John's Story (10 page)

I
mmediately after breakfast the next morning, Wednesday, Polycarp told John, “I am beginning to see how you are shaping this manuscript.”

“How
I
am shaping it? I am trying to stay out of the way of the Spirit, son.”

“Yes, but it is clear that, as you have said, your purpose in this account is different from that of those who came before you, in light of the heresies of the day.”

“True.”

“I was intrigued as I read over what you had dictated last night, where Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one but the Son of Man has ascended into heaven. That counters the claims of Cerinthus and his ilk, that they have some sort of supernatural knowledge that could come from only God and the angels.”

“I included it because I remembered it, Polycarp. But you may be right that the Lord reminded me of it for this purpose.”

“It reminds me, teacher, of the Proverb you are so fond of, the one that has become my favorite.”

John nodded and smiled.

“Surely I am more stupid than any man,

And do not have the understanding of a man.

I neither learned wisdom

Nor have knowledge of the Holy One.

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?

Who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has bound the waters in a garment?

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,

If you know?

Every word of God is pure;

He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Do not add to His words,

Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”

“Cerinthus had best beware,” Polycarp said. “What a waste of intellect he has become.”

“And yet people flock to him,” John said. “So we must press on. Now, I had intimate knowledge of this next event, because I had been a disciple of the baptizer. When we came into the region where he was still preaching and baptizing, James and I spoke with him and with old friends who still traveled with him. They told us of some ruckus caused by religious Jews seeking the baptizer’s opinion on whether Jesus had apparently now rendered their purification rituals unnecessary.”

“Why did they think that?”

“That was never clear, but even the baptizer’s disciples wondered if viewing Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, meant they were departing from their faith, falling away from Judaism. And they had to wonder if this revealed a disagreement with John’s own teaching, that a person was baptized for the remission of sins.

“Jesus was saying that outward cleansing—such as the purification rites of the Jews—does not makes a person clean. As He told Nicodemus, purity comes from being born of the Spirit from above. The dispute, at its core, was really whether this Man from Galilee had any standing that gave Him the right to even question, let alone overturn, a Jewish ritual. The baptizer himself answered that clearly, stating that heaven has ordained the Son of God. Let’s get this into the scroll.

“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison.

“Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!’

“John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, “I am not the Christ,” but, “I have been sent before Him.” He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’

“Do you see the danger of what we encountered there, Polycarp?”

The young man finished and looked up. “No, I am afraid I don’t.”

“Word was getting around about Jesus and what He was supposedly doing. The last thing He needed was for the Pharisees to take notice of Him, because, as He continually told us, His time had not yet come. And anyway, it was not He who was baptizing. In truth, we were doing that work at His behest. And, you know, by now there were many more than twelve of us, as the winnowing process had not yet begun. But let me continue, as I have another story that has never before been published.

“Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that He made and baptized more disciples than John, so we left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria.”

“That could not have been good,” Polycarp said. “Didn’t the Jews try to avoid Samaria?”

“Oh, Polycarp, that is a vast understatement. We Jews considered the Samaritans such enemies of our religion and way of life that we used the very term ‘Samaritan’ for anything or anyone we found morally contemptible. Samaritans were not even allowed inside our temples. Keep that in mind as I recount this incident.

“So Jesus came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. It was about the sixth hour, and Jesus, being wearied from the journey, sat down by the well and sent us to find food.

“Upon our return He told us that a woman of Samaria had come to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’

“The woman said, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

“Jesus answered, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’

“The woman said, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?’

“Jesus said, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’”

Polycarp held up a hand as he finished writing. “What a beautiful image!”

“No one has ever spoken like the Master, son. But the woman did not understand. She said, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’

“Jesus said, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ When she responded that she had no husband, Jesus told her, ‘You have well said, “I have no husband,” for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.’”

“She must have been astonished!” Polycarp said.

“No doubt. The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’

“Jesus said, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’

“The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us all things.’

“Jesus said, ‘I who speak to you am He.’”

Polycarp finished and set down his quill, sitting back and staring at John. “That alone makes Cerinthus a liar!”

“Along with
any
who say Jesus never claimed to be the Christ. At this point we returned from buying bread and marveled that He was talking with a woman, let alone a Samaritan. She then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.”

“You heard her say these things, master?”

“No, no. Jesus told us. And I do not question the One who knows men’s names, as He did Peter’s, and can see them under trees, as He did Nathanael. Anyway, while she was gone, I said, ‘Rabbi, eat.’

“But He said, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’

“I looked at the others. We murmured, ‘Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?’

“As we shook our heads, Jesus said, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, “There are still four months and then comes the harvest”? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.’”

“Did you know whereof He spoke, teacher?”

“Not fully at that time, no. But of course it is clear to me now and, I pray, to any who read or hear this. I have seen this truth borne out in the decades since. Followers of the Christ feel compelled to draw others into His kingdom, and yet few do all the work themselves. Some plant the seed of salvation, telling someone of the gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through the work Christ accomplished on the cross. Someone else may till that soil by explaining the Scriptures or living an exemplary life before that person. And finally yet someone else may harvest the crop by leading that one to become a believer.

“Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Jesus because of the woman saying, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ Many of those who came to hear Him urged Him to stay, and He did, two days. And many more believed. They said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.’”

“My mentor, you must feel so privileged. Oh, that I had been born in your generation and could have witnessed this firsthand.”

“Is it any wonder that I speak of the Lord with such confidence? Well, we soon left that place and headed to His homeland. Galilee. Jesus Himself testified that a prophet was not without honor, except in his own country. But this time the Galileans welcomed Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast.

“We were again in Cana, where He had turned the water to wine, when we were met by a nobleman. He fell at Jesus’ feet, nearly in tears. ‘I heard that You had come out of Judea into Galilee,’ he said, ‘and so I walked an entire day’s journey from Capernaum to find You and implore You to come back with me and heal my son. He is at the point of death.’

“Capernaum, of course, is where we had spent a few days at Peter’s home. It was a long, long walk. I felt deeply for the man and his problem, but Jesus at first seemed irritated. He said, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.’

“But the nobleman would not be dissuaded. He said, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies!’

“Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your son lives.’

“Just like that, Polycarp. If any one of us had a lingering doubt about Jesus, even after the turning of the water to wine and His speaking with such authority to the money changers in the temple, such was erased now. It was plain that the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he sprang to his feet and went his way. The next day Jesus told us that the man’s servants had just met him on the road to tell him, ‘Your son lives!’

“Oh, Polycarp, Jesus’ eyes shone as He said, ‘The man had inquired of them the hour the boy got better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”’ That had been the very hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives.’ Jesus told us, ‘The man himself believes, and his whole household.’

“So that was the second sign Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.”

“Teacher,” Polycarp said, “I am curious. Do you mean to say this was the second sign? Had Jesus not performed many miracles by now?”

“True, but this was the second in Galilee.”

“The first being at the wedding.”

“Correct. And I emphasize it because it was yet another significant sign of His deity. Can you tell what I mean by that? What was the sign and what did it mean?”

“I feared you were about to ask that.”

“Ponder it. His turning of the water to wine was so pervasive that not one of us disciples ever doubted again that He was who He said He was. And I explained that this was the first sign that He was the Son of God, the very provider of life. What sign can you glean from His healing of the nobleman’s son?”

“That He has victory over death?”

John cocked his head. “I can see how you might arrive at that, but there is no evidence in this episode that the boy had died. Jesus did not raise him from the dead but rather healed him. And what is unusual about how that took place?”