John's Story: The Last Eyewitness Page 13

  Against John’s wishes, Ignatius agreed with Polycarp and sent for a member of the church who was a physician. The doctor prescribed bed rest and warm food whenever John could tolerate it. John accepted fresh-baked bread and wine, yet ate and drank only a little.

  Ignatius took charge and told everyone to leave John, except a young boy who would sit outside his door and call for Ignatius or Polycarp should an emergency arise. John shook his head, but no one paid any attention, and soon the room was empty and quiet. He tried to sleep but could not get comfortable, worrying that each breath would be his last. Suddenly he was desperate. There was so much more to do, so much more to tell. What if the interlopers in the previous evening were, in fact, sent by Cerinthus? Might they advance their cause by harming the true church, exposing it to authorities? John’s gospel account could be the sole opponent of the Gnostics in Ephesus. The work must continue.

  “Son?” John rasped. “Lad?”

  The boy crept in, looking fearful. “Did you call, rabbi? Are you well?”

  “Come closer, boy. I am all right. I have need of Ignatius, if you would be so kind.”

  “Shall I tell him it is urgent?”

  “Just tell him to come. Thank you.”

  Ignatius arrived almost instantly, rushing to John’s bed and kneeling to hear him.

  “Dismiss the boy, please.”

  “What? Was there a problem?”

  “No. He was very attentive, but I do not have further need of him. Now do not quarrel with me, Ignatius. I remain your elder and expect you to do what I ask.”

  “Of course,” Ignatius said, thanking the boy and pressing a coin into his hand before waving him off. “And now what? You would like to attend a sporting event? Run a marathon?”

  John was not amused. “Closer,” he managed. And when Ignatius bent farther, John clutched at his garment and held as tight as he could. “I would have merely sent for Polycarp, because I am determined to get back to work.”

  “Oh, but you must not now, teacher. You—”

  John tugged harder. “Ignatius, I sent for you because I knew Polycarp would never do what I’m asking without consulting you anyway. I am telling you that I am going to lie here, and even if delirium overtakes me, I am going to continue with my account. You tell Polycarp this and inform him that if he shirks his duty, he will miss some of the heart of the story. I will have neither the time nor the strength to repeat myself.”

  Ignatius whined, “Master, I do not know what to do. I am only thinking of you….”

  “Stop!” John said, coughing. “You will make me only worse if you do not accede to my wishes. Now, remember who is the mentor and who is the student, and do as I say! I absolve you from all responsibility, should this exercise finish me. I fear I am soon finished anyway.”

  Ignatius gently removed John’s hand from his garment. “You will not be dissuaded, I see.”

  “I will not.”

  “You are a stubborn man, you know.”

  “The Lord Himself called me a Son of Thunder when I was but half your age. What do you expect?”

  “I expect I’ll do as you ask.”

  JOHN WAS NEARLY ASLEEP when Polycarp arrived. His eyes were shut and he was not moving, and he could tell the young man was arranging his materials as quietly as possible, so as not to interrupt the old man’s nap. John heard the squeak of the chair and Polycarp’s sigh as he settled. Ignatius whispered, “I am going into the city. If he does not rouse in a few moments, leave him to sleep.”

  “I am awake,” John said, still not moving and eyes shut. “I am about to begin.”

  “Well, there you are,” Ignatius said, and he took his leave.

  Polycarp settled in, and John began again.

  “We soon followed Jesus to the Mount of Olives. Early the next morning He came again to the temple, and a huge crowd gathered. He sat and taught them. Right in the middle of all that, the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman. They said, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’

  “They were testing Him, of course, trying to find something over which they could accuse Him. But Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.”

  “What did He write?” Polycarp said.

  “Why, He was not really writing anything. I believe He was simply pretending to be preoccupied, as if He did not care what they were saying. If I were to guess, I would say He was forcing them to say their piece again, so it might sound as foolish to them as it did to Him.”

  “When they continued pressing Him, He rose and said, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’

  “Profound,” Polycarp said.

  “More than you know, son. Think it through. Do you realize what He was saying?”

  “I think so.”

  “I think not, not if you hear only what is on the surface. Do you not realize that He was referring to Himself yet again?”

  “To Himself?”

  “Yes! You see, there was One among them who was without sin, wasn’t there?”

  Polycarp was silent a moment. Then, “You are correct, rabbi. It is more profound than I knew. He was giving Himself permission to be her judge and executioner, yet choosing not to act. But I do not suppose the scribes and Pharisees understood this any more than I did.”

  “No, but they got His larger point. When He stooped again and wrote on the ground it was obvious those who heard Him were convicted by their consciences, and out they went one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone with the synagogue crowd, the woman before Him. He said, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’

  “She said, ‘No one, Lord.’

  “And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’

  “Then Jesus began teaching again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’”

  “The light of life,” Polycarp said. “So He is the bread, the water, and the light.”

  “And much more, but all in good time. Other Pharisees said, ‘You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.’

  “Jesus said, ‘Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.’

  “One of them said, ‘Where is Your Father?’

  “Jesus said, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’”

  “So bold,” Polycarp said. “He must have had an aura of authority to get away with talking to them in such a manner.”

  “Oh, Polycarp, you should have seen their faces. Flushed, snarling. And he was in their territory. But you know what is coming.”

  Polycarp nodded.

  “No one laid hands on Him…,” John said.

  And Polycarp said, “…for His hour had not yet come.”

  “But Jesus pushed further. He said, ‘I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.’

  “So the Jews wondered aloud what He meant. ‘Will He kill Himself?’ they said.

  “But He told them, ‘You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.’

  “They stared at Him, obviously incredulous. And one said, ‘Who are You?’

  “And Jesus said, ‘Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to
say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.’

  “Did they understand that He was speaking to them of His Father?”

  “No. That much is clear. Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.’”

  “Again He talks of being lifted up,” Polycarp said. “Did you know what He meant?”

  “None of us did. Not until later, of course. Then we realized He had been quite plain. Those who had ears could have heard. And then He spoke again about Who He was, Who had sent Him, and what His mission was. He said, ‘And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.’ As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

  “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’

  “Then He turns His attention back to His accusers, for they have overheard this and still try to counter, saying, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free”?’

  “Jesus said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

  “‘I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’

  “They said, ‘Abraham is our father.’

  “Jesus said, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.’”

  “Who is He saying is their father, if not Abraham?”

  “He makes that clear soon. They said, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.’

  “Jesus said, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.’

  “The Jews said, ‘Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?’

  “Jesus said, ‘I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.’

  “Polycarp, the Jews were furious. They said, ‘Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, “If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.” Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?’

  “Jesus answered, ‘If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, “I do not know Him,” I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’

  “The Jews said, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’

  “Jesus said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’”

  “They must have wanted to kill him!” Polycarp said.

  “Oh, they did indeed! They picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

  “He went through the midst of them? He hid in plain sight?”

  “Polycarp, I was there, and I could not see Him. It was as if He had vanished into thin air.”

  “Another miracle.”

  “Of course, but not a sign. This I believe He did merely because His time had not yet come and He could not allow Himself to be taken by them. His next sign, the sixth, would come next.”

  John still had neither moved nor opened his eyes, but he heard Polycarp set down his quill. “Oh,” John said, “we are not stopping. This next is most dramatic.”

  “Of that I have no doubt, rabbi, but is this not a natural point to rest?”

  “How could I rest more than to lie here as dead? If you must rest, rest, but I will remain here working. You would not want to miss any of this, would you?”

  Polycarp sighed. “No, sir.”

  “That’s a good lad.”

  “I am nothing if not a good lad,” Polycarp said, and John opened an eye to see him dip the quill again.

  “Oh, but you are so much more. Now let me proceed.”

  SEVENTEEN

  Help me sit up, would you, friend?”

  Polycarp moved to the bed. “You’re not comfortable?”

  “I just want to be as clearheaded as possible now, because we are coming to the sixth sign of Jesus’ divinity. Of course, it’s more important that I remain open to what I believe the Spirit is saying through me, but the last thing I want is to be an impediment. If Jesus were not divine, how could He do these things that He does, as Nicodemus said, ‘unless God is with Him’? While I fear Ignatius is wasting his time trying to engage Cerinthus, I also wish the heretic were here to hear this.”

  “Be careful what you wish for, teacher. Ignatius would like nothing more than to deliver the man to you.”

  John waved off his young friend. “Ach! It is too late for me. My record here will have to do the work, along with you two young men.”

  “We’re not both young, master. Ignatius is older than my father!”

  “Remember whom you’re addressing, lad. You’re both children to one of my vintage. Now, let us carry on, keeping men like Cerinthus at the forefront of our minds. We will pick up on that Sabbath where Jesus disappeared from the crowd that meant him ill. He reappeared on a crowded street.

  “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And we disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’

  “Jesus said, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’

  “He then knelt and spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.’ Now this pool, Polycarp, was a magnificent basin stretching some hundred and fifty feet, and—”

  “Begging your pardon, teacher, but I care less about the pool than what happened to the man blind from birth.”

  John smiled weakly. “Well, you are right, of course. The man went and washed, and when he came back, he was seeing. And certainly it was not the pool that held the healing power. It was the Lord Himself and the man’s faith.”

  “Many must have seen him begging there for years. What did they think?”

  “They said, ‘Is not this he who sat and begged?’ Some said, ‘This is he.’ Others said, ‘He is like him.’

  “But the man himself said, ‘I am he.’

  “People said, ‘How were your eyes opened?’

  “He said, ‘A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.” So I went and washed, and I received sight.’

  �
�So the people said, ‘Where is He?’

  “He said, ‘I do not know.’

  “Some brought him to the Pharisees, who also asked him how he had received his sight. When he told them, they said, ‘This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.’

  “But others among them said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?’ So there was division among them. They asked the formerly blind man what he had to say about Jesus after what He had done.

  “He said, ‘He is a prophet.’

  “But, Polycarp, most of the Pharisees did not believe the man had been blind and received his sight. They sent for his parents and said, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’

  “You can imagine how his parents responded. They were awestruck and yet also terrified at having been dragged before the religious leaders. They said, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.’

  “I believe his parents said these things because the Jews had agreed already that anyone who confessed that Jesus was Christ would be put out of the synagogue. The Jewish leaders again called the man who had been blind, and told him they knew Jesus was a sinner. I have never forgotten his response.

  “He said, ‘Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.’

  “They said, ‘What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?’

  “He said, ‘I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?’

  Polycarp laughed aloud. “I like this man! How discerning he was for one seeing for the first time.”

  “Yes, and the authorities did not appreciate that. They tried to bully him, saying, ‘You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.’

  “The newly seeing man was brilliant. He said, ‘Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.’