ind me of?" Jesus said. "I saw some children in
the market this morning who couldn't decide what they wanted to do. Some
wanted to play that they were at a wedding; others, that they were at a
funeral. When they piped wedding music, the ones who wanted a funeral
wouldn't dance. And when they piped funeral music, the others quit. It
was impossible to please them all.

"You and your teachers are like children who are never satisfied. John
the Baptizer came and fasted often--and you said he had a demon. Now I
come eating and drinking like other men and you call me a glutton and a
drunkard. You accuse me of being friendly with tax collectors and other
sinners. But what we do will prove to be right!"

When the crowd broke up, Andrew and John walked back to Capernaum with
Jesus. "Someone had been talking to the man who asked that question,"
declared Andrew.

"Yes, I know," answered Jesus. "We must expect the Pharisees to
criticize us. How careful they are to keep every little command of the
rabbis--but justice, mercy, and kindness they forget. They would strain
a gnat out of their soup and swallow a camel whole!" The disciples had
to smile at the way Jesus put it. "They cannot understand what we are
saying. We offend them--and when you offend men who take their religion
very seriously, you must be ready for real trouble!"

The next Sabbath Day the disciples realized that the Pharisees were not
going to stand by while Jesus taught the people a new way of life. Jesus
had traveled to a small town near Capernaum where he had not been before
and so he was invited to speak in the synagogue. Several Pharisees were
present and very much interested in what Jesus said. They seemed
friendly, and after the service went walking with Jesus and a few other
people who clustered around Jesus. The group passed through a field of
grain outside the town. James and Levi were hungry, so they pulled the
tops off some wheatstalks. They rubbed the heads of wheat in their hands
and blew away the chaff. The Pharisees seemed offended by this, but at
first they said nothing. Other people saw what the disciples were doing,
and they plucked wheat too. The Pharisees became more and more disturbed
and finally could keep back their protests no longer. They came to
Jesus.

"Rabbi, we noticed that some of the men here were pulling wheat," one of
them said tactfully.

Jesus said: "They are hungry. It is all right for them to pick wheat,
isn't it?"

"The