e brothers
equal to me? That is because I am humble." Jesus turned to them all,
and said: "Prepare yourselves, be strong; evil times are approaching.
They will kill Me."

As He said that, Simon Peter grasped His arm with both his hands, and
exclaimed passionately: "In the name of God, Master, that shall not
happen."

Upon which Jesus said quickly and severely: "Get behind me, Satan!"

They looked round them. What a sudden change! For whom were the hard
words meant? Simon knew; he went down and hid himself behind the young
cedars. There he wept and shook with grief.

"John, He hates me!" muttered the disciple, and hid his face in his
young companion's gown, for John had gone to comfort him. "John! It
was my pride. He sees our thoughts. He hates me!"

"No, Simon, He does not hate you; He loves you. Think of what He said
to you just before. That about the rock. You know what Jesus is. You
know how He has to pour cold water so that the fire of love may not
consume Him. And you must have touched on something that He Himself
finds difficult. I'm sure of it. I believe that He is suffering
something that we know nothing about. It is as though He saw it was
the Father's will that He should suffer and die. He is young, He feels
dismayed, and then you come and make the struggle harder for Him.
Stand up, brother; we must be strong and cheerful and a support to Him."

And when they gathered together, prepared for further journeying, Jesus
looked round the circle of His faithful adherents, and said, with
solemn seriousness: "In a short time you will see Me no more. I go to
the Father. I build my Kingdom upon your faith, firm as rock, and give
you all the keys of heaven. With God, heaven and earth are one, and
everything you do on earth is also done in heaven."

That is what happened on one of the heights of Lebanon when Jesus
rested there with His disciples.

And then He went again to His native place, not to stay there, but to
see it once more. After days of hardships which they scarcely felt,
and of want which they never perceived, they came down into the fertile
plains, and the soft air was filled with scent of roses and of almond
blossoms. They found themselves once again in their native land, where
they were treated with such contempt that they had to avoid the high
roads and take the side paths. When they were passing through a ravine
near Nazareth, they stopped under the scanty shade of some o