"And now cometh a Teacher who sayeth to this sort 'Nay!'" And Lazarus laughed, for concern was written on the face of Joel as he spoke again.
"Canst thou not see whereunto this liberty to women will lead? Aye, even there may come a time when women will be allowed to give a man a writing of divorcement."
"Even so,—ha! ha! If he doth beat her with a stick or refuse to feed her, let her do this to him."
"I look for the world to come to a speedy end when the Law and the traditions of the Elders are overturned," and Joel heaved a heavy sigh.
"The traditions of the Elders," Mary repeated. "Often hath the Master spoken of the Elders and their traditions. They claim to sit in the seat of Moses, knowing not that the seat of Moses did pass with the passing of Moses. As saw their fathers, so see they; as spoke their fathers, so speak they; as did their fathers, so try they to do, forgetting this, that as the times of their fathers have perished, so have perished their needs, and with the coming of new generations have come new needs. 'Harken not to these neither now nor in the days to come,' saith the Master. 'They be blind leaders of the blind. Beware thou that man who boasts of changing not.'"
"I perceive that closely thou hast learned of Jesus. Tell me now, wherein, thinkest thou, lieth the secret that shall bring the Kingdom of which he doth ever speak?"
The question was asked Mary by Joseph. She said, "Once was I standing in the far end of the garden where the soil had been made soft for a row of mustard trees. And the seed lay upon the palm of my hand when Jesus did come softly behind me saying, 'What hast thou?' For answer I held forth my hand black with seed like dust. 'Watch thou, Mary,' were his words. 'As the tree doth come from the seed, so cometh the Kingdom.' Then went he on a long journey. Returning he did ask of my garden. Again did we walk to the far end where the wall was hidden by branching mustard trees. And as we drew near the flutter of wings greeted us, and over the garden wall to the olive trees flew the fowls of the air that had gathered in the mustard tree to eat its bright fruit and lodge in its branches. Then again did he speak of the Kingdom saying, 'Lo, from the life of the tiny seed thou held in thine hand hath come this more abundant life. Even so shall the Kingdom come from the seed sowing of Truth. Truth is—'" The words of Mary who had been sitting in the window came to a sudden stop. A step outside had attracted her attention. She sprang up and hastened to put a fresh basin of water by the guest stool at the door. Then she went back to the window and piled cushions in a corner, making ready for a guest. Before she had finished Lazarus was laughing.
"When Mary's hand, without the goad of Martha's tongue, fall diligently to indoor labor, then know we who cometh."