Martha began, “During our winter Feast of Dedication, called Hanukkah, there had been trouble in the Temple between Jesus and the Pharisees. They had approached him, while he was walking alone in Solomon’s Portico, and challenged him to stop talking in riddles and to come right out and tell them if he was the Messiah. He refused, telling them that the works he did in his Father’s name should be all the witness they needed, but he realized that, since they were not his sheep, they would never believe him. When he said, ‘I and my Father are one,’ they began to pick up stones to destroy him for his blasphemy, but he stopped them by asking, ‘Many good deeds have I shown you from my Father; for which of these do you intend to stone me?’ Enraged, they tried to seize him, but he escaped and returned directly here. All this he told me before he departed, saying that he was taking his sheep beyond the Jordan, to safety, into the land of Peraea, but that he would return to our home in time for Passover. I was frightened for him. I pleaded that he not return so soon, but he said that he must.”

“He used the word ‘must’?”

“Yes.”

“Peraea is a large land. How did your messenger find Jesus when your brother took sick?”

“The road from here to Jericho continues across the Jordan and also across Peraea. Jesus had confided to Lazarus that he and his apostles would never be far from that road should anything occur in the city that we believed he should know. When my messenger, Joel, a neighbor’s son, rode off, he had been instructed by me to inquire of the master’s whereabouts along the Jericho Road, and when he found him he was only to say, ‘Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.’ ”

“When did Lazarus die?”

“Only a few hours after I dispatched the messenger.”

“Then it is likely that by the time Jesus received your message, Lazarus was already dead?”

“Yes.”

“And how many days passed before Jesus finally appeared?”

Martha lowered her head. “We were already in the fourth day of mourning. Mary and I were sitting in this room with our friends, neighbors, and many representatives from the Temple who had come out of respect for Lazarus and the generous contributions we had made over the years. Thomas, one of the apostles, entered the room and whispered in my ear that Jesus was outside the village, waiting. I went with him immediately.”

“Why didn’t Jesus come as soon as he was told that Lazarus was sick?”