Now could I see from Eliezer’s countenance and from the manner of his speech, and from the faces of some of the Scribes that were sitting in the principal places, yea, and from the faces of some others that were in the outermost part of the crowd (for they nodded and beckoned each to the other) that here was indeed the very plot of the Pharisees whereof Eliezer had made mention in his letter to Jonathan. For the mother and brethren of Jesus had come with intent to lay hands on him, having been persuaded that he was beside himself. And immediately all that were in the chamber seemed to become aware of the plot. For Jesus ceased from his teaching; and many stood on tiptoe gazing toward that quarter of the crowd where the mother of Jesus was waiting, and then they gazed back on Jesus again, marking how he bore himself. So there arose a marvellous great stillness, while every one waited to hear what Jesus would say: and my heart beat so that I could even hear the beating thereof. But Jesus said, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” Then he looked round about on those of his disciples that sat nigh unto him and he said, “Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister and mother.”
When he had said these words, then the countenance of Eliezer fell. For he had hoped either to have found occasion against Jesus (as though he paid no reverence to his mother, not rising up or going forth to meet her), or else that the brethren of Jesus should have laid hands on him as he went forth, and so all men should ever after have esteemed him as one beside himself. But the words of Jesus manifested that he ceased not to love and honour his mother, howbeit he loved and honoured others also, even as many as were in the Family of God, unto whom he was as a brother or as a son; neither ought he to have forsaken all the Family of God to please the family of Nazareth; for, had he gone forth to meet them that stood without, he had forsaken and caused to stumble all them that sat within. So they perceived what was in the mind of Jesus; and they magnified him the more.
When the Pharisees perceived that they had not prevailed with the common people, they began to adventure a second plot. For they procured a certain Scribe to accuse Jesus in the synagogue, and to say that he cast out devils through Beelzebub the prince of the devils. The name of the Scribe was Hezekiah the son of Zachariah, from Jerusalem; even the same Hezekiah of whom I spake before, when I spake of the meeting of the Galileans in the valley nigh unto Sepphoris. Howbeit, neither did this plot prevail with the common people. For the same accusation had been brought by the Scribes against John the prophet: but in vain. For the people could in no wise be persuaded that such an one as Jesus was possessed with an unclean spirit, nor that sick men could be healed and devils driven out by Beelzebub.
