Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II.
THE Jewish Passover was at hand, and the Nazarene was in Jerusalem.
A few evenings after His arrival, Nicodemus, full of excitement, sought out Lazarus once more.
"Hast thou heard the strange news, Lazarus?"
"Nay, I was weary and went not into Jerusalem this morn," replied his friend.
"Surely the thing was strange indeed that happened. This Nazarene, who, since His arrival, doth seem to drive mad all Jerusalem, did make a scourge of cords, and chased from the Temple all those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables; and His face, they say, did glow with wrath that kindled as if with fire; yet none withstood Him, and none durst speak. Thou wouldst have laughed, Lazarus, to see the frightened little usurers, sprawling on the floor to grasp the coins that fell hither and thither, and how they quarrelled when one took the other's money, or several darted at the same coin. Oh, their oaths were awful to hear; yet, for all, they durst not stay, so mightily He scourged them. 'Take these hence, take these things hence,' He cried. 'Make not My Father's house an house of merchandise.' Then He said again: 'It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.' And mindest thou, Lazarus, how the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah do so say?"
Like one awaking from a dream, Lazarus gazed at Nicodemus. "Surely I mind it, Nicodemus; 'tis truly a wonderful thing. And what said the people?"
"The children cried out: 'Hosanna to the Son of David'; and some even say the elders raised their voices saying: 'Verily He is the Son of God!' But the chief priests and scribes who were in the Temple were very wroth, and they came round this Jesus and protested: 'Hearest Thou what these say? They call Thee Christ and Lord and the Son of God, and Thou contradictest them not? Verily Thou blasphemest by Thy silence.' But He looked with wondrous mien upon them and answered only: 'Have ye never read, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise"?' Which, if thou callest to memory, is so written in the Psalms; for the marvel of this Man is that He speaketh never a word but that which is written already in the Scriptures. And while they would have answered Him, yet could not, and sought for words to say, there came round Him such crowds of lame and blind and sick, that surely there was no room any longer for priest or scribe; and when he healed one after the other, and they left the Temple whole and with sight restored, the dumb singing aloud in praise to God, the priests did fly forth from the Temple with fear and fury, and hasted to tell Caiaphas the marvels they had seen and heard. And they say that Caiaphas is so wroth that he can neither eat nor drink; nor can he write, but sendeth message after message to Pilate to give order that they lay hands on Jesus; but Pilate, it seemeth, doth but laugh and say: 'Let this madman alone. He doeth no harm, but rather good, seeing that ye high priests can neither give eyes to the blind nor make the lame to walk.'"
Softly as they spoke, Mary came across the springy grass, and stood close listening; then, when Nicodemus had finished speaking, she exclaimed with fervour: "'T is indeed the Messiah who hath come. Nathaniel wrote truly of the miracle in Cana. It is the Lord."
"How knowest thou, sister?" answered Lazarus, amazed at the earnestness of her words, which yet seemed an echo of his own thoughts.
"An inward voice doth speak to me day and night, day and night, saying: 'This is the Lord, hear Him, hear Him'; and when I look upon His face in the Temple, and then around on this vast crowd, methinks that only He who made the flowers and birds and sunshine could have made a man so fair, for His look is like a sunbeam lying over a peaceful lake; and the thought within me doth grow and grow and grow; and, with the Magdalene, I have read and re-read the Scriptures, and every word doth testify how this Christ would come; and it grieveth me now that ever we spoke slightingly of His mother, or could dream it possible that she had sinned, for the prophet Isaiah saith: 'Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' Had I but minded me of these words, I had first cut out my tongue ere I had breathed a word against her purity."
"Surely thou speakest strangely," answered Lazarus, "and we must beware of blasphemy. I, too, would see this Man, yet I fear me greatly; for, if He have such power, maybe I, too, would think Him the Son of God and fall in worship at His feet; and then if 't were not after all the Messiah that shall come?"
"If thou wouldst but see Him," urged Mary, "thou couldst ask Him, and thou wouldst not doubt."
Then Martha's voice was heard calling them to the evening meal, which, in the ardour of their conversation, they had forgotten. Darkness was falling quickly; only over Jerusalem still hung a lurid glow, that made the houses stand out vividly against the background of the darkening trees, and lighted up with steely gleamings the rivulet of Kedron, that lay like some great serpent waiting to seize upon the heart of Jerusalem. Then, suddenly, a distant sound of voices rose.
"Hosanna, Hosanna!" cried children's voices on the stilly air, and they seemed to pierce the darkness and fall like notes of holy music into the hearts of the little group.
"Martha," said Nicodemus, leaning over the low wall of the terrace, "hearest thou how they salute the Nazarene?"
Then Lazarus, too, stood up and listened, and, as the cry came nearer, something strange and hard seemed giving way within his heart. He saw, as in a vision, earth and sea and sky all rolled away, and crowds falling to the ground in worship and fear and adoration; and a great, white light that paled the glory of the sun; and notes, in power and harmony undreamt of, gave forth, in unearthly cadence of swelling triumph, the news that the Messiah had come indeed, that the kingdom of God was close at hand.
In that one moment, while the voices drew ever nearer, grew ever louder, and, in the darkness, a still darker line of approaching crowds of men was streaked, Lazarus seemed able to measure his own stature, and to grasp its nothingness against the boundless stretches of creation. One man among so many, one tiny atom at the feet of mountains!
And, as the vision faded, the centre piece of its glory approached along the road. Only a strange luminous whiteness, not to be accounted for by dying sun or rising moon, showed that this Man was not as other men.
"'T is the Lord, let us go forth to meet Him," murmured Mary, with nervous awe and adoration in her tone; and, regardless of Martha's voice, rising querulous now from the house door, regardless of the opinion of the Jewish world, regardless of all inward doubt; as if compelled by some magnetic, supernatural power, the three sallied forth from the gate and, meeting the Christ when He reached the summit of the hill, fell down in worship at His feet. While Lazarus, hardly knowing what he did or said, mindful only that he stood in a majestic presence, from which to win one look he would barter life and power and all his worldly possessions, exclaimed with mingled Jewish courtesy and human awe:
"Enter in, O Lord, enter in; all I have I offer Thee, for all is Thine."
And the great look fell, with love and gratitude and endless blessing, on the head of Lazarus.