An Easter Disciple | Page 8

Christ, they give Quintus
their welcome; and at once he feels himself among a congenial
brotherhood.
One is by name Nicodemus, a member of the Great Sanhedrin. Another
is one Bartimaeus, from southern Jericho, whose finger tips have been
his eyes, till the Lord has healed his blindness. A third has been a
demoniac among the hills of the Gergesenes, and has been a wandering
and truculent challenge to his times. A woman is there from Jacob's
well, with Salome and Susanna and the virgin mother herself. They are
from southern Bethlehem; they have come from the wild hills of Peraea,
beyond the Jordan; many are from Galilee, where Christ has found so
many devoted followers. All these, as well as the immortal eleven who
have composed the inner circle of the Master's associates.
Two other peculiar disciples does Quintus see, both of whom have been
raised from the dead. Lazarus has come, who has so often welcomed
the Lord to his home in Bethany; and with him are the sisters, of whom
one has heard the Teacher say. "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me

shall never die." The other is a young vineyard keeper from the
neighboring village of Nain, whom Christ has restored. His word to
Quintus is:
"Last year I sickened with a fever and passed through the door of death.
They were carrying me out for burial, and my widowed mother was
weeping as one weeps who has lost her only son. The Master halted the
mourners, and called me back to earth. I have never told of the wonders
which I saw in the spirit world; it would not be lawful. But I have been
in the great spaces beyond the stars, and know that the tomb is only a
resting place for a little sleep."
"How many disciples are there here?" Quintus asks of the good John.
To which question the other answers:
"Over a half thousand. It has been our Master's wish that every disciple
of his throughout the land should come to this meeting place. Unto all
he would show himself once more, before he returns to the upper life.
So they shall have a glad memory of his face, and shall be strengthened
in their coming tribulations by the hope of immortality."
Then suddenly--the risen Lord has come! The marvel of it! The
splendor of it! While the five hundred are talking together, the air
grows luminous with his presence. Out of the invisible he appears. As
suddenly he comes as Aurora in her chariot drives up the eastern sky
and brings in the shining day. When the company have fallen on their
faces and have adored their Master, in the hush that follows he gives
them a great commission:
"You are to go forth." he says, "and herald my gospel to the world. Let
there be no laggards in your company. It is a lifelong charge. There is a
task for Petrus and Johannes, for Philippus and Mattheus, and for all.
You are to look for disciples everywhere. You are to proclaim the
message of repentance. You are to give them the waters of baptism, in
the name of the God triune. You are to declare to sad-hearted men the
promise of eternal life, until I shall come again to take men to myself."
That honorable commission! It was in coming days to stir the souls of
apostles and quicken the feet of missioners and fire with zeal earth's
coming reformers. Nor does Quintus forget that he too has his charge.
In the city on the Tiber is to be his task. To his home circle, to priests in
the temples of the gods, and even to the royal Tiberius he is to herald
the gospel of the resurrection. His vision of the risen Lord is the

measure of his opportunity.
Then the Master looks into his very face, and remembers him as the
Roman knight he had seen in the Porch of Solomon. The half thousand
disciples on Kurn Hattin prostrate themselves to the earth; and in their
acclaim the soldier joins his voice, "Rabboni! Rabboni! Our great
Master!" Then departs the Christ, and back to their homes they go,
evermore to comfort themselves with the vision of their risen Lord.
Soon afterward their Rabboni goes from earth. Out beyond the hill of
Olivet he walks one day with his eleven. In their last words together he
reminds them again that they are to be his heralds to the eastern world.
A cloud gathers above their heads, like some halting chariot, and he is
gone forever from human sight. Yet only in the distance it seems a
cloud. For John afterward says to Quintus that it was in reality a
phalanx of ten thousand angels, robed in whiteness and sent to