hus, Jesus and His followers passed away on their
pilgrimage. But the fame of the miracle spread from town to town, even
up to the great capital, Jerusalem. And men wondered or doubted,
according to their natures, while the temporal and ecclesiastical
authorities began to again ask themselves and each other whether this
man were not a dangerous person and an enemy to established custom and
order.

In one of His journeys Jesus found Himself invited to the house of a
leading citizen of the town in which He was preaching. This citizen
was one of the class known as Pharisees, whose characteristics were an
extreme devotion and adherence to forms and ceremonies and a bigoted
insistence upon the observance of the letter of the law. The Pharisees
were the ultra-orthodox center of an orthodox people. They were the
straight-laced brethren who walked so erect that they leaned backward.
They were the people who thanked God that they were not like unto
other men. They were the "uncommonly good" members of church and
society. The very name stands even unto this day as a synonym for
"pious sham."

Just why this Pharisee had invited the Master to dine with him is not
easily understood. It is likely that it was a combination of curiosity
and a desire to entrap his guest into statements and admissions that
might be used against him. At any rate, the invitation was given and
accepted.

The Master noted that certain little ceremonies usually extended by
the Hebrews to a guest of equal standing were omitted by His host. His
head was not anointed with the ceremonial oil, as was the custom in
houses of this character when the guest was honored as an equal or
desirable addition to the family gathering. Clearly He was regarded as
a curiosity or "freak" rather than as a friend, and had been invited
in such a spirit. But He said nothing, and passed over the slight. And
the meal passed along smoothly up to a certain point.

The host and his guests were reclining easily, after the Oriental
fashion, discussing various topics, when a woman pressed her way into
the banquet hall. Her dress proclaimed her to be one of the women of
easy virtue abounding in all Oriental towns. She was clad in showy
apparel and her hair fell loosely over her shoulders after the custom
of the women of her kind in that land. She fixed her eyes upon the
Master and moved slowly toward him, much to the annoyance of the host,
who feared a scene, for the Master would most li