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King Nobody Wanted, The

<h2>12. In Jerusalem</h2> The disciples went to the village, as Jesus told them, and there they found the donkey. They untied it, and led it away. Some of them put their clothes on the donkey's back, for a king must ride in comfort. Others spread their clothes out on the street, for a king should ride in state. Jesus got on the donkey, and started for Jerusalem. The disciples walked ahead. When they had almost reached the city, the disciples began to shout. Jesus used to say that they must not tell anyone that he was the Messiah. But now they could tell the whole world, for Jesus wanted everyone to know. They were glad that they did not have to be quiet any longer. They shouted, "Hosanna!" It meant, "Save us," and was a cry of welcome. They shouted the words of a psalm: "'Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.'" The city was crowded with travelers from all over Palestine, and from foreign countries too. They were the pilgrims who had come for the Passover feast. The crowds saw the procession coming. They saw the donkey, and they remembered what the Scriptures said. They remembered that that was how the Messiah would come riding in. They heard the shouting, and they understood the words. They knew that that was what people would sing when the Messiah came. Some of the crowds began to shout with the disciples. A great cry of "Hosanna!" went ringing down the street. Everyone seemed to be saying it. "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Some cut branches from the trees, and waved them before the Messiah. It was a royal welcome. Only the priests and the rulers and the Pharisees were sorry to see Jesus come. "What is there we can do?" they said to one another. "Look, the whole world has gone after him!" <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_151_01.jpg" alt="Illustration" width-obs="781" height-obs="257" /></div> <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_151_02.jpg" alt="Illustration" width-obs="386" height-obs="288" /></div> The excitement spread through the city. There were strangers there who had never heard of Jesus. "Who is this?" they asked. Others who knew him answered, "Why, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." Jesus went into the Temple and looked about at the crowds which thronged it. This was his Father's house and his house. These were his Father's people and his people. The king for whom the Jews had been waiting had come at last to reign. In the evening, Jesus and the disciples returned to Bethany to sleep. The next day Jesus returned to Jerusalem and again went to the Temple. This time he carried a whip. In the Court of the Gentiles the money was clinking as it had done when Jesus was a boy. At tables sat the men who grew rich by exchanging the money of visitors for coins used in Jerusalem. Others were selling doves for sacrifice. The poor had to pay heavily to worship God in his own house. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_152.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="381" alt="Illustration" /></div> Jesus strode down the room with the whip in his hand, and upset the tables where the money was. When the men jumped up from their chairs, he drove them out of the Temple. Then he drove the sheep and the cattle out after the men. "It is written in the Scriptures: God's house shall be a house of prayer. But you have made it into a den of thieves and robbers!" he cried. This was too much for the priests of the temple, and all the important men who ruled Jerusalem. The next day some of the rulers came to Jesus and said: "What right have you to do these things? Who told you that you could act like this?" So far, Jesus had never said that he was the Messiah. He had only acted as if he was the Messiah. The rulers hoped that he would say something they could punish him for. But Jesus was too quick for them. He said: "I'll answer your question if you answer a question of mine. When John the Baptist used to preach to you and baptize people, who gave him the right to do that?" Then the rulers did not know what to say. They thought to themselves: Now if we say that John was sent by God to preach, he will say, "Why didn't you listen to him, then?" If we say that John didn't have any right to preach, the people will be angry and will likely kill us; for everyone still thinks that John the Baptist was a great prophet sent by God himself. So all they said was, "We don't know—we can't tell." "Very well," Jesus retorted, "neither am I going to tell you what right I have to do these things!" Every day that week, Jesus came and taught in the Temple. Several times his enemies tried to trick him into saying something that would turn the people against him, but Jesus always had an answer which silenced them. Once they came and asked, "Should we pay taxes to the Romans?" That was a hard question. All the Jews hated the Romans, and if Jesus said that it was their duty to pay the taxes, everybody would hate him too. But if he said they should not pay the taxes—well, they could count on the Roman governor to settle with Jesus then. "Show me a penny," Jesus replied. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_154.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="443" alt="Illustration" /></div> Someone handed him a piece of Roman money. There was a man's picture stamped on one side of it. Jesus said, "Whose picture is that?" "Why," they answered, "that is a picture of Caesar, the emperor of Rome." "All right," said Jesus, "do whatever your duty is to Caesar and his government. You will have to decide about that for yourselves. And also do your duty to God!" It was such a clever answer that no one had a word to say. And Jesus still had not said anything that he could be punished for. But he said a great deal to make his enemies angry. About the Pharisees he spoke the hardest words he ever said. "Watch out for the scribes and the Pharisees," he told the people, "and don't be like them. They love to walk around in their long white robes, and to have everybody bow to them in the street, and to sit in the best seats in the synagogues and at dinners. All the time they are taking money from poor widows and they try to cover it up by making long prayers." Turning to the Pharisees themselves, he went on: "Woe to you Pharisees! You are like graves with rotting bodies in them, which people walk over without knowing what is underneath. Nobody knows how bad you are. You snakes! How can you escape the punishment which God is bringing upon you?" He left the Pharisees and went into the Temple, where people were making their gifts to God. Many rich men came in, and put large sums of money in the money box. Then came a poor widow who put two small coins into the box. Jesus called his disciples to him, and said: "I tell you, this poor widow has given more than all these rich people are giving. For the rich have plenty of money, and it doesn't cost them anything to give what they do. But this poor woman needs her money, and she has given all she has." With many words and stories he taught the people who thronged around him on the days of that week. And this was the last story he ever told: "Someday I shall sit upon my throne, and judge all the nations of the earth. To some people I will say: "'Come—my Heavenly Father loves you. Take the reward he has planned for you to have. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your homes. I had nothing to wear, and you gave me clothes. I was sick, and in prison, and you came to visit me!' "Then these people will be surprised, and say, 'Lord when did we ever do anything for you?' "And I will say: 'You were kind to the poor and the sick and the hungry, who did not count for anything on earth. You did not know it at the time, but when you did a kindness to them, it was to me you really did it.' "Then I will say to others: 'Go away. God wants nothing to do with you! For I was hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and sick, and in prison, and you did nothing at all for me.' "These people will also be surprised. They will say: 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison? If we had seen you needing anything, we would have helped you!' "And I will say: 'Many poor people needed your help, and you did not help them. When you failed them, you failed me. And now it is too late!'" <hr style='width: 45%;' /> The priests and the rulers did not know what to do about Jesus. The Messiah, indeed! they thought. They hated him, and they were afraid of him. They were afraid of the Romans too. What would the Roman governor say if he heard that there was someone in Jerusalem pretending to be King of the Jews? The priests and the rulers wanted to kill Jesus. That was all they talked about. But they did not know how it was to be done. For whenever Jesus came to Jerusalem, great crowds gathered around him. None of the priests dared to lay a finger on him in the open. The crowds would never let them. It seemed to the people as if the Messiah might have come at last. But something had to be done, the priests and the rulers said. The week was going by. The Feast of the Passover was nearly there. "We shall have to do away with Jesus quietly," someone said. "Yes," the others agreed, "we can't wait till the day of the Passover. If we should do anything to him on that day, there would be a riot." They were at their wits' end to know how to get rid of Jesus. The craftiest men in Jerusalem could not think what to do. There was a knock at the door. It was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, who had come to see the priests and rulers. His name? His name was Judas Iscariot. "What will you give me," Judas said, "if I turn Jesus over to you?" The priests and rulers could hardly believe their ears. "Thirty pieces of silver you shall have," they cried, "if you give us Jesus!" So for thirty pieces of silver Judas agreed to show them where Jesus was, at some time when there was no one around but the twelve disciples. "Send soldiers when I tell you," Judas said. "The other disciples will all be there, and the soldiers won't know which man to take. But I will go up to Jesus and kiss him. The man I kiss will be the one you want." Some dark night soon, a quiet place with no one around to see—and nobody would have to worry about Jesus of Nazareth any more! <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_159.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="749" alt="Illustration" /></div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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