the
citizens hated Him and would protest His investiture, saying they would
not have Him to reign over them.[1054] When He does return in power and
authority, these rebellious citizens shall surely receive the punishment
they deserve.[1055]

IN THE HOUSE OF SIMON THE LEPER.[1056]

Six days before the Feast of the Passover, that is to say before the day
on which the paschal lamb was to be eaten,[1057] Jesus arrived at
Bethany, the home town of Martha and Mary, and of Lazarus who had
recently died and been restored to life. The chronology of events during
the last week of our Lord's life supports the generally accepted belief
that in this year, the fourteenth day of Nisan, on which the Passover
festival began, fell on Thursday; and this being so, the day on which
Jesus reached Bethany was the preceding Friday, the eve of the Jewish
Sabbath. Jesus fully realized that this Sabbath was the last He would
live to see in mortality. The Gospel-writers have drawn a veil of
reverent silence over the events of that day. It appears that Jesus
passed His last Sabbath in retirement at Bethany. The journey afoot from
Jericho had been no easy walk, for the road ascended to an altitude of
nearly three thousand feet, and was withal otherwise a toilsome way.

On Saturday,[1058] probably in the evening after the Sabbath had passed,
a supper was spread for Jesus and the Twelve in the house of Simon the
leper. No other mention of this man, Simon, appears in scripture. If he
was living at the time our Lord was entertained in the house known by
his name, and if he was present, he must have been previously healed of
his leprosy, as otherwise he could not have been allowed within the
town, far less to be one of a festal company. It is reasonable to think
that the man had once been a victim of leprosy and had come to be
currently known as Simon the leper, and that he was one among the many
sufferers from this dread disease who had been healed through the Lord's
ministrations.

Martha was in charge of the supper arrangements on this memorable
occasion, and her sister Mary was with her, while Lazarus sat at table
with Jesus. Many have assumed that the house of Simon the leper was the
family home of the two sisters and Lazarus, in which case it is possible
that Simon was the father of the three; but of such relationship we have
no proof.[1059] There was no attempt to secure unusual privacy at this
supper. Such occasions were customarily marked