Jericho stood, as has been said, in the plain that separates the Judean mountains from the southern part of the Jordan, and from the Dead Sea. As our Lord walked out of Jericho towards Jerusalem He had straight before Him the Mountain of Temptation, or the Quarantine, as it is called. There in a grotto He had fasted forty days, and had permitted Satan to come to tempt Him. After walking about a mile across the plain and leaving the Mount of Temptation on the right hand He commenced the steep ascent. For Jerusalem stands between two and three thousand feet above Jericho, and therefore it may be, as well as because Jerusalem was the capital, that we read in the Gospel that the man who fell among thieves went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The story of the Good Samaritan may not have been a parable, but a true narrative of what had occurred. For it would be difficult to imagine a region more fit to be the haunt of robbers than the country on each side of this wild and dreary road. Our Saviour and His followers had not to climb one continuous ascent, but to walk up and down a succession of rocky hills. abounding everywhere with caverns or grottoes out of which, even now, the Bedouins spring upon the unprotected traveller and leave him on the road stripped of all that they can take; and wounded also to death if he offers any resistance. For this reason pilgrims secure the service of one of the armed Bedouins who have entered the service of the Government as mounted police. These Bedouin gendarmes are respected by their lawless comrades, who are often met on the road carrying their rifle slung over their shoulder and a massive club in their hand. At the present day, with the exception of the khan or resting. house where pilgrims dismount to eat whatever food they bring with them (for they will find no entertainment there). there is scarcely a house to be seen from the time the traveller leaves the site of ancient Jericho till he arrives in the neighbourhood of Bethany. The journey not a little resembles the ride through Connemara, with this exception, that whereas in Ireland there is a good carriage road, from Jericho up to the Holy City there is none. A late enterprising Pacha of Jerusalem began to make a good road, but he was removed from his office, and it remains unfinished and useless, the necessary bridges not being erected, and the road being in parts so steep that it seems very doubtful whether carriages could be dragged up the heights. The spot is still pointed out where the Good Samaritan did his charitable work; and there is also seen by the roadside a small erection called the Well of the Apostles. STATION X. He went before, going up to Jerusalem (St. Luke v. 28). A. Contemplate the scene: the persons, the words, the actions. Watch our Blessed Lord walking on before, in His eagerness for the moment that is coming; yet now, as always, full of consideration for the faithful crowd that follows; and therefore not hastening on too fast for them. When He travelled along this road a fortnight before to raise Lazarus to life, He accomplished the journey from the Jordan to Bethany in two days. Now that He has a much larger crowd around Him, and many devout women, and probably too His Holy Mother, we may perhaps assume that He was best part of three days on the road. B. Observe closely the poverty of our Lord and our Lady on this journey, and how He trains His followers to labour and to the endurance of hunger. Mary and Martha and others were no doubt there to minister to Him and to Holy Mary and to the Apostles; but their money could only procure in that wilderness very scant refreshment after the weary walking. We must also take notice that the poverty of Jesus and His Blessed Mother is not only outward poverty, but inwardly also there is the most perfect poverty of spirit: a strong and unalterable desire and preference and love for this severe poverty. Twelve legions of angels are ready to minister to their King and their Queen, but the delight of their King and their Queen is in poverty. By their poverty they know that they will conquer the world with its concupiscences. C. What are the thoughts of Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, as they go back to their home at Bethany? Of what is Zacheus thinking as he walks ? And the men so lately blind, as they gaze on the mountains and the valleys so new to them, what is their state of mind? Are they all complaining of the weary journey? or do they all experience what we read in the Imitation of Christ, that "when Jesus is present, all goes well and nothing seems difficult"? His As for the Blessed Mother, she is the Mirror of Justice. Her soul reflects the Most Holy Soul of her Son. thoughts are her thoughts. "Blessed Mother of God: Vitam præsta puram, Iter para tutum. Watch over us during our journey through life, that we may arrive cleansed from all sin at our death-bed." SCENE V. JERUSALEM AND THE ENVIRONS. STATION I. And the Pasch of the Jews was at hand. And many from the country went up to Jerusalem before the Pasch to purify themselves (St. John xi. 55). A. May God grant us grace to learn from the stiffnecked Jews! If they purified themselves for their Pasch, what pains ought we to take to purify ourselves for our Pasch-for every Holy Communion? for the Paschal Communion? above all, for the Holy Viaticum, our last, our decisive Communion? Wash me yet more, O Lord, from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin (Psalm i.). STATION II. They sought therefore for Jesus, and they discoursed one with another, standing in the Temple: What think you, that He is not come to the festival-day? And the Chief Priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where He was, he should tell, that they might apprehend Him (v. 56). A. They sought for Jesus. Again we may learn from these Jews. For they were at least anxious to see our Lord and hear Him, and they sought for Him and discussed why He had not come. We are sometimes indifferent whether He is near us or far away; and not anxious to be with Him in the Blessed Sacrament. B. And the Priests had given a commandment that any man who knew where He was should tell. And therefore our Blessed Saviour is moved by His compassionate Heart to hide Himself, lest the poor people should, through fear of the Pharisees, be tempted to betray Him. Fac cor dulce Jesu mei, Fac ut nos amemus Te. Grant us, O Lord, to love more and more the circumspect and compassionate charity of Thy Sacred Heart; and grace to be very careful not to give scandal to any of Thy little ones. On the Friday then in Passion Week, we may perhaps assume, our Blessed Saviour, accompanied by a large following, has arrived at the eastern side of Mount Olivet. The Holy City lies behind the hill on the other side. He has completed the work of climbing up the rugged ascent from Jericho, and He is now on the level road which runs round the base of Mount Olivet into Jerusalem. Bethany and the grave of Lazarus lie on the hill-side before Him, and He has reached the Stone of Conference, where a fortnight before He spoke with Martha, and then with Magdalen. May we not picture to ourselves Magdalen pointing out the stone to our Blessed Lady, and lingering there with her a while, and Martha too, repeating to the Blessed Mother the memorable words there said to her: I am the Resurrection and the Life, he who believeth in Me, even though he be dead, shall live? These words, with so many others, Holy Mary lays up in her heart, never to lose them. We may likewise try to read the thoughts of Lazarus when Martha brings him also to the stone. The Apostles point it out to many more. Meanwhile, as we have seen, pilgrims from many lands are crowding into Jerusalem, through all the gates of the city, for the Great Pasch. Little they know how great a Pasch it is to be. Some of these pilgrims have fallen in with the disciples following Jesus from Jericho, and have heard something of what has passed. They carry the tidings into Jerusalem that Jesus of Nazareth is close at hand, that He has reached Bethany and is staying there. They further report that Lazarus is with Him. The news spreads rapidly through the city, and soon arrives at the villa of the High Priest on the Hill of Evil Counsel. The effect produced by the news is very different in different quarters. SCENE VI. BETHAN Y. STATION I. A great multitude of the Jews knew that He was there, and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus (St. John xii. 9). A. On the Friday evening, therefore, and on the Sabbath day that follows, the road from Jerusalem to Bethany is crowded with men and women hastening to see Jesus; and with others, perchance still more eager to look on Lazarus, the man who was dead and is come to life. Let us contemplate, in the first place, those among the crowd of visitors who are desirous of seeing Jesus. Many among them have a true affection for Him. As we watch them thronging round Him as they have been used to do, and with gladness on their faces gazing upon Him, and trying, perhaps, to touch the hem of His garments, we will pray that we may have some share of their affection for our Saviour, some of their desire to see Him and be near Him. In that very favourite hymn of Holy Church, the Ave Maris Stella, we are taught to pray to the Blessed Mother of God: Vitam præsta puram, Ut videntes Jesum, Keep us pure till life be done : Then shall we behold thy Son, B. Then, in the next place, as we watch the men and women eagerly thronging round Lazarus and looking in joyful wonder upon him, Sursum corda. We may lift up our hearts and see the blessed angels and saints gazing with a joy such as no eye on earth has seen on the poor sinner when he has come home to his Heavenly Father, Jesus, therefore, six days before the Pasch came to Bethania (St. John xii.) (see page 284). |