For he said they had quenched the spirit of life within their hearts, so that Satan had taken possession of them and used them as his tools. For this cause they could not distinguish between small things and great, between the purifying of the outside and the inside, between that which sanctifieth and that which is sanctified; and they esteemed the tithing of mint and anise and cummin of more avail than mercy, judgment, and truth. Also he said they had made the interpretation of the Law into a gainful profession, doing whatsoever they did for to be honoured and admired of men. Therefore he spared not to call them, not only fools and blind, but also hypocrites. For he said that they knew in their own hearts that they had no sight and no knowledge, yet they professed to see and to know; and they had cast out their own consciences, yet would they fain appear able to judge between right and wrong. Thus they presented one appearance to men, which look only on the outside; but another appearance to God, who discerneth the inside; and therefore he called them actors in masks, or hypocrites; he likened them also unto whited sepulchres, hiding death within them. For they hated the Spirit of life, and they lived by rules and precepts which work death; and they would neither enter into life themselves, nor suffer the people of the land to enter in; and they feared and hated prophets and prophecies, and would fain destroy them; and they had hated John the prophet while he lived, and now they hated Jesus, even to the death: and this, while [pg 347]they professed to repent of the persecutions of the prophets by our forefathers, and to build monuments to their memory, saying, “If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.”
After this, he turned round, to go forth for the last time from the temple. But as he came to the steps, he looked back upon all the Pharisees, and upon all their friends (who stood all gathered together behind him, watching him depart), and he pronounced a curse upon them; as though it needs must be that they must yet continue their course; and Satan must accomplish his purpose in them, and must be revealed in all his wickedness working through the Pharisees his bondsmen; and the judgment of the Lord must needs fall upon these servants of Satan: “Fill ye up the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify: and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.”
CHAPTER XXVII
When Jesus had made an end of denouncing the Pharisees, many of the young men with them and their servants were desirous to have laid hands on him; and they came near as if for that intent, but the older sort checked them. Yet was their wrath clearly to be read in their faces: and when I came out of the temple, being a little space behind the rest, Hezekiah the Scribe overtook me and said, “Young man, I warn thee that thou mayest with speed sever thyself from this blind shepherd: for lo, he hath to-day provoked war, and war shall fall upon him; for unless he perish we shall perish.” But I made answer, that I should follow Jesus constantly even to the end. Then he spake again of the evil which, he said, had befallen that rash young man Barabbas; how that he had been taken ten days ago by the Romans on the road that goeth down to Jericho, while he was riding at the head of a band of Galileans that were raising sedition: and, said Hezekiah to me, “Thy friend of Jotapata is to be crucified, as I hear, two or three days hence. Take heed therefore unto thine own steps, lest thou also fall into the same destruction.” I made him no further answer, but departed, sorrowing not a little [pg 349]for the sake of Barabbas: for I had not before heard how great an evil had befallen him.
When I overtook the rest, I heard the disciples conversing earnestly one with another; and the Greek, even the friend of Philip, bade us take note that we were beset with spies and watched; for “When ye issued from the temple,” said he, “I perceived that the servants of the chief priests and the Pharisees watched you whithersoever ye turned; and, meseemeth, it is their intent to lay hands on your Master this night. But I marvel why your Master so inveighed against the Pharisees, transgressing the bounds of seemliness and decorum, at least in my judgment.” So spake he, after his Greek fashion; but Judas also spake to the same effect, and said that we had come up to Jerusalem to destroy enemies, and lo, we had destroyed none, but made many.
The rest knew not what answer to make to these words; neither did I myself at that time. Howbeit, now I know well that Jesus came not to prophesy smooth things, but to teach us the truth. Therefore was it most needful that he should speak the truth, and nothing less than the truth, concerning the Pharisees; to the intent that the eyes of all mankind might be opened, even to the generations of generations, that they might discern that the sin of sins is hypocrisy. For other sins wound, but this sin slayeth, the conscience. Peradventure also Jesus foresaw that a time might come when certain, even among his own disciples, would err as the Pharisees had erred, shutting their eyes against the truth, as being unfit for use and not convenient. And he that came to make a spiritual Israel, [pg 350]a nation of priests and ministers for mankind, was it not most needful that he should thus as it were mark out and brand with censure the special sin of priests? He also that came to redeem all the children of men from all evil, was it not most necessary that he should make clear in the sight of all men what was the greatest evil? For if men knew it not, how could he redeem them from it? And well I know that, if he had not assailed the Pharisees as he did, then these same Greeks who now say that “Jesus transgressed the bounds of seemliness,” would in that case have said (even as Jonathan the son of Ezra said) that “Jesus knew not the evil in human nature.” Notwithstanding at this season we thought not of these things; but we feared what should betide to our Master if the Pharisees took him and cast him into bonds.
But a certain man of the Pharisees, Joseph by name, of the town of Arimathæa, clave unto Jesus; and although he dared not openly consort with us, he sent a servant after us, when we came forth from the Temple, to bid Jesus not abide in the same house this night as last night, because, said he, “the Pharisees purpose to take thee.” He also warned Jesus not to come into Jerusalem on the morrow. But if Jesus desired to have some chamber in the city wherein to keep the Passover, Joseph promised that he would provide one. So much I heard myself; for I was nigh to Jesus when the servant of Joseph brought the message; but the answer of Jesus I heard not, save that he thanked the messenger courteously.
In the meantime we had passed out of the gate of the city, and had begun to climb up the side of the hill [pg 351]called Olivet; and by reason that we were in the depth of the valley, the sun had by this time set for us. But when we had gone some space up the side of the hill, as we turned round to take breath and rest, behold, the sun had not yet set, but was just beginning to sink; and the western quarter of the heaven was lit up with a light exceeding red and fiery, and the roofs of the temple and the towers of the castle of Herod shone as with a blood-red flame; and though our hearts were heavy with many thoughts, yet could we not choose but look. But when Jesus saw the city and the temple, whence he had but now come and wherein he was never to set foot again; his eyes were filled with tears, and he changed colour and could go no further, but sat down upon a stone and covered his face with his hands: and then he looked again upon the city and wept, mourning over it and saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”