Chapter 16

By the time the party reached Nain, where they were to tarry for a day, hundreds of people were following. That evening a large crowd assembled on the village green intent upon hearing Jesus speak. As he rose to address them, a lean middle-aged fellow raised his arm for recognition and shouted, in a rasping tone:

‘Good Master, I heard you speak a parable in Cana about the king’s banquet where the rich despised their invitations and the poor were brought in.’ His harsh voice had risen until it had gripped and silenced the restless crowd. ‘I believe you, sir!’ he went on. ‘It is high time the poor, who outnumber the greedy rich, should sit at the banquet-table! I would that you repeat the story for these slaves in Nain who are toiling their lives away, working for beggarly wages, to keep old Simeon Ben-Edom in luxury.’

There was a dissenting murmur in the crowd as the revolutionary diatribe came to an end. It was evident that the people of Nain considered the impudent fellow as a trouble-maker. They grew quiet now, wondering what Jesus would say. Peter had stepped forward, glowering at the self-appointed orator. The Master laid a gently detaining hand on the huge, flexed forearm; and in a friendly tone obliged his inquisitor by retelling the parable of the king’s banquet, and how the poor were brought in from the highways and hedges to attend the party.

But the parable had taken on a new chapter since it had been told in Cana, Jesus continued.

The king, he said, was quite willing to welcome the ragamuffins into his beautiful banquet-hall, but he wanted them to look and feel and be as respectable as possible. So he ordered his servants to offer each guest a clean and suitable garment to wear at the dinner.

But one sulky fellow, wanting to show his contempt for the king—and the palace—and the feast, refused to accept the robe they gave him to cover his dirty tatters. ‘They asked me to come here just as I was,’ he growled, ‘and now they can take me, just as I am—or throw me out…’ So they threw him out.

The crowd was delighted. They laughed and cheered. When the meeting was over, Peter—who hadn’t spoken to Esther since yesterday—turned to her with a broad smile, and said, ‘”The meek shall inherit the earth”—but they’d better be meek!’

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