MAGDALENE'S HEROIC PLEA
Evening lowers its dark mantel over the faithful, as they gather at the home of Aunt Susanna again to discuss and consider the conditions.
"Where is Jesus?" his mother inquired.
"He is walking on the shore," replied John. "He requested to be alone."
Trembling and pale, Mary, the mother of Jesus, stood and looked down upon the Galilean shore as she murmured, "Oh, how peaceful." Then closing her eyes she continued, "Oh, that this generation was passed." Then Magdalene assisted her to a divan and was whispering softly to her, when James came and caressed her gray locks as he said, "Mother, kiss Magdalene; she is lovely, isn't she?"
"I," responded Magdalene, "am nothing but a briar," to which James replied, "Roses grow on briars."
Around and in Aunt Susanna's home a great crowd of men and women had assembled when Thomas stood up and began, "A strange problem lies before us for solution this day. For more than two years we have followed Jesus and listened to his teachings. We had understood that God, through Jesus, was doing this work. Today the aspect is changed, for he tells us he came forth from God to do God's will. This implies a consciousness of existence in a place he calls Heaven, before he came among men. Some of his most ardent admirers now believe he is beside himself. If such is the case, we ought to persuade him not to go up to Jerusalem to the feast of the Passover."
"Does his sermon on the mount portray derangement of the mind?" broke in Matthew, as he produced a bundle of parchment and began reading: "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."