"Whoever receives you and listens to you, it is the same as though he received me, your teacher; and whoever receives me, receives my Father who sent me. He that receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a good man because he is a good man shall receive a good man's reward. And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple of mine, I tell you truly, he will not lose his reward." After giving his commands to the twelve disciples, Jesus sent them out to preach, while he himself went to other places telling the people the good news of the Kingdom of God. [Illustration: The great mosque at Damascus] A Dance; and How It Was Paid For CHAPTER 40 DURING NEARLY all the year of Jesus' teaching and preaching in Galilee, John the Baptist was in Herod's prison at a lonely place called Machærus, on the east of the river Jordan, near the Dead Sea. You remember that John was put into prison because King Herod's queen, Herodias, became angry against him, when John said to Herod that it was not right for him to take away his brother's wife and have her as his own. Herodias hated John and tried many times to have him killed, but Herod held John in high respect and would not suffer him to be slain. But at last the chance came for Herodias to carry out her purpose. On King Herod's birthday, he held at Machærus, which was not only a prison but a palace, a great feast to his lords, the captains of his army, and the chief men of his kingdom. At this feast the daughter of Herodias, a young girl, came in and danced before the company. Herod and the guests with him were so delighted with the girl's dancing that the king made her a very foolish promise. He said to her: "You may ask for anything that you please, and I will give it to you." He went further and even swore with an oath to her, "I will give you whatever you choose, even to half of my kingdom." The girl went to her mother and said to her, "What shall I ask?" And Herodias hissed out the words, "You ask for the head of John the Baptist." The girl went in haste to the king, and said, "I want you to give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was greatly displeased and very angry. He knew that his wife Herodias had led the girl to make this choice, and he would have liked to break his promise. But because he had given his word and was ashamed to call it back before all the nobles at his feast, he gave orders, very unwillingly, to his guards to have her will carried out. They went into the prison, and with a sharp sword cut off the head of John the Baptist, the best and noblest man in all his kingdom. The head was laid on a platter and given to the young girl, who carried it to her mother. So the man whom Jesus called "a prophet and more than a prophet" was slain to satisfy the whim of a dancing girl and her wicked mother!