kindly. You give of your bounty even to those who come with naught but hunger and thirst.”
Then He turned to Judas Iscariot who kept the purse of the company, and He said: “Give me two shekels.”
And Judas gave Him two shekels saying: “These are the last silver pieces in my purse.”
Jesus looked at him and said: “Soon, oversoon, your purse shall be filled with silver.”
Then He put the two pieces into my hand and said: “With these buy a silken girdle for your daughter, and bid her wear it on the day of the Passover, in remembrance of me.”
And looking again into the face of my daughter, He leaned down and kissed her brow. And then He said once more: “Good night to you all.”
And He walked away.
I have been told that what He said to us has been recorded upon a parchment by one of His friends, but I repeat it to you even as I heard it from His own lips.
Never shall I forget the sound of His voice as He said those words: “Good night to you all.”
If you would know more of Him, ask my daughter. She is a woman now, but she cherishes the memory of her girlhood. And her words are more ready than mine.
Barabbas
They released me and chose Him. Then He rose and I fell down.
And they held Him a victim and a sacrifice for the Passover.
I was freed from my chains, and walked with the throng behind Him, but I was a living man going to my own grave.
I should have fled to the desert, where shame is burned out by the sun.
Yet I walked with those who had chosen Him to bear my crime.
When they nailed Him on His cross I stood there.
I saw and I heard but I seemed outside of my body.
The thief who was crucified on His right said to Him: “Are you bleeding with me, even you, Jesus of Nazareth?”
And Jesus answered and said: “Were it not for this nail that stays my hand I would reach forth and clasp your hand.
“We are crucified together. Would they had raised your cross nearer to mine.”
Then He looked down and gazed upon His mother and a young man who stood beside her.
He said: “Mother, behold your son standing beside you.
“Woman, behold a man who shall carry these drops of my blood to the North Country.”
And when he heard the wailing of the women of Galilee He said: “Behold, they weep and I thirst.
“I am held too high to reach their tears.
“I will not take vinegar and gall to quench this thirst.”
Then His eyes opened wide to the sky, and He said: “Father, why hast Thou forsaken us?”
And then He said in compassion: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
When He uttered those words methought I saw all men prostrated before God beseeching forgiveness for the crucifixion of this one man.
Then again He said with a great voice: “Father, into Thy hand I yield back my spirit.”
And at last He lifted up His head and said: “Now it is finished, but only upon this hill.”
And He closed His eyes.
Then lightning cracked the dark skies, and there was a great thunder.
I know now that those who slew Him in my stead achieved my endless torment.
His crucifixion endured but for an hour.
But I shall be crucified unto the end of my years.
Claudius, a Roman Centurion
After he was taken, they entrusted Him to me. And I was ordered by Pontius Pilatus to keep Him in custody until the following morning.
My soldiers led Him prisoner, and He was obedient to them.
At midnight I left my wife and children and visited the arsenal. It was my habit to go about and see all that was well with my battalions in Jerusalem; and that night I visited the arsenal where He was held.
My soldiers and some of the young Jews were making sport of Him. They had stripped Him of His garment, and they had put a crown of last year’s brier-thorns upon His head.
They had seated Him against a pillar, and they were dancing and shouting before Him.
And they had given Him a reed to hold in His hand.
As I entered someone shouted: “Behold, O Captain, the King of the Jews.”
I stood before Him and looked at Him, and I was ashamed. I knew not why.
I had fought in Gallia and in Spain, and with my men I had faced death. Yet never had I been in fear, nor been a coward. But when I stood before that man and He looked at me I lost heart. It seemed as though my lips were sealed, and I could not utter no word.
And straightway I left the arsenal.
This chanced thirty years ago. My sons who were babes then are men now. And they are serving Caesar and Rome.
But often in counselling them I have spoken of Him, a man facing death with the sap of life upon His lips, and with compassion for His slayers in His eyes.
And now I am old. I have lived the years fully. And I think truly that neither Pompey nor Caesar was so great a commander as that Man of Galilee.
For since His unresisting death an army has risen out of the earth to fight for Him. … And He is better served by them, though dead, than ever Pompey or Caesar was served, though living.
James the Brother of the Lord
A thousand times I have been visited by the memory of that night. And I know now that I shall be visited a thousand times again.
The earth shall forget the furrows ploughed upon her breast, and a woman the pain and joy of childbirth, ere I shall forget that night.
In the afternoon we had been outside the walls of Jerusalem, and Jesus had said: “Let us go into the city now and take supper at the inn.”
It
