As twilight came on, a party was seen approaching from the north, which proved to be a band of his followers who, having become alarmed, had followed them with the hope of persuading Jesus to return to Nazareth. Among them was Cleophas and his wife, Mary, she being the sister of Joseph, the father of Jesus, but all arguments to induce Jesus to return were of no avail.
The next morning at Jacob's well they found several hundred who fell into line and thus the throng increased until they crossed the Jordan, where they were met by his ten disciples who, with a host of others, had come up from Jerusalem to meet them, and now Jesus went before them towards Jericho.
WAITING BY THE JORDAN
When back on the west side of the Jordan, Jesus with the women from Galilee and the twelve disciples turned south for the night, into the well known palm grove, while the crowd hastened to Jericho for bread. After supper he with his mother and Magdalene strolled south to the shore of the Dead Sea, where he, while reclining his head on his mother's knee and Magdalene smoothing his hair, fell asleep.
John, who was following, now stole in with pillows and blankets, and soon Jesus and the two women were lost in dreams in the very plain where the children of Israel had slept the first night after crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land.
Since Jesus had left Capernaum he had avoided the curious, for well he knew he was misunderstood by all save mother, John and Magdalene, to whom he often confided, maintaining that if his death was required to awaken the world he would drink the bitter cup and leave the coming generation to judge of his works, whether they were of man or God.
Accordingly, to avoid the throng, the four recrossed the Jordan at dawn and sought a sequestered spot, where trees sheltered them from the sun, when Jesus ordered that all attention be directed to Magdalene, who had eaten scarcely any food since she left home.
During the day they continued to bring cool water from the spring, which allayed her fever so that she felt herself again, and said in her old-time laughing way, "Better then worse, better then worse, really if we do not return to Galilee soon I think it will be nip and tuck as to who will get into the Kingdom of Heaven first," at which Jesus replied, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, Magdalene."