John knocks on the door of the house where Jesus is staying. A woman peeks out and, seeing who it is, alerts Jesus. They greet each other with a gesture of peace. And then:
You have come promptly, John - Jesus says.
I have come to tell you that Simon Peter implores you to stop by Bethsaida. I have spoken about you to many... We did not fish last night; we did pray, as we know how to do, thus renouncing profit because... the Sabbath had not yet ended. Then, this morning, we went through the streets speaking about you. There are people who wish to hear you... Will you come, Master?
I will come. Although I should go to Nazareth before Jerusalem.
Peter will take you from Bethsaida to Tiberias with his boat. You will arrive even sooner.
Let us go, then.
Jesus takes his cloak and bag. But John takes the latter from him. And, after greeting the woman of the house, they depart.
The vision shows me the departure from the village and the beginning of the journey toward Bethsaida. But I do not hear the conversation, and the vision is even interrupted until the entry into Bethsaida. I understand it is this city because I see Peter, Andrew, and James, and with them some women, waiting for Jesus where the houses begin.
Peace be with you. Here I am.
Thank you, Master, on our behalf and in the name of those who wait. It is not the Sabbath, but will you not speak to those who await your words?
Yes, Peter. I will do so. At your house.
Peter appears joyful:
Come, then: this is my wife, this is John's mother, these are friends of theirs. But others also await you: relatives and friends of ours.
Tell them that I will depart tonight and that before I do, I will speak to them.
I have not mentioned that, having departed from Capernaum when the sun was setting, I saw them arrive at Bethsaida in the morning.
Master... I beg you to stay one night in my house. The road to Jerusalem is long, although it will be shortened for you to Tiberias with my boat. My house is poor, but honest and friendly. Stay with us tonight.
Jesus looks at Peter and all the others waiting. He looks at them searchingly. He smiles and says: "Yes." New joy from Peter.
Some watch from the doorways and gesture. A man calls James by name and speaks to him in a low voice, pointing at Jesus. James nods and the man goes to speak separately with others who are stopped at a crossroads.
They enter Peter's house. A wide and smoky kitchen. In a corner, nets, ropes, and baskets for fishing; in the middle, the broad and low hearth, extinguished for now. Through the two doors, facing each other, the road and the garden can be seen, small, with the fig tree and the vine; beyond the road, the blue rippling of the lake; beyond the garden, the dark wall of another house.
I offer you whatever I have, Master, and in the way I know how to do it...
You could neither better nor more, because you offer it to me with love.
They give Jesus water to refresh himself and then bread and olives. Jesus eats a little (actually for them to see that he accepts it) and then, with a gesture of gratitude, indicates that he wishes no more.
Some children snoop from the garden and the road. I do not know if they are Peter's children or not. I only know that he looks severely at these impetuous children, so they will not approach. Jesus smiles and says:
Let them be.
Master, do you wish to rest? There is my room, there is Andrew's. Choose. We will make no noise while you are resting.
Do you have a terrace?
Yes; and the vine, though it is still almost without leaves, gives a little shade.
Take me to the terrace. I prefer to rest upstairs. I will think and pray.
As you wish. Come.
From the small garden, a small staircase goes up to the roof, which is a terrace surrounded by a low wall. Here, too, are nets and ropes. How much skylight and how much lake blue!
Jesus sits on a stool with his back resting against the low wall. Peter tries to be industrious by spreading a sail over and beside the vine to make a place where one could shelter from the sun. Breeze and silence can be felt. Jesus delights in it.
I am going, Master.
Go. You and John go and say that at the hour of sunset I will speak here.
Jesus remains alone and prays for a long time. Apart from two pairs of doves going back and forth from their nests, and a trilling of sparrows, there is no noise or living being around Jesus praying. The hours pass calm and serene.
Afterward, Jesus gets up, walks around the terrace, looks at the lake, looks and smiles at some children playing in the street who smile at him, looks at the street, towards the small plaza which is about a hundred meters from the house. Then he goes down. He peeks into the kitchen:
Woman, I am going to stroll along the shore.
He goes out and, indeed, goes to the shore, with the children. He asks them:
What are you doing?
We wanted to play war. But he does not want to and so we play fishing.
The "he" who does not want to is a child — already a little man — of slight build, but with a most luminous face. Perhaps he knows that, being graceful as he is, he would take beatings from the others playing "war" and therefore supports peace.
But Jesus takes the opportunity to speak to those children:
He is right. War is a grief imposed by God to punish men, and a sign that man has diminished in his condition as a true child of God. When the Almighty created the world, he made all things: the Sun, the sea, the stars, the rivers, the plants, the animals, but he did not make weapons. He created man and gave him eyes to have loving looks, mouths to speak loving words, hearing to hear them, hands to succor and caress, feet to run quickly towards the needy brother, and a heart capable of loving. He gave man intelligence, speech, affections, tastes. But he did not give him hatred. Why? Because man, a creature of God, should be love, as God is Love. If man had remained such a creature, he would have remained in love, and the human family would have known neither war nor death.
But he does not want to do war because he always loses (indeed, I had guessed right).
Jesus smiles and says:
One should not not want what hurts us because it hurts us. One should not want a thing when it hurts everyone. If one says: "I do not want this because it causes me a loss," he is selfish. However, the good child of God says: "Brothers, I know I would win, but I tell you: let us not do this because it would mean harm for you." How has this one understood the main precept! Who can tell it to me?
In chorus, the eleven mouths say:
"You shall love your God with all your being and your neighbor as yourself."
You are excellent children! Do you all go to school?
Yes.
Who is the smartest?
He (it is the graceful child who does not want to play war).
What is your name?
Joel.
Great name! Joel speaks like this: "... let the weak say: 'I am strong!'". But strong in what? In the law of the true God, to be among those whom He in the valley of Decision will judge as his holy ones. But the judgment is near; not in the valley of Decision, but on the mount of Redemption. There, between Sun and Moon darkened with horror, and stars trembling tears of pity, the children of the Light will be discerned from the children of the Darkness. And all Israel will know that their God has come. Happy are those who have recognized him: they will receive in their hearts honey, milk, and clear waters, and the thorns will be transformed into eternal roses. Which of you wants to be among those whom God judges holy?
Me! Me! Me!
Will you love the Messiah then?
Yes! Yes! You! You! We love you! We know who you are! Simon and James have said so, and also our mothers. Take us with you!
Truly I will take you with me if you are good. Never again ugly words; never again abuses; never again fights; never again bad answers to parents. Prayer, study, work, obedience; and I will love you and accompany you on your way.
The children are all in a circle around Jesus. It looks like a multi-colored corolla wrapped around a long dark blue pistil.
A rather old man has approached, curious. Jesus turns to caress a child who is pulling at his garment, and sees him. He holds his gaze intensely upon him. The old man limits himself to greeting while blushing.
Come! Follow me!
Yes, Master.
Jesus blesses the children and, beside Philip (he calls him by name), returns to the house. They sit in the small garden.
Do you want to be my disciple?
I want it—and I dare not hope to be so.
I have called you.
I am one, then. Here I am.
Had you knowledge of me?
Andrew has spoken to me about you. He has said to me: "He whom you yearned for has come." Because Andrew knew that I yearned for the Messiah.
Your expectation is not frustrated. He is before you.
My Master and my God!
You are an Israelite of right intention. Because of this, I manifest myself to you. Another friend of yours — like you, a sincere Israelite — awaits. Go tell him: "We have found Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph, of the lineage of David, he of whom Moses and the prophets spoke." Go.
Jesus remains alone until Philip returns with Nathanael - Bartholomew.
Behold a true Israelite in whom there is no guile. Peace be with you, Nathanael.
How do you know me?
Before Philip went to call you, I saw you under the fig tree.
Master, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel!
Because I said I saw you thinking under the fig tree, do you believe? Much greater things than these will you see. Truly I say to you that the Heavens are open and you, by faith, will see the angels descending and ascending over the Son of Man: I, who am speaking to you.
Master! I am not worthy of so much favor!
Believe in me and you will be worthy of Heaven. Do you want to believe?
I want to, Master.
The vision stops... And continues on the terrace, which is full of people. Other people are in Peter's small garden. Jesus speaks.
Peace to men of good will. Peace and blessing to their houses, women, and children. The grace and light of God reign in them and in the hearts that inhabit them. You desired to hear me. The Word speaks. It speaks to the honest with joy, it speaks to the dishonest with sorrow, it speaks to the saints and the pure with gladness, it speaks to the sinners with pity. It does not deny itself. It has come to pour itself out like a river that waters lands in need of water and that from it receive relief of waves and nourishment of silt.
You want to know what is required to be disciples of the Word of God, of the Messiah, Word of the Father, who comes to gather Israel so that it may hear once more the words of the holy and immutable Decalogue and sanctify itself in them to be clean, to the extent that man can do so of himself, for the hour of the Redemption and of the Kingdom.
Look. I say to the deaf, to the blind, to the mute, to the lepers, to the paralytics, to the dead: "Arise, be healed, resurrect, walk, let the rivers of light, of speech, of sound open within you, so that you may see, hear, speak about me." But, more than to bodies, I say this to your spirits. Men of good will, come to me without fear. If the spirit is injured, I restore its health. If it is sick, I cure it; If dead, I resurrect it. I want only your good will.
Is this difficult what I ask of you? No. I do not impose on you the hundreds of precepts of the rabbis. I tell you: follow the Decalogue. The Law is one and immutable. Many centuries have passed since the hour it was promulgated, beautiful, pure, fresh, like a newborn creature, like a newly opened rose on the stem. Simple, without blemish, light to follow.
Over the centuries, faults and inclinations have complicated it with laws and more minor laws, burdens, and restrictions, too many painful clauses. I lead you back to the Law as it was when the Almighty gave it. But, I beg you for your own good, receive it with the sincere heart of the true Israelites of then.
You whisper — more in your heart than with your lips — that the fault is above, more than in you, humble people. I know it. In Deuteronomy everything that should be done is said, and more was not necessary. But do not judge who acted not for himself, but for others. You do what God says. And, above all, strive to be perfect in the two main precepts. If you love God with all your being, you will not sin, because sin causes sorrow to God. He who loves does not want to cause sorrow. If you love your neighbor as yourselves, you can only be respectful children to parents, faithful spouses to consorts, honest men in transactions, without violence towards enemies, sincere when testifying, without envy of who possesses, without desires of lust towards your neighbor's wife. Not wanting to do to others what you would not want to be done to you, you will not steal, you will not kill, you will not slander, you will not enter like cuckoos in the nest of others.
But I even say to you: "Carry to perfection your obedience to the two precepts of love: love also your enemies." Oh, if you know how to love like Him, how the Almighty will love you, who loves man — transformed into his enemy by original fault and by individual sins — to the point of sending him the Redeemer, the Lamb who is his Son, I, who am speaking to you, the Messiah, promised to redeem you from all guilt! Love. Let love be for you a ladder by which, made angels, you may ascend (as Jacob saw) to Heaven, hearing the Father say to each and every one: "I will be your protector wherever you go, and I will bring you again to this place: to Heaven, to the Eternal Kingdom." Peace be with you.
The people express their moved approval and leave slowly. Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, and Bartholomew remain.
Are you leaving tomorrow, Master?
Tomorrow at dawn, if it does not displease you.
Your leaving displeases me, yes, but the hour does not; it is even propitious.
Are you going to go fishing?
Tonight, when the Moon comes out.
You have done well, Simon Peter, not to fish during the past night. The Sabbath had not yet ended. Nehemiah, in his reforms, wanted the Sabbath to be respected in Judah. Now too many people on Sabbath press in the winepresses, transport sheaves, load wine and fruit, and sell and buy fish and lambs. You have six days for this. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord. Only one thing you can do on Sabbath: good to your neighbor, but without any kind of profit motive. He who violates the Sabbath for profit can only obtain punishment from God. Does he gain anything?: he will lose it twofold in the other six days. Does he not gain it?: the body has exerted itself in vain, not granting it that rest which the Intelligence has established for it, the spirit becoming angry for having worked uselessly, even coming to utter curses. However, God's day should be spent with the heart united to God in sweet prayer of love. One must be faithful in everything.
But... the scribes and doctors, who are so severe with us... do not work during the Sabbath. They don't even give a neighbor bread to avoid the labor of giving it... and, yet, they arrange abusive loans even on Sabbath. Can this be done on Sabbath because it is not material labor?
No. Never. Neither during the Sabbath nor during other days. Whoever lends abusively is dishonest and cruel.
The scribes and Pharisees, then...
Simon, do not judge. Do not do it.
But I have eyes to see...
Is only evil before our eyes, Simon?
No, Master.
Then why look only at evil?
You are right, Master.
Then tomorrow at dawn I will depart with John.
Master...
Simon, what is happening to you?
Master... are you going to Jerusalem?
You already know that.
I also am going to Jerusalem for the Passover... and also Andrew and James...
And then?... You mean that you would wish to come with me, right? And the fishing? And the profit? You told me you like to have money, and I will be away for many days. First I go to my Mother, and to Jerusalem on return. I will stay there preaching. How will you manage?...
Peter shows himself doubtful, hesitant... but in the end, he decides:
For myself... I am going with you. I prefer you before money!
I am also going.
Also I.
And us too, right, Philip?
Come, then. You will serve me as help.
Oh!... — Peter becomes emotional at this idea —. In what can we help you?
I will tell you. To act well you will only have to do whatever I tell you. The obedient always acts well. Now we will pray and then each one will go to perform their tasks.
And You, Master?
I will pray more. I am the Light of the world, but I am also the Son of man. Because of this I always have to drink from the Light to be the Man who redeems man. Let us pray.
Jesus says a psalm. The one that begins: «He who rests in the aid of the Almighty will live under the protection of the God of Heaven. He will say to the Lord: "You are my protector, my refuge. He is my God, in Him is my hope. He delivered me from the snare of the hunters and from the aggressive words" etc. etc.». I find it in the 4th book. It is the second of the 4th book, I think it is number 90 (Psalm 91).