“No,” John replied quietly. “Some, especially the most coarse, laughed at us, calling us ‘fools from Galilee.’ ”

“Didn’t any of the people, out of curiosity if nothing else, ask you and the other apostles the identity of the man who was riding on an ass and receiving such homage from your group?”

“Some did.”

“And what did you tell them?”

“We told them that he was Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”

“Why didn’t you tell them that he was the Messiah?”

John lowered his eyes and rubbed his fingers aimlessly back and forth across the polished wood. “Even then, most of us were blind to the truth. Except Peter.”

“Peter? Are you referring to that incident at Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asked all of you who he was, and Peter was the only one who said he was the Messiah?”

“Who told you of that?”

“Peter himself. He also told me that Jesus charged all of you to tell no man. Was it because of this command from him that you told the crowds he was Jesus the prophet instead of saying he was Jesus the Messiah—or was it because, except for Peter, the rest of you were not certain who he was?”

John remained silent. I pressed him.

“Is it fair to conclude that the others, including yourself, had not yet acquired the faith necessary to move mountains—or convert cities?”

“Your words are harsh, but they are the truth, sir. Only later were our eyes opened, after Jesus had been raised and—”

I reached across the table and clasped his hand gently. “Wait! Please help me to understand those events in their proper order. Only this morning I asked Pilate about any crowd disturbance caused by the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on that day. He said that he had known of none or he would have taken steps to keep it from growing into something more serious. Undoubtedly he would have arrested Jesus for incitement. Now you, John, have just confirmed Pilate’s statement that there was no great entry into the city accompanied by surging crowds of followers greeting their savior. Jesus may have ridden into Jerusalem as the Messiah, so far as he was concerned, and possibly Peter, but for the rest of you, as well as for the pilgrims on the road, he was only another rabbi or, at the most, a Galilean prophet, entering the city on an ass in order to observe the Passover. And instead of the people rallying to his cause, as he may have expected, they went about their business of preparing for the holiday as usual. Am I correct?”

John glanced hurriedly toward Joseph, who proved to be no more help to him than he was to me during any interview. “Yes,” he finally admitted.