And they got ready and went.
John XI, 47-57, 7-10.
XLI.
When they heard in Jerusalem that Jesus was coming, the people went out to meet him, surrounded him, put him on an ass, ran before him, and broke twigs from the trees and threw them on the road, shouting: "Here is our true King! He has told us about the true God!" And so Jesus rode into Jerusalem. And the people asked: "Who is that ?" And those who knew him said: "It is Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
When he had ridden up to the Temple, Jesus got oflF the ass, entered the Temple, and began to teach the people.
And the Pharisees and priests saw him, and said to one another: "See, what that man is doing! All the people are going after him!"
They would have liked to take him at once, but dared not, because they feared the people. And they planned how to do it without provoking the people.
So Jesus, quite undisturbed, taught the people. Besides Jews, there were in the Temple heathen Greeks also. The Greeks had heard that the teaching of Jesus was not for Jews only, but for all men, and they wanted to hear him. They told this to Philip, and Philip told Andrew.
The disciples were afraid of bringing Jesus and the Greeks together. They feared that the people would be angry with Jesus for making no difference between the Jews and other nations; and at first they could not make up their minds to tell him what the Greeks wanted; but at last they told him.
Hearing that the Greeks wished to be his disciples, Jesus was at first taken aback. He knew that if he did not make any distinction between Jews and heathens, the Jews would be angry with him. But he soon recovered, and said: "There is no difference between Jews and heathens; the same Son of Man is in all men. Though I perish for it, the time has come to acknowledge the Son of Man, the one spirit of God in all men. A grain of wheat becomes fruitful only when it itself perishes. And a man bears fruit only when he gives his life to fulfil the will of God. He who loves his bodily life, lessens his spiritual life; but he who is ready to give up his bodily life, receives spiritual life.
"My soul is now in conflict, whether I am to yield to considerations of my temporary life, or to do the will of the Father. But can I, now that the time has come when I ought to do that for which I was sent into the world, say:
'Father, deliver me from what I ought to do?' I cannot say that, but can only say: 'Father, make Thyself felt within me, that I may glorify the Son of Man, and unite all men together/ "
And the Jews replied to this, saying: "We know that the Christ must come, but we do not understand what you mean by 'glorifying the Son of Man/ "
And Jesus replied: "To glorify the Son of Man, is to live in the spiritual light and we all have the spiritual light in us. To glorify the Son of Man above that which is of the earth, means to believe that the spirit of God lives in every man. He who believes my teaching does not believe me, but the spirit of God; and the spirit of God gives life to the world, and lives in each one of you. And he who understands my teaching knows that spirit, for that spirit lives in him, and gives life to the world. If any one hears my words and does not understand them, I do not blame him, for I have come not to blame, but to save. He who does not understand my words does not believe in the spirit of God, for what I say I do not say from myself, but from the spirit of the Father. And the spirit of the Father lives in me. What I say, the spirit told me."
And, having said this, Jesus went away, and again hid from the High Priests. ,
Matt, XXI, 7-12; John ХП. 19-36; 44-50.
XLII.
And many of the rich and powerful among those who heard these words believed the teaching of Jesus; but they were afraid to confess this before the Pharisees; for not one of the Pharisees acknowledged that teaching. They
did not acknowledge the truth of the teaching, for they were used to believe human teaching, and not God's.
And again the High Priests and Scribes met in the Court of Caiaphas, and began considering how to seize Jesus secretly, to kill him. They were afraid to take him openly. And one of the first disciples of Jesus, Judas Iscariot, came to their meeting, and said: '*If you are afraid to seize Jesus openly, before the people, I will find a time when there will be few people with him, and I will show you where he is, and then you can take him. What will you give me for it?" And they promised him thirty pieces of silver. Judas agreed, and from that time began to look for an opportunity to deliver Jesus to the High Priests, that they might seize him.
Meanwhile Jesus had again gone away from Jerusalem, and he had only his disciples with him. And when the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread came round, the disciples asked him: "Where shall we keep the Feast of the Passover?" And Jesus said: ",Go into one of the villages and enter the first house, and say you have no time to prepare for the Passover, but that you ask to be allowed to keep the Feast there."
The disciples did so, and went into the village, and there went to the first house, and the master of the house let them in.
When they had all come—Jesus and his twelve disciples, with Judas Iscariot among them—they sat at a table to keep the Feast of the Passover. And Jesus guessed that Judas had promised to give him up to the Pharisees to be killed, but he did not wish to repay Judas evil for evil, and to accuse him before all the disciples; but as he had always taught his disciples to love, so now he only wished to soften the heart of Judas by love.
And, when he and his twelve were all seated at the table, Jesus took some bread, broke it into twelve pieces, and gave a piece to each of them, saying: "This is my body, take and eat it." And then he poured wine into a cup, and handed it to the disciples, saying: "Drink, all of you, out of this cup. It is my blood."
And when, one after another, they had drunk wine out of the cup, he said: "Yes, this is my blood, which I am shedding for the sins of the world." And having said this, Jesus rose from table, took off his outer garment, tied a towel round him, took a jug of water, and said that he would now wash the feet of all the disciples. He first came to Peter, but Peter moved away, saying: "Can a master wash his disciples' feet?" Jesus said: "It seems strange to you that I want to wash your feet, but you will soon know why I do it. I do it because, though you are pure, you are not all of you pure."
Jesus was thinking of Judas when he said this.
And Jesus washed the feet of all the disciples, including Judas. And when he had done it and had put on his garment, he spoke to all the disciples, and said:
"Do you know now, why I did this? I did it that you should always do it to each other. I, your Master, do it to show you how to behave to those who injure you. If you understand this, and will act so, it will be well with you always."
And having said this, Jesus became sad, and added: "Yes, yes! One of those whose feet I washed will betray me!"
The disciples looked at each other, and did not know whom he meant. And one of the disciples was sitting close to Jesus, and Simon Peter nodded to him, that he should ask Jesus whom he meant. He did so, and Jesus said; "It
IS he to whom I shall give a piece of bread." And he gave a piece of bread to Judas Iscariot, and said to him, "What you want to do, do quickly!" At first no one understood what Jesus' words meant; but Judas understood them, and as soon as he had taken the piece of bread he rose and went out; and when the disciples understood what was happening, it was too late to try to catch him, for the night was dark.
And when Judas had gone, Jesus said: "Children, I shall not be with you long. Don't reason about my teaching, but, as I said to the Pharisees, do what I do. I give you one new commandment: as I have loved all of you to the end, so you also should always, and to the last, love one another and love all men. In this commandment lies my whole teaching. Only by keeping this commandment can you be my disciples. Love one another and love all men."