“And you call it comfort to starve and freeze in the wilderness,” broke in one of his relations; “you call it comfort to deny oneself everything till our rags fall off our bodies, and we are taken by the soldiers as criminals?  Take heed.  The governors at Caesarea and Jerusalem are displeased at the state of affairs.  They mean to put a stop to the demagogue’s proceedings, and they are right.”

“Who is the demagogue?”

“Why, you, of course.”

Jesus was surprised at the reply, and said:—­“I?  I, who say to you, Peace be with you!  Love one another!  Do good to your enemies!  I, a demagogue?”

“They say you claim to be the Messiah who shall conquer the kingdom.”

“A kingdom that is not of this world.”

Mary fell into His arms.  “My dear son, leave all this alone.  If it is to be, God will do it all without you.  See how lonely your mother is at Nazareth!  Come with me to our peaceful home, and be once again my good, dear Jesus.  And these here, they love you, they are your brothers.”

Then Jesus stretched out His arm and pointed to His followers, who had pushed their way into the house.  “Those are My brothers!  Those who acknowledge the Heavenly Father as I do, they are My brothers.”

His relations stepped back, and wrung their hands in perplexity.  “He is out of His mind.  He is possessed by devils.”

The people in the road who were looking over the fence felt sorry for the forsaken woman, and wanted to interfere; whereupon a voice exclaimed loudly:  “Happy the mother who has such a son!  The nations will arise and call her blessed!”

Jesus turned to them gravely.  “Blessed are those who follow the word of God.”

His mother felt, as He spoke those words, as if she had been stabbed to the heart with a sword.  The people were silent, and whispered to each other:  “Why is He so hard towards His mother?”

John the younger answered them:  “He sees salvation only in God the Father.  He has converted many people to His view, but just those whom He loves best will not listen to the tidings of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Jesus lifted up His voice and cried:  “He who desires to be My disciple, and his parents and brothers and sisters do not believe in Me, he must forsake his parents and brothers and sisters in order to follow Me.  He who has wife and child, and they despise My tidings, he must forsake wife and child and follow Me if he wishes to be My disciple.  Who does not love God more than mother and child, than brother and sister, yea, more than himself and his life, he is not worthy of God.”

Many were troubled by this speech, and murmured:  “He asks too much.”

Then said John:  “Whoever is in earnest about his faith in the Heavenly Father cannot speak otherwise.  He feels Himself how hard it is to destroy all ties.  Do you not observe how He struggles with Himself, and must subdue His own heart, so that it may lose its power over Him?  He asks all from His disciples because He gives them all.  We already know that what He has to give us is worth more than all we have given up.”