Peter liked the urgency of Jesus' tone.

He would say, "The time is fulfilled. Repent, all of you, and believe this wonderful good news I'm telling you," or, "The Kingdom is at hand," and other such statements that continually buoyed Peter's faith and determination in spite of the nagging impatience for the revolution that kept plucking at the edge of his mind.

Wherever they went, the crowds gathered. They couldn't remain in any one place more than three days or people would show up from every part of the country. Why, some had even come from up in Syria and from Jerusalem and further south beyond Jordan.

One day a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him loudly, prostrating himself on the earth and saying, "Lord, if You will You can make me clean from this filthy disease!" Jesus then performed an astonishing miracle.

Lepers were absolutely untouchable. People feared the dread disease, believing it to be highly contagious, and lepers were commanded to shout, "Leper! Leper!" when they came along the way so that others could give them wide berth. But Jesus, looking directly at the wretched man, being moved with deep compassion, walked up to him, put out His hand and actually touched him.

An audible gasp was heard from the crowd. Why, Jesus was risking leprosy, and everyone knew it was extremely contagious! He said, "I will, be thou clean!" Immediately, the leper's whitish, scarred face and hands changed to a healthy, ruddy glow, and he rose, completely healed!

Jesus began to strictly instruct him, saying, "See that you say nothing about this to anyone, but go your way privately and alone. Show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded which will be a witness to them!"

Instead, he went out and began to talk to everyone about his miraculous healing.

Because of the leper's tale, it became difficult for Jesus to enter openly into a city, so that He had to stay outside some of the towns (and thus outside of the jurisdiction of the local authorities), and the people, learning of His presence, would gather around Him in various wilderness areas where He and the disciples were encamped.

After a period of time, Jesus decided to go back to His home in Capernaum. After they had been there for some few days, word went out that He was once more in His house, so a large, crowd gathered.

Some of the Pharisees and the doctors of the law were there, and, as Jesus was teaching a large group inside the covered public courtyard of His home, a group of people brought one of their buddies who was terribly sick with palsy and who could neither stand nor walk but had to be borne on a stretcher. They kept attempting to get closer to Jesus but couldn't because of the crowd. Gaining the roof by the outside stairway, they began to take up some of the tiles on the roof until a hole appeared.

Peter marveled that Jesus stood there, almost as if He knew; almost as if He had already seen through that rooftop and knew what was happening. Most men would have cried out an alarm, summoned help and rushed up to stop the vandalizing of their property! Not Jesus.

The men began to take up some of the roofing tiles, and those below, sitting about the large, inner court listening intently to Jesus, noticed some dust sifting down, and then a bright sliver of light appeared in the ceiling. Some rose and stepped back, brushing at the flecks of plaster that speckled their hair and clothing, and suddenly the teaching came to a halt.

Jesus stopped talking, for all eyes were on the growing hole in the roof.

The hole grew larger and larger until it was well over five feet long and several feet wide. Peter wondered whether the pranksters up there intended taking the whole roof apart, and he began to have fears of an attempted assassination. He tried to warn Jesus to duck or get behind a protected place, and had assayed to gather several others and run up there and put a stop to this, but Jesus just smiled, put out His hand and indicated that Peter should not interfere but stay where he was and watch.

A brilliant column of light now pierced the interior court, giving life to innumerable, tiny dust particles like thousands of little fireflies, and bathed a swath of the curious seated around Jesus with harsh sunlight.

Peering upward, the crowd now saw several faces appear in the large aperture that had been made, and then a pallet was slowly lowered into the room, the lines bringing with them additional small showers of dust.

On the pallet was an inert figure of a man.

"Of all the presumptuous . . ." began Thomas.

Jesus raised His hand and Thomas cut off his remark.

Others were commenting about the rude interruption, and no small number had leapt to their feet to avoid the bits of debris that had come tumbling into their midst.

Some were smiling, and many were looking from the lowering pallet to Jesus, wondering what He would say and do.

Finally, the pallet gently lowered to the floor, those on the roof called out their wish, and two of the disciples quickly untied the ends of rope affixed to the four handles. The ropes swayed jerkily upward and disappeared to the sight of more minor debris and dust cascading into the room.

It was completely quiet now. No one moved.

Finally, Jesus rose, walked to the pallet and looked down.

The crippled man lying there could only raise his eyes, his face contorted with desire and hope.

With a smile, Jesus looked back at him and said, "Son, your sins are forgiven!"

"What is this?" cried one of the officials of the publicans. "What is He claiming?"

"You mean to say you claim to have the power to forgive sins?" squawked another, sardonically.

Suddenly, what had been a fairly tranquil teaching session was taking on the overtones of another riot. A growing babble of voices began fiercely arguing what Jesus had said, the majority hooting their outrage that a mere man could claim such powers. "Blasphemy! That's what it is!" "Never heard such preposterous claims!" "What vanity! " "He can't be serious," laughed the mob.

Gesturing for silence, Jesus said in a ringing voice, "So you can understand that the Son of Man has the authority" –He raised His voice even louder—"on this earth to forgive sins, turning to the paralytic, who was still lying inert, "I am telling you, get up from there, roll up your pallet and go to your home!"

The man raised both arms instantly, and, placing his palms on the wooden brackets, sat up, gathered his feet under him, and stood.

A gasp of shock rippled through the crowd, and a ragged cheer came from above, where the faces of his friends had reappeared.

The man stooped, pulled the two rods out of the pallet and began rolling it up, with tears streaking his dusty face, his hands shaking with emotion, and looked up at Jesus, babbling out his thanks.

"It's some trick!" shouted one.

"He was planted!" added another. "That man wasn't really sick. He was just feigning sickness!" The Pharisees began nodding agreement, and an angry buzz of talk erupted again, with many claiming Jesus had blasphemed by claiming powers that belonged only to God.

The men above had disappeared, and the gaping hole remained.

Peter saw that several of the others, including Simon, from Canaan, and little James, Alphaeus' son, were flanking Jesus. Thinking Him safe from any attack here in His own home, Peter gestured to Andrew and pointed upward.

Would Jesus never weary of this continual controversy, wondered Peter, as he signaled Andrew to follow him.

"What is it?" Andrew said, as they gained the corridor to the servants' quarters.

"The roof," Peter said, without comment.

Andrew trailed along with his brother, hearing the fading sounds of angry talk echoing from the stone walls of the covered courtyard they had left.

Gaining the rear, they crossed behind the walled rear yards and came to the open stairway that led to the "road of the roofs," as some rabbi had taken to calling them.

Several men were just rapidly descending, and Peter called out to them, but they hurried past without pausing.

Now Andrew knew Peter's mission. He was going to replace the stones and try to insure there was no damage.

Kneeling to help, Andrew asked, "What do you think, Simon? Can He really forgive sins?"

"If He is Messiah, He can," Peter grunted, lifting another stone into its metal bracket, and reaching for another.

"But what kind of sins was He talking about?"

"Whatever it was that caused the man's injury, I guess," Peter answered. "He apparently applies the intent of God's laws even to the physical, bodily actions. You know how fastidious He is about keeping clean and about avoiding injury."

"But," Andrew protested, "since the Pharisees are very strict about their belief that only God can forgive sins, and since the Lord just said what He did, don't you think there might be as much trouble here as we had in Nazareth?"

"I doubt it," Peter said, finished with his work, standing to survey the stones and then kneeling to see if they were straight. "In the first place, this is His own house and not the synagogue. In the second place, these Pharisees are not local people and have no standing here. They were sent up from Jerusalem to report on Him."

"I suppose you're right," admitted Andrew, as they descended the outer stairway again.

"I know I'm right, or I would have never left His side just now," Peter growled.

That was true enough, thought Andrew, for Peter had imagined himself a lieutenant of sorts, a bodyguard for Jesus. Andrew sometimes worried about the way Peter (it was becoming easier for Andrew to think of him as "Cephas," or "Petros," now, and it never failed to remind him of the revolutionary nature of their activities) kept allowing his hand to stray to his sword. He wondered what Jesus would say if Peter ever attacked anyone.

"By the way," Andrew said, grasping Peter's arm just before they reentered the rear of the house, "I heard today that John the Baptist is becoming very upset."

"Oh?" Peter stopped, tugged at his beard and waited.

"About Jesus' ignoring him," Andrew began.

"What do you mean 'ignoring'?" Peter asked, craning his neck to listen to the loud sounds still coming from within, his brow furrowing with concern.

Though Andrew realized he was only half listening, he decided to go on.

"Because John is in prison, " he said, "and I have heard that several of his disciples are really concerned that Jesus has sent him no message, that He has shown no concern, almost as if Jesus doesn't even know about John's plight. And yet I told Him myself!"

"Don't worry!" Peter said, still cocking his ear toward the sounds coming from the corridor. "John will be released any day now. Herod will not dare touch him, not with so many thousands of converts, not with Jesus backing him so strongly."

"Even so," Andrew continued inexorably, "the disciples of John are beginning to remark about the contrast of John's poverty, his sacrifices. He's a Nazarite by vow, you know, and drinks no wine. And stories are told about Jesus attending wedding feasts and banquets, drinking, living in a fine home like this, wearing a fine robe and visiting in the homes of the wealthy."

Peter turned from the door, his full attention now on his brother.

"Do you believe all that garbage?" he demanded. "Well, no," Andrew began. "But . . ."

"But nothing!" Peter interrupted. "Just think about it, brother, just think about it."

"l am thinking about it. That's why l’m asking you," Andrew protested.

"Look," Peter said wearily, "I know you were a devout disciple of John, and I know what you think of him, but there's nothing to really worry about. Jesus could just speak the word and John would be released from jail in minutes! "

"I know that! " Andrew protested. "That's not what I am getting at. I mean there is growing talk that Jesus has not even mentioned John lately; they claim He has forgotten him. Several are claiming Jesus is really only a disciple of John, like I was, that John baptized Him, as you'll recall. "

"Well, the people look to John as a prophet, and I doubt that Jesus wants to ignore him," Peter rejoined. Then as an afterthought he added, "Let's talk to John about it tonight."

After the crowd had gone and supper was finished, Peter and Andrew sought John, and the three went back up to the roof, where several were preparing their bedrolls for sleeping.

Going to a far corner, they settled down to talk, for Peter had asked John if they could discuss something in private.

"What is it?" John asked, seating himself on his bedroll.

"Andrew is worried about John the Baptist being in prison—about talk he says is coming from John's disciples. "

"What talk?"

"That Jesus' life-style is sumptuous, that He has been seen in the company of wealthy people, dined at banquets, and mostly that He has apparently intended doing nothing about John being in prison."

John sat cross-legged, scratched under his beard and stared across the roofs to the fading line of purple that etched the rugged line of hills against the distant sky.

"I'll tell you what I think," he began. "Remember, John said plainly, 'I must decrease, but He must increase,' meaning the Messiah. Remember, too, the political overtones.

"If Jesus went back to Jerusalem now and tried to effect some surprising sign to get John out of jail, what would happen?"

"Perhaps the beginning of the revolution—probably the beginning of His new kingdom!" said Peter.

"No," John said quietly. "We have talked much about it, Peter. Jesus is on some definite timetable of His own. You know very well He has said time and again, 'The time is not now,' or, 'The Father only knows the time,' and similar words."

"But surely that doesn't mean He'll let John die?" Andrew protested.

"I hope not. But I doubt very much that Jesus means to get Himself arrested and in the middle of a tangled legal mess involving Herod and Philip and the lusts of the Herodian household over the divorce issue. I would tend to believe Jesus is leaving the whole thing alone, that He knows what will happen in advance. He seems quite untroubled by the news. "

They talked on for another hour or so, Andrew particularly troubled, for he had great love and respect for John.

It was the very next day that the reported gossip proved true in the form of a delegation from John in Jerusalem. Several of his disciples, including two of Andrew's friends, came to Jesus in Capernaum.

After they had been fed it was time for the meeting. Peter listened in mild dismay at the tone of their voices when they braced Jesus on the issue.

"Are you the One who was prophesied to come, or should we go look for another?" began their leader. Without even allowing an answer, another demanded of Jesus, "Why do John's disciples fast, but your own are eating and drinking?"

The tone of self-pity and irritation was obvious.

Peter could understand. He knew John's disciples were hard working, loyal to John with a fierceness that matched that of the most zealous Pharisees; he also knew that John's own life-style of abstinence, rigorous outdoor living, meager diet and frequent fastings had become like a religion unto itself, a virtual way of life.

To them John represented the epitome of righteous life. They couldn't understand why Jesus, having heard (for it was a nationally known event and had caused a great stir among tens of thousands of people) that John had been thrown in jail for resisting Herod's desire to marry illegally, had not come down there and effected his release. They felt that He ought to be showing grave concern, should be mourning, fasting and speaking of John to the people! Instead here He was conducting a great public ministry, sitting down at feasts, wedding suppers, or dining in the leaders' homes. And, it was said, gaining a reputation as a winebibber, a wino!

Peter knew their hurt, their inability to equate the contrast in Jesus' own mission with that of John.

Jesus answered, "Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast! But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they will fast!"

Then He said, "No one would patch up an old garment with a piece of new cloth; it would be glaringly obvious, and a new patch on old cloth would appear worse than the rend they were trying to conceal!

"Neither would anyone put new wine into old wineskins, else the wine would burst the old skins, and both the skins and the wine would be lost. But men put the new wine into fresh, unused wineskins so they can both grow old together. And, when anyone has drunk of the aged wine, he will never desire the new because he says, 'The old wine is good!' "

Peter tried to understand. Jesus was speaking about incongruity—contrasting situations that didn't go together.

His analogy about the bridegroom and fasting was probably veiled reference to the wedding feast in Cana, and the rumors. But it made sense, Peter could see. If only John's disciples, and John the Baptist himself, could understand.

Peter knew no one would ever put newly fermented wine, wine that was still "working," into an old wineskin. Not only would the flavor be affected, but it would probably cause the skin to break in time. As Peter mused on all that Jesus meant, Jesus turned to the crowd and said, "And blessed is he who shall find no occasion of becoming offended at Me!"

He said many other things to John's disciples. As the men collected their packs and left, Jesus turned to the crowd and said, "Well, what did you expect? What did you go out there in the desert to see? Some reed shaking in the wind? What did you go out there to see? A man clothed in soft, expensive clothing? Look, those who wear such are in kings' palaces . . . but what did you go out there to see? A prophet? Yes! And I'll tell you this: You saw much more than just a prophet because this is the one of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send My messenger before thy face who shall prepare your way before you.'

"Truly, I am telling you, among those born of women there has not arisen a greater man than John the Baptist. Yet he that is but little in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he." Jesus continued, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence from violent men who try to treat that kingdom violently! All the law and the prophets were until John, and if you are willing to receive it, this is that 'Elijah,' which is to come. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!

Jesus finished.

Peter knew John, too, was like an emissary of this great new kingdom; as such, Jesus was according him diplomatic status, the stature of an ambassador or advance representative of that kingdom. Jesus was making it clear, then, that those who had violently seized John were guilty of doing violence to the platform and principle that represented the political, moral, social, economic and spiritual underpinnings of the kingdom itself. Further, He must have been referring to the violence in Nazareth when He had very nearly lost His life. But, more, He was showing publicly that John's ministry must be over!

Why, He had said, "From the days of John the Baptist until now . . . " almost like He had meant to imply the days of John the Baptist were over. Did Jesus know John was beyond saving? Did He know that any attempt to rescue John from prison might mean the premature finish of His own cause?

Surely Jesus had always spoken highly of John and had told the disciples of his place in Scripture, that he was the one who had come in the "power and spirit of Elijah" to "prepare the way" before Christ Himself! Now it seemed Jesus was saying John's great preparatory work was done, that "the days of John the Baptist" were over, and the "days of the Son of Man" were here.

Jesus continued, "But unto what shall I liken this generation? It's like little children sitting about in the public marketplace and calling to their friends, 'We piped the tune, and you didn't dance to it! We wailed, and you didn't mourn!,

"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they claim, 'He must be demon possessed!' But the Son of Man is come both eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at that! A gluttonous man and a wino! A friend of publicans and sinners!' And wisdom is justified of her children!"

Peter could appreciate the lesson in incongruity. Jesus just didn't fit anyone's mold, even Peter's! John, albeit at the opposite spectrum of the two life-styles, didn't fit anyone's mold, either. Seemed people were never satisfied. No matter how much abstinence, hardship, self-sacrifice and the rigors of a wilderness, John just didn't fit the mold people had for him in their minds; he was " different," somehow, and, since most always fear what is different, they branded him "demon possessed."

In contrast, since Jesus was known to attend wedding feasts, known to enjoy good food and wine and would talk in friendly tones to known sinners in the local towns, the people weren't satisfied with His example, either.

Just like ‘little kids’, Peter supposed. "We call the tune, but you don't dance the step! We name the game, and you don't play by the rules—You just don't fit, somehow! " It was good Jesus was upholding John the way He was, for John was beloved and greatly admired by many, and Peter knew Jesus was totally sincere; He had great love and respect for John.

Who knows? Maybe by the time John's disciples return a miracle will have occurred and John would be sprung from jail anyhow. Peter wondered.

That same day, about midday, one of the leading Pharisees, a tall, haughty looking fellow in the full regalia of his office, asked Jesus to dine with him in his home. Peter knew it would be a setup; the patronizing, raspy voice grated on him like rusty fishhooks when the Pharisee asked Jesus to dine and Peter noticed the smirks exchanged when he sent a servant scurrying ahead to make preparation.

No doubt the man would attempt to trap Jesus in some insignificant breaking of tradition and defame Him later. It wouldn't be unthinkable that the man had arranged for an armed guard who would be there to arrest Jesus and hold Him for trial before the Sanhedrin if He fell into a trap.

Peter urged Him not to go, but the Lord was determined, so, reluctantly, Peter and a few of the others followed Jesus and entered the Pharisee's ample home. Nearing the front entry, Peter noticed the Pharisee, whose name was Simon, was kissing the cheeks of other well known leaders of the community as they arrived. It was obvious Jesus and His men were to fend for themselves. Peter felt the blood rushing to his head. The Lord acted as if He hadn't noticed, but Peter knew better.

After the greetings and acknowledgments, they were seated, and, following a lengthy and formal prayer of thanks by Simon, they began to eat.

The hum of conversation filled the room as the servants passed among the guests, seeing to their water vases, bringing steaming plates of lamb, kid, vegetables, cheeses, herbs, greens and loaves of round, flat bread.

Peter paused, a succulent bite of lamb stew halfway to his mouth, and suddenly noticed a huddled figure down the table washing Jesus' feet! Several servants were whispering to one another, and two more across the room were pointing.

Those seated next to Simon, the host, followed the extended arms of the servants and saw the woman at Jesus' feet. With a look of pure disdain, one of them nudged Simon's elbow and gestured toward the scene.

A woman had somehow mingled with the servants and, gaining Jesus' side, knelt at His feet and was pouring an ointment from an alabaster cruse over His feet and weeping. She was using the very hair of her head, which tumbled gracefully over her shoulders, to wipe his feet!

"Oh, no! " Peter thought. "Not here!" He was quite accustomed to displays of emotion and acts of worship toward Jesus, but, knowing the woman by reputation (she was the best known town harlot), Peter was stunned. This could be disaster.

But Jesus merely looked down and smiled at her.

Simon was thinking, "No man who is a so-called prophet would ever have allowed such a slut to touch him! " so Jesus said, "Simon, I've got something to say to you! "

A hush had fallen over the tables, and all eyes turned toward Jesus. Simon, sitting across from Him, stroked his beard and smiled patronizingly.

"Say on, Teacher, say on!" Simon the Pharisee said with a short chuckle, acknowledging the smile and knowing glances of his compatriots.

"There was a lender," said Jesus, "who had two debtors. One of them owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. Now, neither of them had any money, both were broke and couldn't pay, so the lender forgave them both. Which of them, do you believe, will love his lender the most?"

"Why, I suppose it would be the one to whom he forgave the most."

"Well said, Simon!" Jesus retorted.

"Simon, you see this woman?" He said, turning to the woman who had not ceased her laving of His feet and her soft crying. "You know, it was obvious when I entered into your house that you gave me no water for my feet, but here is this woman, wetting my feet with her tears and wiping them with her own hair. You greeted me with no kiss (though you did all the others, and the slight was obvious), but she since the time I have come in and sat down has not ceased to kiss even my feet. You didn't offer me any oil to anoint and comb my hair, but she has been anointing my feet with ointment.

"Wherefore," He said, turning again to the woman, "her sins, which are many" (she nodded and more tears spilled out of her eyes as she looked straight into His face) "are forgiven!" With that the woman lowered her eyes and grasped His feet again, "for she loved much," Jesus continued, turning again to the gaping crowd of dinner guests and to Simon, "but to whom little is forgiven the same loves little"'

Gently He turned to the woman and said, "Your sins are forgiven! " A murmur of conversation rippled through the room, and several servants made as if to remove the woman, but Jesus warned them with a glance, and, taking the woman by the hand, lifted her up and said again, "Your faith has saved you [using the familiar]; go in peace!

Peter heard the arguments raging as they made to leave later. Almost every Pharisee or obsequious Pharisee pleaser in the place was reasoning to himself, "Just who does He think He is . . . ? The very idea! To claim He has the very power to forgive sins!"

But others said Jesus did have that power, and Peter figured that Jesus' statement certainly proved He could forgive sins! If the woman didn't feel any more guilt, and if she was free now from her own mental anguish, and could face the future with confidence and a whole new beginning in life, why, wasn't that forgiveness?

Yes, Peter knew Jesus did have that power; He believed it! He knew the Master would chide one of His disciples now and again, and when they would sincerely say, "I'm sorry, Lord . . . I made a mistake!" He would look at them and with tiny crow's feet crinkling at the corners of his eyes would say, "I know you are. Forget it—you're forgiven!"

It could mean everything, Peter found. The possession of a clean, clear conscience could mean more than the wealth of the richest man. Money couldn't buy it—that zest and expectancy that awaited you in each new day, life with no guilt—ridden past hanging around your neck—life like a wellspring of fresh, gurgling branch water, and no apologies to anyone so long as you kept yourself right with God and with man.

Sure, He had the power to forgive sins! And the woman, no matter her past, Peter knew, was forgiven! And may the fleas of a whole herd of goats infest the beard of Simon the Pharisee for being so unforgiving . . . Oops! He shouldn't think like that. He had to chuckle at the thought, nevertheless. Simon the Pharisee. The man's whole life consisted of a religious pose—like walking down the proverbial hall of burnished bronze mirrors, striking this and that self-righteous posture, wondering how well he was impressing other lesser men of inferior spirituality.