wooded hills rising gently
from the lake shore, and he took pleasure in relating the town of
Magdala and the house of Dan of Arimathea, Joseph's father, and the
great industry he had established there; he continued talking, showing
such an intimate and personal knowledge of Galilee that Paul could not
doubt that he was what he professed to be, a Nazarene. There were
hundreds of Nazarenes, many of which were called Jesus: but there was
only one Jesus of Nazareth. He did not say this to Jesus; but after
Jesus had asked him how it was that he who had travelled the world over
had never turned into Galilee, he replied that the human life of Jesus
in Galilee concerned him not at all and his teaching very little. He
taught all the virtues, but these were known to humanity from the
beginning; they are in the law that God revealed to Moses. Even pagans
know of them. The Greeks have expounded them excellently well. A teacher
Jesus was and a great teacher, but far more important was the fact that
God had raised him from the dead, thereby placing him above all the
prophets and near to God himself. So I have always taught that if Jesus
were not raised from the dead our teaching is vain. A miracle, he said,
and he looked into Jesus' face just as if he suspected him to be
thinking that something more than a miracle was needed to convince the
world of the truth of Paul's doctrine. A miracle, to the truth of which
more than five hundred have already testified. First he appeared to Mary
and Martha, afterwards to Cleophas and Khuza. On the way to Emmaus he
stayed and supped with them and afterwards he appeared to the twelve.
Hast met all the twelve and consulted with them? Jesus asked, and Paul,
a little irritated by the interruption, answered that he had seen Peter
and John and James and Philip but he knew not the others; and, of
course, James, the brother of the Lord. Tell me about him, Jesus
answered. He admits Jesus as a prophet among the others but no more, and
observes the law more strictly than any other Jew, a narrow-minded bigot
that has opposed my teaching as bitterly as the priests themselves. It
was he who, Paul began, but Jesus interrupted and asked about Peter.
Where was he? And what doctrine is he preaching? Paul answered that
Peter was at Antioch, though why he should choose to live there has
always seemed strange to me, for he does not speak Greek. But what trade
does he follow? Jesus asked. There are marshes and lakes abou