On the Way to Naples and Rome 

During Jesus' tour of the Mediterranean world with Gonod and his son Ganid, the three were on their way to Naples and Rome where Jesus met many people at each stop on the route. Before arriving in Sicily, they made their first stop at Malta, a small island south of Sicily. During this stop, Jesus had a long talk with a downhearted and discouraged young man named Claudus. Before meeting Jesus, Claudus was contemplating suicide. But when they had finished talking, he said: “I will face life like a man; I am through playing the coward. I will go back to my people and begin all over again.” He soon became an enthusiastic preacher of the Cynics, and still later, he joined hands with Peter in proclaiming Christianity in Rome and Naples. After the death of Peter, he went on to Spain preaching the gospel. But he never knew that the man who inspired him in Malta was Jesus whom he subsequently proclaimed as the world’s Deliverer since he was known as "the scribe of Damascus" during his Mediterranean tour.

The trio spent a full week in the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily. One memorable episode there was the rehabilitation of Ezra, the backslidden Jew, who kept the tavern where Jesus and his companions stopped. Ezra was captivated by Jesus' method and requested his assistance in returning to the faith of Israel. He expressed his hopelessness by saying, “I want to be a true son of Abraham, but I cannot find God.” Jesus replied: “If you truly want to find God, that desire is in itself evidence that you have already found him. Your trouble is not that you cannot find God, for the Father has already found you; your trouble is simply that you do not know God. Have you not read in the Prophet Jeremiah, ‘You shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart’? And again, does not this same prophet say: ‘And I will give you a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and you shall belong to my people, and I will be your God’? And have you not also read in the Scriptures where it says: ‘He looks down upon men, and if any will say: I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not, then will God deliver that man’s soul from darkness, and he shall see the light’?” Ezra did find God and to the satisfaction of his soul. Later, in association with a well-to-do Greek convert, Ezra built the first Christian church in Syracuse

Their final stop on the Sicilian Island was at Messina and lasted just one day. But that was long enough to change the life of a small boy, a fruit vendor, of whom Jesus bought fruit and in turn fed with the bread of life. The lad never forgot the words of Jesus and the kindly look which went with them when, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, he said: “Farewell, my lad, be of good courage as you grow up to manhood and after you have fed the body learn how also to feed the soul. And my Father in heaven will be with you and go before you.” The lad became a devotee of the Mithraic religion and later on turned to the Christian faith.

Gonod had much business to transact in Naples, and aside from the occasions when Jesus was required as interpreter, he and Ganid spent their leisure time visiting and exploring the city. Ganid was becoming adept at sighting those who appeared to be in need. They found much poverty in this city and distributed many alms. But Ganid never understood the meaning of Jesus’ words when, after he had given a coin to a street beggar, he refused to pause and speak comfortingly to the man. Jesus said to Ganid: “Why waste words upon one who cannot perceive the meaning of what you say? The spirit of the Father cannot teach and save one who has no capacity for sonship.” What Jesus meant was that the man was not of normal mind; that he lacked the ability to respond to spirit leading.

There was no outstanding experience in Naples; Jesus and the young man thoroughly canvassed the city and spread good cheer with many smiles upon hundreds of men, women, and children.

From Naples, they traveled on to Rome, stopping for three days at Capua. Walking along beside their pack animals on the Appian Way, all three were eager to see what was, at that time, the greatest city in all the world.