112 Preface إِذ قالَ الحَوارِيّونَ يا عيسَى ابنَ مَريَمَ هَل يَستَطيعُ رَبُّكَ أَن يُنَزِّلَ عَلَينا مائِدَةً مِنَ السَّماءِ ۖ قالَ اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِن كُنتُم مُؤمِنينَYusuf AliBehold! the disciples, said: “O Jesus the son of Mary! can thy Lord send down to us a table set (with viands) from heaven?” Said Jesus: “Fear God, if ye have faith.”1The request of the Disciples savours a little of (1) want of faith, (2) too much attention to physical food, and (3) a childish desire for miracles or Signs. All these three can be proved from the Canonical Gospels, (1) Simon Peter, quite early in the story, asked Jesus to depart from him, as he (Simon) was a sinful man (Luke 5:8). The same Peter afterwards denied his “Master” three times shamelessly when the Master was in the power of his enemies. And one of the Disciples (Judas) actually betrayed Jesus. (2) Even in the Canonical Gospels, so many of the miracles are concerned with food and drink, e.g., the turning of the water into wine (John, 2:1-11); the conversion of five loaves and two small fishes into food for 5,000 men (John 6:5-13), this being the on ly miracle recorded in all the four Gospels; the miraculous number of fishes caught for food (Luke 5:4.11); the cursing of the fig tree because it had no fruit (Matt. 21:18-19); the allegory of eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his blood (John 6:53-57). (3) Because the Samaritans would not receive Jesus into their village, the Disciples James and John wanted a fire to come down from heaven and consume them (Luke 9:54).