The Making of the Lamb (7 page)

“Papa has many children,” said Jesus, “but I am your only son, and what kind of son would I be if I left you at a time like this? The Sadducees said they just want to talk to me. Let us hear what they have to say. If I agree to what they ask of me, they may leave us alone.”

“Perhaps you will find it harder than you think to agree to what the Sadducees want,” said Uncle Joseph.

“It doesn’t matter. If I must keep my silence to stay with my parents, I will do it.”

“Daniel and I will stay in the village until I see this matter resolved.”

“That is very kind of you, Uncle Joseph, but you are wasting your time. My mind is made up to agree to everything they ask of me.”

Uncle Joseph could not stay long at his niece’s house. The Sadducees might be along at any time, and it would not do for him to be found helping Jesus. So, he went with Daniel to find a place to stay among the villagers.

That evening he remonstrated with his son. “What has gotten into you? You acted this afternoon as if your cousin is a god! He’s only a boy.”

“But, Papa, I saw it with my own eyes. A divine light glowed within him, and suddenly his body burned as bright as the sun.”

“The only thing having to do with the sun is that you were out in it too long. Stop this talk at once. Can’t you see how you frightened the boy?” Despite a tepid acknowledgment from Daniel, Joseph feared this would not be the last of his son’s strange behavior.

The Sadducees were at the front door an hour after dawn. Jesus let them in. Joseph lay coughing in bed, while Mary sat beside him and applied damp compresses to his forehead. The Sadducees looked in on him and offered a prayer for his recovery. Mary and Jesus joined in and thanked them for their kindness.

With the unexpected pastoral duty concluded, the first Sadducee, Elimelech, began. “We come under the authority of Annas, the high priest of the temple. He has received reports of your son’s teaching in the temple, and your rabbi informs us that Jesus has continued to interpret Scripture to anyone who will listen.”

“Did I not speak the truth?” asked Jesus.

“Everyone was impressed by your knowledge of the Scriptures, but that is not the point.”

“Pardon me,” said Mary. “As a woman these things are so strange to me. I only see him as my child. Can you explain to me why learned rabbis such as you need to come all the way to Nazareth? Surely, the temple will stand regardless of what my son says.”

“Not for long, if the Romans hear that we allow talk of a Messiah coming to free our people from their rule.”

“I understand,” said Jesus.

“There is also the question of spreading blasphemy,” said Elimelech. “Scripture is full of contradictions. It is one thing to read from Scripture, but we must leave the interpretation in the hands of the rabbis. That is the only way to avoid the spread of error among the people.”

“If I stop talking about Scripture now, will I be able to become a rabbi when I get older?” Jesus asked.

“Certainly you can, if you study. But even rabbis must stick to authorized interpretations.”

“Perhaps this is God’s will. Now that Papa is ill, the time has come for me to take his place and earn a living for the family.”

Elimelech said, “You are talking like a man now.”

“I will stop talking about Scripture and just read from it under the rabbi’s supervision. I owe that to my parents.”

“Explain the other point,” said Pesachya, the second Sadducee. He had been staring at Jesus and Mary with uncanny intensity.

Elimelech sighed. “I am afraid we must insist on one more thing.” He turned to Mary. “It is something you will need to do, madam, to ensure we have a permanent solution to this problem. It is in our instructions.”

“I will do anything to be left in peace with my family,” said Mary.

“Your rabbi picked up a story among the villagers. They say that Jesus was conceived within you by the Spirit of God, and that you revealed your nakedness to no man.”

“What must I do?” asked Mary.

“You must go with us to the synagogue on the next Sabbath. We will call on you before the congregation and ask if the story is true. You will respond that it is not.”

Mary looked over to Jesus.
I will do anything to appease these men, if Jesus can stay. I don’t care what the village thinks of me. But it will not work. Sooner or later, some woman will blame me for her husband’s unfaithfulness, no one will believe anything I say, and they will stone me for adultery. My husband Joseph could die as well. Who will look after Jesus then?

Jesus pounded a fist on the table. “If that is not the truth, then what do you think is the truth?” His voice quaked and his face turned red.

Mary had never seen such anger in her son before.

“We don’t care who your father is,” Elimelech replied. “Our only concern is ending this blasphemous talk about you being the son of God himself.”

“My mother is not a liar, and she is not a whore, but that is what everyone will say about her. I agree to nothing if my mother must do this.” Jesus abruptly got up and stormed out of the house.

Pesachya waited a moment for Mary to recover. Then he broke the silence. “You have no real choice. No one wants to put someone as young as your son on trial for blasphemy, but eventually the Sanhedrin will do so—through your king, if necessary. It’s out of our hands.”

“We can stay in Nazareth a few more days,” said Elimelech. “We will give you both that time to think this through.”

Mary found Jesus just outside the village, looking over the Jezreel Valley. No words were necessary. Uncle Joseph was right; the Sadducees were demanding too much. Jesus must go, and he would not return for some time. Jesus became once more as a child, upset to be leaving his mother.

“Do not worry, my child.” Mary embraced him. “This will be an exciting voyage for you. You will come back to us with many stories.”
There is no other choice.
She wiped the tears from her eyes.
He must not see the pain this separation brings to my heart.
She could only pray that Jesus’s heavenly Father, as well as Uncle Joseph, would look after him.

The two walked back to the house to gather the few things Jesus would take with him.

Husband Joseph’s skin had a white pallor and his legs wobbled, but he managed to get out of bed.

Jesus ran to him, and the two embraced.

“I love you, my son. Respect your uncle and learn much from this trip. Be a helper, and know that I am praying for you. God will care for you.”

Jesus softly replied, “I know he will, Papa. I shall be praying for you, too.”

“I cannot wait to hear all your adventures.” Joseph smiled, though his sadness showed in his eyes.

Jesus walked to the corner of the room and removed the flooring where the gifts of the three magi had been safely hidden since the time of his birth. He brought them to Mary. “You must use these to provide for yourself and Papa while I am gone.”

“I have money saved, and those are divine gifts for you. I could never—”

“Mother, how else can you and Papa live if he is sick and I am gone? Who knows when I will return or when Papa will be able to work again? As your son, I should be working to support the family. I cannot leave here without giving you this. If you cannot accept it for yourself, then accept it for Papa’s sake—and mine.”

“Never forget my love is with you.” Mary embraced Jesus again. “There is danger for you here in Nazareth, and we do not know who is waiting to inform the Sadducees of your movements. You should go to Uncle Joseph now on your own. It would attract attention if I went with you, and you need to be inconspicuous as you make your way to him.”

A short distance outside Nazareth, Uncle Joseph rounded a bend in the road and pulled his horse up sharply. The Sadducees and their men had laid their plans well. Up ahead, a temple guard and two of Herod’s soldiers blocked the road. Daniel was following with Jesus holding on from behind on the same horse. Joseph tried to signal for his son to stay back, but Daniel reacted too slowly, coming to a stop alongside. Joseph watched helplessly as the party ahead of them quickly mounted their own horses.

Daniel spun his horse back toward Nazareth and galloped away.

Joseph hesitated. Surely, other soldiers and guards would be in Nazareth by now—they had to be trapped in between. Flight was hopeless, and later the Sanhedrin and Herod would take an attempt at escape as an admission of Jesus’s guilt.

Joseph shouted to his son to turn back again, but it was no use. Quickly he gave chase, only to see his son’s horse swerve down one of the deep ravines that sliced through the Nazareth Ridge.

Hoping to draw the pursuers in the wrong direction, Joseph galloped past, back toward Nazareth.

It almost worked.

But then Joseph heard a shout from behind. Turning his head, he saw that the soldier had drawn his horse up short at the top of the ravine, alerting the temple guards that they were going the wrong way. The other two turned back quickly to give chase after the true quarry.

Joseph trotted to the top of the ravine and watched helplessly.

The pursuers were skilled in riding through rough terrain in pursuit of bandits. Daniel had the advantage of a head start, but the pursuers quickly closed the gap. They would capture Daniel and Jesus before the boys reached the bottom.

The soldier was practically alongside Daniel in the narrowest part of the ravine when his horse stumbled and fell as he tried to grasp Daniel’s reins. The gap between the ravine walls was too narrow for the other two to avoid his horse, and they were going too fast to stop. The flesh of man and beast collided into a single mass of bloody gore in the all-too-narrow space as Daniel made good his escape with Jesus.

God be praised! A miracle!

A few hours later, as he waited by the ship, Joseph saw more soldiers approaching with the port master. Someone must have recognized him and gotten word to an agent of Caiaphas in the port. But where were his son and Jesus? Should he try to get the vessel away as soon as possible, or should he stay? The search of the vessel was just about complete, and no contraband—human or other—had been found. Joseph looked over the small crowd next to the ship and recognized a Pharisee, one of the local rabbis, in deep discussion with the port master. It would attract suspicion if the vessel failed to leave once cleared to do so. Joseph had to give the Sadducees credit for enlisting such a network of allies so quickly from the rival sect.

Just as the search ended, Joseph saw Daniel turn a corner and make his way down the dock. Joseph wondered what his son had done with Jesus. He could not ask, as everyone on the narrow dock would hear.

“I have posted your letter to Seculus, Papa,” Daniel said. “We can go now.”

They had left Seculus at their last port of call, and there was no letter to him. Joseph thought about the incident when Daniel had knelt down in front of Jesus and wondered if he should trust his crazy son, but he knew that he had no choice but to take the cue to go.

Joseph turned to the port master and requested clearance to leave.

“This man was seen harboring a fugitive,” the Pharisee said. “We have the report direct from our informer in Nazareth.”

The port master stroked his beard thoughtfully, while he considered. He had the authority to hold the ship indefinitely.

“Your information is wrong,” Joseph answered.
The harbor master looks like he’s about to give in to the Pharisee. I had better make it clear there could be a price to pay.
He addressed the port master: “The vessel has been searched and there is no contraband. We are about to miss the tide. If we do, I will demand damages. That is my right, under the law.”

The port master turned to the Pharisee and puffed up his chest. “What do I care about your local matters? My only duty is to enforce the trade laws of Rome.”

“Herod Antipas may not rule Acre,” the Pharisee replied, “but there will be trouble if you knowingly allow someone to leave this port whom the Tetrarch wants detained.”

“Herod ordered the detention of a boy of twelve. Clearly, such a boy is not on this ship.” The port master waved a hand toward the vessel. “You have no order to detain anyone else. The vessel is free to sail.” The port master walked off, ignoring the continuing entreaties of the Pharisee.

“Set sail!” cried Joseph.

The sails filled, and the vessel slipped away from the dock.

As soon as they were out of earshot, he turned to his son. But before he could ask, Daniel anticipated his question: “Jesus is on the
Trumpet of Gideon,
bound for Cyprus. I booked his passage as the boat was leaving. We can meet him there.”

Joseph smiled. His son might be crazy, but he was learning to find his way around a port. Daniel would have had to bluster his way through booking that passage for Jesus, even though he was hardly of age to do so.
I will make a fine merchant of him yet.

N
ehemiah regarded the sea with the wary eye of a seasoned sea captain. They were a few days out of Cyprus, where they had stopped to pick up Jesus. The winds had been fair. To the untrained eye, this would look like another pleasant day of mostly blue sky with broken clouds, but the lingering redness in the morning sky spelled trouble.