My Neighbor Jesus
Our Assyrian people belong to a country where ancient customs are sacredly and tenaciously held. Railroads and machinery are unknown. Transportation is by mules, camels and on men's backs. The social order, in respect of simple and hospitable ways, continues as in the days of Jesus. Religion, as then, is still the dominant factor. The only literature known is the Bible and the liturgical books used at the church services. The Gospels in the Aramaic are a source of much inspiration to sustain the faith and to cherish the hope of these people, who are now refugees scattered throughout the hot plains of Mesopotamia without home or country, exposed to persecutions and the privations of poverty.
From this work
clean He per- ceived every thought in the minds of those be- fore him. The doubts of his disciples inflicted deeper wounds in his heart than the nails and spear in his body. He scrutinized the faces of those who were discussing him, but he said noth- ing- He had spent three years preaching, but he had not succeeded in softening their hearts. What could a few minutes on the cross accom- plish? Those precious moments in his life were kept for prayer and thoughts of his mother, who stood with bowed head amid the jeering crowd. There was Jesus, the King of Israel, the Ruler of the World, hanging on the cross, his name written in three languages Hebrew, Greek and ON THE CROSS 135 Latin: "This is Jesus the King of the Jews*" Hebrew was the holy language of the Jews read and understood only by them. Greek, the lan- guage of commerce, was used by foreign mer- chants and a few cultured Jews in bu