19 He answered, saying, "My mother and my brothers are those that hear the word of God and do it."
20 He finished what He was doing and only then went out to them.
21 Now, one day before the Sabbath Jesus and the apostles were bathing and trimming their beards. Demetrius was there with them. Several children came in to watch him shave, for this strange behavior fascinated them.
22 One little girl asked him, "Why is it you scrape off your whiskers? Why do you not have a beard like Jesus and the others?"
23 Demetrius answered her, saying, "I am a warrior, child. It is the custom among my people to be clean shaven, so no man can grab our beards in battle."
24 One older boy spoke up saying, "My father says that it is because you wish other men to look upon you as a woman, that you lie down with men as women do. That is also why you talk so softly and wear short robes." 25 When Jesus heard these things He came over and knelt down before the child. "Child," he began, "do you not know that you have sinned? That it is not God's way to say such things of a man unless you know them to be true?"
26 The child was troubled and Demetrius said "Let it pass. It is a small thing, brother."
27 Jesus answered him, saying, "It is no small thing that he has shamed you before all that is here! It must be made clear that all that he has said is wrong, and not right to do."
28 "But Rabbi," the child put in, "I only said what my father has said."
29 "Your father has said wrongly," Jesus answered. "Because one man has sinned, that does not mean that you should sin, also.
30 Demetrius, as he has said, is a warrior. He wears a short robe because when he fights his feet are as deadly as his hands. This does not make him less than a man. Because others have different customs from us does not mean that they are not manly.
31 Demetrius has a wife and many children. If it is said truly he has MANY wives, and many MANY children. Any of them would say without a doubt, he has no interest in a man.
32 Now, ask his forgiveness for what you have said, and be on your way."
33 The boy knelt before Demetrius. "Do forgive me, sir," he begged, "that I spoke wrongly of you."
34 Demetrius put his hand upon the boy's head and answered. "Let no more be said of it. You are forgiven."
35 The boy rose with a smile and hurried out. Jesus, too, rose, and would return to what He was doing, but Peter spoke up, saying, "Rabbi, teach us! How is it that we are to know if a man is inclined to these things?"
HOW SHALL WE KNOW?
Chapter Thirty-Three
Now, Jesus answered him, saying, "There are only three ways that you would know. If a man should come to you and say 'I would bed with you,' then you would know that he is sick of mind, or, if a trusted friend, someone of good character, comes to you and says 'He has tried to bed with me,' then you would know that this one is a sinner. Or, if a man should declare publicly that it is his pleasure to bed with men, then you would know that he is evil, and be apart from him."
2 "If we come to know this, Lord," Matthew asked, "what should we do?"
3 "You should separate yourself from them," Jesus answered. "It matters not who they may be, father, uncle, brother, cousin, or, stranger. If they defile God's Glory, if they engage in sodomy, they must not enter into YOUR house, and you must not enter into theirs. For if you do, you approve that that they do.
4 You say it does not matter, but it DOES matter. For they commit sacrilege. They deny God's purpose and follow after the sickness of man. This is the way it should be."
5 "But Lord," Judas The Tailor remarked, "YOU have eaten with sinners, you have entered into the houses of the lowest of men."
6 "Only after they have repented," Jesus answered. "If any man repents his evil and says unto the world 'That that I was doing was unholy, and I do it no more,' then surely you can have fellowship with him again."
7 "My father put out my brother," a little girl put in. "They caught him with another man later and they took them out and stoned them. I wept for my brother, and my father said I should not have had. Because he was a sinner."
8 "Your father was in error, child," Jesus answered. "Of course it was proper for you to weep for your brother. It is the sin we must condemn, not the sinner. How can we not weep for our own who are lost from us forever?"
9 Our Father grants that the sister should weep for her brother, that the mother should weep for her child."
10 "Lord," Andrew asked, "what if it is women that are together? Is it the same with them?"
11 "Blasphemy," Jesus said, "is blasphemy whether it be done by men or, women. Now, the hour is late. Let us be about our business. The hour is late!"
BE YOU STILL!
Chapter Thirty-Four
Now it came to pass that one day they came down to the shore and Christ said to His disciples, "Let us board your boat and cross over. For it will save us many days rather than going by land."
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