Habits and customs at EMV

48.7 «Speak, speak of Him, while we are going. Where is He?»

«In a poor house; they must be His friends»

«Is He poor?»

«A workman from Nazareth. So He said.»

«And how does He live now, if He does not work any longer?»

«We did not ask Him. Perhaps His relatives help Him.»

«It would have been better if we had brought some fish, some bread and fruit…, something. We are going to consult a rabbi, because He is like… He is more than a rabbi, and we are going empty-handed! Our rabbis don’t like that…»

«But He does. We had but twenty pennies between us, James and I, and we offered Him them, as is customary with rabbis. He did not want them. But since we insisted so much, He said: “May God reward you with the blessings of the poor. Come with Me” and He gave them to some poor people: He knew where they lived. And when we asked Him: “Master, are You not keeping anything for Yourself?” He replied: “The joy of doing the will of God and serving His glory”. We also said: “You are calling us, Master. But we are all poor. What shall we bring You?”, He replied with a smile which made us enjoy the delights of Paradise: “I want a great treasure from you”, and we said: “But we have nothing”. And He answered: “A treasure with seven names, which even the poorest may have, while the rich may not possess it. You have it, and I want it. Listen to the names: charity, faith, goodwill, right intention, continence, sincerity, spirit of sacrifice. That is what I want from My followers, only that, and You have it. It is dormant, like a seed under a winter clod, but the spring sunshine will make it sprout into a sevenfold spike”. That is what He said.»

«Ah! Now I feel that He is the true Rabboni, the promised Messiah! He is not harsh with the poor, He does not ask for money… It is enough to call Him the Holy Man of God. We can go safely.»

• Habits and customs at EMV
• Jesus Christ
• Lessons and Teachings for the Apostles
• Silver

With the exception of the mothers of the young couple and of Mary, no woman is sitting at that table. All the women, who are making a din worthy of one hundred people, are sitting at the other table near the wall, and are served after the young couple and the guests of importance. Jesus is sitting near the landlord, in front of Mary, Whose place is near the bride.

• Habits and customs at EMV

• Habits and customs at EMV

• Habits and customs at EMV

• Female disciples in the EMV (characters)
• Habits and customs at EMV

• Habits and customs at EMV

• Blood of Jesus Christ
• Greed
• Habits and customs at EMV
• Jewish precepts
• Pride

Jesus begins to ascend a steep path which climbs the almost upright cliff. The apostles follow Him along a very hard path up to the top of the cliff which levels over to a tableland strewn with oak-trees under which there are many pigs pasturing.

«Stinking animals!» exclaims Bartholomew. «They prevent us from passing…»

«No, they do not. There is room for everybody» replies Jesus calmly.

In any case the swineherds, when they see the Israelites, endeavour to gather the pigs under the oak-trees, leaving the path free. And the apostles pass by, making endless grimaces, among the filth left by the grouting animals, which fat as they are, seem anxious to become even fatter.

Jesus passes without any fuss, saying to the swineherds: «May God reward you for your kindness.»

The swineherds, poor people not much cleaner than their pigs but infinitely thinner, look at Him amazed and then whisper to one another. One of them says: «Is He perhaps not an Israelite?» And the others reply to him: «Don’t you see that His tunic is fringed?»

The group of the apostles gather together, now that they can proceed in one group along a fairly wide path.

• Habits and customs at EMV

«We will now ask where the place of the necromancer was» says Jesus. And He stops a woman who is coming back from the fountain with pitchers.

She looks at Him curiously, then replies impolitely: «I don’t know. I have much more important things to worry about than such nonsense!» and she goes away.

Jesus turns to an old man who is carving a bit of wood.

«The necromancer?… Saul?… Who bothers about them now? But, wait… There is one here who has studied and perhaps he knows… Come with me.»

And the old man climbs laboriously up a stony lane to a very poor and shabby looking house. «He lives here. I will go in and call him.»

Peter, pointing at some poultry scratching about in a dirty yard, says: «This fellow is not an Israelite.» But he says no more because the old man comes back followed by a man blind in one eye, who is as dirty and untidy as everything around his house.

• Animals
• Habits and customs at EMV
• Roosters and hens

Nain must have been a town of some importance in the days of Jesus. It is not a large town, but is well built, surrounded by its walls, lying on a low pleasant hill, an off shoot of the Little Hermon, commanding a very fertile plain which stretches towards the north-east.

One arrives here coming from Endor, after crossing a little river, which flows into the Jordan. But neither the Jordan nor its valley can be seen any longer, because they are concealed by hills which form an arch shaped like a question mark in the east.

Jesus follows a main road which links the lake region to the Hermon and its villages. Many inhabitants of Endor walk behind Him talking to one another animatedly.

Only a short distance separates the group of the apostles from the walls: about two hundred yards, at the most. And as the main road runs straight to one of the town gates, which is wide open because it is broad daylight, it is possible to see what is happening in the inner side of the walls. Thus Jesus, Who is speaking to the apostles and the new convert, sees a funeral coming towards them, with a great noise of weepers and similar eastern displays.

«Shall we go and see, Master?» ask many. And many of the inhabitants of Endor are already rushing to see.

«Yes, let us go» says Jesus condescendingly.

«Oh! It must be a boy. See how many flowers and ribbons there are on the stretcher» says Judas of Kerioth to John.

«Or it is probably a virgin» replies John.

«No, it is certainly a young man, because of the shades they have used. And there is no myrtle either…» says Bartholomew.

The funeral comes out from the other side of the walls. It is not possible to see what there is on the stretcher, which is carried shoulder high by the bearers. One understands that there is a corpse, wrapped in bandages and covered by a sheet, only because of its outline and that it is the body of a fully grown person, because it is as long as the stretcher.

A veiled woman is walking beside it, weeping, supported by relatives or friends. The only sincere tears in all that farce of mourners. And when a bearer trips on a stone or heap in the ground or stumbles and causes the stretcher to shake, the mother moans: «Oh! No! Be careful! My boy has suffered so much!» and she raises her trembling hand to caress the edge of the stretcher. And as she is unable to do anything else, she kisses the veils and the ribbons, which blown by a gentle breeze lightly touch the immobile corpse.

Peter, sympathetic, his good keen eyes welling up with tears whispers: «She is the mother.» But he is not the only one whose eyes are shining with tears at the sight. Also the Zealot, Andrew, John, and even the ever merry Thomas have tears in their eyes. They are all deeply moved. Judas Iscariot whispers: «If it were I! Oh! Poor mother of mine…»

• André (apostle)
• Barthélémy - Nathanaël (apostle)
• Habits and customs at EMV
• James of Alphaeus (apostle)
• James of Zebedee (apostle)
• Jean d'Endor (Félix)
• John of Zebedee (apostle)
• Judas de Kérioth (apostle)
• Jude of Alphée (apostle)
• Marie de Kérioth (mother of Judas)
• Matthew (apostle)
• Philip (apostle)
• Simon the Zealot (apostle)
• Simon-Pierre - Simon de Jonas (apostle)
• The Twelve
• Thomas (apostle)