heard and seen. No one has seen it. He who has seen it will prove that God is true. God is sending him to speak his words, and God has given him the Spirit beyond limit. The Father loves the son and gives him everything. Who believes in the son lives in the Father. Who doesn’t believe doesn’t see life, but God’s hate.
Jesus, about thirty years old, arrives from Galilee and is washed by John. Walking out of the water, they see the heavens open and God’s Spirit come down like a dove and rest on Jesus. They hear a voice: HERE IS MY LOVED SON, IN WHOM I DELIGHT.
JOHN. I need to be purged by you—yet you bent to me.
JESUS. Accept what happened: in doing this we did God’s will.
JOHN to the crowd. Look—all of you—this is God’s lamb, who takes on himself the world’s guilt, who’s last and first, who comes after and before. I didn’t know him, but to make him known to Israel I washed you in water. I didn’t know him, but the one who sent me to wash with water said to me, “On whom you see the Spirit come down and rest—he washes with the Spirit.” I saw, and now say, Here is God’s Chosen One.
The Spirit leads him to live with wild animals and be tempted by the devil. He fasts for forty days and is hungry.
THE DEVIL. If you’re God’s son, turn these stones into bread.
JESUS. It’s written, “Man does not live by bread only: by every word that comes from the Lord’s mouth man lives.”
The devil takes him to a holy city and puts him on the pinnacle of its temple.
THE DEVIL. If you’re God’s son, throw yourself down: it’s written, “He will summon his angels to protect you: they will lift you in their hands, lest you brush your heal against a stone.”
JESUS. It’s also written, “Do not tempt the Lord your God.”
The devil takes him to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world in their greatness.
THE DEVIL. All these I give, if you serve me.
JESUS. Get out of my way, Satan. It’s written, “Fear the Lord your God, and serve him, and swear by his name.”
Satan leaves him. Angels come and give him food.
About four o’clock in the afternoon. John’s standing with two of his followers when he sees Jesus walk by.
JOHN. There is God’s lamb.
The two leave him and follow Jesus, who, seeing them, waits.
JESUS. What are you looking for?
JOHN’S FOLLOWERS. Teacher, where can we talk?
JESUS. Come: walk with me.
They walk with him to where he’s staying and talk with him the rest of the day. In the evening one of the two, Andrew, leaves and brings back his brother Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Anointed One.”
JESUS to Simon. You’re Jonah’s son Simon. I’ll call you The Rock.
The next day Jesus decides to go to Galilee. Andrew and John’s other follower, also named John, bring Philip, their friend from Bethsaida, who goes and tells his friend Nathaniel, “We’ve met the man Moses and the prophets wrote about: he’s Jesus, Joseph’s son from Nazareth.”
NATHANIEL. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
PHILIP. Come: find out.
Jesus sees Nathaniel coming.
JESUS. Here comes a true Israelite, who’d wrestle with God.
NATHANIEL. How do you know me?
JESUS. Before Philip went to you I saw you under the fig tree.
NATHANIEL. Teacher—if you did that, you’re God’s son and Israel’s king.
JESUS. Nathaniel, will you walk with us because I say I saw you under the fig tree? What I say is. I say to you, You’ll see the heavens open and God’s angels loop the loop around Adam’s son.
They start for Galilee and after three days arrive in Cana, where they attend a wedding with Jesus’ mother. The wine runs short.
MARY. They have no wine.
JESUS. Mother, what is it to us? My time hasn’t come.
MARY to the servants. Do what he tells you.
In the room are six stone water jars for ceremonial washing.
JESUS. Fill the jars with water.
They fill them to the brim.
JESUS. Now take a cup to the master of ceremonies.
They take the cup to the master of ceremonies, who drinks the wine made from water. Not being told by the servants where it came from, he calls out to the bridegroom.
MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Others serve the good wine first, and when everbody is beaming bring in the cheap wine—you saved the best for last.
This is the first sign by which Jesus shows himself to his followers, and at Cana in Galilee they begin to believe.
From Cana he goes with his mother and other relatives and his followers to Capernaum, where he stays several days. He and his followers then return to Judea. He lives with them while they carry on John’s practice of baptizing. In Enon near Salim, where there’s a large body of water, John continues to wash those who come to him. Soon a dispute about the two baptisms arises between a Jew and John’s followers.
JOHN’S FOLLOWERS to John. Teacher, the very person you singled out on the other side of the Jordan has himself begun to baptize, and everybody’s running to him.
JOHN. No one has what isn’t from heaven. You yourselves know that I said I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him. It’s the bridegroom who has the bride. The one who brings them together waits and listens and is happy when he hears his voice. That is my joy. I must remain, he must go forward.
Actually, not Jesus but the followers who came to him from John are attracting and baptizing many more people than John himself. But when Jesus hears that the Pharisees see him and John as rivals, he and his followers leave Judea and head back to Galilee.
They go by way of Samaria and stop around noon at a cistern. It’s near the Samaritan village of Sychar. Tired, Jesus sits down while the others go into the village to buy food. A Samaritan woman comes to the cistern to draw water.
JESUS. Let me drink.
THE WOMAN. You must be a thirsty Jew to ask water from a Samaritan.
JESUS. If you knew what God can give and who said to you, “Let me drink,” you would have asked him: he would have given you spring water.
THE WOMAN. You can’t even scoop up this water—where will you get spring water? Are you better than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drew water for himself, his family, and his flocks?
JESUS. Whoever drinks this will thirst, but whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst. The water will be in him a spring always giving life.
THE WOMAN. Sir, give me this water, that I never again thirst or come here to draw.
JESUS. Go: call your husband and come back.
THE WOMAN. I don’t have a husband.
JESUS. As you say: you don’t have a husband; in fact, you’ve had five husbands and the man you live with now you haven’t married. You speak rightly.
THE WOMAN. I can see you’re a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped God on the mountain—even if you Jews say they should’ve gone to Jerusalem.
JESUS. Then believe me: the time is coming when you won’t go to the mountain, or to Jerusalem, to worship the Father. It’s true you hardly know the Father, while we know him: freedom will come from the Jews. But God is everywhere, and they who worship him will worship him in spirit and truth. The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, and the Father will look for them.
THE WOMAN. I know the Messiah is coming, the one who’ll tell us everything.
JESUS. I who tell you this am he.
His followers come back and are surprised to see him talking with a woman. Still, they don’t ask her, “What do you want?” or him, “Why are you talking with her?” The woman puts down her water jar and runs into the village.
THE WOMAN. Come, see the man who showed me my life: can he be the Messiah?
The villagers come out to see Jesus.
JESUS’ FOLLOWERS. Teacher, eat.
JESUS. I’ve food to eat you know nothing of.
They ask themselves, “Did somebody give him something to eat?”
JESUS. My food is doing the will of him who sent me and completing his work. There’s a saying, “First plant—then harvest.” I say, Open your eyes—look around you—the harvest is ripe for reaping. Everyone who reaps receives his pay and brings fruit to everlasting life, sower and reaper gladdening together. It’s also said, “One sows, another reaps.” I send you to reap a harvest you didn’t sow. Others sowed, that you may reap.
He remains two days in Sychar, then goes into Galilee. The people of Cana welcome him. Some were at the wedding banquet at which he turned water into wine; others heard of him in Judea. A king’s officer arrives from Capernaum: his son is dying, and hearing that Jesus is in Galilee, he has come to beg him to go to Capernaum and cure his son.
JESUS. Unless they see signs and miracles they won’t believe.
THE KING’S OFFICER. Sir, come with me before my son dies.
JESUS. Go home: the boy will live.
The king’s officer goes away. His servants meet him near Capernaum and say, “Your son is living.” He asks when the boy began to get better. They say, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” It was the hour Jesus told him, “The boy will live.” It’s the second time Jesus has shown his power after coming into Galilee from Judea.
In Perea, Herod Antipas arrests John and imprisons him. Jesus is living in Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee, in the territory about which Isaiah said, “A people walking in darkness have seen a great light: a light has shined on them who dwell in the valley of the shadow of death.” Here Jesus declares the coming of God’s kingdom.
JESUS. The time is big with gladness. The Father’s kingdom is near. Turn to it and believe.
Walking along the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a large crowd that’s listening to him, he sees fishers washing their nets on the beach next to their boats. They are the brothers Simon and Andrew and their partners, Zebedee’s sons John and James. He steps into Simon’s boat and asks that it be taken a little ways from shore. Sitting down, he speaks for a while to the crowd standing on the beach, then turns to Simon.
JESUS. Go into deep water and lower the nets.
SIMON. Teacher, we fished all night and caught nothing: but if you say so I’ll put down the nets.
They catch a large number of fish and their nets begin to break. Simon and Andrew yell to shore for James and John to help. The catch fills both boats to the sinking point. The fishers fall down at Jesus’ feet.
SIMON. Sir, leave me—I’m a sinful man.
JESUS. Simon, don’t be scared. From now on you’ll fish for men.
When they reach shore he says, “Walk with me.” They leave their boats and the catch and walk with him. Zebedee remains with the boats with the hired hands to sell the fish and mend the nets.
He goes into the synagogue and teaches. He surprises people, for unlike the scholars he seems to make the truth of what he says depend only on himself. Suddenly a man with a sick spirit shouts.
THE MAN. What are we to you, Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us? I know you are God’s Holy One.
JESUS. Peace: come out of him.
The sick spirit comes out of the man with a shriek, convulsing him and throwing him to the floor but not hurting him. The people in the synagogue murmur to themselves, “What can it mean? On his own he commands even spirits and they obey him.”
She lies in bed with a high fever. He takes her hand and scolds the fever, and the fever leaves her. He helps her to her feet and she serves them.
As the sun sets, people bring their sick. He puts his hands on them and makes them whole. Demons come out of some, screaming, “You are the Son of God.” He commands them not to reveal that he is the Messiah.
It’s still dark. He goes out alone to pray. Simon and the others go looking for him.
SIMON. Everyone’s looking for you.
JESUS. Let’s walk to other towns and tell them the good news. That is why I have come.
He proclaims the good news throughout Galilee, speaking in synagogues, curing the sick, throwing out demons. His fame spreads to Syria. People come to him from the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judea, and the lands beyond the Jordan. They bring him the sick of all kinds, the tormented, the possessed, the paralyzed, and the insane. They find him “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,” who lifts their sorrows and takes their griefs.
In Capernaum, people crowd his dwelling; nobody can enter. Four men arrive carrying a paralytic; not being able to get in by the door, they lower him through the roof. Jesus sees their faith.
JESUS. Son, be happy, your sins are forgiven.
The scholars present look at each other, thinking, “The man’s blaspheming! Only God can forgive sins.”
JESUS to the scholars. What do you question by your looks—whether it’s easier to say “Your sins are forgiven” or “Stand up and walk”? Now you know that Adam’s son has power to forgive sins on earth.
JESUS to the paralytic. Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.
The paralytic stands up, takes his mat, and walks away. Astonished, the crowd praises God and says, “We’ve never seen anything like it.”
One day while walking, Jesus sees the customs official Levi collecting taxes at a table.
JESUS. Come: walk with me.
They walk to Levi’s house, where Levi gives a big dinner to which he invites other tax collectors and agents of Rome. The Pharisees are angry.
PHARISEES to Jesus’ followers. Why does he eat with traitors and renegades?
JESUS to the Pharisees. The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. Go away: I haven’t come to ask the holy but the wicked to turn to me.
John’s followers are also puzzled.
JOHN’S FOLLOWERS to Jesus. Why don’t your followers fast as we and the Pharisees do?
JESUS. How can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them? The time will come when the bridegroom is taken from them; then they will fast.
He explains why sinners are drawn to him and defenders of the Law are not.
JESUS. Nobody uses new cloth to patch an old garment. The new cloth will shrink and tear the old, making the hole worse then before. Nobody makes new wine in old wineskins. The fermenting wine will burst the wineskins and spill out, and the wineskins will be ruined. Nobody who drinks old wine will want the new. He’ll say, “The old is better.”
He prays all night. At dawn he calls his followers to him and chooses from them twelve whom he calls apostles: Simon, whom he calls Peter, the Rock; Simon’s brother Andrew; Zebedee’s sons John and James, whom he calls Benaregesh, Sons of Wrath; Philip and Philip’s friend Nathaniel Barthalmai; the customs official Levi, who is also known by the name of Matthew; Thomas; Alphaeus’ son James and James’ son Jude, also known as Thaddeus; Simon, a partisan; and Jude Iscariot. He sits down with his followers and tells them about his Father’s kingdom.
JESUS. Loved are the beggars; God’s kingdom is theirs. Loved are the tortured; they shall be comforted. Loved are the slaves; they shall inherit the earth. Loved are they who hunger and thirst for God’s love; they shall be satisfied. Loved are they who forgive; they shall be be forgiven. Loved are the single-hearted; God shall embrace them. Loved are the peacemakers; they shall be called God’s children. Loved are they who are hated because they love virtue; they are God’s prophets. Men hated the prophets who came before you; loved are you when men despise, revile, and slander you for loving me: be glad and exult, because you shall enter heaven in splendor. You are the world’s salt. Think how badly dung burns. It needs salt. But if salt loses its saltiness, what can make it salty? Such salt is unfit to be mixed with dung or sprinkled on the floor of an oven, and it must be thrown away. You are the world’s light. The lights of a city standing on a hill cannot be hidden. People don’t light a lamp and put it in shrouds but on a stand where it gives light to the whole house. Allow your light to shine, so people will see your brightness and mirror the splendor of your Father in heaven. Don’t think I wish to destroy the Law and the Prophets. I don’t wish to destroy but to show them. Until earth is raised up to heaven not a single letter—not a single stroke of the pen—must be removed from the Law. Everything must be observed. Whoever slights the least commandment or teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Father’s kingdom, and whoever observes and teaches the commandments will be called great. Unless your obedience exceeds that of the Pharisees and scribes, you will never enter the Father’s kingdom. You’ve heard that in the old days our people were told, “You shall not kill; whoever kills shall be in danger of the judgment.” I tell you now, Whoever is angry with his brother is in danger of the judgment; whoever says to his brother, “You are useless,” will be brought to trial; whoever says, “You are evil,” will be in danger of hellfire. Therefore: if you are praying and remember that your brother has something against you, leave off praying and go to him. First be reconciled with your brother, then pray. Make peace with your enemies. Don’t plan on accusing them at the judgment. At the judgment you will find your enemies accusing you. The judge will hand you over to his officers, who will throw you in prison. In this case, you will not come out before you have paid the last cent. You’ve heard that the people were told, “You shall not commit adultery.” I tell you now, Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Therefore: if your right eye betrays you, pluck it out and throw it away; better that part of your body should perish than that your whole body should be in torment. If your right hand betrays you, chop it off and throw it away; better that part of your body should perish than that your whole body should be in torment. You’ve heard that the people were told, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain and shall not swear falsely by his name, nor shall you profane his name.” I tell you now, Do not swear: not by heaven, because it is God’s throne; not by the earth, because it is his footstool; not by Jerusalem, because it is his holy city. Do not swear by your head, since you cannot make one hair white or black. Simply say yes or no; anything more tempts to evil. You’ve heard that the people were told, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a wound for a wound, a stripe for a stripe.” I tell you now, Don’t resist evil. If somebody hits your right eye, turn and offer the left. If somebody takes you to court to win a suit, throw in the case. If somebody forces you to walk a mile, walk two. Give to whoever asks you; never turn away anyone who wants to borrow from you. You’ve heard that the people were told, “You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the children of the people, but shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I tell you now, Love your enemies. Bless them who curse you, do good to them who hurt you, and pray for them who ignore you. Then you will be true children of your Father in heaven, who causes his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sends his rain to fall on the unjust and on the just. What merit is yours if you do good just to those who do good to you? It’s the way of the world. What better are you than anyone else if you are kind just to friends? It’s the way of the world. You must be perfect, since your Father in heaven is perfect. And take care not to parade your goodness, or you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. When you do good do it without fanfare, not like the pretenders who indoors and out grind the organs of publicity. I tell you they are already repaid in echoes. Don’t keep a scrapbook of good deeds. Your Father in heaven will remember them for you and reward you. When you pray you mustn’t be like the pretenders who maintain a public piety. I tell you their prayers are already answered. When you pray, go into your room and shut the door. Pray to your Father quietly, and your Father who hears all things will help you talk with him. Therefore: don’t mumble a lot of prayers, as if to conjure your Father. He is with you now and knows what you need before you ask him. Pray like this: Our Father, who are in heaven, glory to your name; your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us today our day’s bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive them who sin against us; and keep us from temptation, and defend us from the devil. If you forgive others their wrongs, your Father in heaven will forgive you. If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven. When you fast don’t act wretched, like pretenders playing beggars. I tell you they are already repaid in groans. When you fast put on a genial mask, so that nobody but your Father will notice you are fasting. Then your Father, who misses nothing, will applaud you. Don’t strive to amass on earth wealth you won’t long enjoy. Strive to amass in heaven wealth you will enjoy always. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. The light of the body is the eye. If the light is clear the body is full of light. If the eye is dark the body is full of darkness. If your light is dark, how dark must your darkness be! Nobody can serve two masters. He will hate one and love the other, or side with one and despise the other. You can’t serve God and money. So: be careless with your life. Don’t brood over how you’ll eat or drink or what you’ll wear. Life’s more than food, the body more than clothing. Look at the ravens in the sky. They don’t plant, reap, or gather in barns, yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they? Which of you fed himself when a child? Look at the lilies growing in the field. They neither card nor spin, yet not Solomon in his magnificence was dressed like one of them. If God so clothes the lilies, which are alive today and pulled up tomorrow, won’t he be even more certain to clothe you, O petty believers? Therefore take no thought of tomorrow. Tomorrow can take care of itself. Enough for this day is its evil. Don’t ask anxiously, “How will we eat? How will we drink? What will we wear?” Your Father in heaven knows you need these things. Seek first his kingdom, and his will: everything will be given to you. Don’t condemn others and you won’t be condemned. Your hatred returns to you, and in damning others you damn yourself. Why frown at another’s defects when your whole character is twisted? Why say to another, “I’ll remove that blemish,” when your whole character distorts your vision? God give your neighbor the wit to say to you: “Quack, first straighten yourself out, then perhaps you’ll see me as I am.” Don’t give holy things to dogs or throw pearls in front of pigs. They’ll trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. But ask and it will be given you, search and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, everyone who knocks will enter. Who of you will give a stone, if a child asks for bread? If asked for fish, who will give a snake? If you who are evil know how to give good things to children, how much more will your Father in heaven give you good things when you ask him? Go in by the low gate. The high gate and the wide path lead to destruction, and many are going that way. But the low gate and the narrow path lead to life, and a few are finding it. What you want others to do for you do for them—that is the Law and the Prophets. Don’t be beguiled by fake prophets, who come to you with woolly philosophies and inwardly are ravening wolves. Know things by their fruits. Do grapes come from thorns and figs from thistles? Every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree will not produce bad fruit, while a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown in the fire. Remember then: know them by their fruits. Not everyone who calls me Master will enter the Father’s kingdom. The person who does the will of my Father in heaven will enter his kingdom. Many when their day comes will say to me, “Master, Master, haven’t we done great things in your name?” I shall tell them, “I never knew you—leave me, you evildoers.” Therefore, whoever hears my words and does them will be like the wise man who built his house on rock. Rains fell, floods came, winds blew against the house, but it did not fall; it was built on rock. But whoever hears my words and does not do them will be like the foolish man who built his house on sand. Rains fell, floods came, winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell. Its destruction was total.
He meets a large crowd. A leper throws himself in front of him.
THE LEPER. Sir, if you want to you can make me clean.
JESUS. Yes, I want to. Be clean.
He touches the man: the leprosy leaves.
JESUS. Don’t speak. Go to Jerusalem, offer the gift Moses commanded, and show yourself to the priests: they will testify to your purification.
In Capernaum, a centurion accompanied by some Jews approaches him.
THE CENTURION. Sir, my servant lies paralyzed and in great pain.
AN OLD JEW. Help him: he loves our people and has built a synagogue for us.
JESUS. Let’s go to him.
THE CENTURION. Sir, I don’t deserve that you come to my house. Just give the order and my servant will get well. Having soldiers under me, I know what it is to command. I say to one, “Go,” and he goes; and to another, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my slave, “Do this,“ and he does it.
JESUS to the centurion. The truth is, I haven’t found as much faith in Israel. Go your way: what you believe I command.
The centurion goes home and finds his servant cured.
Jesus again leaves Capernaum to take the news of God’s kingdom to other towns and villages. With him are the twelve and women he saved from sickness or madness—Mary Magdalene, out of whom he threw seven devils; Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza; Susan; and many other women who help him with their money.
A large procession is leaving the town. On a bier is a dead man, the only son of a widowed mother. Jesus pities her.
JESUS. Don’t cry.
He goes to the bier and puts his hand on it to stop the bearers.
JESUS. Young man, I say to you, Get up.
The dead man sits up and begins talking. Jesus gives him to his mother. Amazed, the crowd praises God and shouts, “A great prophet has risen among us. God is visiting his people.”
Two of them overtake him. They’ve come from John in prison.
JOHN’S FOLLOWERS. Are you the one we’re expecting—or is he someone else?
JESUS. Go and tell John what you have seen. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor are granted news of happiness: everyone who receives me is blessed.
As John’s followers depart, Jesus speaks to the crowd.
JESUS. What did you go to the desert to see? A reed shaking in the wind? What is it you went to see? A man wearing fine clothes? But fine clothes and fine manners are found in fine houses. What did you go to the desert to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more: John is the messenger who has prepared the way, and the Lord you seek is coming quickly to his Temple. Both the Law and the prophets waited for John. If you can grasp it, he is the Elijah who was coming. If you have ears, listen to what I am saying. Among men born of women, there is not a prophet who sees more than John; and though I say this, I say also, the least in God’s kingdom will see what John has not seen. John washed everyone, including tax collectors. Since then God’s kingdom has been coming in strength and seizing strong men. John welcomed tax collectors, but the Pharisees and scholars rejected John and refused God’s call to them. How shall I describe the present generation of Jews? What are the Jews of this generation like? They are like children who sit idly in the marketplace heckling each other. Yet they begrudge mourning at a funeral or dancing at a wedding. John denied himself food and drink, and they said, “He’s a fanatic!” while the Son of Adam denies himself nothing, and they say, “He’s greedy and wanton, a lover of traitors and sinners!” Wisdom will have her own children to justify her.
A Pharisee named Simon invites him to supper. A village woman known by everyone to be a sinner hears where he is, takes an alabaster jar filled with oil, and goes to him. Weeping, she kneels at this feet, washes them with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them, and rubs them with oil. The Pharisee looks on and says to himself, “If he were a prophet he’d know the sins she’s committed.” After a while Jesus looks at Simon.
JESUS. Simon, let me ask you something.
SIMON. Please do, teacher.
JESUS. A creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred days’ wages and the other fifty. Since neither could pay, he forgave them both. Tell me, which of them will love him more?
SIMON. I suppose the one to whom he forgave more.
JESUS. No doubt you’re right. Now see this woman. When I came to your house you did not give me water for my feet; she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You did not welcome me with a kiss; this woman, since I came, has not stopped kissing my feet. I say, since she loves much, her many sins are forgiven. The man to whom little is forgiven loves little.
JESUS to the woman. Your sins are forgiven.
His followers, hungry, start picking the grain and rubbing off the chaff. Some Pharisees notice them.
A PHARISEE. Teacher, your disciples are doing what isn’t lawful on the Sabbath.
JESUS. Did you never read what David and his men did when they were hungry? They went into God’s house and ate bread offered to God—bread the Law says only priests may eat. Haven’t you read that Temple priests may lawfully violate the Sabbath? What if standing before you is a person greater than the Temple? If you knew what the words meant—“I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings”—you wouldn’t damn the innocent. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Adam’s son is lord of the Sabbath.
Going into the synagogue, he sees a man whose hand is shriveled.
A PHARISEE. Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?
JESUS to the disabled man. Come, stand with me.
JESUS to the Pharisees. Who of you, if his sheep fell in a ditch on the Sabbath, wouldn’t grab hold of it and pull it out? Isn’t a man more valuable than sheep?
The Pharisees say nothing. Jesus glares at them.
JESUS. Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil? to save a life or to kill?
He turns to the man whose hand is shriveled.
JESUS. Stretch your hand.
The man stretches the hand, and it is as sound as the other. Jesus leaves the synagogue and finds a large crowd waiting for him. He cures their sick and at the same time asks the crowd not to make his power known. The crowd follows him to a house and so presses after him that he doesn’t go in to eat. His friends hear what’s happening and go outside to beg him to enter. They say to themselves, “He’s crazy.” People bring him a demoniac who’s blind and dumb. Jesus cures him: the man sees and speaks. The crowd wonders, “Can Jesus be the next David?”
A PHARISEE. How could he be David’s successor? He banishes devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.
JESUS. Every kingdom that wars with itself must fall. Every city or house that wars with itself cannot stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he wars with Satan. How, then, can his kingdom stand? If Satan rebels against Satan and is divided, he cannot stand, but falls flat. If I throw out devils by Satan, by whom do your people throw them out? They will judge you for accusing me. But if it is by God’s spirit I throw out devils, then God’s kingdom has come to you. Nobody can break into an armed man’s house and take his property unless he overpowers him and ties him; if he ties him, he can take what he wants. Come with me or go against me. Gather or scatter. Every kind of evil word and act will be forgiven, except words against the Spirit. Whoever blasphemes Adam’s son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Spirit will not be forgiven, not in this world and not in the world to come. A tree is known by its fruit. Unless you make your tree and its fruit good, you rot it and rot its fruit. How can the serpent’s inheritance, being evil, speak good things? The tongue speaks what the heart is full of. A good man from the good treasure of his heart brings out good, while an evil man from evil treasure brings out evil. Every careless word you speak you will have to account for in the day of judgment: by your words you will be saved in that day, and by your words you will be condemned.
A SCHOLAR. Teacher, show us a sign that what you say is true.
JESUS. A doubting and adulterous age hungers for signs, but the only sign given it will be the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was three days in the whale’s belly, so Adam’s son will be three days in the heart of the earth. In the judgment the people of Nineveh will rise up with this age, and they will condemn it. They repented when Jonah preached, and what you see is greater than Jonah. The Queen of the South will rise up with this age in the judgment, and she will condemn it. She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and what you hear is greater than Solomon. When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it walks through arid places seeking rest. Finding none, it says to itself, “I will return to the house I came out of.” When it returns it finds the house fixed up, tidy, vacant. It goes and finds seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they all go and live there. So it will be for this wicked age. The last state will be worse than the first.
A WOMAN. Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the nipples you sucked.
JESUS. Say instead, “Blessed are they who hear God’s word and do it.”
His mother and other relatives arrive at the house and ask to speak with him. Someone says to him, “Your mother and brothers have come and want to talk with you.”
JESUS. Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?
He stretches his hands toward his followers.
JESUS. Here are my mother and brothers. Whoever does my Father’s will is my brother, my sister, and my mother.
A crowd’s with him. As before, he gets in a boat and talks to the crowd, which stands at the edge of the water.
JESUS. Listen: look. A farmer went out to sow seed. Some seed fell on the path. Birds came and ate the seed. Some seed fell on stony ground, where there was little dirt. Plants sprang up quickly in the shallow ground, but when the sun came up they were scorched, and having no root they withered away. Some seed fell among weeds. The weeds grew up and choked the young plants, which produced no fruit. But some seed fell on good ground. The plants sprang up and flourished and produced fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, some a hundred. Who can hear, let him hear.
Afterwards he’s alone with the twelve and other close followers. They ask him what his story means.
JESUS. To you it’s given to perceive the truth of the Father’s kingdom, but to those who judge from outside, everything will remain something else. What Isaiah says to them is true: “You hear indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not. You make the heart of the people fat, their ears heavy, and their eyes dark; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and be healed.” But happy are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you many prophets and good men and women yearned to see what you see and did not see it, to hear what you hear and did not hear it. And yet—you don’t know the meaning of the comparison of the farmer? How then will you know the meaning of any comparison? The farmer sows the word. People along the path receive the word, but they do not take it in. As soon as they hear the word, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hears. People on stony ground receive the word gladly, but it does not take root in them, and so cannot last. When trouble and persecution come because of the word, they give it up. People among weeds receive the word, but the worries of the world, the enchantments of wealth, and the desires of existence choke the word, and it produces no fruit. People on good ground receive the word and nourish it. It is they who produce fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, some a hundred. What you give will be given you, and much more. The farmer will throw seed on the ground. The next day he will get up and go elsewhere. The seed must sprout and grow up, though the ground doesn’t understand how. The ground must produce fruit out of itself: first the leaf, then the flower, after that the grain. When the grain has matured, the farmer will return with his sickle, because the harvest has come.
He gives his followers and the crowds other comparisons, making real the Psalmist’s prophecy, “I will open my mouth in parables: I will reveal dark sayings of old. What we have heard and known and our fathers have told us, we will not hide from the children; we will show to a generation to come the praises of the Lord, his strength, and the wonderful works he has done.”
JESUS. A farmer planted good seed in his field. While his men were sleeping, his enemy came, planted weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and began to grow, the weeds also appeared. The farmhands went to the farmer and said, “Sir, didn’t you plant good seed in your field? Why, then, does it have weeds?” He said to them, “My enemy has done this.” The men asked, “Shall we go and dig them out?” But the farmer said, “No, in digging the weeds out you might also root up the wheat. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds and bind them in bundles to be burned, and gather the wheat into my barn.”
This, too, he explains to his followers.
JESUS. The farmer is Adam’s son. The field is the world. The good seed are God’s children. The weeds are the children of corruption. The enemy who plants them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are God’s angels. Just as today weeds are gathered at the harvest and thrown in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. Adam’s son will send his angels, who will remove from his kingdom everything that prevented good or did evil and will throw it in a blazing furnace; then the good will shine like suns in the Father’s kingdom. A net thrown in the sea catches every kind of fish. When the net is full the fishers draw it to shore, then sit down and put the good fish in barrels and throw away the bad. At the world’s end angels will come to remove the wicked from among the holy. They will throw the wicked in a burning oven, where they will shriek and chew their tongues. Do you understand what I’m telling you?
JESUS’ FOLLOWERS. Yes.
JESUS. Every student who understands your Father’s kingdom is like a householder who is able to bring out from his storeroom new things and old. Your Father’s kingdom is like treasure hidden in a field. A man has found it and hidden it again. He will gladly sell everything he has to buy it. Your Father’s kingdom is like a costly pearl. A merchant looking for fine pearls has discovered it, and to buy it he will sell everything he has.
Nazareth. He goes to the synagogue and stands up to read. Handed the book of Isaiah, he unrolls it.
JESUS. “The Spirit of the Lord God is in me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to call to them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the Lord’s planting, that he might be glorified.”
He rolls up the book, hands it to the attendant, and sits down. The congregation waits.
JESUS. Today these words are realized in your hearing.
They’re furious. “Where did he learn to blaspheme? They say he told truths and did miracles, but isn’t he a builder? Isn’t Mary his mother? Don’t we know his brothers? Aren’t his sisters our neighbors?”
JESUS. A prophet isn’t unwelcome, except in his own country and house. Will you quote me the proverb, “Physician, heal thyself,” and challenge me to do here what you heard I did in Capernaum? I remind you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s day, when for three and a half years the heavens were shut and a great famine ate up the land. Elijah was not sent to them, but to a widow of Sidon in the village of Zarephath. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and not one of them became clean, but Naaman, a Syrian.
Some run up to taunt him; others hoot at him from their places; a few want to take him to the edge of the hill on which the town is built and throw him down—but he walks out of the synagogue and no one touches him. He does no miracles in Nazareth, because its people do not believe.
He returns to Capernaum. One evening he’s getting ready to cross the lake.
A SCRIBE. Tell me where you’re going: I’ll follow.
JESUS. Foxes have holes and birds have nests. Adam’s son is a stranger on the earth.
He and the twelve get into several small boats and take to sea. As they cross, a great windstorm arises and threatens to throw the boats under the waves. Jesus lies in the stern of his boat, asleep on a pillow.
THE APOSTLES. Teacher, don’t you care that we’re dying?
He sits up, scolds the wind, and says to the sea, “Peace, be still.” The winds drop, and the sea becomes calm.
JESUS. Why are you so much afraid? Where is your faith?
But they have another reason to be scared. Looking at each other, they ask, “What sort of man is he, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” They land near Gergesa, where a man lives crazed by demons. Ropes and chains can’t hold him: he roves naked among the tombs and hills, terrorizing the populace. If he finds nothing to destroy he cuts himself with stones. Seeing Jesus step from the boat, he runs to him and falls down before him.
JESUS. Who are you?
THE CRAZED MAN. My name is Legion: there are many of us. Don’t order us from this country.
In the distance a large herd of pigs is feeding.
THE DEMONS. Send us into the pigs—we will live in them.
JESUS. Go.
The demons come out of the man and go into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushes over a cliff, plunges into the sea, and is drowned. The swineherds run into the village to tell what happened. the villagers come out and see Jesus sitting with the crazed man, who’s clothed and fully himself. They beg Jesus to leave their country. The man he gave back to himself asks to go with him.
JESUS. Go back to your family and tell them the great thing the Lord has done for you, and how he has loved you.
The man goes back to his village in the Ten Towns, where he astonishes his friends with his story.
Jesus returns to Capernaum. Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, is in the large crowd of people waiting for him. Going to Jesus, he falls down in front of him and begs for help.
JAIRUS. My little daughter is nearly dead. Please come and put your hands on her. You’ll cure her and she will live.
He goes with Jairus. The crowd follows, jostling them both. Suddenly Jesus turns.
JESUS. Who touched me?
HIS FOLLOWERS. Everybody’s crowding about you and you ask, “Who touched me?”
He continues to look around him. A woman, scared and trembling, steps out of the crowd and falls at his feet.
JESUS. Daughter, rejoice, your faith has made you whole.
The woman had sufffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had been treated by many doctors and had spent all she had trying to find a cure but had gotten worse instead of better. Then she heard of Jesus, followed him, and touched his clothes, thinking, “If I can only touch his clothes I shall be cured.”
JESUS. Walk in peace, and be free.
They reach Jairus’ house and see people running about and wailing. Someone comes out and tells Jairus, “Your daughter is dead: send him away.”
JESUS to Jairus. Don’t fear—have faith.
They go into the house.
JESUS to the mourners. Why are running you around wailing? The girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.
The laugh at him bitterly, but he prevails on Jairus to have them sent out of the house. He, Peter, James, and John accompany Jairus and his wife to the girl’s room. A child of about twelve lies in bed. He takes her hand.
JESUS. Talitha cumi: little girl, wake up.
The girl gets out of bed and walks to her parents.
JESUS to Jairus. Tell no one what you have seen. Give the girl something to eat.
As he comes from Jairus’ house two blind men shout.
BLIND MEN. Son of David, help us!
JESUS. Do you believe I can make you whole?
BLIND MEN. Yes, Lord.
JESUS. What you believe will be done.
He touches their eyes: they open.
JESUS. Tell nobody about this.
They leave and tell everybody. A man’s brought to him who’s dumb, being possessed by a demon. Jesus throws the demon out, and the man talks. Many others are made whole. Nothing like it has been seen before, but the Pharisees continue to insist: “He can command devils because he’s sent by the prince of devils.”
Large crowds follow him everywhere.
JESUS to the twelve. The harvest is in fact great, but the workers are few: pray that the Lord of the harvest sends workers to his harvest.
He sends the apostles out by twos and gives them power over demons.
JESUS. Don’t go into Gentile territory or into Samaritan towns, but go to the lost sheep of Jacob. As you go, tell them, “The Father’s kingdom has come.” Cure the sick, clean the lepers, throw out demons, raise the dead. As you have received freely, so freely give. Don’t take with you copper, silver, or gold. Don’t carry a beggar’s bag or an extra coat, extra sandals, or an extra staff: a workingman deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you go to, ask who in it is respected and stay with him until you leave. As you go into the house give it your blessing—if the house welcomes you give it your blessing. But if the house doesn’t welcome you and listen to what you have to say, leave it and its town and shake the dust off your feet. I tell you it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah when they are judged than for that town. Know: I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Therefore be as clever as serpents and as innocent as doves. Don’t be mislead by men. They will deliver you to the courts and abuse you in synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings because of me, and you will speak for me to them and the Gentiles. If you are arrested, don’t plan your defense. Say whatever comes to you as you are speaking. Don’t be scared. It won’t be you speaking but the Holy Spirit. If you’re thrown out of one town, hasten to another. You will not have covered the cities of Israel before the son of Adam arrives. A disciple isn’t better treated than his teacher or a slave than his master. For the disciple it’s enough to be with his teacher; for a slave, to be with his master. If people call the master the son of Beelzebub, what will they call the master’s slaves? Don’t be afraid of them; nothing is covered that won’t be revealed, and hid that won’t be known. What I tell you now while we are alone, proclaim in the markets; what I whisper in your ear, shout from the rooftops. Don’t fear those who can kill the body but not the soul. Fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Who could count the sparrows? Yet not one falls to the ground without your Father’s knowing it. Hence get rid of fear: you are worth so far more than sparrows, even your hairs are counted. Whoever pleads for me in front of men, I’ll plead for in heaven in front of the Father. Don’t think that I shall bring peace on earth: I shall not bring peace but a sword. Where five live together, three will be against two and two against three. Micah said, “A son will accuse his father, a daughter will betray her mother, a daughter-in-law will betray her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies will be of his own house.” So I say to you, Whoever welcomes a good man because he is good will receive a good man’s reward. Whoever welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever gives you even a cup of cold water because you are my disciple will receive a disciple’s reward. Whoever welcomes you welcomes me. Whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me. I have come to set fire to the earth: I would it were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with: I am held back until it is accomplished.
Jesus goes to Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate is a pool called Bethesda. It’s surrounded by five porches, where many of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed lie waiting for the water to move. For it’s said an angel sometimes comes down and stirs the water: whoever then first after the stirring of the water steps in is cured. A man lying there has been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus sees him.
JESUS. Do you hope to be cured?
THE SICK MAN. Sir, I’ve no one to put me in the pool when the water moves; while I’m trying to get there, someone steps in before me.
JESUS. Stand up, take your mat, and walk.
The man stands up, takes his mat, and starts walking. It’s the Sabbath: seeing the sick man, people say to him, “You’re breaking the Law by carrying your mat.”
THE MAN. The man who made me whole said, “Take your mat and walk.”
HIS QUESTIONERS. Point him out to us.
Jesus, however, has disappeared into the crowd. Later, the man sees him in the Temple.
JESUS. You’re whole: don’t sin again or something worse will come to you.
The man leaves the Temple and is able to tell those who questioned him that it was Jesus who cured him. They go to Jesus.
THE QUESTIONERS. Why do you do these things on the Sabbath?
JESUS. My Father is working, and I am working.
The reply makes them angry; not only has Jesus broken the Sabbath but he is calling himself God’s son.
JESUS. What I say is. I say to you, A son does nothing of his own, but only what he sees his Father do. What the Father does the son does also. The Father loves the son and shows him all that he does—things far greater than this cure that upsets you. As the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so the son also gives life to whom he chooses. The Father judges no one: he gives all judging to the son to make sure the son is honored as the Father is honored: who does not honor the son does not honor the Father. What I say is. I say to you, Whoever hears me and believes him who sent me will always have life. He won’t be condemned but has passed from death to life. What I say is. I say to you, The time is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Father’s son; and hearing it, will live. As the Father has life in himself, so he gives to the son to have life in himself. And he gives to his son power to execute judgment as the son of Adam. Don’t balk at this. The time is soon when all in their graves will hear his voice and rise up. Those who have done good will rise to life, and those who have done evil will rise to damnation. I do nothing on my own. As I hear, so I judge. The judgment is just, because I don’t look to my will but to the will of my Father who sent me to you. If I ask you to believe my word only, you are right to deny me. Other things recommend me. You heard John. He vouched for me. I don’t say it to base my claim on a man but to incline your hearts to me. John was a burning and shining light. Once you were willing to rejoice in that light. I have a greater witness than John: the works the Father gives me to do, which I do daily, testify that the Father sent me. The Father himself who sent me tells you about me. You’ve never heard him. Since his words do not live in you, you do not believe the person he sent. But look in the scriptures, which you say have eternal life. They testify to me; yet you won’t come to me and receive that life. So my claim doesn’t depend on me. I know you. I know that you don’t love God. I come with the Father’s love. You do not welcome me, though if another came loving himself you would welcome him. How can you love me, if you love self-love more than the love that comes from God only? Don’t think I’ll condemn you in front of the Father. Another will: Moses, whom you look to. Had you believed him you would believe me, for he wrote of me. Since you don’t believe Moses, how can you believe me?
Herod Antipas hears about Jesus and exclaims to his court, “John’s back from the dead! It’s he who’s working miracles.” Herod had had John put in chains because John condemned his marriage to Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Herodias wanted John killed, but Herod was afraid of the people, who took John for a prophet. Besides, Herod revered John. He visited him in prison, and though John’s words upset him, he was eager to hear them. But on Herod’s birthday Herodias’ daughter danced before the court and pleased Herod so well we vowed to give her whatever she asked.
HEROD. Ask what you want and I will give it to you: what you ask of me I will give you, be it half my kingdom.
The girl went to her mother.
SALOME. Mother, what shall I ask for?
HERODIAS. John’s head.
She ran to the king.
SALOME. Bring me John’s head on a plate.
Herod was aghast when he heard this. But because of his promise and because he did not dare appear irresolute in front of his guests he gave the order: John’s head was cut off and carried on a plate to the girl, who gave it to her mother.
After the festival, Jesus leaves Jerusalem and returns to Capernaum. The apostles also return, and tell him what they did and taught.
JESUS. Let’s go by ourselves to a quiet place where you can rest. Here people are always coming—you won’t be able to eat or sit down.
Early in the morning they cross by boat to a place near Bethsaida, but people find out what they did and follow by land. Jesus sees them running toward him.
JESUS. They are like sheep without a shepherd.
He make whole those who are sick and talks to the crowd until the late afternoon.
THE APOSTLES. It’s almost evening, and there’s nothing here for these people to eat: tell them to go into the villages and buy themselves food.
JESUS. You feed them.
PHILIP. Two hundred days’ pay would only tickle their appetite.
JESUS. Go and see what we have.
ANDREW. A boy over there has food, but only five barley loaves and a couple of fish.
JESUS. Bring it here and ask the people to sit down.
The people sit down in groups of fifty to a hundred. They look like flower beds in the green grass. Looking up to the sky, Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish, blesses them, breaks them, and gives them to the twelve, who give them to the crowd. Five thousand men and many women and children eat until they are sated.
JESUS. Gather the pieces that haven’t been eaten, so that nothing is lost.
The apostles fill twelve baskets with the fragments of the five loaves. As Jesus sends the crowd home, some people come up to him and say, “Surely you’re the prophet who is to come.” They want to make him king, but he turns from them. Telling the apostles to take a boat and return to Capernaum, he goes up the hillside alone and prays through the night. At sea a gale opposes the boat and waves throw it about. The boat does not get beyond three miles from shore. Just before daybreak, the apostles see a figure walking past them on the water. Thinking, “It’s a ghost!” they panic and start hurling curses at it.
JESUS. Cheer up: it’s me. Don’t be scared.
PETER. Master, if it’s you tell me to come to you on the water.
JESUS. Come.
Peter steps out of the boat and walks on the water toward Jesus. But noticing the gusting wind, he hesitates and sinks.
PETER. Master, save me!
Jesus puts his hand out and catches him.
JESUS. O you petty believer, why did you doubt?
As he carries Peter back to the boat the winds become calm. Falling on their knees, the apostles cry, “You really are God’s son.”
They land. People recognize him and spread word to bring him everyone who’s sick. They beg him to let the sick touch at least the hem of his cloak. All who touch he makes whole.
He returns to Capernaum. Some people who had remained on the other shore where Jesus had given them bread were now asking, “Where is he?” They knew that his followers had taken the only boat and had left without him. But being unable to find him and seeing the arrival of boats from Tiberius that they could take to Capernaum, they decide to look for him there. They find him in a synagogue.
JEWS SEEKING JESUS. Teacher, when did you get back to Capernaum?
JESUS. What I say is. I say to you: You weren’t looking for me because you saw God’s will being done, but because you ate and were fed. Don’t work for food that doesn’t last, but for food that feeds life always. Adam’s son will give you this food: it is why the Father sent him.
JEWS. What must we do to do God’s work?
JESUS. This is God’s work for you: believe him whom he sent.
JEWS. What proof have you that we should believe you? Our fathers ate manna in the desert. It’s written, “He rained food on them to eat, and gave them food from heaven.”
JESUS. What I say is. I say to you: Moses did not give you food from heaven. My Father is giving you the true bread from heaven. The bread descends from heaven and gives the world life.
JEWS. Master, always give us this food.
JESUS. I am the food of life. Whoever comes to me will not hunger; whoever comes to me will not thirst. But as I say, you saw me and don’t believe. All whom the Father gives me will come to me; who comes to me I’ll never refuse. I did not come down from heaven to do my will but the will of him who sent me. It is his will that I shall lose nothing of all he gives me, but shall raise everyone up on the last day. It is the Father’s will that everyone who sees the son and believes in him shall always have life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.
They grumble against him because he calls himself the food that came down from heaven. They say to themselves, “Isn’t he Joseph’s son? How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
JESUS. Don’t grumble. Nobody can come to me unless the Father who sent me brings him. I will raise him up on the last day. Isaiah wrote, “God will teach the children.” Therefore everyone who has heard the Father and recognizes him will come to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father: only he who comes from God has seen the Father. What I say is. I say to you: Whoever believes in me will live always. I am the living bread. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and are dead. I am the food that comes from heaven. Who eats me will not die. I am the living food that comes from heaven. If anyone eats this food he will live always. The food I give is my body. I give it for the life of the world.
JEWS. How can a man give us his body to eat?
JESUS. What I say is. I say to you: Unless you chew the flesh of Adam’s son and swallow his blood you have no life in you. Who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life without end and I will raise him up on the last day. My body is your true food and my blood is your true drink. Who eats my body and drinks my blood lives in me and I in him. As I live in the Father who sent me, so who eats me will live in me. I am the true food that comes from heaven. Your fathers ate manna and are dead. Who eats this food lives always.
Many of his followers are saying to themselves, “This is outlandish: nobody will listen to him.”
JESUS. Is it too much for you? Would it be easier if you saw Adam’s son go up to where he came from? Love gives life. Authority creates nothing. What I tell you is love and life. Yet you won’t believe; that is why I say: no one can come to me unless the Father brings him.
At this many leave him. He turns to the twelve.
JESUS. Will you also go?
PETER. Master, to whom? Your words have eternal life.
JESUS. Didn’t I choose you twelve? Yet one is a devil.
49 Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem
They see some of his followers eat without washing hands.
SCRIBES and PHARISEES. Why do your followers break ancient tradition and omit washing their hands when they eat?
JESUS. Why do you follow your ancient tradition of breaking God’s commandments? God said, “Honor your father and mother,” and, “He that injures his father or mother, let him die.” You say, “Let a man tell his parents, ‘All the money I can spare I have pledged to God,’ and he is innocent.” It’s fitting that you turn away from God and follow the tradition of your fathers. Pretenders, Isaiah already saw through you when he said, “This people worships me with their mouth and serves me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; their prayer is empty, for they teach as God’s word the edicts of men.”
He turns to the crowd.
JESUS. Listen and know: it isn’t how a man eats that pollutes him but how he speaks.
The scribes and Pharisees leave. The apostles come to him and say, “The Pharisees resent what you said about them.”
JESUS. Every plant not planted in heaven by my Father will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are the blind leading the blind, and if one blind man leads another both end in the gutter.
PETER. Explain the new principle.
JESUS. Are you as acute as the others? Don’t you see that what goes into a person’s mouth passes through his bowels into the sewer but that what comes out of his mouth comes from his heart and defiles him? Out of the heart come hatred, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lies, and impiety. These defile: to eat without washing hands does not.
He’s walking along the shore between Tyre and Sidon. A Greek Canaanite woman from the region approaches him.
THE WOMAN. Lord, son of David, help me! A demon is torturing my daughter.
He pays no attention to her.
THE APOSTLES. Do something about her—she’s following us and shouting.
JESUS. I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
THE WOMAN. Lord, help me.
JESUS. It isn’t right to take food from the children to give it to the dogs.
THE WOMAN. Lord, that’s very true, yet the dogs feed on scraps that fall from their master’s table.
JESUS. Woman, you have a jumping faith: whatever you beg for you’ll get.
Her daughter is cured.
They go up to Sidon, then visit the territory of the Ten Towns. Some friends of a man who is deaf and dumb ask Jesus to put his hands on him. Taking the man aside, he puts his finger on the man’s ears, then spits on the finger, puts the spit on the man’s tongue, looks up to the sky, and groans.
JESUS. Ephphatha: be opened.
The man hears him and speaks. Jesus goes up a hillside. A great crowd brings him cripples, deaf-mutes, the blind, and others who are sick. For three days he cures the sick. Then he calls his followers together.
JESUS. I feel sorry for them. They’ve been here three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry, they’ll faint on the road.
THE APOSTLES. Where are we going to get enough food in this isolated spot to feed such a crowd?
JESUS. How much food have you?
THE APOSTLES. Seven loaves and a few small fish.
He asks the people to sit on the ground. Thanking God, he takes the loaves and the fish, blesses them, and gives them to the apostles, who give them to the people. Four thousand mean and many women and children eat and are sated, and what remeains of the bread fills seven hampers. He sends the crowd away and goes by boat to Magadan. There Pharisees and Sadducees try to provoke him into showing them a sign from God.
JESUS. After a red sunset you say, “It will be fair weather”; and after a red sunrise you say, “It will rain.” You read the skies—can’t you read the signs of the times?
JESUS to the apostles. Take care you don’t eat the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
They’ve forgotten to bring food with them: they have only a loaf of bread. They complain among themselves, “But we have not bread of our own.”
JESUS. What petty believers you are! Is it so difficult to take in? Don’t your ears hear and your eyes see? Have you already forgotten that five loaves fed five thousand and filled twelve baskets and that seven loaves fed four thousand and filled seven hampers? Where is the difficulty seeing I was not talking about food? I repeat, Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadduceess.
A blind man who lives outside the village is brought to him. Taking him by the hand, Jesus leads him beyond the village gate and wets the man’s eyes with spit.
JESUS. Do you see?
THE BLIND MAN. I see people looking like trees, but walking.
He again puts spit in the man’s eyes and asks him to look. The man’s sight is completely restored.
JESUS. Go home. Don’t go into the village or say anything to the villagers.
JESUS. Who do men say I am?
THE APOSTLES. Some say you’re John, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or another prophet.
JESUS. Who do you say I am?
SIMON PETER. You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.
JESUS. Loved are you, Simon, Jonah’s son. No man told you this, but my Father in heaven. And I say to you: on this Rock I shall build my temple. In it Death will not triumph. I shall give you keys made in the Father’s kingdom: what is locked in heaven you shall lock on earth, and what is open in heaven you shall open on earth.
He warns them to tell no one he is the Messiah. He tells them he will go up to Jerusalem, where he will be put on trial by the high priests, elders, and scribes, be put to death, and be raised on the third day. Peter draws him aside and starts arguing with him.
PETER. This isn’t you, Lord—it can’t happen.
JESUS. Get out of my way, Satan, you are a stone in my path. You speak for men and not God.
JESUS to the twelve. If anyone wishes to be with me, he will have to disown himself each day, take up his cross, and walk with me. Everyone who looks after his life will lose it, and everyone who loses his life for me and the good news will find it. What use is it to win the whole world and lose your life? What would you offer to buy it back? When the son of Adam comes in his Father’s power accompanied by angels he will reward everyone according to his acts. If you deny me now, he will deny you when he comes with the holy angels and his Father’s glory. What I say to you is, Some here today will not die before seeing Adam’s son enthroned.
He takes Peter and the brothers James and John up a high mountain where they are by themselves. Peter and Zebedee’s sons are very drowsy. When they open their eyes, Jesus is changed before them. His face shines like the sun and his clothes are like light. Moses and Elijah are talking with him.
PETER to Jesus. It’s good we’re here: we can put up three tents—for you, Moses, and Elijah.
In fact Peter’s terrified—he doesn’t know what he’s saying. Suddenly a lightning cloud illumines the landscape—a voice comes out of the cloud: THIS IS MY SON, WHOM I LOVE: HEAR HIM. Peter and the brothers find themselves face down shaking on the ground. Jesus’ hand is on them.
JESUS. Stand up. Don’t be afraid.
They come down the mountain.
JESUS. Tell no one what you saw until Adam’s son has returned from the dead.
JAMES. Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must return and make everything ready?
JESUS. What they say happened. Elijah came and they didn’t know him. They used him for their own purposes, and they will do the same with Adam’s son.
At the bottom of the mountain he finds his followers arguing with scribes.
JESUS to the scribes. What are you arguing about?
A man out of the crowd kneels before him.
THE MAN. Sir, help my son. He’s insane; something inside him is tearing him apart. He never hears or says anything. He often falls into fire or water. For long periods he doesn’t do anything but lie on the ground foaming at the mouth and grinding his teeth. I brought him to your followers, but they couldn’t cure him.
JESUS. What a suspicious and twisted age! How long will I be with you, and how long will I carry you? Bring the boy here.
The man brings his son, who rolls on the ground, his mouth foaming.
JESUS. How long as he been like this?
THE BOY’S FATHER. Since he was very young. If you can do anything, be kind and help us.
JESUS. If you believe—everything is possible to one who believes.
THE FATHER. Sir, I believe: stop my not believing.
Jesus looks at the boy.
JESUS. Dumb and deaf spirit, I say to you: come out and never return.
The boy shakes and gives a yell, then lies perfectly still. The crowd murmurs, “He’s dead!” Jesus takes him by the hand: he stands up. Afterwards, when they’re alone, the twelve question Jesus.
THE APOSTLES. Why couldn’t we throw the spirit out?
JESUS. Because you don’t believe.
Collectors of the Temple tax approach Peter.
TAX COLLECTORS. Does you master support the Temple?
PETER. Yes.
He goes to tell Jesus, but before he can say anything Jesus speaks to him.
JESUS. What do you think, Simon—do the kings of earth tax their children or outsiders?
PETER. They tax outsiders.
JESUS. Then the children are exempt. Nevertheless, that no one be offended, throw a line in the sea, take the first fish you catch, and open its mouth. You’ll find a coin: take it and give it to the collectors for us both.
They are returning from a walk.
JESUS. What were you discussing along the way?
The apostles say nothing, since they were arguing about who among them was greatest. Jesus calls a small child to him, sits down, and asks the twelve to come near.
JESUS. What I say to you is, Unless you turn around and become like small children you won’t get into your Father’s kingdom. Whoever makes himself as small as this child is greatest in the Father’s kingdom. Who receives such a child receives me, and who receives me receives him who sent me. Never disdain a child. What I say to you is, their angels in heaven are always standing close to my Father. He does not want any child to be lost. Better drown at the bottom of the sea with a millstone tied around your neck than stand in the way of these small ones who believe in me. Alas for a world of barriers! There will be barriers, but alas for the person setting them! Remember what Isaiah says: “His worm shall not die, neither shall his fire be quenched, and all flesh shall find him abhorrent.”
JOHN. Master, we saw somebody throw out devils in your name. He wasn’t one of us, so we told him to stop.
JESUS. Don’t. Nobody who does good in my name will lightly speak evil of me: whoever isn’t against us is for us.
PETER. Master, how many times should my brother hurt me and I forgive him? Seven?
JESUS. Not seven but seventy times seven. Your Father’s kingdom is as if a king decided to call in debts owed him by his servants. One of the first to have to settle accounts was a man who owed an immense sum. Since he couldn’t pay, his master commanded that he be sold along with his wife, his children, and all he owned, and the money handed over. The man fell down and praised the king and said, “Lord, be patient with me and I shall pay you everything.” The king pitied him, released him, and cancelled the debt. The servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a trifling sum. He took him by the arm and throat and said, “Pay me what you owe me.” His fellow servant fell to his knees pleading with him and said, “Be patient with me and I’ll pay you everything.” But he would not listen and had him jailed till the debt should be paid. When the other servants saw what happened they were saddened and told the king. The king called the man in and said, “You wicked servant. I forgave you your debt as you asked. Shouldn’t you show the same mercy to your fellow servant as I showed to you?” The king was angry and handed the servant over to the torturers until he paid the full amount. So my Father in heaven will do to you, if you don’t in your hearts forgive your brother his faults.
Some time before, he had appointed seventy-two disciples and had sent them by twos to every town and village of Galilee, giving them the same instructions he had given the twelve. The seventy-two now return elated because, as they tell him, “Master, when we invoked your name even devils obeyed us!” Yet they report few conversions.
JESUS. I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Though I give you power to walk on scorpions and snakes and to overcome demons, yet don’t be happy that the spirits obey you: rather, be happy that your names are written in heaven. Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas, Bethsaida! If the people of Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles you have seen they would have long repented and sat in sackcloth and ashes. It will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, how will you be raised up to heaven?—you will be thrown down to hell. All things are given me by the Father. No one knows the son but the Father, and no one knows the Father but the son and those whom the son brings to the Father. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the astute and revealing them to babies. Father, I thank you that this seemed good in your eyes. Come to me, all you who struggle and are weighed down, for I shall give you rest. Put on my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and loving, and your souls will find rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.