The annual celebration of offering sacrifices to Aroha is coming. This is the biggest festival for the people of Salem. People from all over the world flock to the city of Salem to pray and thank the gods for their blessings. Accompanying the sacrifice ceremony is also a folk carnival, and various celebrations will last for seven days.
This celebration originated from a legend in history. Nearly 400 years ago, when Moses led the ancestors of the Salemites back to their hometown, they were blocked by evil gods of alien races on the road, and they were trapped in the mountains, unable to move forward and had no food. Arhat performed a miracle, and the dewdrops on the grass blades turned into frost ball-like snacks, which tasted very delicious. Picking up these snacks every day, just enough to make the tribesmen full.
Moses and the miners in Duke Town, who had experienced all this in person, knew that it was a god who claimed to be Bakri who was tempting them, trying to make the miners in Duke Town abandon their belief in the only god, Aroha. And believe in him. Moses walked down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments agreed with Arhat at the right time, crushing Bakri's plot. (Note: For details, see Chapter 186 of this book, The Face of the Gods.)
But history has been handed down to this day, and it has changed its appearance. Joshua, the assistant of Moses and friend of Aesop, collected all kinds of materials about the miracles of Aroha, the history of the people, and the praise of the gods circulated among the Salemites in his later years, and compiled a Bible for the Salemites , forming the classics in the later Arhat Temple. The desserts made from the dewdrops dripping on the grass blades are the food that Aroha gave to the people after performing miracles—this is how it is recorded in the ancient books in the temple.
Not only that, when the miners in Duke Town left Eju, Seth, the chief god of the Nine-United Gods, sent a series of envoys to obstruct them, and Moses and others suffered a lot. However, in today's temple records, things are completely reversed. The series of "miracles" that blocked the progress of Moses and others have become Arhat's means of punishing the Egyptians. soldier.
People passed on the memory of history by word of mouth, as if only such legends could make their gods appear perfect. But the historical adaptation obviously also caused another question. If their god Arhat is really so omnipotent, why did Moses and other people suffer so much? The interpretation of this by the temple priests is that it is God who is testing the world. In fact, Amon himself hadn't transcended eternal life at that time, otherwise it wouldn't be so difficult to bring Moses and others back to the Duke Plain.
Nearly 400 years have passed, and every year at the legendary time, people from all over the world will flock to the Araha Temple to thank the blessings of the year and pray for more blessings from the gods. This celebration is also a folk festival, and the city of Salem will be crowded with people, so Jesus chose to go there at that time.
Peter said: "Our guide, your decision is very wise. The savior appointed by God will inevitably encounter all kinds of tribulations when he comes to this world. Satan will trick people to hurt you, but there are many people who respect and love you. Enemies with sinister intentions dare not take action easily."
But Jesus shook his head and said, "I chose to go when there are the most people, not to let everyone protect me, but to let more people hear the echo of Arhat and witness my appearance."
A few days before the celebration, Jesus led the disciples across the river and returned to the village where Mary lived in the countryside of Bethany. It was the base where they had stopped some time ago, and it was very close to the city of Salem, so it was very convenient to go back and forth. After crossing the river this time, they took a road norther than when they came, located in the remote wild hills.
In a valley, they met a group of men with terrifying faces. Seeing someone passing by, these people cower in the shack made of branches and dare not show their faces. Jesus stopped and ordered his disciples to ask who they were, but when they heard that it was the son of Jesus who passed by, they went out of their huts and knelt down in the valley and begged: "Are you the Son? We have heard of your death." Name and deeds, please have pity on us, and pray for your salvation!"
It turned out that these people were suffering from a weird skin disease with horrible scars all over their faces and bodies, and the disease was contagious. The priests in Salem could not cure them, and worried that more people would be infected with strange diseases, and ordered them to leave the city-state and live in seclusion in the wild. If you want to return to the city-state, you must get the permission of the priest to confirm that their illness has been cured. Although the temple priests cannot cure this disease, their detection magic can tell who has the disease and whether it has been cured.
This disease is really difficult to cure, but fortunately they met Jesus today. Jesus stretched out his hand to caress the tops of everyone's heads, with a faint, imperceptible golden light on his fingertips, sinking into everyone's body, as if a gray mist dispersed, and then those terrible scars scabbed and fell off up.
Josu waved his hand and said, "Now you can go back to Salem to see the priest. After the inspection, the priest will announce that you have recovered."
This group of people jumped up in great surprise, shouting happily and ran through the mountains and forests to the direction of Salem City in the north. They have been living alone in despair for a long time. The family reunion, everyone is excited and can't wait.
Josu stood still, quietly watching the figures of these people disappear into the mountains and jungles. Suddenly, a panting man turned around and ran back along the original road. He knelt down at Josu's feet and said, " Son, Messiah, God-sent savior, please forgive me for my rudeness, for forgetting to thank you, not even leaving my name and address. My name is Weil-Fromm, I live in SA Lengcheng. I look forward to your opportunity to visit my house, and I will do my best to entertain you and your disciples!"
Jesus looked at him and smiled: "I saved a group of people, where are the others? You are the only one who came back to thank me, so I also want to thank you." He stretched out his hand to help him up and said , "Now you can go back, the carnival celebration is coming, on the last day of the celebration, please prepare a dinner for me and the disciples, we need a quiet and undisturbed place."
Weir left gratefully, and quickly ran out of the forest. Jesus turned to the disciples and said, "I saved that group of people, that's their harvest; and Weil ran back to give thanks, that's my harvest."
Judas asked, "Dear Guide, do you not hold grudges against those who do not thank you?"
Josu smiled wryly and shook his head, "I don't care about holding grudges. I'm just saving them. I don't have any dissatisfaction. I'm full of sympathy for their suffering. Afterwards, they are forgotten."
John asked again, "Then why are you thanking Weir?"
Jesus solemnly said: "Not holding grudges does not mean that I will approve it, and not needing gratitude does not mean that I will not accept it. Only by sincerely accepting that kind of gratitude can more people follow my example. Dear disciples, If I leave you in the future, you should also remember what happened today."
…
As the celebration approached, Jesus and his disciples returned to their village in the countryside of Bethany. Martha and Lasalle prepared sumptuous meals to welcome them back and celebrate Jesus’ upcoming departure to Salem. That night, the disciples talked and laughed happily, and they all had a good time. Only Mary was worried and seemed to have something on her mind. After setting the dishes, she returned to the room, carefully packed up her jewelry, and went out quietly.
After Jesus and the others finished their meal, Mary came back again, holding a large exquisite bottle in her hand, which contained the most expensive ointment. Jesus was sitting on the reclining chair by the table resting. Mary walked up to him and sprinkled drops of ointment on the ends of his hair and on his bare feet. Then she bent down and gently applied the ointment on the backs of Jesus with her long hair, and the courtyard was filled with a fragrant atmosphere.
This is a ceremony dedicated to the Messiah. Mary had done this in public, but Jesus accepted it frankly, and people realized that he was the Son of God who came to the world. Today, Maria did this again at home, which seemed unnecessary. Judas couldn't help but said, "This balm is too expensive, Maria, you should save your money to buy something more useful!"
A gloomy look flashed across Maria's face. In fact, she knew better than Jesus' disciples what was about to happen. She was just expressing her feelings in this way. Jesus said, "Let Maria do this. She is expressing her love and generosity to me, and she will become a part of the legend."
Seeing this scene, the clever Judas vaguely guessed something, and asked again: "Dear guide, you should be very clear that your enemies hate and hate you. You once talked about the kindness and forgiveness of the savior. Now I I want to ask—what kind of person is unforgivable?"
Jesus sat up straight with his arm on the back of the chair, and told the disciples a story—
There was once an official who owed the king a huge sum of millions. The angry king ordered: "Sell him, his wife and children as slaves to repay the owed money."
The official knelt down and cried, "Please Your Majesty, please be merciful. I can't repay such a huge sum of money even if I sell it. Please wait patiently. I will definitely try to repay the debt."
The king knew that he couldn't pay back, but he felt pity and forgave him. When the official walked out of the palace, he ran into a servant. He grabbed the servant and shouted, "What money do you owe me? When will you pay it back?"
That servant Cong begged: "Please allow me a little more time, I will work hard, and I will definitely be able to pay it back."
But the official refused to let him go. He grabbed the servant and shouted: "The time limit has come, you have to pay back the money immediately, or you will go to jail." He arrested the servant and sent him to prison.
When the king heard the news, he said nothing, and ordered the official to be sent to prison.
The story ended here. Jesus looked around at the disciples and said, "Those who think their actions should be forgiven but cannot forgive others in the same way are unforgivable."