Never before were the minds of the disciples so troubled as now: for we had all been assured, in the very depth of our hearts, that Jesus had even for this cause returned to Capernaum, because he purposed now at last to work a sign in heaven. Neither could we in any way understand why he should thus suffer the slanderers to triumph, delaying so long the Redemption of Sion. Judas especially inflamed our grief, saying that all was now lost, and that one sign in heaven would have been better worth than a thousand discourses about the Kingdom of Heaven.
But suddenly we were silent; for we heard the voice of Jesus speaking; and he told us that he had formerly been tempted in a like fashion, even as the Pharisee had tempted him; for he had been led by the Spirit into a wilderness, and there in some vision the Evil Spirit had placed him upon the battlements of the Holy Temple, bidding him cast himself down as a sign unto the multitudes of them which were walking in the courts of the Temple; and the Evil One had said unto him, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” But Jesus had made answer, saying, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Now therefore we all understood (after a dark fashion, and, as it were, obliquely) that Jesus esteemed the temptation to perform a sign in heaven to be a temptation from Satan. But why he so esteemed it, was hid from the most of us, and we feared to ask him thereof.
When Jesus lay down on the sleeping‐cushion, I questioned Nathanael why Jesus would work no sign in heaven. “For,” said I, “signs on earth and in the bodies of men he daily worketh; as but now, when he raised up the daughter of Jairus (all men supposing her to be dead): and again, at another time, albeit he neither said nor did aught, a woman was healed, though she did but touch him, and that too in a throng: so powerful was the mere garment of our Master to work healing. And when Jesus perceived the woman (discerning the pressure of her hand, albeit in the midst of the throng), then, as thou rememberest, he was neither wroth nor chid the woman for thus, as it were, stealing a miracle; but bade her go in peace, and be healed of her disease. Wherefore then worketh he no sign in heaven? Did not Moses and Elias work signs in heaven? Yet our Master is greater than they.” To these words Nathanael made no answer for a while; but at last he said, “Concerning Moses and Elias, and concerning what they did or did not, I am not able to speak. But as touching Jesus of Nazareth, thus much I know, that he lightly esteemeth all signs, both in heaven and in earth, except they reveal the mercifulness of God. For he teacheth that heaven and earth shall pass away, but his words shall remain for ever. And assuredly he seemeth to me to be greater than Moses and Elias, yea, though he should work no sign at all. For he moveth upon the face of the earth like unto the Son of God, and looketh upon all things that are, as being the servants of his Father. But seeing that they are the servants of his Father, he loveth them; yea, he cherisheth even the flowers of the fields; the sky also, and the winds, and the waters seem to him as the ministers of his Father; and the more he loveth the Father, the more he loveth his Father’s servants; neither will he check them nor chide them save according to his Father’s will, but submitteth himself unto them even more willingly than others submit themselves. For this cause he endureth to be cold, and an‐hungered, and athirst, and homeless; neither doth he chide the frost, nor stamp on the ground to make the wheat spring up for him; nor strike waters from the rock; nor bid the stones come together at his word for to build him an house.” “But is not this patience,” asked I, “the condition of a slave?” “Yes, truly is it,” replied Nathanael, “but what saith our Master? He that is to be greatest among men must be as he that is least; he that is to rule must be as he that ministereth; he that is to be king over all must be as the slave of all. Only it is needful that we serve not unwillingly, but willingly. But whoso serveth the Lord in all things willingly, he is no slave, but a son.