The Huge Stone

Again, when some others were eager to be edified by the example of his obedience, the old man called him and said, “John, run and roll that stone over here as fast as you can.” At once he set about it, pushing now with his neck and now with his whole body, and tried with all his might and main to roll an enormous stone that a great crowd of men could not have moved. Not only were his clothes soaked with sweat from his limbs, but the stone itself was wet from his neck. Here too he never weighed whether the command and the deed were impossible, out of reverence for the old man and the unfeigned simplicity of his service. For he believed without question that the old man could not command him to do anything pointless or without reason.