says. "And don't be afraid. Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men."
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PART SEVEN
MISSION
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A foreign army still controls the country. People suffer from taxes and the excesses of the Roman rulers. Some days their bodies and spirits are sapped of energy, and they can't remember a time when they weren't drained and beaten down. This simple marketplace of friends and neighbors, and food for sustenance, offers a few moments of peace.
For one woman in the crowd, there is no peace. Her mind has snapped, and she is tormented by inner voices. Her face is dirty and contorted from her suffering, and she sweats profusely.
When Peter reaches out to help her, she spits in his face and lunges into the mass of people.
"Leave her!" someone yells to him. "She's possessed by demons. You can't help her."
Peter doesn't give up. He presses through the crowd, right behind the woman. She breaks through into an
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open space, grabs a pot from a stall, and then hurls it at Peter. She turns to run once again, but finds herself standing face-to-face with Jesus. "What do you want?" she bawls at him, completely unafraid. Her eyes are clouded with confusion and rage.
When Jesus says nothing, she marches right up to him, raises the broken pot above her head, and stares into his eyes.
"Come out of her!" Jesus commands the demons.
Violent energy whooshes out of the woman. Her face freezes in shock, and she collapses. She sobs and shakes as the demons leave her, one by one.
Finally, she looks up into Jesus' eyes once again and finds herself transformed.
Jesus gently places his hand on her forehead. "I will strengthen you and
help you," he tells her.
She smiles. Her mind is clear, as if she has just emerged from a nightmare.
"What is your name?" Jesus asks.
"Mary. Mary of Magdala."
"Come with me, Mary."
Peter watches Jesus approach him. The fisherman shakes his head in wonder. He knows that she has just learned what Peter and the other men who have joined Jesus already know: he embodies God's promise of salvation.
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Peter studies the faces of others in the crowd. They express wonder at the instant change that has come over the madwoman Mary. He hears their whispers: "It's him...." "It's that preacher...." "It's the prophet...."
Others are cynical. They've seen it all before. They're suspicious of this quiet carpenter.
The Roman soldiers study Jesus as if he is a threat.
But Jesus' every action is one of peace. "Love one another," he tells his followers. "By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
The sound of coins being dropped onto the counting tables fills the air.
Jesus and his disciples now pass by the lines of sullen men who wait to pay their taxes.
Jesus is carefully watching one of the tax collectors. The man's name, the disciples are soon to learn, is Levi. Despite appearing soft or even supportive to his fellow Jews, he is a tax collector nonetheless.
"What do you see, Lord?" asks the disciple named John--not John the Baptist, who is now imprisoned.
Jesus doesn't answer. His gaze has been so hard and so direct that soon
Levi raises his head to stare back at this powerful energy he feels. His eyes connect with those of Jesus, just as the Son of God issues the 146
following order: "Follow me." Levi stands up and walks away from the table, leaving piles of uncounted coins in his wake. From now on, he will be called Matthew.
The disciples are furious.
"You don't like that I talk to tax collectors and sinners," Jesus says. "But search your heart and hear what I have to say: it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I'm not here to call the righteous. I'm here for the sinners."
Jesus squats in the town square, drawing in the dust with his finger. He is drawing not a picture but a series of letters. He is not alone, nor is the scene tranquil. Directly behind him, a crowd is gathering. A woman is forced to stand in front of a high wall, facing this crowd. Between the woman and the crowd rises a pile of smooth, large stones. When the time comes, each man in the group will be asked to lift a stone from a pile and throw it at her. The young woman standing before the wall has been accused of adultery. She is an outcast in the local society. The men in the crowd grasp their stones, eager to throw.
Jesus, meanwhile,