The Chanaanitish Woman

II: The Chanaanitish Woman

Matt. xv. 21-28; Mark vii. 24-30.

Places mentioned in the text.

Jesus had not succeeded in discomfiting the Pharisees without embittering their hearts with a fierce dislike for Him.  Very soon they had arrayed such a formidable host of those against the Master that He saw it would be impossible for him to remain longer in Galilee, or even to return thither, except at rare intervals.  Crossing over the frontiers of Zabulon and Nephthali, for the time being He sought an asylum in the Pagan provinces, and stayed there during almost six months, devoting His care and attention to the Apostles, thereby finishing the instructions He had come to bestow; giving them to know more of His Church and tracing out before their eyes its plan defined.

The Evangelists mention but a few of the incidents of this journey.  They merely state that upon leaving Galilee, shortly after the Pasch (April), the Saviour passed from Tyre into the Decapolis, made a brief sojourn on the shores of Genesareth, went back immediately to the valley of the upper Jordan, and did not return to Capharnaum until about the Feast of the Tabernacles (the last of September).  During this voluntary exile the Master for the most part sought solitude, probably changing His place of abode as soon as His presence in any region came to be remarked, for He had not been sent to enlighten the Gentiles in His own person; therefore, faithful to the terms of His Mission, He endeavoured to remain unknown in these wealthy countries.
However, His coming could not continue always entirely unnoticed; for now a long while the renown of His deeds had exceeded the boundaries of Israel; long since, out of Tyre and Sidon, people had journeyed to hear His words and to break the cure of their sick, so that all Syria was now well aware that a Prophet, the Son of David, was once again conferring a heavenly splendour upon the land of Juda.

Now as he was passing along a road not far from either Tyre or Sarepta, a woman who had overheard much talk concerning Him hurried out of the house where her daughter lay struggling in the throes of a furious delirium

"Have mercy upon me," she cried, "my Lord, Thou Son of David.  My daughter is cruelly tormented by the devil."

The Gospel informs us more at length as regards this poor petitioner.  A Greek by language and manners, she belonged to the Phœnician provinces of Syria, and was a descendant of the race of Canaan; hence, it was a disowned and reprobate blood which flowed in her veins.  The Lord answered her not a word.

Without heeding this silence of the Christ, the woman set out to follow Him, never ceasing to implore His mercy.  Jesus entered a dwelling in order to remain in seclusion there, but the Chanaanite begged with no less earnestness, and did but redouble her supplications when the door was shut and she was left outside in company with the Apostles.  Wearying of her cries, and furthermore fearing lest the knots of curious spectators now collecting around her should attract attention to them, and so betray the identity which the Master desired to conceal, coming into Him they said:—

"Send her away, for she keeps calling after us."

At no time had Jesus ever dismissed anyone who thus besought His aid without first granting their prayer, and the Apostles had no idea but that in this instance He would act as usual; yet as it happened, He only vouchsafed the reply:—

"I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel."

Yet, when they repeated His words to her, the Chanaanite was not disheartened one whit by this rebuff.  She determined to renew the strife again with the Lord Himself, trying to wrest the will of Heaven, and so prove herself worthy, Pagan though she was, to be treated as though she were a true child of Abraham.  And so she crossed the threshold of the house, made her way to where Jesus stood, and casting herself at His feet, cried out:—

"Lord, help me."

The Master continued to display the same hardness; nothing seemed to move Him, neither her tears nor the sympathy of the Apostles, now quite amazed at seeing Him for the first time insensible to compassion.

"Let the children be filled first," He said, "for it is not fitting to take the children’s bread and throw it out to the dogs."

Still the mother would not yield.  She bowed beneath this bitter rebuff, which rated her as of less worth than an unclean beast; nay, she would even endeavour to bends this reproach to her own advantage, and so managed to turn His own words against the Christ.
"It is true, my Lord," she answered, "but even the little whelps eat the crumbs of the children's bread which fall beneath the table."

At this Jesus suffered Himself to be overcome; thus far He had resisted only that He might invigorate that faith which He saw burning so steadfastly within her, thereby exhorting it to the point of heroism.  The tender mercies of His heart, now repressed too long, suddenly overflowed in a cry of joy.

"Ah, woman, your faith is great; let it be done unto you as you will."

The Chanaanite hastened back to the home where she had left her child; the demon had disappeared, and the little one was lying upon her bed.

The Gospel makes no mention of other miracles performed in these Pagan lands.  It only adds that Jesus "departed from the borderland of Tyre, returning by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee." The road ran across one of the loveliest provinces of the Roman Empire; for Tyre, Queen of the Seas, had not as yet "become silent in the midst of the waters," and every day the tides came in freighted with rich argosies of the world.  Sarepta still kept alive the memory of Elias and Eliseus; Sidon had still its famous fisheries of Tyrian purple; on every hand, along the wayside, while groves of palm and orange trees, under whose dusky shadow is the mysterious rites of Astarte or of Baal were celebrated.  Hereabouts there was nothing that deserved the notice of Jesus; His thoughts were elsewhere; His soul, lifted above the earth, could not be touched by the beauty which fades away; His glance only sought out those unfortunate ones whom He might still venture to help and comfort, speaking only to those care-worn hearts whose courage He so well knew how to revive; and thereupon He turned aside from this land, too merrily brilliant and careless of aspect to be a fitting abode for the Man of Sorrows.  Making His way through the Valley of the Leontes, He came out at the Jordan near its source, and by this route descended to the Decapolis.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Pharisaic Ablutions

Book Fifth: Third Year of the Ministry of Jesus

Chapter I: The Sojourn of Jesus in Tyre and the Decapolis

I: The Pharisaic Ablutions

Only one year lies between Jesus and death; its opening days are dark and threatening.  Judaea, the foremost object of His care, now treats Him as if He were its bitterest follow.  " he would no longer walk there, because the Jews sought to kill him." Jerusalem was closed against Him; they were celebrating the Pasch there now, yet He could not show Himself among His people.  Galilee, in its turn, had withdrawn from Him, and Capharnaum had broken out into angry murmurs against Him.  The Lord had no other alternative except to wander through a Pagan territory, across the kingdom of Philip and into the land lying beyond the Jordan.  Meanwhile we shall see him still pursued from town to town, from one wilderness to another, even to the day when, with His Mission accomplished, of His own will He saw fit to deliver Himself into the hands of His executioners.
However, although Capharnaum had lost its first faith, it never conceived any such violent hatred for the Master Who had so recently been honoured and beloved by them as that displayed by Jerusalem toward Him.  Jesus still dwelt there in safety until the return of the pilgrims who had gone up to the Temple; but once the Paschal time was over, He could see that new numbers of spies were dogging His footsteps.  These were "some of the Pharisees and certain Scribes who had come down from the Holy City," full of the discussions to which they had been listening from their famous doctors, and thereby nerved with a greater zeal than ever to maintain the perfect observance of the cherished Ordinances.

The freedom which the Lord displayed in dealing with their Pharisaical precepts was, as we have said, a shocking and scandalous thing to those sectaries.  Now we are well aware to what excesses, in the matter of ablutions particularly, the Jews of this period, and notably the Pharisees, carried their scrupulosity.  Saint Mark tells us how before each meal, they were wont to wash their hands with the greatest care, scrubbing their clenched fists one against the other, immersing their whole body in water on their return from any public places, forever cleansing their cups, water jars, brazen pots, and the wooden parts of the couches on which their guests reclined.  And these interminable pains were not mere practices which one was free to observe or not; but, being taught as the Traditions of their ancient Rabbis, they were does rigorously enforced as any precepts of the Law.  To abide in the faithful practice of all these, it behoved one to go any distance for the necessary water, and the Rabbi Akiba was praised for incurring the risk of dying of thirst in prison rather than drink without having first purified his hands.  It is true the Sadducees who ridiculed this slavery to trifles, and often asked the Pharisees if they would not end by sprinkling the sun with lustral water; but all their ridicule could not rob the Scribes of their ascendancy; and, in the people's eyes, to violate one of their Observances still continue to be regarded as a heinous crime.

The Apostles, reared from childhood in reverence for the Doctors of the Law, now trembled before them; consequently, they were vastly disquieted when they saw some of these personages approaching the Christ with words of cold disapproval.

"Why do not your disciples follow the Traditions of the Ancients?  Why do they eat with unclean hands?"

Jesus would not allow these hypocrites to practise upon the simplicity of the Apostles.  He straightway took up the defence of His own, and withstood them, meeting reproof with reproof.

"And you," He said, "why do you transgress the Law of God in order to follow those traditions of yours?  God has said, ‘Honour thy father and thy mother;’ and yet you say: If a man says to his parents, I have vowed to God that which I might have bestowed upon you; the word ‘Corban’ once uttered, the vow is irrevocable, and you no longer permit the son do anything for his father and mother.  Thus you sets the Law of cats god at snore by your traditions.  Hypocrites!  Verily it was a view that Isaiah is prophesied:

"With their lips do these people honour Me,
"But there heart is far from Me.
"In vain to they on a Me,
"Teaching the doctrines and the precepts of men."

It was the first time that Jesus had so severely scourged the Pharisees, openly treating them as hypocrites and laying bare the inherent weaknesses of the doctrine.  Hitherto He had said nothing as to their claim that they were justified in giving the same force to the teaching of their Rabbis as to the commands of God; until now He had never tried to dissuade the people from believing that these observances also came from Moses, and thus formed a Second Law.  But it was time for Him to tell them plainly that only upon the ruins of the Commandments could the Pharisees succeed in establishing their Traditions.  And this Jesus did with such overwhelming authority, swaying all minds with such convincing power, that His enemies retired in confusion.

But the astonished crowds were also for withdrawing in their turn.  Jesus called them back to Him.
"Listen to Me, all of you," He said, "and understand.  There is nothing from without a man which, by entering into him, can defile him; but whatsoever proceeds from a man, that it is which renders a man impure.  Whoso hath ears to hear, let him hear." And leaving the people there He re-entered His dwelling.

This saying of the Christ was at once reported to the Scribes.  It touched them to the quick, discrediting as it did their interminable ablutions, which had no power to cleanse the sin-stained soul; leaving the people to infer that even those Mosaic purification s, which thus far Jesus had treated with respect, would soon have to give place to His simple Counsels of an inward purity of heart.  Deep was their indignation; indeed, their anger was so threatening that the frightened disciples hastened back to the Lord.

"Do you know," they said to Him, " how much the Pharisees were scandalised at this saying?"
Jesus met their anxiety with imperturbable serenity, and repeated that these regulations, invented by man and reprobated by God, must disappear.

"Every plant," He said, "which My Heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up; if a blind man guide another, both of them shall fall into the same pit."

His firmness restored peace among the Apostles, but their slow and uncultured minds could not manage to decipher the hidden meaning of those words which had so shocked and offended the Scribes.

"Lord," said Peter, in the others' name, "explained this Parable to us."

Though yielding to their request, the Master replied:—

"What!  Are you too, then, devoid of intelligence?  Do you not understand that there is nothing from without which, by entering into a man, can render him unclean, because it does not enter into his heart?  For it is from within, and from the heart, that there arise all wicked thoughts, — adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, avarice, malicious deeds, cheating, lewd thoughts, a covetous eye, blasphemy, pride, folly.  These are things which defile a man; but not to eat with unwashen hands, for that cannot defile a man."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The promise of the Eucharist

Continuing with Fouard's Life of Christ:

II: The promise of the Eucharist

John vi.22-71

Collecting Manna. J-J Tissot.

The crowds they had left behind them on the other side of the lake, in the neighbourhood of Bethsaïda, had watched the ship of the Apostles making off from the shore, and knew that Jesus had not embarked with them.  Somehow in the night they had lost all trace of the Master, but at dawn seeing that no other ship had quitted its moorings they made sure of finding Him speedily.  So although morning they surged over feels and plain, but of course in vain; then they concluded that He had proceeded by land, intending to rejoin His companions by some unfrequented road.  In the meantime several other craft hailing from Tiberias, but now flying before the storm, had put into this harbour; and many of the Jews availed themselves of this opportunity to reach Capharnaum.

On their arrival they found the Lord seated in the synagogue, instructing the people.

"Master!" they exclaimed, "when did you come here?"

Jesus looking deep down into those hearts that yearned so after earthly goods, now plainly told them the nature of their longings.

"Of a truth, yea, of a truth," He said to them, "you are seeking Me because of the loaves with which you were fed.  Do not toil for the food which perishes, but for that which endures in the life of Eternity.  This the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the heavenly Father hath set His seal."

By these last words Jesus quickened and ennobled the hopes of the Jews, by lifting them from thoughts of earthly refreshment, setting before them that immaterial nourishment which is of the spirit.  Hence He declared that it was not His design to establish a temporal kingdom, but rather to reign in the souls of men; it was to this end that God had imprinted a divine character upon His Holy One, the Christ, confirming His Mission by miracles without number.  And therefore this food of which He spoke was a certain spiritual food, which He alone would impart. This the Jews comprehended, though they were too stubborn and settled in their own notions of their Law to believe that God Himself could confer upon it any more perfect dignity.

"What shall we do," they said in their amazement, "in order to labour for the works of God?"

"This is the work of God," replied Jesus, "to believe in Him Whom He had sent."

Nor does this faith, to which the master here reduces His precepts, imply merely a belief on our part in the words of the Christ; it means that we must likewise give ourselves to Him without a shadow of reserve. It is Faith, quickened by Charity, fastening mightily upon the object of this love and diffusing through all human-kind the gracious gifts of God.

It is evident that the Saviour repeated this explanation more than once, and that in even clearer and simpler terms than would appear from this short summary of Saint John; for we know that His listeners understood well enough that He demanded of them a devotion and self-sacrifice which was unlimited and well-nigh unparalleled; He would have them follow Him as blindly as of old Israel followed Moses, leaving Egypt and its pleasures behind them.

"Our fathers," they began to say, "ate Manna in the desert, as it is written: (He hath given them bread from Heaven for them to eat.) But what Miracle will you work, so that we may see and believe in you?  What will you do?"

Had not all the traditions asserted that the second Redeemer would renew the wondrous deeds of the first?  And besides, how could anybody compare those loaves of barley-bread multiplied so simply under their very eyes, with that nourishment which long ago fell about the plains of Sinaï?  If He would prove himself in deed and in truth the Messiah, it when needful that He too, — the Christ of the Lord, — should bring down from the skies that Manna which David had called "the Bread of Heaven and the Food of Angels."

These objections Jesus accepted very graciously; only He explained to His listeners that he was not Moses, but God Himself who had rained down Manna in the desert; telling them, too, how those perishable meats were called in a figure the bread of Heaven.  While yet again today God, by the hands of His Christ, tendered them the very Bread come down from Heaven; and so divinely did He speak of the celestial Food, and of the life which it would diffuse throughout the world that the Jews cried out in their delight, —

"Lord, give us this bread always!"

"It is I," continue Jesus; "I am the very Bread of Life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

Certainly this answer was not so mystical but that the Jews might have easily grasped its inner meaning; indeed they had often read in their sacred Books that "man lives not alone by bread, but by every word which proceedeth from the mouth of god;" often they had heard the voice of Wisdom calling to their souls in words like these: "Come, eat the bread which I will give you; drink the wine which I have prepared for you." Thus to eat and drink the Truth, to sate one's heart with the taste and fullness of holy words, and by study to assimilate and digest the teaching of the Master, this was a figure as familiar to their way of thinking as it is foreign to ours.

The First Holy Communion of the Apostles. J-J Tissot.

So they at once comprehended that by calling Himself the Bread of life Jesus offered them His heavenly Doctrine as the garner wherein is stored every good gift that they could desire; and this promise once more made their hearts beat high with brave hopes.  But what was still to follow did not accord with their preconceived ideas.  Proceeding at once to develop His thought, Jesus declared that hitherto they had only beheld Him with their eyes, without understanding Who He was.  Because He had descended from Heaven, He can have no other will except that of His Father, and therefore He receives only such as come to Him from God.  Now the will of the Father is that all those who believe in the Divinity of His Son should partake of that Bread of Life (which is the Christ Himself), and thereby have part in the life everlasting.

At this new revelation of His Godhead the synagogue broke out into murmurs of stern disapprobation; more than all else those words, "I am the living Bread which is descended from Heaven," aroused the deepest antagonism and discgust of which they were capable.

"Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?" The townsfolk of Capharnaum exclaimed.  "Have we not known his father and his mother?  Then how does he dare to say that he has descended from Heaven?"

Jesus did not stop to answer these malcontents; as was His wont, He deemed it enough to reiterate what He had communicated to them already, only with a more luminous simplicity, leaving it for the indwelling Truth itself to quicken and enlighten their souls.  Again He told them that faith is a gift of grace; He repeated that no one can come to Him who is not prompted by the heavenly Father, "taught of God, using the language of the Prophets," the which means that they must be touched from on high, their souls drawn by his secret influence inherent in the truth of His Word.

Still more clearly did he disclose the mystery of His Incarnation, showing them that God is too High, too Holy an Object for our earth-bound senses to encompass through human wisdom; for truly "no one can see the Father save Him alone who live as in God;" yet this Divine Seer, this Holy Thing, Son of the Father, has become Man that He might unite Himself to mankind for love of humanity, His Divinity taking upon Itself a dwelling of mortal flesh in order to communicate His own life and more men.

This was the Master’s exposition of the Divine economy, whereby He sought to show us the way of Faith which leads us unto salvation.  And in order to engrave this lesson within the hearts of those who hearkened to Him, He condescended to put forth the same great thoughts over and over again, reproducing them under such manifold phrases that it would seem He did but hesitate in His speech, as though He was striving to utter the language of Paradise before this wondering throng of earth-bound mortals.  This is why the evangelical text contains so many repetitions, and hence arises the difficulty which we experience in tracing the connection between the various ideas.

Nevertheless the Master had one more Mystery to unveil on that same day.  When the Son of God was made Man the wonder was not wrought among us that He might dwell in a human body merely for the time of His earthly pilgrimage; rather it was His will to apply the fruits of His Incarnation unto all mankind, thus being made flesh for each one of us, by nourishing us with His Blessed Body.  It is, therefore, when we feast upon His Flesh that Jesus takes possession of these bodies of ours; it is by the mystic union of all that He is in His Humanity with all His Divinity that salvation is assured unto us of the faithful.  Jesus only asked these people of Capharnaum that they love Him enough to entrust themselves implicitly to His guidance, and then, through the thick clouds which must ever shroud this Divine Mystery, they should walk forward encompassed by the Presence of their Guide and Friend; and so, led onward by the Christ, they would surely find the life everlasting in Faith, — Faith which reveals the gracious fact of the Eucharist as being in a marvellous manner inherent in the Incarnation Itself.  "The Bread which I will give," He added, "is My flesh for the life of the world."

At this surprising announcement that they should eat the flesh of the Christ there was a louder murmur of dissent arising from all parts of the synagogue; on every hand the Jews began to dispute with each other, the majority arguing, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Evidently they could only comprehend that they were bidden to take a human body and feast thereon, that they must shed human blood and drink thereof.

Yet, far from abating this interpretation by one whit, Jesus saw fit, on the contrary, to enforce it by a double oath:

"Amen, Amen, I say to you, If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and do not drink His blood, you shall not have life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the last day."

He well knew what horror the Jews felt for any such idea of blood, and the strictly they were forbidden the use of any such food; and notwithstanding, he did not hesitate to assail and overturn every most cherished belief of their lives, if by so doing He might more surely establish the reality of His Body, which is eaten by the faithful, and His Blood which is their drink.

"My flesh is truly meat, my blood truly drink, and he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me and I in Him.  Whosoever eats Me shall live by Me."

And now, having so clearly set forth the meaning of the Eucharist, He spoke to them of its effects; for though an ardent faith could make eternal life certain for the soul of man, and for his body obtain a glorious resurrection, yet it is the Eucharist alone which unites Jesus with the Christian who receives Him; in one only Body and one only Soul commingles the lives of two under one form, and thereby in each one of us is consummated that Union of the Christ with Humanity, even as aforetime by the Incarnation "He dwelt amongst us."

The earnestness and consistency with which Jesus reaffirmed A Doctrine so shocking to the notions of His hearers resulted in open expressions of their impatience and dislike.  It was not long before the citizens of Capharnaum were joined by a the pilgrims and all the rest, while even the disciples themselves finally uttered strong protests. "This is a hard saying," they said; " who can hear it?"

And certainly, after the fashion in which they understood it, it would be an unbearable thought; for they imagined that they were bidden to tear the body of the Master limb from limb, and make a horrid feast of its members.

Jesus strove to drive away this unholy vision from their mind by adding that, though He was to give Himself to be their Bread of Life, yet would He nonetheless rise with Glory into Heaven, even in such wise has He had descended to our earth, clad in this His living tabernacle of flesh; He said, too, that "His flesh," broken and dispersed among us for our Food, "would have avail us nothing, if we do not partake at the same time of the Spirit" and the Godhead, which quickeneth the flesh and diffuses its life through our souls.  As to the manner and the mode which He would take in order to communicate this gift to us, being an Ordinance far beyond the ken of sensual man, He saw fit to await some future date for revealing it more fully.  So for the present, it was enough to prepare their minds by repeating that "His words were spirit and life," whereby He would teach them that His faithful followers must find the spirit of holiness and the life divine in the surpassing Mystery of the Communion, wherein His flesh is really eaten, though in a manner more spiritual than material.

These explanations did not dispel all disquiet you'd from the hearts of His disciples, and among those who rebelled against the this true Jesus must have marked one of the Twelve, Judas Iskarioth; for "from the beginning He knew those who did not believe in Him, and He knew him who was to betray Him." The sight of these obstinate mortals still muttering against Him, so easily shocked at His Word, and already prepared to declare their outspoken disbelief, was very grievous to the heart of Jesus.

"There are some among you who do not believe," He exclaimed, "and it was for this reason I said to you, And no one can come to Me, unless it be given Him by My Father."

And yet this last appeal to the noblest feelings was rejected; still they would not understand this urgent warning to ask their heavenly Father for the faith which comes from Him.  Humility and obedience for them were at an end.  "After this many of His disciples drew away from His company, and walked no more with Him."
However, the Apostles were still left Him.  Turning towards the Twelve He said,

"Will you too go away?"

Peter loved his Master too well to doubt His words, however incomprehensible they might seem; indignant at the very thought of deserting Him, he straight way replied for all:

"Lord, to whom should we go?  Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.  We believe, we know, that Thou art the Holy of God."

Dear and comfortable as this confession was to the Heart of Jesus, it could not quite console Him nor distract His thoughts from the traitor in their midst.

"Have I not chosen you Twelve?" He said, "and one of you is a devil."

"By this He meant Judas, son of Simon, the man from Kerioth, who was to deliver Him up, even while he was still one of the Twelve." It is evident from these words, as we have noted before, that Judas took some part in these murmurings of the citizens and pilgrims.  Long since the struggle between greedy avarice and his heavenly vocation had been going on within him, and hence every allusion to a spiritual Kingdom filled him with vexation and anger; for it all seemed to him more visionary and foolish every day.  The discourse just now delivered in the synagogue of Capharnaum completed the destruction of his faith.  Hereafter, though he remained in the intimate companionship of Jesus, he had already betrayed Him in his soul.  By this rebuke the Saviour graciously sought to stir the soul of the thief.  Finding He could only get silence in return, He wended His way sadly from out the synagogue.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Multiplication of the Loaves

Continuing with Fouard's Life of Christ:

Chapter 8: The Bread of Life

I: The Multiplication of the Loaves

Luke ix. 10-17; Mark vi. 30-56; Matt. xiv. 13-36; John vi. 1-21.

Bethsaïda Julias

In the north-western region of the lake, and near the spot where the Jordan empties its waters into the little sea, there stood a flourishing town.  Its name of Bethsaïda, which he boy in common with that other village in the neighbourhood of Capharnaum, would indicate that it no very remote time it had been but a fisherman's station; but in the time of Jesus, Philip, Tetrarch of Iturea, had transformed the settlement into a city, and had called it Julias, in honour of the daughter of Augustus.  Round about this young and vigorous town stretched great tracts of moorland, bordered on the east by hills, which were as bleak and lonely then there is today they are; it was toward this wilderness that the Lord fixed the course of their little ship.  Here His disciples counted upon finding that repose of which they stood greatly in need; but their hopes were destined to be disappointed.

Despite the privacy and quiet with which Jesus is screened their sudden departure, some witnesses had marked the sale being hoisted and the boat drawing away from land.  But as they met with only contrary winds, little progress could be made; hence their arrival was anticipated, and Jesus, coming to land close to the river mouth, found there a multitude as great in number as that which they had tried to escape.  Besides the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, there were many pilgrims among them, who had come from distant lands; for it was now close upon their Paschal Season, and caravans were being collected all along the seaboard.

Yet the Saviour would not swerve from His first designs; setting out inland, He led the way to a lonely and retired hill, and there seated Himself with the weary little circle of Apostles.  But hardly had he done so, when on raising perhaps his eyes, He saw the multitude coming toward Him, — a fatigued and huddled throng, "like sheep without a shepherd." Something in their forlorn and uncared for condition so touched the Heart of Jesus that at once He forgot His own weariness and gave all His thought to them.  "He spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, and healed all their sick."

The sun was sinking over the distant hills of Zabulon, yet still the Saviour continued His blessed office of charity; then in a few moments (for twilight lingers for such a little while in the East) night was come upon them, surprising this foot-sore and fainting flock far away out here in the wilderness.  At last the disciples began to show signs of uneasiness, and a gathering about the Master, finally spoke out their fears.

"This place is a desert," they said, "and the hour is late; send away the people, so that they may go into the nearest farmhouses and villages, where they can find lodging and victuals."

"They have no need to go," replied the Lord; "do you yourselves give them to eat."

And as the Apostles stood staring and speechless at such an astounding proposition, Jesus turned to Philip and said,

"Where shall We buy bread to feed all this multitude?" (He spoke in this way to try him, for He Himself knew what He would do.)

"Two hundred denarii," Philip answered, "would not buy enough bread for each one to have even a small portion."

"How many loaves of bread have you?" was all Jesus said; "go and see."

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, returned immediately saying, "there is a young lad here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fishes; but what is that among such a crowd as this!"

Jesus bade them bring the loaves and fishes.

"Make the men sit down," He said to the Apostles.

They obeyed His behest; and the people sat down upon the long grass, in companies of hundreds, and fifties.  It was still springtime.  The fierce heats of the sun had not yet robbed the Galilean hills of their soft garment of green; and thus the groups of friends and companions, ranged about in order, made a happy and charming scene, which, together with a glowing tints of the oriental robes, left such a vivid picture upon the memory of Peter that in after years he described it to Mark the Evangelist as being like gorgeous beds of flowers extending along the rich green-sward.

The miracle of the loaves and the fishes. J-J Tissot.

And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fishes into His holy and venerable hands, and with His eyes lifted up toward Heaven, He gave thanks to God, blessing the bread, brake, gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the people; with the fishes He did likewise.  Whereupon, in the hands of the Lord, the broken bread and the portions of fish multiplied without ceasing; and so He continued to give unto these His ministers until all were satisfied.  Then, to mark more clearly still how plentiful are the gifts of Heaven, yet at the same time to guard against any squandering of His bounties, He said to his disciples:—

"Gather up what fragments are left, for fear they should be lost."

Each one of the Apostles, taking up his wicker pack, threaded his way through the orderly bands; on their return, the twelve baskets were filled with the leavings.

In the eyes of the Evangelists this Miracle assumed the greatest importance; for each one gives us an account of it, and Saint John, by proceeding at once (as though it were the only natural sequel) to record His promise of "the Bread of Life," shows us what a lofty meaning Jesus attached to this prodigy of love.  The site of the pilgrims wending their way up to Jerusalem, the nearness of the holy festival, at which He might no longer take part without great danger two Himself, the thought of the Last Supper, where out, just one year hence, He was to substitute for the Paschal lamb and Immortal Food, — all thoughts like these impelled Jesus to declare at once and for ever the great Mystery of His love.

The primitive Church was so assured of the truth of this interpretation that during five centuries, when she would figure forth the Eucharist, she represented, not the Last Supper, but the multiplication of the Loaves; and this scene she set over again for the very Table of the Lord, together with the Fish, which is the symbol of the Christ, and the baskets1 overflowing with fragments scattered up by either Apostles.

And thus we know that by working this prodigy Jesus sought to prepare their minds for the reception of higher truths; but far from responding to the lofty designs of the Lord, the emotion now stirring the excited throngs had sprung from the belief that their dreams of earthly happiness were at last to be realized.

"This is He!" they explained to each other.

"This is surely the Prophet who was to come into the world!"

And so without doubt they had understood the promise, thinking that Jesus would stretch forth that sceptre which Balaam had foreseen, whereupon at once their oppressors would crouched before Him.  He would be like to Elias descending from His chariot of fire; another Jeremy, who should restore the Mosaic Worship in all its olden splendour; and unto the Temple He would be the Ark, which, since the days of Babylon and the Captivity, had been hidden from the eyes of the faithful.

The Saviour new these passionate aspirations, as He knew well that they were already planning to bear Him along with them, and by force of arms proclaim Him King.  He saw, too, that the hearts of His disciples were beginning to burn high as they listened to these visions of glory, while they were gradually being filled with these ardent hopes of their fellow countrymen.  It was indeed time to forestall an uprising which would have drawn down upon Him and upon His Mission the wrathful vengeance of Herod, the Sanhedrin, and Rome.

Immediately he called the Apostles, bidding them follow Him to the beach.  There He commanded them to embark forthwith, and to head for Bethsaïda in the vicinity of Capharnaum; then as they were loathe to obey, the Master obliged them to set sail at once, leaving Him there upon the shore.

When they had disappeared over the darkening waters, Jesus dismissed the crowds attending Him, and, profiting by the shades of night, He sought the lonely heights of the mountain, unseen by any man.  He went thither to fortify His Soul against the onslaught of other and sadder trials, for on the morrow Capharnaum would reject Him, even as Nazareth had done; nor was it to be long before all of Galilee would follow their example; and so on, during all that last year of His Ministry, until His eyes could discern before Him only one unbroken succession of base desertions and thankless perils.

In the meantime, with the midnight, the tempest had descended upon the valley of the Jordan; beaten upon by wild winds, the waters rose in their might and broke over the little ship of the Apostles.  The whole night long they struggled against the storm, rowing with all their strength, in the hope of making the port of Capharnaum; but the gale, wrenching the box from its track, kept them tossed buffeted amid the great seas.

"It is I, fear not!"  J-J Tissot

At the fourth watch of the night,  they had gone barely halfway on their course, and were still fighting against the wrack of the storm, when of a sudden they saw someone afar off, walking over the waves; it seemed to them as though He were making toward them, yet so as to cross before their bows.  Believing that this which they saw was a phantom, they were filled with dismay, and in utter terror cried out aloud.  But at once the calm voice which they knew so well came over the raging elements, quieting all their alarms,

"It is I, fear not!"

And, indeed, it was Jesus, who had taken pity upon the troublous toils.  They felt sure of His divine help, and they duly made ready to welcome Him; but Peter impetuous and fiery have sold as ever, cried out,

"Lord, if it to be Thou, bid me to come to Thee upon the waters!"

"Come," replied the Lord.

"Lord!" He cried, "save me!" J-J Tissot.

Straightway the Apostle sprung from the vessel's side, hastening to meet the Master.  And at first he trod the waves with unfaltering footsteps; but when he felt the fury of the whirlwind about him, terror clutched at his heart strings and he began to sink.

"Lord!" He cried, "save me!"

Jesus, reaching out His hand, upheld and sustained him stop

"Ah, man of little faith!" He said to him, "why hast thou doubted?"

Meanwhile the others besought the Saviour with all manner of prayers to come to them, certain that the Divine Pilot would bring them safely into the haven.  Nor was there faith disappointed.  Scarcely had Jesus entered with Peter into their ship when the winds fell; and presently they found that their vessel had reached the harbour toward which they had been so long fighting their way.

The effect which this sudden stealing of the tempest had upon the disciples minds was altogether different from the enthusiasm caused by the multiplying of the loaves.  "They had not understood the latter miracle at all," says Saint Mark, mournfully, "because their heart was blinded." Too dull and too sordid of soul to conceive of any spiritual Kingdom as yet, their fancy filled with flattering dreams of high fortune awaiting them, they had met the brave hopes and resolutions of the excited people with daring encouragements; for they hoped that the Master would be moved by such zealous courage, and with a word establish His throne upon the earth.  Accordingly, when they saw that He meant to refuse the sceptre now offered Him, they were so sore at heart and so dissatisfied that they quite forgot the almighty attributes of their Lord, and dared to resist His command.  It required a night of anguish and terror, like this through which they had passed, to bring them to a knowledge of their fault.  But this trial tore the veil from their eyes; as they be held Jesus bidding the roaring floods be still, and holding the powers of nature beneath His feet, they recognized "Him Who spreadeth out the heavens and walketh upon the waves of the sea." (Job ix. 8).  Throwing themselves on their faces before Him, they worshipped and adored Him, saying:

"Truly, ay, truly Thou art the Son of God!"

No sooner had Jesus descended from the vessel than He was known and greeted; and instantly the rumour flew from lip to lip, until the land of Genesareth was made aware that he had returned.  The multitude which was just dispersing now collected together once more, and brought with them other ill and maimed folks, beseeching Him to let them only touch the hem of His robe.  This prayer recalled the faith of the poor creature with the issue of blood, and Jesus healed all who approached the Divine Presence with such simple hearts of faith; afterwards He re-entered Capharnaum, welcomed on every hand with cries of delight and gratitude, the last which it was given to Him to hear in this "His city" by adoption.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The death of John Baptist

Continuing with Fouard's Life of Christ:

The death of John Baptist

Mark vi. 14-32; Matt. xiv. 1-13; Luke ix. 7-10.

Jesus, left alone in His own field, continued to preach in all the cities of the lake country, when the news suddenly reach them at the John the Baptist was dead; his head had been struck off in the dungeons of Macheronte.

Herod's family tree.

After being for twelve months imprisoned in that "dark fortress," John still displayed the same spirit which had made him so terrible to sinners upon the Jordan's bank; neither caresses not threats had moved his stalwart courage one whit, and though they did not heed him, his stern voice fell upon the ears of the tyrant in no less unsparing denunciations.  Herod trembled as he listened, torn in the strife between remorse and passion.  Too weak to rid himself of his fearless accuser by a crime, yet too deeply corrupt at heart to subject his will to duty, he made shift to compromise with his conscience by simply shielding the Baptist from the insatiable hatred of Herodias.  The struggle between these two was prolonged and stubborn; for the rancour and venom in the heart of the adulterous woman embittered her the more against her victim the longer she was thwarted and balked in her schemes a vengeance.  This creature being determined to compass the Prophet's ruin, was ever on watch for some opportune moment; it came soon enough.

After the fashion among the Roman princes, Herod and his sons always celebrated certain memorable epochs in their lives with the greatest pomp.  The anniversary of his birth chanced to occur while Antipas, with his court, was at Macheronte; there he made high festival, gathering about him all the courtiers, rich officials, and nobles of Galilee.  From what we know of the wealth of the Herods, their lordly extravagance, and their gorgeous pageants, we are warranted in fancying the grandeur of the ceremonial and the brilliancy of their sports, together with the bride hangings which adorned the rugged walls of that gloomy old castle, as being altogether beyond anything ever seen among those desert hills.  Yet, beside all this, Herodias had devised for the King and night of revelry, which was fitted to intoxicate him even more surely than the fumes of wine, and would thus be likely to place him completely at her mercy.

Salome dances for Herod. J-J Tissot.

All wanton dances brought over from Italy were well known to her; she knew which of the movements in those horrid orgies would be most apt to hold him in besotted fascination.  Such shameless pastimes had for some time been of common occurrence within the palace of the Tetrarch; but on this evening it was Herodias' will that her own daughter should be one of the damsels taking part in those unmaidenly carousals.  This younger princess, descendant of Herod the Great, sprung from the seed of the Maccabees, and later on destined to be the wife and the mother of Kings on this night appeared in all her brilliant state, the central figure in a circle of dissolute companions.  By her dancing, she so transported the prince with delight that, as the wild applause of the revellers died away, he swore that he would give her whatever she might desire of him, were it even half of his kingdom.

Salome sped quickly to her mother.

"What shall I demand of him?" she said.

"The head of John Baptist."

Not even a shudder stirred the drapery of the young dancer; tripping back to the King, she repeated her mother's words, without a touch of pity or a thrill of shame.

"I will that you give me at once and on this very trencher, the head of John Baptist." And as she spoke she caught up one of the great dishes with which the table was loaded.

On this request Herod was struck sad at heart; he was just awakening from the madness of passion, only to see the snare into which he had been led by his blind, brutish nature.  But the vanity of the Tetrarch was proportionable to his weakness; he saw the looks his high-born guests were fixing upon him, and he had neither the courage to excite their satirical remarks, nor did he dare to brave the anger of those two unscrupulous women, who now claimed their promised prey; seeking to shield himself from any responsibility by pleading the sacredness of his oath, he gave the fatal order.  The headsman (according to the usage of Oriental courts) was standing behind the person of royalty; ready for the deed; a few moments later John Baptist was no more.

The head of John the Baptist. J-J Tissot.

That very obscurity in which the Prophet had desired to be eclipsed has in fact completely overshadowed his martyrdom.  No witness has ever related how he received the iniquitous decree, or with what tokens of inward peace he faced death.  The executioner returned very shortly, bearing upon that charger the reverend head of the Nazarite; he handed it to the royal dancer, who carried the bleeding trophy to her mother.  If we may credit certain traditions, Herodias pierced with needles the tongue which she had been powerless to check in life, and then commanded that his torn and the disfigured body be thrown into the chasms around Macheronte, so to become food for the dogs and foul birds of prey.  But the disciples of John were keeping watch at every point; gathering together the remains of their master, they piously buried them, and then sought out Jesus to tell the sad tale to Him.

God's vengeance fell upon the slayer of His Prophet without delay; from the moment when the head of the Baptist was shown to the conscience-stricken Tetrarch, there was never an hour of quiet repose for the tyrant.  Always thereafter he would see now and again the tables spotted with blood, and the Prophet's cold brow, seeming more severe than in life, so drawn and white in death, while the thin lips appeared as if just about to open and rebuke the guilty adulterer.  Now, instead of his former habitual indolence, he lapsed at once into a wretched humour, fluctuating restlessly between hurried fright and vague suspicions.  The fame and power of Jesus had moved him scarcely at all heretofore; but now he grew suddenly wrath at the tales which his couriers brought him.

Only a few days later, a rumour reached Macheronte that the Saviour was drawing still greater concourses of people, and that every day he He performed new and more wonderful prodigies.  At this Herod shuddered in great terror.

"'Tis he!" He cried out.  "It is John Baptist who has risen again!"

It was useless for the prince's familiars to endeavour to quiet his alarm, — some assuring him that Jesus must rather be Elias, once again returned to earth from his flaming chariot; others asserting that He was merely one of the Prophets; while the more skeptical among them would have it that He was but a Seer, like those who are common enough in the time of their forefathers.  But for Herod, whose vision was continually haunted by the grim spectre of his victim, his trembling lips kept repeating, "It is John; it is the man who baptised!  He has been raised up from the dead; that is why he can work such miracles." And eager to ascertain the truth of his forebodings, he cast about for some means to see Jesus for himself.

The Lord would have incurred the greatest danger from any such encounter with a furious and terrified Tetrarch; unquestionably he would have been constrained to suspend His ministry at once, at least in Galilee, while He would have been forced to forgo His Paschal pilgrimage for that year, and the time for the caravans to start was already drawing near.  The return of the Apostles finally decided Him to pass over into the realm of Philip without delay.  Whether their mission had been finished just at this time, or whether that also was interrupted by the death of the Forerunner, at any rate the Twelve had now returned to their Master, and at one and the same time.  To Him they rendered their report "of what they had done and taught;" "how they had cast out devils, anointed very many sick folks with oil, and cured their illnesses." Tired and spent with their long journeyings, and saddened by the fate of John, they came to seek rest and comfort by the side of Jesus; because of the crowds "which came and went, and left Him not even time to eat."

And therefore He said two His way-worn little band:

"Let us go apart by ourselves into some desert place, and there you may rest yourself for a little time."

The Sea of Tiberius was not far off from where they stood; at the Master's bidding they sought out a boat for the passage and speedily shook out sail, heading for the north.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Mission of the Apostles

Continuing with Fouard's Life of Christ:

Chapter VII: The Mission of the Apostles; Death of the Precursor.

The Mission of the Apostles

Matt. xiii. 54-58, ix. 35-38, x. 5-42; Mark vi. 1-11; Luke ix. 1-6.

Left when Jesus left the mansion of Jaïrus it was in order to undertake a new mission through Galilee.  It was the third (and it was to be the last) of those journeyings of his during which He preached in every little hamlet of that land.  First of all, this time, He wended His way up two His old home in Nazareth, and on the Sabbath began to preach in the synagogue; but He met with as cold reception as on a former occasion a year ago; the Nazarenes were as hard and dull to the words of their fellow-townsman as they were before.

"How does he come by his wisdom and his power?" they kept on saying.  "Is not this the carpenter?  Is not his mother called Mary, his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Jude?  And are not his sisters all here amongst us?" And they were scandalised at Him, — were shocked at His presumption!

The phlegmatic bigotry and coarseness were well understood by Jesus; nevertheless on this particular day it would seem to have even surpassed His expectations; for Saint Mark tells us He "was astonished thereat," as though He would indicate how entire and hopeless the incredulity was by the use of this striking expression, which sounds strangely enough when used in reference to God.  The Lord grieved over their blindness, and, comparing the contemptuousness of the Nazarenes with the docility of their brethren in Galilee, He repeated what He had said of them once before,

"A Prophet is not without honour save in his own country, and in his own home, and in his own family."

This was perforce the divine Wayfarer’s farewell to that ungrateful city, where his boyhood and early manhood had been passed; now all He could do here was to heal some few of their sick folk by laying His hands upon them; then He departed from the mountain valley, never more to return.

"He went through the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every sickness and all infirmities." The dwellers in these lands touched His heart with a great pity, — they lived so far from Jerusalem and in the very midst of Pagans, "lying uncared for and spent with fatigue," panting for breath " like a flock of sheep attacked by wolves, "who have no shepherds to lead them." However, they were all ready to receive the Good News; for Jesus, speaking of them to the Apostles, called them the rich and plentiful harvest, which only waits the coming of the reapers.

"The harvest is great," He said; "but there are few workmen. Therefore beseech the Master to send workmen into His harvest."

Christ's exhortation to the Apostles. J-J Tissot.

The Twelve Apostles were to be the first to enter these fields, which had been made ripe for the coming of their Lord.  Some time before Jesus had finished His own wanderings through the length and breadth of Galilee He called them about Him, "gave them strength and dominion over all devils, with the power of healing diseases, and sent them out, two by two, to preach the Kingdom of God and to restore health to the weak." Before entrusting them with so lofty and August a commission He laid down the simple and severe duties of their Ministry.

For the present He wished to send them, "not to the Samaritans, nor to the Gentiles, but rather to the lost sheep of Israel." All the burden of their message was to be this "announcement that the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand," confirming the glad tidings by miracles performed in the name of their Christ.

"Heal the sick, raise the dead to life, cleanse the lepers, drive out devils; freely you have received, freely give."

A holy indifference to earthly cares was to be the peculiar feature of their ministry; they might not make any preparations, but must be ready at all times to set out, in whatever circumstances they might chance to be, taking neither gold not silver in the belt, nor victuals in their wallet, having neither a change of raiment nor travelling-shoes in the place of the sandals they ordinarily wore; it would even be useless for them to get themselves a staff for the journey.  Having arrived in a town, their first care must be to seek out some hospitable household, which they were to accost with that ancient greeting, "Peace be to this house!" This peace of theirs should precede them and abide upon the inmates, if they proved worthy of it; if otherwise, the heavenly gift would rather return and rest upon the Heralds of the Good News.  Should they be rejected and repulsed, they were merely to shake the dust from off their shoes without the dwelling, thereby proclaiming that they were not chargeable with the judgment, more terrible than that of Sodom and Gomorrah, which should one day befall its misguided occupants.

Up to this point the Lord had been speaking to the Twelve concerning their present mission only; but now, as though He would explain the duties of the Apostolic Ministry more generally, He began by marking out its two principal characteristics.

"Be prudent as serpents, simple as doves.  Mark how I am sending you forth like sheep in the midst of wolves."

Just at this moment (according to tradition of the first century) Peter interrupted His Master.

"But if it happen," said he, " that the wolves devour the sheep?"

"When the lamb is dead," replied the Lord, "it no longer fears the wolf. Even so fear not those who can only kill the body and have no power over the soul.  But rather fear that which can send both soul and body down to Gehenna."

Then the Master forewarned them that they would be dragged before the judgment-seats, flogged in the synagogue; while still in the face of the magistrates of Judaea, as in the presence of the praetors of Rome, they were to bear testimony, even to the shedding of their blood for His sake; but that during all their tortures the Holy Spirit would be with them and would make answer for them.  Yet the Lord did not command them to go out to seek such impending peril; rather, on the contrary, He exhorted them "to fly from one town to the other," and to persevere in the faith; for in the very truth "they should not complete their tale of wanderings through all the cities of Israel ere yet the Son of Man would manifest Himself on His return."

The future, then, had only gloomy things in store for the Apostles; therefore, in order to strengthen and inflame their courage, Jesus reminded them of the obstacles which opposed His own Mission.

Like Him, they must become calm and fearless; the heavenly Father "Who numbereth even the hairs of their head, Who let's not the little sparrow fall from the skies upon the earth without having care thereof," their Almighty Father would be with them, "would acknowledge those as His own children whom His Son claimed as His disciples, and would reject all such as He disowned."

Then He added that He had come to cast a drawn sword upon the earth; that very soon they should see their fathers and their children in league with the world, and eager to deliver them up to death.  In the midst of raging war and of unbridled passions He bade them remain steadfast, "publishing upon the housetops that which the Master had spoken in their ear," preferring Jesus above all whatsoever they held most dear and glorious, "losing their life to find it again" in Heaven, in a word, they were " to take up their cross and follow Him."

After this mystical allusion, by which He foretold His Crucifixion, the Lord uttered only words of loving consolation and splendid promise.  He told His Apostles that they should stand in His stead in the eyes of the world; "that to receive them as Ambassadors of God —— would be to receive the Christ, would indeed be to entertain God Himself and to merit the rewards laid up for the just and the Prophets."

Then with one hand pointing to the poor folk and little children, who crowded about Him now as always, He concluded with those touching words: ——

"Whosoever shall give butter cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink, as unto one of My disciples, I say to you that indeed he shall not lose his reward."

Such were the instructions with which Jesus prepared this College of the Twelve.  It may be that all were not delivered on this particular occasion, and that, following his usual custom, Saint Matthew has here collected counsels which were actually uttered at various times.  But whether Jesus spoke the whole discourse before this one audience, or whether the Evangelist, divinely inspired, has connected maxims scattered through many lessons of the Master, nonetheless Saint Matthew's work stands as a finished and complete model for every Apostle of the evangelical Ministry; and indeed, though every priest of the Lord Christ be not bound by the letter of these instructions, it does behove all to be quickened by their spirit.  Truly everyone is not bidden to press forward to the prize of the martyr’s crown, yet all must follow the Master in the paths of sacrifice; the Lord God does not demand of each one of us a complete renunciation of all things, for He Himself has declared that "every workman is worthy of his meat;" and yet, in proportion as zeal in the hearts of His Apostles burns higher, and the holy blame waxes purer and whiter, by so much the more joyously do they strip themselves of everything in the race unto their high calling which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  St. Paul converted the nations of the earth while he himself toiled at tent-making for his day’s bread; Saint Francis Xavier took with him nothing but a cross of wood wherewith he went forth to conquer the eastern world.

Obedient to the commands they then received, the Apostles departed, going two buy two.  Without doubt the intimate friends and the brothers would bear each other company in the sacred comradeship.  Peter of course would associate himself with Andrew; those to whom He had called "Sons of the Thunderbolt" would forthwith start out together, with all their characteristic impetuosity; Philip would join the Bartholomew, whose two lives had been heretofore so closely linked together; then would come Thomas and Matthew; while the two cousins of Jesus, James and Jude, would naturally be companions; and finally, it was probably Simon's sad and unenviable fortune to have for his fellow-labourer in the harvest Judas.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The banquet given by Levi; the woman with the issue of blood; the daughter of Jaïrus

Continuing with Fouard's Life of Christ:

II: The banquet given by Levi; the woman with the issue of blood; the daughter of Jaïrus

Matt. ix. 10-26; Luke v. 29-39, viii, 40-56; Mark ii. 15-22, v. 21-43.

It was in the morning that Jesus delivered the two demoniacs of Gergesa, and by pushing out to sea without delay He could reach the fertile land of Genesareth again that same day.  A long time before they hove to and dropped anchor in the little bay eager crowds had spied the vessel which had borne Him away, and hastening down along the banks, they waited to greet Him.

But none welcomed Him more gladly than Levi.  Evidently this Apostle had remained behind in Capharnaum, and having in the interval called together a number of His friends, publicans and sinners, like himself, he begged the Lord to partake of a great feast, which he immediately prepared for this assemblage.  Jesus showed no hesitation about accepting the invitation, and in good time sat down to the banquet, surrounded by His disciples.

That the Lord was present at this feast soon began to be noised throughout the town.  The Scribes and Pharisees were the first to make their way into the great hall, thrown open wide to all comers.  There they saw, enacted under their very eyes, this sad scandal, the rumour of which had so shocked them.

Verily!  ay, true enough!  There sat a Master of Israel at the same table with publicans, and familiarly talking with such low company!

They were too wary now to grumble and mutter in the Saviour's hearing; but feeling that they might act more freely with the Apostles, they gave vent to their distrust and horror in their ear.

"How comes it," they said "that you and that master of yours eat and drink with publicans and sinners?"
Censure such as this, coming from men they were accustomed to look up to with reverence, could not fail to disturb these simple minds, little versed in controversy.

Jesus, knowing every movement of their souls, discerned the trouble, and Himself replied to the formalists, "that He was not come to call the just, but sinners.  For men in good health have no need of a physician, but only the sick." Then, borrowing an expression common among their Rabbis, He added,

"Go, ye, and learn the meaning of those words: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice!" That is, Charity rather than mere stickling for observances.

Such precepts as this uttered by the Prophet Osee conferred upon the Law its only true dignity, by permeating it with the real Spirit of Christianity before the time.  But the Pharisees of Capharnaum had not so construed it; and now they refused to comprehend more than that Jesus undertook to defend His friends, and so for their part, they would refrain hereafter from all disputes with Him!

Some of John's disciples, attracted thither by the hurrying throngs, had also entered the great hall.  At sight of Jesus seated there, taking His part in the good things of the feast, mindful too of how the Baptist "would neither eat nor drink," and even now was languishing in the dungeons of Macheronte, these sad memories quite broke down all their hopes.  So then, the Christ had already for gotten His Precursor!  Far from spending His time in fasting and tears, like these mourners over the downfall of their great Prophet, He was actually enjoying rich banquets, and diverting himself in the company of sinners!

Such a spectacle embittered their minds the more against Him, and made their disappointment over their own master’s fate all the harder to bear.  Finding that the Pharisees were ready to make common cause against Him, they joined them in reproaching the Lord anew.

"Why," they began, "should we and the Pharisees multiply our fasts, were you and yours eat and drink?"

Jesus for gave their presumption, because they zeal made it excusable; but He recalled to the minds of John's disciples how their master had compared Him to the Bridegroom amid the marriage festivities, and continuing the figure, He said, "Would you have the sons of the Spouse fasting and weeping while the Spouse is with them?" It is befitting for us to fast in seasons of mourning only; now John had foretold that the coming of the Kingdom of God would be like a wedding festival, wherein the Christ should celebrate His espousals with Humanity; and therefore, on this day of gladness, to demand that the Apostles, the friends of the Bridegroom, should abandon themselves to grief, would be to discredit the testimony of John himself.

"But a time will come," He added, "when the Spouse shall be taken from them, and they shall fast in those days."

For the first time Jesus allowed the multitude to have some inkling of the violent death which awaited Him; but He did not dwell at any length upon this dark foreboding; indeed, He rather made haste to restore happiness and peace among Levi's guests, who had been disturbed by these ill-timed questionings.

Hereupon changing the tone of their talk, and looking round Him upon the gay furnishings which decked the board, the joyous company in their bright-coloured festal robes, the tankards from which flowed sparkling wines, He began to speak in a Parable which had now come to be His usual manner of teaching.

Under this figure He propounded a truth which would be the most apt to shock the Jewish mind; for He wished to have them know that in His Kingdom the ceremonies of the Mosaic worship were to be abolished, the bloody sacrifices, the symbolical ceremonies, circumcision, and everything else which in the Law was but a shadow of future things, would now fade away under the clear light of the Gospel.  And the Lord knew, were He to announce abruptly that the Ancient Covent had already passed away, He would arouse Judea against Him; hence He must needs prepare men's minds, as usual, with gentle condescension.

"No one," He began, "puts a piece of unworn cloth into an old garment; otherwise the new," when damp and shrunken, "gathers up the old, and the rent is made the worse.  And no more does anyone put new wine into all bottles; otherwise the bottles break, the wine flows away, and the bottles themselves are lost.  Rather you put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved."

Mysterious and little understood though they were, these words could not fail to excite some surprise in the minds of His audience; perhaps they even caused renewed murmurs of disapproval.  Jesus fully realised how strong the attachment to time-honoured observances can be, and so He added,

"He who is wont to drink old wines does not at first relish the new, but finds the old better."

The woman with an issue of blood. J-J Tissot.

As He was speaking in this way, one of the great men of Capharnaum entered the happy circle.  It was Jaïrus, Chief of the Synagogue, — one of those notable men of the city who had very lately sought out Jesus to implore His aid in behalf of the Roman Centurion; The Apostles accompanied Him; behind them searched and excited throng of publicans, Pharisees, those disciples of John, and the people of the town, all eager to see what was about to happen.

Now, amid this motley mass of humanity, there was a sick woman who had been subject to a loss of blood for some twelve years.  Such a malady was a dreadful humiliation for any daughter of Israel; because it was looked upon as a scourge that was only laid on women of wicked character, and hence those afflicted with it were avoided and despised.  The poor sufferer had paid out all her means in fees to the physicians, but still in vain.  She had undergone, without any benefit, all that peculiar treatment as to which the Talmud gives us some curious details, yet the disease grew greater every day.

She had now given up all other hope save in Jesus; but she was still held back by her timidity and shame, both because she had nothing at all to offer Him, and because the sickness was thought to be such a terrible disgrace; at last she resolved to get the gifts of grace by stealth, like a thief.

"If I can just touch His robe," she said to herself, " I shall be healed."

Urged on by this intense and lively faith, she glided through the multitude, pushed her way right up to the Master, and furtively seized the tassel hanging from His mantle in her thin and wasted fingers.

Scarcely had she touched it, when the issue of blood was stopped; her trust had been rewarded.  With beating heart and half choked with fear, she fell back amid the crowd.

But though no one had noticed her act, Jesus knew it of Himself.  Feeling at once that power had gone out from Him, He halted and turned towards the people.

"Who has touched My garment?" He said.

As each one began to plead innocence, Peter and those round Him replied,

"Master, the people crowd about and harass you, and can you ask, Who has touched me?"

"I have felt that power has gone out from Me," Jesus answered; "someone has touched Me."

And as His eyes fell upon the throng He fixed one of those grave and piercing glances which fathom the depths of the heart upon her whom He had healed.  The woman, seeing herself discovered, began trembling, then tottered to Him and fell at His feet, declaring before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how one the instant she had been cured.  The Lord had merely looked for this simple acknowledgement.

"My child, be of good courage," He said to her; "go in peace, your faith has saved you."

While He was still speaking comforting words to her, some members of the household of Jaïrus came hurrying towards them.

"Do not trouble the Master any longer," they said; "your daughter is dead."

The unfortunate father had uttered no complaint at seeing Jesus make so long a wait by the roadside.  Great and importunate as was his grief, it could not make him grudge this sufferer the happiness of being healed; for the noble man's charity equalled his fate.  The Master now turned back to him, and seeing him bound in speechless sorrow, He spoke to him very gently.

"Do not fear, only believe; she shall be saved." And still followed by the throngs, He proceeded once more on the way.

At the house Jesus found mourners already gathering, upon the first tidings of the child's death.  The delicate body, ready to be wrapped it in its winding sheet and linen bands, was lying on the cold ground; round about it the women were moaning and wailing, while the shrill keening of the flutes made their cries the more dismal.

"Talitha, Koumi!" "My child, arise!" J-J Tissot

"Weep not!" Jesus said to them; "the child is not dead, she sleeps."

The mourners, hearing the speech, thought that He was mocking them, and would have continued their wail, but Jesus forbade them.  He made them pass without the darkened chamber, and allowed only the mother and the father of the child, together with His three most intimate Apostles, Peter, James, and John, to remain in the room.

In their presence He took the hand of the young girl, and called to her,

"Talitha, Koumi!" "My child, arise!"

But once the little maid rose and started to run, in high glee, for she was only twelve years old.  The parents were beside themselves with joy and the Lord had to remind them of such things as were necessary for the child, telling them to give her something to eat.

In working this new marvel of resurrection Jesus said yielded to his boundless love; but may He not have feared that so wonderful a sign of His Christhood would arouse all the enthusiasm of the people, and reawaken Herod's jealousy?  He had not confined Himself, therefore, to merely commanding them to keep silence concerning the matter, but had taken every precaution to conceal the deed beforehand.  His first words had been, "The child is not dead, she sleeps;" and although these words were meant to signify that for Him it was as easy to recall her soul to life as it would be to awaken her from slumber, yet this sense of the words would be sure to escape the minds of the common people.  The wondrous deed being accomplished, He probably remained in the house until the people outside, ignorant of what was going on within doors, gradually dropped away.

Thus Jesus avoided the first outburst of excitement; but the secret could not be kept for long.  The sight of the little girl, brought back from death to life, the great gratitude of her parents, the wonder and awe of the Apostles, — all these soon betrayed the fact, "and the fame of the miracle was noised abroad through the whole countryside."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Possessed Creatures of Gergesa

Continuing with Fouard's Life of Christ:

Chapter VI: The miracles done in Gergesa and Capharnaum

I. The Possessed Creatures of Gergesa

Luke viii. 22-39; Mark iv. 35-41; v. 1-20; Matt. viii. 18, 23-34.

The crowds which Jesus had dismissed after the discourse by the Lakeside had no the other had about His abode once more.  The Saviour, seeing that any need for repose was not to be hoped for inside the city walls, resolved that same evening to seek the lonely highlands of Perea.  "Let us pass over to the other side," He said to His disciples.  And they, after sending away the citizens, went aboard a boat; with them was the Lord, who made no preparation whatever for the voyage; for Saint Mark says " they took Him into the bark just as He was." Several other craft sailed along in company with them, each one, amid the rustling night-winds and under the starlit sky, making quiet headway towards the opposite bank.

Jesus asleep in the tempest. J-J Tissot.

Jesus, seating Himself in the stern, rested His head upon the pilot's pillow; very soon He was sleeping, wearied with the toils of the day.  But hardly had His eyes closed in slumber when the whole outlook overhead and round about them changed.  It is with surprising suddenness that the storms burst over the Sea of Galilee; from the icy peaks of Hermon the tempests precipitate themselves upon the lake, and in an instant whip its waters into wild and seizing waves.  Caught in one of these furious cloudbursts, the little vessels were scattered far and wide, while that of the Master was left alone, with the waters beating into it on every side.

And now the fierce floods threaten to engulf them at every moment; yet all the time Jesus slumbered on, while the Apostles dared not waken Him.  But when they felt the boat beginning to settle beneath their feet fear dispelled every other thought; they threw themselves about Him, calling upon Him with desperate eagerness,

"Master!  Master!  Save us!  We perish!"

The wakening of Jesus was as tranquil to all seeming as His repose had been; His first care was to calm their hearts rather than the angry waters.

"Why do you fear?" He said, "Oh men have little faith!" Only after this did He arise and rebuke the winds; then speaking to the sea as if it had been a furious beast,

Jesus stills the tempest.

"Be quiet," He said to it; "curb thy rage."

And immediately the winds ceased, and there came a great calm.

At sight of the unclouded plains of heaven, and the lake once again silent and placid, it was borne in upon the Apostles; minds how Jesus might well complain of their little faith.  No matter what extreme of peril they might encounter, it were too trifling to notice in His Presence; while He is with us we have nothing to fear.  Their wondering awe was shared by the sailors who were with Him.

"What manner of Man is this?" they said one to another.  "He commands the winds and the waves, and they obey Him."

The cry of these men of Galilee has been repeated many times since then; for the miracle performed upon the waters of Genesareth is but a type of those marvellous mercies which God has never ceased to operate by means of His Church.  She likewise is sailing over blustering seas; often in the awful vortex of the whirlwind it will seem as though the Master were sleeping in forgetfulness of His own; but from age to age, at the very moment when all seems lost, the Christ awakes and with one word saves the Bark.  Tossed and battered though she be, so long as Jesus rests upon the Pilot's bench she is upholden by a promise which cannot fail of fulfilment, His promise to bring us all together to the further shores of Eternity.

Jesus did not find the quiet and repose which He had come to seek in the country of Perea.  He had scarcely set foot upon the land of Gergesa when His glance encountered a mournful object.  From one of the hills which rise above the lake a possessed creature had descried the landing of the little ship, and, emerging from the caves hollowed out of the cliff, he rushed down toward where the Lord stood.

In ancient times there was no place of refuge where poor human beings could be kept when subject to such horrid afflictions is this; driven out of the towns and away from all houses, they must seek shelter in some ruined hovel or in the caverns which were used as graves.  The horror overshadowing such an abode, in which no Jew could enter without being contaminated, would naturally but increase the fury of the demoniacs.

Two men possessed. J-J Tissot.

This possessed man of Gergesa was so terrible of aspect that no one dared so much as to cross his path.  It was now a long time since he had torn to pieces what few shreds of clothing still hung about him.  And so he roamed night and day among the lonely rock-tombs, stark and naked, uttering wild shrieks and tearing his flesh with sharp stones.  They had tried in vain to fetter his limbs; he would rend his shackles with the iron chains; and after this no number of men could get the mastery over him.  This was the frenzied spectre which confronted the Lord almost as soon as His foot touched the land.

According to Saint Matthew's report of the scene, this possessed being was not alone; another such wretched mortal came running up to Jesus with him.  Frantic and violent though they were, yet, as all the others before them had been, these two were quelled by some divine charm in Him, and cowering in the dust before the Christ, they shrieked wildly:

"What is there between Thee and us, Jesus, Son of their Most-High?  Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?"

For Jesus had said to one of the demoniacs, "Foul Spirit, depart from out this man!" And as Satan was loathe to obey, the Saviour added, "What is thy name?"

The fiend answered by the mouth of the possessed man, "I amcalled Legion, because we are many."

Then shuddering and writhing before the Lord, this host of demons besought Him not to dismiss them for ever from the countryside, but to allow them some place of refuge.

Now there was a great heard of swine feeding far away upon the mountainside; and the devils begged and cried, saying,

"If Thou wilt drive us hence, let us enter into yonder herd of swine."

"Go!" He said to them.

The swine carried headlong into the sea. J-J Tissot.

And the unclean spirits, rushing forth, seized upon the swine, who were carried headlong into the lake, and was stifled with the sea waters to the number of nearly two thousand.

At sight of their herds borne in unmanageable fury to destruction, the men having charge of them at once conceived that those mad outcasts were the cause of this new misfortune; so, fearing any encounter with such ghoulish wretches, they took to flight, and spread the news as they passed along by quiet farm-houses and through the busy streets of the little city.  The townsfolk sallied out at once to see what had occurred; and what must have been a surprise, on hurrying up to where Jesus stood, to perceive at His feet the much-dreaded demoniac, now quietly seated, clothed, sane of mind, and whole, without a scream and without a single mark of recent struggle!

"And when those who had seen the thing related to them all that had happened to the possessed and  to the herds," so sudden a transformation overwhelmed them with alarm; they never thought either of denying or explaining the fact; they were simply seized with such terror that they began to beseech Jesus to leave their shores.

How can we account for this overpowering fear, the like of which was never produced by any of the Saviour’s miracles in Judaea, unless perhaps for the reason that this eastern shore of the lake was a very different territory, with a population far more Pagan than Jewish in thought and feeling?  The ten cities which gave the name of the Decapolis to these parts were Greek, both by their origin and in their manners. Gadara, (which was the native place of the demoniac, according to very many manuscripts), could boast of some famous poets, among them Meleager, a singer of light love songs, and the Epicurean Philodemus, whose renown had reached Rome itself.

Keen in its enjoyment of earthly pleasures, this land had no desire to hear of the Kingdom of Heaven.  And so, bowing to the wishes of the agitated citizens, Jesus re-embarked at once; but He did not quit their country without taking care that the Good News should be published among them.

As the man who had been healed presently supplicated to be taken along with them, the Saviour, not consenting to this step, bade him however,—

"Return to your home, to your brethren, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had pity on you."

The man obeyed, and thus became the first apostle of the Decapolis.  "He announced everywhere the works of the Christ, and all men wondered."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam