"This Friday eve, when the meal had been eaten with the
disciples together, Yeshua slept once more under his mother's roof. And when he
had laid himself down to rest, Miriam went out into her garden to learn what
manner of men her son had chosen for his followers. She had seen them before,
at the marriage in Cana; they were the three whom he had apparently elected to
be his closest intimates, for they never stirred from his side.
 |
| St. Peter |
Among them was the stocky fishermen with the leathery
face – Simon, whom they were already calling Cephas, signifying "a
rock." A curly black beard, which seemed continuous with his hair, framed
all his features. His eyes were overhung with heavy brows and made a pattern of
crow's feet at their corners, all of which would have expressed only simplicity
and kindness had not the frank gaze of his eyes suggested the practical
sagacity of the people, the accumulated wisdom of generations.
Simon showed her all possible reverence, addressing her
with utmost humility and catering to her where he could, and Miriam sensed in
him the love and devotion which the simple Jew of Galilee had for her son. She
soon came to understand why Yeshua held him in such high regard. For the man
was all faith, and this faith had begotten his conviction that the ways of his
rabbi were those of righteousness and that his every act was performed on the
word of God. It fortified his hope and assured him that no harm would come to
his rabbi, that Yeshua, like Elijah before him, would avoid the narrow Strait
of death and ascend, undying, into heaven, there to sit on the right hand of
God for the judgment of the world. In this hope Miriam found her affinity with
him, for since his coming to her house, Simon had been strengthening and
consoling her, saying:
"Do I not see the Angels going in and out of his
door as in Abraham's house? What evil can befall him, or what hurt can come to
him, when a host of ministering angels stand at his right and left, waiting to
act at his bidding?"
This hope of Simon's for happy issue of his rabbi's
ministry brought him close to the mother and awakened her love."
from Mary, by Sholem Asch, p. 366-368
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