Final Confrontation (27 page)

It was one thing for Jesus to promulgate His message in the countryside among the ignorant, but it was intolerable for Him to be teaching in proximity of the Most Holy Place on earth! The priests were grouped as usual, watching with disgust as people actually sat at the feet of this Man! They murmured and accused Him, always listening for an opening to accuse Him of heresy; always prepared to compare His doctrine to some facet of the Law He might have offended.

The crowds that gathered around Jesus always commanded the attention and anger of the Jews, but nowhere more than when He was teaching in one of the Temple’s inner courts, as he was doing now in the Court of Israel. Kara and Pellecus stood in the middle of the priests, enjoying their fury.

“These priests are at a loss about Jesus,” said Kara, noticing their icy stares.

“They are jealous,” said Pellecus. “They command by fear and law, compelling people to listen. Jesus fills their heads with hope—something that religious law has never been able to do.”

“Yes, well I prefer law,” sniffed Kara. “It makes humans much more manageable.”

“And disagreeable,” added Pellecus.

“You would think there would be some sort of shame left in your cursed spirits,” came the voice of Crispin.

Kara and Pellecus turned to see the affable teacher alighting nearby. With him was Alamar. They hailed him as if welcoming him to their own home.

“Welcome to the Temple,” said Kara. “Built by a madman for madmen!”

He laughed.

“And mad angels, apparently.” Crispin retorted, to Alamar’s delight.

Pellecus came near to where his former colleague stood. One time legends in the angelic realm of instructors at the Academy of the Host, Pellecus had fallen from favor when he began promoting Lucifer’s mystical and independent brand of doctrine.

“Amazing what these humans can engineer,” he commented. “Of course this is nothing like Solomon’s Temple, but it is remarkable, isn’t it?”

“I suspect there is enough of the image of God inside humans to do many remarkable things,” answered Crispin guardedly.

“Of course,” continued Pellecus, “these same humans with that same image inside them are capable of doing the most horrific things.”

“True,”agreed Crispin, watching a few more devils gathering in the court. “Humans have been taught well since their fall. Their horror springs from the heart of the most horrible of all.”

“Come now, Crispin,” boomed the voice of Lucifer. “Am I
really
that horrible?”

Pellecus and Kara laughed.

“Any creature who would have the impudence to turn on his Creator and then show up at His Temple is horrible indeed,” answered Crispin.

Before Lucifer could answer, a burst of laughter came from the crowd around Jesus. He had just related a very funny illustration. Lucifer noticed as a priest came hurrying in and whispered frantically to the other priests. They in turn huddled and then scurried out of the court.

“They are up to something mischievous,” surmised Crispin to Alamar, as if he forgot Lucifer was near.

“Priests are
always
up to something mischievous,” said Lucifer. “Holding dear those things that are formal and devoid of spirit, keeping watch in the morality of others while they themselves step into heartless legalism or unchecked mysticism.”

“Angels are known to work mischief as well,” said Crispin.

As they spoke, several angels from both the holy and the unholy camps began gathering around the two. Crispin looked at them all.

“If you are waiting for some sort of dramatic confrontation, I’m afraid you are going to be disappointed,” he said, causing an outburst of laughter among the host. “Besides, the Lord decided this battle a long time ago.”

Lucifer glared at him and was about to answer when a stirring in the entrance to the court began. A mob of angry priests carried stones, as a young woman was hustled into the courtyard. The woman was thrown on the ground in front of Jesus. The people who had been listening to Him backed away and the priests, many of whom had been in the Temple minutes before, stood nearby fingering the large stones in their hands.

A devil rushed to Lucifer and told him what had happened. Lucifer beamed and gestured toward the woman on the ground.

“This will be an interesting dilemma, I suspect,” said Lucifer to Crispin. “You are always promoting the righteousness of the Law that was introduced by the Most High, are you not?”

Crispin, looking for a verbal trap, agreed.

“I will always promote those things which are instituted by the Lord,” he said firmly.

“Well, this woman was caught in the act of adultery,” said Lucifer, almost drooling. “A definite breach of the Law which requires her life! Now as far as I am concerned whether or not she committed adultery is of no consequence.”

He was now speaking over Crispin and directly to Jesus.

“But this is
Your
law, Jesus! You are the One who placed a death sentence upon this behavior. And now You may deal with it!”

Jesus glanced at Lucifer for just a second and then sat down and began to write upon the dirt with His finger. In the meantime, a spokesman for the priests emerged to accuse the woman of having been caught in the very act of adultery. The priests hoped they finally had Jesus in a theological corner which would expose Him as the fraud He must be. Jesus, however, only continued writing on the sand.

“Master,” said the priest. “As you know, it was Moses who instructed us that this woman should be stoned to death. What do you say?”

“You speak the truth,” said Jesus, looking at the girl who was trembling. “Moses did indeed instruct these things. And I see all of you are ready to carry out that part of the Law.”

Lucifer was enjoying the predicament that he felt Jesus had been forced into. Kara and Pellecus exchanged comments as well. The other angels simply listened, preparing themselves that this girl must in fact die.

“I told you yesterday, in this very Temple, that you accuse Me of all manner of things. I told you that the things I teach are not Mine, but they are His that sent me. You speak of Moses and the Law. Did not Moses give you
all
of the Law? And yet you keep it only in part?”

He stood in front of one of the youngest priests and took His stone, holding it in the same manner as the others.

“Therefore we must do what the Law says,” he continued. “But let the man here who is without sin in his life throw the first stone.”

Lucifer’s grin quickly turned sour as he saw the looks upon the faces of the priests.
What man can justify himself,
they were thinking.

Thud!

The eldest priest in attendance dropped his rock on the ground and walked away.

Thud! Thud!

More stones dropped as the men slinked away, from the oldest to the youngest, until finally the only people remaining were Jesus and the woman. She looked up at him, not knowing what to do.

“Where did they all go?” Jesus asked her. “Is there nobody here to charge you with this crime?”

She looked about and shook her head.

“No, my Lord.”

“I do not charge you either,” Jesus said. “Now leave here. But do not sin anymore.”

The woman walked away, past the remaining Pharisees who had witnessed the entire episode. Jesus looked at them.

“I tell you—I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me and My teaching shall not be in darkness, but will have the light of life!”

Lucifer ordered Kara and Pellecus to begin enraging the Pharisees. The two angels slipped into the circle and made suggestions of various sorts, questioning Jesus’ authority to make such statements and encouraging their desire to protect their traditions.

“This is as good a time and place as any to challenge Him directly,” Lucifer said to the angels with him. “Let us see what these priests will do when their silly religion is being threatened! And go and fetch that stupid Zichri! He has hated Jesus ever since the time they spoke in the house of Matthew.”

An angel immediately left to find Zichri, the priest.

As the priests spoke to Jesus, Kara and Pellecus spoke things into their minds:

“He has no credentials…no witness to His credibility…”

“The light of the world?” one of the Pharisees scoffed. “Here You are, appearing as Your own witness; therefore according to the Law, Your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus answered, “You don’t understand. Even if I testify on My own behalf, My testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you and your kind have no idea where I come from or where I am going.”

He began walking in front of the men, as an ever-increasing audience of visitors to the Temple listened to Him. “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. However, if I do judge, My decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent Me.”

“His Father! His Father! Who is His Father…”
Kara purred.

“In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am One who testifies for Myself; My other witness is the Father, who sent Me.”

One of the Pharisees made a big show of looking around the grounds. “And just where is Your Father?”

The Pharisees laughed.

“You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”

The crowds murmured, nodding their heads as if they understood and were sympathetic to the things He was saying. The priests took notice of this as Jesus continued speaking.

“Listen to me—all of you! I am going away, and you will look for Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

“Only an insane man would speak such nonsense of going to a place where no other man can come.”

Jesus continued, “All of you are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the One I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

“So clear it up,” said a priest. “Just who are you?”

It was Zichri, out of breath from running. The devil had placed into his mind that Jesus was in the Temple. Zichri had interpreted it as a voice from the Lord and hurried over to defend the Law from this law-breaker.

“Who I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied, turning to Zichri. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But He who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him, I tell the world.”

They did not understand He was telling them about His Father.

“Who are you speaking of?” asked Zichri.

Jesus ignored him and continued.

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know I am the One I claim to be and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.”

“Tell them, Jesus!” came an encouraging voice from the crowd. Many in fact were beginning to believe upon Jesus. The priests became enraged at this. There were even some priests who had begun to believe upon Him. To those He said:

“If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

“Words, words, words,” sneered Zichri. “We are Abraham’s descendants. Abraham! We are nobody’s slaves. We are a free people. Even in the midst of pagan occupation we are a nation of free men under God’s Law! How can You say we shall be set free?”

“Because,” Jesus continued, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin. I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill Me, because you have no room for My word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, but you do what you have heard from your father.”

Lucifer’s aura suddenly manifested as Jesus spoke these words. Kara and Pellecus backed a bit away from the purplish haze that was beginning to shine around him indicating his extreme anger.

“Abraham is our father,” Zichri affirmed, to the approval of the priests. “I already told You that.”

Jesus shook His head.

“If you were Abraham’s children, then you would also do the things Abraham did. But instead, you are determined to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.”

He looked straight at Lucifer and added, “You are doing the things your own father does.”

“The only Father we have is God himself!” Zichri protested. The others gathered around Zichri now to support him. Many angels moved in to protect Jesus, should it come to that. The disciples were becoming increasingly tense as well.

Lucifer, still seething with anger, called out to his angels.

“This is exactly what was called for! I could not have planned it better myself!”

Jesus said to the agitated group of priests, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on My own; but the Father sent Me.”

He then pointed to the priests, but spoke through them and right into Lucifer’s heart: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks the language he best understands, for he is a liar and the father of lies!”

Zichri was muttering “Blasphemer!” under his breath.

A few of the priests began to pick up some of the stones which had been discarded earlier. The disciples moved in to protect Jesus and fight if necessary. Jesus simply continued speaking.

“And yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me! If you truly belonged to God you would listen to what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God!”

Zichri rallied the priests and began speaking loudly so all in the court would hear him.

“You are a Samaritan and demon-possessed, aren’t you?!”

Jesus looked intently at Zichri and the others.

“I am not possessed by a demon,” He said, “but I honor My Father and you dishonor Me. I am not seeking glory, but there is One who seeks it, and He is the Judge. And I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”