At last, one day, the wonderful news came. Jesus
was coming to Tiberias! He had left Capernaum and
was working his way southward down the shore of
the lake.
Andrew was almost beside himself with joy. If
only he might see the Teacher, and talk to him, then
everything else-- he did not know how or why--
would be all right.
And then a very terrible thing happened.
They were speaking of the Teacher one night at
supper, now that his visit was drawing near, and
Andrew put in a word which made them know how
much he wanted to see Jesus.
He never spoke to his family of the things he felt
most deeply, but he was so full of his longing to see
Jesus that he just could not keep it to himself.
And Joseph and Judas laughed at him.
Laughed at him, laughed loud and scornfully.
What did he think he was, they wanted to know,
that the great Teacher could be bothered about him?
Reuben did not laugh. He never laughed. But he
turned his black eyes on Andrew--they were stern
and piercing under overhanging brows.
"When the Teacher comes," he said, "you will
stay at home where you belong. It is bad enough
that everybody in Tiberias should know I have a
worthless son. I have no wish it should be made
known through all Galilee."
A worthless son!
This was the most terrible thing Reuben had ever
said to his child.
So Andrew wanted to see the Teacher and to talk
to him! Joseph and Judas thought that very funny.
They would never have dreamed of asking such a
thing for themselves, nor could they have desired it.
That their queer little brother could and did struck
them as very comical indeed. It was much too good
a joke to keep. They must tell their friends about it.
And evidently everybody else thought it just as
funny as they did. Wherever Andrew went it seemed
to him that people were laughing at him.
The next few days were the worst he had ever
lived through in his whole life. He felt he was without
a friend in Tiberias. His father had definitely
told him he was a worthless son; he had given up all
hope of him. Worst of all was the doubt in his own
heart. If everybody else thought he was wrong and
silly, how could he possibly believe in himself?
Through it all he clung stubbornly to a single
hope-- the hope of seeing Jesus. That was all life
held for him now. On it he staked everything. If he
could not see the Teacher, it seemed to him that he
must die.
IV
And then he came.
V
He came, one night at sunset, down the shore of the
lake, on foot, with his chosen disciples about him, a
poor man, poorly dressed, his robe covered with the
dust of his journey.
The news spread quickly throughout Tiberias.
The cobbler immediately got his neighbors together,
to carry his old, palsy-stricken, mother down
to the seashore so that she might be healed.
Mary and Rebecca, the two old sisters who lived
alone together, went a bit reluctantly, having agreed
that when the Teacher came they would let him
settle a disagreement about some property which
had embittered their home all winter.
And Reuben went too, fearfully and hopefully, to
pray the Teacher to bless his nets, so that he might
make a great catch when he went out to fish.
Many people went down to the seashore to meet
Jesus as he came into Tiberias, but very few of them
loved him. Nearly all of them wanted something.
When Andrew arrived, the Teacher was sitting
on a stone by the seashore, talking quietly to those
who had gathered about him. The boy had imagined
him in a thousand different ways, each more wonderful
than the last, but nothing that he had imagined
was half so wonderful as what he saw. There was
such strength and such loveliness in the Teacher's
face that it seemed as if all the Beauty and all the
Goodness in the world were centered there. His
father's commands meant nothing to him now, nor
did he care that he was making a fool of himself. He
did what in all his brooding over the Teacher's coming
had had never once dared to imagine himself
doing; he rushed forward and cast himself at Jesus's
feet, his arms around the Master's knees.
Not even Reuben had expected that. He was more
angry than he had ever been in his life. It seemed to
him indeed that he had good reason for anger. Now,
indeed, his worthless son had disgraced him in the
eyes of all men. How could the Teacher be expected
to bless his nets after such a thing as this had
happened?
He came forward quickly, and his respect for the
presence of Jesus could only just barely keep the
harsh word on his lips from turning into an oath. He
seized his son roughly by one arm and dragged him
to his feet.
Jesus rose with the boy. He was not a very tall
man, as height is measured in feet and inches, but it
seemed just then as if he might be going to strike his
head against the stars. It was not anger, for he was
incapable of anger. He knew that when men do
wrong it is either because they cannot see the light
or because they lack the courage to follow it. But
the hand that Reuben had raised to strike his son
never descended.
"Suffer little children," he said (Reuben was
never to forget his words), "suffer little children to
come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is
the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosover
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child, shall in no wise enter therein."
"I thought..." began the embarrassed father,
"I only meant..."
But Jesus continued, more sternly than before:
"Take heed that you despise not one of these little
ones; for I say unto you that in heaven their angels
do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven."
What need is there that I should write any more?
If you have followed my story thus far, you know
how Andrew felt as the Master spoke these words
quite as well as I could tell you. Much better, indeed;
for you are a child yourself, and you know how children
feel better than I do. From the depths he passed
to the heights, to the loftiest heights he had ever
known. Warmth, peace, and joy flowed into him.
He was always thereafter faithful to Jesus. He
was too young to become one of his disciples, that
day in Tiberias, though he would dearly have loved
to do so, but in later years, after the Teacher had
died, he was among the faithful who helped to carry
on his work. His life, not so important as the world
counts importance, was built into the very fabric of
the Christian Church. Jesus won his heart, that day
by the seashore, for time and for eternity. The Master
vindicated the Boy, and the Boy gave the Master
the opportunity to utter one of the most gracious
sayings that ever fell from his lips.
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