Jesus, she often forgot, in listening to him,
the duties of real life. Her sister, upon whom fell all the duty at
such times, gently complained. "Martha, Martha," said Jesus to her,
"thou art troubled, and carest about many things; now, one thing only
is needful. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken
away."[6] Her brother, Eleazar, or Lazarus, was also much beloved by
Jesus.[7] Lastly, a certain Simon, the leper, who was the owner of the
house, formed, it appears, part of the family.[8] It was there, in the
enjoyment of a pious friendship, that Jesus forgot the vexations of
public life. In this tranquil home he consoled himself for the
bickerings with which the scribes and the Pharisees unceasingly
surrounded him. He often sat on the Mount of Olives, facing Mount
Moriah,[9] having beneath his view the splendid perspective of the
terraces of the temple, and its roofs covered with glittering plates
of metal. This view struck strangers with admiration; at the rising of
the sun, especially, the sacred mountain dazzled the eyes, and
appeared like a mass of snow and of gold.[10] But a profound feeling
of sadness poisoned for Jesus the spectacle that filled all other
Israelites with joy and pride. He cried out, in his moments of
bitterness, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not."[11]

[Footnote 1: Now _El-Azerie_ (from _El-Azir_, the Arabic name of
Lazarus); in the Christian texts of the Middle Ages, _Lazarium_.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 17, 18; Mark xi. 11, 12.]

[Footnote 3: John xi. 5.]

[Footnote 4: Luke x. 38-42; John xii. 2.]

[Footnote 5: John xi. 20.]

[Footnote 6: Luke x. 38, and following.]

[Footnote 7: John xi. 35, 36.]

[Footnote 8: Matt. xxvi. 6; Mark xiv. 3; Luke vii. 40-43; John xii. 1,
and following.]

[Footnote 9: Mark xiii. 3.]

[Footnote 10: Josephus, _B.J._, V. v. 6.]

[Footnote 11: Matt. xxiii. 37; Luke xiii. 34.]

It was not that many good people here, as in Galilee, were not
touched; but such was the power of the dominant orthodoxy, that very
few dared to confess it. They feared to discredit themselves in the
eyes of the Hierosolymites by placing themselves in the school of a
Galilean. They would have risked being driven from the synagogue,
which, in a mean and bigoted society, was t