OF COURSE THOSE WHO PROFITED FROM THE EXISTING ORDER OF THINGS (AND THERE WERE MANY)DID NOT LIKE TO HEAR SUCH DOCTRINES PUBLICLY PROCLAIMED.THEY DECLARED THAT THE NEW PROPHET WAS A DANGEROUS ENEMY TO ALL ESTABLISHED LAW AND ORDER.SOON THESE ENEMIES OF JESUS MADE COMMON CAUSE.THEY SET TO WORK TO BRING ABOUT HIS DESTRUCTION
Upon his next visit,before he had even reached the Temple,Jesus was in open conflict with the powers that ruled Jerusalem.
It happened that when he came near the pool of Bethsaida,just outside of the Sheep Gate,he heard a man crying out to him for help.The poor fellow had been lame for more than thirty years.He had been told (like every one else)of the miraculous cures in Galilee.He too hoped that he could be cured.
Jesus looked at him.Then he told him that there was nothing the matter with his legs and ordered him to pick up his mattress and go home.
The delighted patient did as he had been told but he forgot that it was the Sabbath day and that it was against the law of the Pharisees to carry so much as an extra pin in one's clothes.
In his joy at being able to walk,he hastened away to the Temple that he might give thanks to Jehovah for his recovery.
But of course several of the Pharisees were told of what had just happened and as they could not allow such a breach of the holy commands to go unpunished they stopped the poor cripple (who was now possessed of two perfectly good legs)and they told him that it was against all law and precedent to be seen with a mattress on one's back on the Sabbath day and that he ought to be punished for this breach of decorum.
But the excited man,as was quite natural,had his mind on other things.
“He who cured me told me to take my mattress and go home,”he answered,“and I am doing what he told me.”
Thereupon,without further ado,he went his way,and the Pharisees were left alone with their rage.One thing they understood very clearly.Unless this sort of thing were stopped,right then and there,no one could foretell what would happen next.
At their instigation,the Sanhedrin was called together to decide what to do.Like all magistrates who are not just certain of their position,the members of the council decided to investigate.Jesus was ordered to appear before them and give an account of himself.He came willingly enough and listened patiently to the many accusations of his enemies.Then he made it clear that law or no law,he did not intend to stop doing good just because it happened to be a particular day of the week.
This answer meant open defiance of the established authorities.
But the Great Council,well knowing in what veneration this man from Nazareth was held by many people,thought it better to let him go this time and wait for another occasion when they could accuse him of something more definite.
By now they were beginning to understand that it would not be quite so easy to destroy Jesus as they had expected.Apparently it was impossible to rouse him to anger.He never showed any feeling towards those who hated him.He quietly walked out of every trap,and when he was driven into a corner,he told a simple little story which brought all those who listened over to his side.
The Sanhedrin plainly was puzzled.Of course,they could lay the matter before the King.But their King (whose title was very uncertain)would refuse to act without consulting the procurator.And what was the use of trying to explain anything to a Roman?
Upon more than one occasion,Pilate had already shown his total lack of sympathy for those who came to him with their religious grievances.
In this instance,he would do what he had repeatedly done before.He would promise that the matter would have his close attention.Then after many months,he would come to the official conclusion that Jesus had committed no crime against the Roman law.Next he would throw the case out of court and everything would be as it had been before,except that the position of Jesus would have been greatly strengthened by his acquittal.
Herod,therefore,offered the only hope for redress and vengeance,if he were approached in the right way and were told to keep the matter quiet.It was true that for several years the King had been at odds with the Council,but this was no time to remember personal feuds.
The Sanhedrin buried the hatchet (which they had been carefully whetting to destroy Herod)and meekly went to the royal palace and poured forth a long list of grievances against the person of one Jesus,a self-styled prophet who was preaching seditious doctrines which would upset the old theocratic state (or what remained of it)and who was quite as dangerous a person to the safety of the nation as that John whom some people had called the Baptist,who now fortunately was unable to cause any more trouble.
Herod,as suspicious as his father,listened with willing ears.
But when the time came to arrest Jesus,he could not be found.For the second time he had left the town,and followed by an ever increasing number of pupils,he was slowly wending his way back to Galilee where he felt more at home than he did in Judaea.
From a worldly point of view,his career was already reaching its climax.The belief that Jesus was really the Messiah had taken hold of the masses.They would have marched against Jerusalem,or for that matter,against the entire Roman army,had Jesus been willing to lead them.
But that,alas for them,was still furthest away from his dreams.
He had no personal ambition.