ke to be nearest you, one on
your right hand, the other on your left, so that we may have you
between us then as we have you now."

Upon which Jesus said: "This is not the first time that you have talked
thus foolishly. You don't know what you want. I tell you, when you
have done what I do, and have suffered what I shall suffer, then you
may come and ask."

They replied: "Lord, we will do what you do and suffer what you suffer."

These resolute words pleased Him, and He said nothing of the enormous
distance between Him and them. They were too simple to understand
that. He only said: "Leave that to Him who will show you your place.
For every ruler has rulers over him; One alone has no authority above
Him. Consider: if a servant has worked hard and faithfully, he will
not therefore in the evening sit at the upper end of the table and
begin to eat before his master, but he will first prepare his master's
food, and place a footstool under his feet. And so it is with you.
Whoso would be greatest must serve the others. I, too, have come not
to be ministered to but to minister, and to sacrifice Myself for others
and to give My life a ransom for many."

It alarmed them that He should speak more and more often of giving up
His life. What did it mean? If he perished Himself how could He save
others? That might occur in saving people from fire or from drowning,
but how could a man free a people and lead it to God by sacrificing his
life? True, the heathens had their human sacrifices. Judas had his
own ideas about the matter. The Master was depressed by failure, or He
merely wished to test His adherents, to find out if they had strength
enough to follow Him through thick and thin. If only He could be
entirely sure of that, then He would hasten like the lightnings of
heaven to annihilate the enemy and glorify His own adherents. If, as
He Himself had said, faith was so strong that it could remove
mountains, it would be quite easy for Him to show His power at the
propitious moment.

This firm belief of Judas made the disciple Thomas remember the
Master's actual words about faith: Whosoever says to the mountain,
Depart, and cast yourself into the sea, and does not doubt but
_believes_ that it happens, for him it will happen. Mark, _for him_ it
will happen. Whether others who do not believe will see the mountain
fall into the sea He did not say.

"Then, brother Thomas," said Bartholomew, "you think things that ha