CHAPTER 3
THE GREAT FEAST
One day there was a great feast in the city below. People were singing and dancing in the streets. Many people came from miles around to attend the annual Feast. I couldn’t wait to see this strange, mysterious and compassionate man again, the one who continued to proclaim that GOD WAS HIS FATHER. It was rumored that He had a natural father like I had. His natural father’s name was Joseph, and His mother was named Mary. Yet, He continued to call God his Father. Could He possibly have TWO fathers? I had never heard of anyone having two fathers. He was so strange and different than anyone I had ever seen! Maybe He could have two fathers, but I could not understand how that would be possible.
I was hoping against hope that in the morning He would again come and pray to his Father God beside the rock beneath my branches. “What did I just say,” I thought! I called GOD His father.
I noticed on several occasions as I observed Him in the valley below that religious men would try to set traps for Him. The talk among the other trees was that the religious leaders in the city below did not like Him saying that God was His Father. One time he even called the religious leaders snakes and whited sepulchers. Somehow He was always able to escape from the traps they set for Him.
Just as I began to fall asleep that night I was awakened by a group of men climbing up the mountain. It was dusk, and I could barely see the men as they walked toward me in the darkness. I knew He was with the men because I felt my leaves and branches bowing down to Him again. I felt love and peace enter into me as they always did whenever He was near.
Each time He came to pray underneath my branches, the love and peace that flowed through me grew stronger and stronger. However, this time when He came He left the men who were with Him about fifty yards down the side of the mountain. He came alone to pray under my branches.
He walked underneath me again, and knelt down at the rock just below my branches. Suddenly, He began to pray and weep sorrowfully. Even though I could feel His love and peace flowing all over me, I sensed something was very wrong this time. I could tell He was very troubled about something.
As He prayed laboriously, He began to sweat great drops of blood. He wept and groaned as He prayed in agony to His Father. I wondered if there had been a disagreement between Him and His Father. I felt His love all over me, yet I was feeling a great sadness, the like of which I had never felt before.
I could not imagine what was wrong. Once I heard Him cry out “FATHER IF IT BE THY WILL LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME, NEVERTHELESS MAY THY WILL AND NOT MINE BE DONE.” I didn’t understand! So many things were happening lately in my life that I could not explain. My branches swayed in compassion and sadness as He wept and sweated great drops of His blood. The sweat from His brow flowed down His face and onto the rock as he prayed to God, His Father. “Oh, how I wish I could help Him somehow,” I thought.
I tried to think of a way to help Him. “If only I could help wipe those tears and blood that flowed down His face away, maybe that would comfort Him,” I reasoned. “Maybe I could encourage Him somehow”, I thought. I wanted to pray and ask God to help Him, but there was nothing I could do. After all, I was just a tree, and I didn’t think God would even listen to a tree—especially a bitter, worthless tree like me. I did understand this much, though, whatever He was going through, He would have to do it alone. It didn’t look like God His Father was going to help Him this time.
After praying to His Father for a long time, He rose up and went back down the side of the mountain where His Disciples had fallen asleep. He woke them from their slumber, and they all walked back down the mountain together. I don’t know what else happened that night, but I know I did not get much sleep because of all the confusion and loud noises I heard in the City of Jerusalem below.
The next morning I woke up still pondering the things which I had heard and seen the previous evening. It was a beautiful spring day. The sky was a deep shade of blue, and the grass on the mountain was wet with the morning dew. It was a great day to be alive.
I was hoping to see the man who called God His Father coming up the hill again to pray beneath my branches that morning. I thought maybe I could ask Him why He was so sad the night before when He prayed to His Father. I wanted to ask Him why the blood and sweat ran down His face like water. I didn’t understand what had happened and why it happened. Why He was so burdened and upset?
On such a beautiful day as this if He would come and pray beneath my branches, that would be all I needed to make my day complete! I always felt peace and love flow over me whenever He was near. It would be a great joy to see Him again and bask in His presence. It always made me feel so beautiful and clean to be in His presence. I looked anxiously to see if I could see Him coming up the mountain.
That morning there was an unusual amount of activity in the city below. I saw a lot of hustling and bustling in the city, but I could not see Him anywhere. I wondered what all the excitement was about, and if it had anything to do with Him.