Men Called Him Master | Page 3

a few shrubs clung to the banks. A short distance
away the river turned and disappeared behind the opposite cliff.
"The crossing is below that bend," explained John to the stranger. "The
Prophet should be there." He gave his donkey a cut with the whip, and
the stolid animal moved faster. A few minutes later he cried out: "There!
See down there?" People were gathered at the edge of the river. It did
not take the men long to reach the gully through which the road
descended to the river. The fishermen tied their donkeys with the other
animals that stood tethered to bushes and small trees. In their haste they
forgot their companion.
"Do you see the Prophet?" inquired Andrew, looking eagerly about.
John jerked at his sleeve.

"There! By that rock on the bank!" They climbed up the slope where
they could see.
John could not tell why he felt the way he did. It might have been the
appearance of John the Baptizer. He wore a rough camel-hair tunic and
a leather belt. None of the people who were there for the first time had
ever seen such a man before. He was very thin. His skin was tanned
brown and his hair and beard were long. Like the poorest people in
Palestine, he lived on grasshoppers and wild honey. Just then John the
Baptizer spoke. He looked old, but his voice showed that he was young
and strong.
"It is time you begin to show some sign that you are God's chosen
people," he cried out. "But you are just like your ancestors--you pay no
attention to God. You don't listen to the prophets. God is not going to
wait much longer. The time has come to repent! The Kingdom of
Heaven is near!"
The crowd stirred. What was this? Could it be true that the end of the
world was coming soon?
"Isaiah the Prophet said, 'Everyone shall see the saving power of God,'"
continued the Baptizer. "God is getting ready to clean off his threshing
platform. He will gather his wheat into his storehouse, but he will burn
the straw in fire that never dies down! Let every one of you get ready
for the coming of the Lord!"
Near the front edge of the crowd a priest stood up. "How do you dare
talk this way?" he demanded. "Who are you--the Messiah?"
"No, I am not the Messiah," replied the Prophet.
"Then who are you? The Prophet Elijah?"
"I am not Elijah."
"Are you Moses come back to us?"

"No."
"Then who are you? The rulers in Jerusalem have sent me to find out.
What have you to say for yourself?" Andrew and John glanced at each
other. The rulers!
John the Baptizer called out boldly to the whole crowd, "I am a voice
crying in the wilderness, 'Clear the way for the Lord!'"
The priest from Jerusalem interrupted again. "If you are not the Christ,
nor Elijah, nor Moses, what right have you to baptize people?" The
people stirred; they did not like this man.
"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me
is mightier. I am not fit even to tie his sandal laces. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire. You must repent!"
A man broke away from the crowd and stepped uncertainly toward the
Prophet. Words came from his lips as though it hurt him to speak. "I
have forced money out of people. I am a tax-gatherer. What can I do?"
Everyone there had been cheated by tax collectors.
"Turn your whole life back toward God. Never again force people to
pay more money than is just."
Several other people had joined the tax collector. "What must I do?"
asked a soldier.
"Never take money from people by force. Never blackmail. Be content
with your pay." He looked at the group before him and said: "Let every
man of you who owns two garments share with the person who has
none at all. If you have food, share it too!"
A whisper ran over the crowd. John had turned to some religious
officials, Sadducees and Pharisees, who stood watching. "You nest of
snakes! Who told you to flee from God's day of judgment? It is time
you repented!"

"How can he talk that way to Pharisees?" said Andrew. He could tell
even from where he stood that the Pharisees felt the charge was unjust.
"Why should we repent?" asked one of them. "We are descended from
Abraham himself. We were born to be God's chosen people!"
"God can make children of Abraham out of these rocks if he wants!"
burst out the Prophet. "Instead of saying over and over again, 'Abraham
is our ancestor,' you ought to live so that people will