I.N.R.I Part 27

"You may want him and I mayn't give him," said the old man with a cunning laugh. "If anything happened to this animal I should never get over it. It is no ordinary a.s.s, my friend!"

"It is no ordinary rider who needs him," said James.

The little old man took the disciple to the stable. The animal stood by the manger, and was certainly of a good breed. It was not gray, but rather bright brown and smooth, with slender legs, pretty, sharp-pointed ears, and long whiskers round its big intelligent eyes.

"Isn't it the colour of a thoroughbred Arab?" said the old man.

"It's a beautiful creature," a.s.sented James. "Will you lend it for a silver piece and much honour? It can easily be back by noon."

To which the little old man replied: "It stands to reason that we can make something out of it during this time of visitors. Let us make it two silver pieces."

"One silver piece and honour!"

"Let us make it two silver pieces without honour," haggled the little old man. "A steed for princes, I tell you. In the whole of Judaea you won't find such another beauty! It is of n.o.ble descent, you must know."

"We can dispense with that honour," said James, "if only it does not stumble."

Then the old man related how in the year of Herod's ma.s.sacre of the innocents--"a little over thirty years ago, I think--you must know that the Infant Messiah lay in a stable at Bethlehem with the ox and the a.s.s. The child rode away into foreign lands, as far as Egypt, they say, on that very a.s.s. And this a.s.s is descended from that one."

"If that's so," said James brightly, "it's a marvellous coincidence!"

And he whispered softly in the old man's ear: "The man who will enter Jerusalem to-day on that a.s.s is the Messiah who was born in the stable."

"Is it Jesus of Nazareth?" asked the old man. "I will hire the animal to Him for half a silver piece. In return I shall implore Him to heal my wife, who has been rheumatic for years."

So they made their compact, and James led the a.s.s up the mountain where they were all sitting together, unable to gaze long enough at Jerusalem. Only Jesus was wrapt in thought and looked gloomily at the shining town.

"Oh, Jerusalem!" He said softly to Himself. "If only thou wouldst heed this hour. If thou wouldst recognise wherein lies thy salvation. But thou dost not recognise it, and I foresee the day when cruel enemies will pull down thy walls so that not one stone remains upon another."

John placed his cloak on the animal, and Jesus mounted it. He rode down to the valley followed by His disciples.

And then an extraordinary thing happened. When they reached the valley of Kedron where the roads cross, people hurried up shouting: "The King is coming! The Son of David is coming!" Soon others ran out of the farms and the gardens, and kept alongside them at the edge of the road, shouting: "It is the Messiah! G.o.d be praised. He has come!"

No one knew who had spread the news of His arrival, or who first shouted the word Messiah. Perhaps it was Judas. It caught on like wildfire, awaking cries of acclamation everywhere. When Jesus rode up to the town, the crowd was so great that the a.s.s could only pace slowly along, and after He had pa.s.sed the town gate the streets and squares could scarcely contain the people. The whole of Jerusalem had suddenly become aware that the Prophet of Nazareth had come! Strangers from the provinces, who had already seen and heard Him in other places, pressed forward. Now that He entered the metropolis with head erect and the cry of the Messiah filling the air, people who had scorned the poor fugitive were proud of Him and boasted of meetings with Him, of His acquaintance. Hands were stretched out to Him. Many cast their garments on the ground for the a.s.s to step on. They greeted Him with olive and palm branches, and from hundreds of throats sounded: "All hail to Thee! All hail to Thee! Welcome, Thou long-expected, eagerly desired Saviour!" The police, with their long staves, made a way through the streets that led to the golden house, to the king's palace.

From all doors and windows they shouted: "Come into my house! Take shelter under my roof, Thou Saviour of the people!" The crowd poured forward to the palace. The disciples, who walked close behind Him and could scarcely control their agitation, were surrounded, overwhelmed, fanned with palm-leaves, pelted with rose-buds. Simon Peter had been recognised as soon as the Master, and could not prevent the people carrying him on their shoulders; but he bent down and implored them to set him on the ground, for he did not wish to be lifted higher than the Master, and he feared if they held him up like that over the heads of the others many would take him for the Messiah. John had managed better; bending down and breathing heavily, he led the animal, so that the people only took him for a donkey-driver. All the rest of the disciples enjoyed the Master's honours as their own. Had they not faithfully shared misery with Him!

"Jerusalem, thou art still Jerusalem!" they said, intoxicated and filled with the storm of exultation around Him. "However well it went with us, it has never gone so well as here in Jerusalem."

Judas could not congratulate himself enough that, despite the poor procession, the Master was recognised. "I always said He would work His miracle when the time came."

"Well, I am full of fears," said Thomas. "They shout far too loudly.

The sounds come from the throat, not from the heart."

"Oh, take yourself off. You're always full of foreboding."

"I understand people a little. Idle townsfolk are easily pleased; they like to enjoy themselves, and any cause serves their turn."

"Thomas," said Matthew reprovingly, "It is not your humility that makes you heedless of the honour. It is doubt. See that fat shopkeeper there who brings more faith out of his throat. Listen! 'Hail to Thee, Son of David!' he shouts, and is already hoa.r.s.e through his loud shrieks of joy."

Thomas did not answer. Stooping down in irritation, he hastened through the crowd. Cries of welcome filled the whole town, and the streets along which the procession took its way were like animated palm groves. All traffic was at a standstill, windows and roofs were filled with people, all stretching their necks to see the Messiah.

Jesus sat on the animal, both feet on the one side, holding the reins with His right hand. He looked calmly and earnestly in front of Him, just as if He was riding through the dust clouds of the wilderness.

When the pinnacles of the royal castle towering above the roofs of the houses were in front of Him, He turned the animal into a side street, to the Temple square. Two guards at the entrance to the Temple signed violently with their arms to the crowd to go away, but the people remained standing there. The procession stopped, and Jesus got off the a.s.s.

"He is not going to the palace, but to the Temple?" many asked in surprise. "To the Temple?"

"To the Rabbis and Pharisees? Then we'll see what we shall see."

CHAPTER XXVII

Jesus, with serious determination, quickly ascended the steps of the Temple, without even glancing at the shouting people. A part of the crowd pressed after Him, the rest gradually dispersed. But the shout: "Praised be He who has come to-day!" never ceased the whole day.

When he entered the forecourt of the Temple and looked in. He stood still in dismay. It was full of life and movement. Hundreds of people of all kinds were tumbling over each other's heels, in gay-coloured coats, in hairy gowns, with tall caps and flat turbans. They were all offering goods for sale with cries and shrieks; there were spread out carpets, candlesticks, hanging lamps, pictures of the Temple and of the ark of the covenant, fruit, pottery, phylacteries, incense, silken garments, and jewels. Money-changers vaunted their high rate of exchange, the advantage of Roman money, broke open their rolls of gold and let the pieces fall slowly into the scales in order to delight the eyes of the pilgrims. Buyers made their way through, looked scornfully at the goods, haggled, laughed, and bought. Rabbis glided round in long caftans and soft shoes so that they were not heard. They wore velvet caps on their heads below which hung their curly black or grey hair. They carried large parchment scrolls under their arms--for the Sabbath was about to begin--slipped around with a dignified yet cunning manner, bargained here and there with shopkeepers or their wives, vanished behind the curtains and then reappeared.

When Jesus had for some time observed all this confusion from the threshold, anger overcame Him. Pushing the traders aside with His arms, He cut Himself a way through. At the nearest booth He s.n.a.t.c.hed up a bundle of phylacteries, swung them over the heads of the crowd, and exclaimed so loudly that His voice was heard above everything: "Ye learned teachers and ye Temple guards, see how admirably you understand the letter of the Word! It is written in the Scriptures: My house is for prayer! And you have turned Solomon's Temple into a bazaar!"

Hardly had He so spoken when He overturned a table with His hand, and upset several benches with His foot so that the goods fell in confusion to the ground under the feet of the crowd which began to give way.

They stared at one another speechless, and He continued to thunder forth: "My house shall be a holy refuge for the downcast and the suffering, said the Lord. And you make it a den of a.s.sa.s.sins, and, with your pa.s.sion for lucre, leave no place for men's souls. Out with you, ye cheats and thieves, whether you higgle over your goods or with the Scriptures!" He swung the phylacteries high over the Rabbis and teachers so that they bent their heads and fled through the curtained entrances. But the Rabbis, the Pharisees, and the Temple guards a.s.sembled in the side courts, and quickly took counsel how they were to seize this madman and render Him harmless. For see, ever more people streamed through the gates into the forecourt, surrounded the angry Prophet, and shouted: "Praised be Thou, O Nazarene, who art come to cleanse the Temple! Praise and all hail to Thee, long-looked-for Saviour!"

When the Rabbis saw how things were going, they too raised their voices and shouted: "Praised be the Prophet! Hail to thee, O Nazarene!"

"All is won!" whispered the disciples, crowding up together. "Even the Rabbis shout!"

The Rabbis, however, had quickly sent for the police; they came up to Jesus and, as soon as the crowd became quieter, entered into conversation with Him.

"Master," said one of them, "truly you appear at the right time. The condition of our poor people is such that we know not which way to turn. You are the man who turns aside neither to right nor left, but who keeps in the straight path of justice. Tell us what you think: Shall we Jews pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or shall we refuse?"

Jesus saw what they were driving at, and asked to be shown a coin.

They were surprised that He had no money in His pockets, and handed Him one of the Roman coins current in the country.

"From whom do these coins come?" He asked.

"As you see, from the Roman Emperor."

"And whose picture is on the coin?"

"The Emperor's."

"And whose is the inscription on the coin?"

"The Emperor's."

"Whose is the coin?"

They were silent.

Jesus said: "Render unto G.o.d what comes from Him, and unto Caesar what comes from Caesar."