Volume 2

216
Life of Jesus Christ
the streets by which Jesus was to pass. They had been
brought the day before, but had not been cured. Jesus
healed a great many on His way to the synagogue in
which, during His instruction, He related a parable.
When He left the synagogue, He still continued teaching,
and several persons threw themselves at His feet begging
pardon for their sins. Two of them were adulteresses who
had been put away by their husbands, and there were
four men, among them the seducers of those women.
They burst into tears and wanted to confess their sins
before the multitude. But Jesus replied that their sins
were already known to Him, that a time would come
when the open confession of them would be necessary,
but at present it would only scandalize their neighbor and
attract upon them persecution. He exhorted them to
watch over themselves that they might not relapse into
sin, but if they should be so unhappy as to do so, not to
despair, but to turn to God and do penance. He forgave
them their sins, and when the men asked to which baptism
they should go, to that of John's disciples, or wait
for His own, He told them to go to the former.
The Pharisees present wondered very much that Jesus
should undertake to forgive sin, and called Him to account
for it. But Jesus silenced them by His answer, that
it was easier for Him to forgive sins than to heal, for to
him that sincerely repents, sin is forgiven, and he will not
lightly sin again; but the sick who are cured in body
often remain sick in soul, and make use of their body to
relapse into sin. Then they asked Him whether the husbands
of those women whose sins had been forgiven
should take back their once-repudiated wives. Jesus
answered that time did not permit Him to discuss that
point, but later on He would instruct them upon it. They
questioned Him also upon His curing on the Sabbath.
Jesus defended Himself with the query: "If one of you
had an animal that should fall into a well on the Sabbath,