“He cured the boy. Later, we went to him and asked why none of us had been able to heal the afflicted one, and he replied, ‘Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you that if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say to this mountain, remove to yonder place and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.’ ”

“Faith, again?”

“As little as a mustard seed.”

“Peter, by now you have had several years to reflect on those events which took place during the last week of his life. Tell me, was the faith of Jesus so strong that he truly believed he could do more than move mountains after he entered Jerusalem, a week before Passover?”

“I do not understand your question.”

“Did Jesus believe that with only the twelve of you he could liberate the people from Roman rule despite Pilate’s soldiers and even the mighty legions of Vitellius, only two days’ march away, in Antioch? Did he expect to perform the miracle of miracles against all the forces that were arrayed against him?”

Peter, like the others, had shown no signs of losing control of himself or his temper through all my questioning. Now he replied, “Matthias, I fear that you still do not understand the nature of miracles. The power to perform them does not come from one’s faith but from God. However, faith must be present in order for your heart and soul to be open so that God may enter. Only then, when the Kingdom of God is within you, can mountains be moved.”

“And governments overthrown!” I replied caustically.

At that moment a servant silently approached our table and placed an ornate silver goblet before each of us. Then the young man filled them with red wine, placed the carafe before Joseph, and departed. The interruption couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Although Peter had been more than indulgent, I knew I was running out of time with him, and I needed that pause in order to plan my remaining questions so that they would lead Peter into explaining his whereabouts after Jesus was arrested. Inexplicably, not one of the four Gospels mentions his name even once, during all those drama-filled hours between the trials of Jesus and his hurried visit to the empty tomb with John, approximately fifty-six hours later. Where had he been and what was he doing while his master was being tried and crucified?

I drained my goblet and said, “Peter, I know that those days surrounding the crucifixion and burial of Jesus must be filled with painful memories for you but—”

He reached across the table and patted my arm. “They are no longer drenched in sorrow, Matthias. Now I know what I was too ignorant and blind to understand at the time.”

“Good. Sometime before Jesus arrested, he made a certain prophecy to you concerning the crowing of a cock?”