“Matthias, listen to me,” he commanded. “As you have witnessed with your own eyes, this week, there are now thousands upon thousands of believers in the risen Jesus. Ten years from today, as you know, that number will have grown so large that they will begin to create serious disturbances in the city and the Temple. Twenty or twenty-five years from now there will be Christians in every city and village from here to Rome, within forty years they will have begun to undermine the swords and spears of the empire, and in less than three hundred years a Roman emperor will fall to his knees and adopt the teachings of Jesus for all his subjects. You always insist on facts, my son, and you know that what I have just said contains nothing but facts. You nod your head; you agree. Very well, great writer of books, explain to me, if you can, how those eleven miserable weaklings, instead of fleeing to their homes, were able to leave this room, that night, and bring the word of Jesus to the people with such power and force that within three centuries they and their disciples to follow were able to conquer the Roman Empire! Tell me! What happened in this room, before they had a chance to escape into a life of anonymity, that changed them from defeated little men into the greatest force for good the world has ever known? Tell me, what could possibly have occurred here to create such a change in these men, a change so strong and binding in their characters that eventually they would all lay down their lives for their faith? Speak, Matthias!”

He was a different Joseph from the man I had known for four days. I shrugged my shoulders and replied faintly, “You tell me, Joseph. I’m the one who is looking for answers, remember.”

“I’ll not tell you!” he roared and his voice cracked. “I was not privileged to be here.”

He rushed to the door, threw it open, and called John, who must have been standing close by, on the terrace.

“John, please tell Matthias what happened in this room while some of the men were preparing to leave it forever, that night.”