The Boy In White Linen

by Jon Jacks

  ‘“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved.” So, Lil, we see here, through his being with Simon Peter, not only that the unnamed disciple is the beloved disciple, but also that he is “known unto the high priest” – which would mean a man of considerable influence and, originally, before he gave it all up to become a disciple, wealth.’

  Lil pulled a puzzled frown.

  ‘I can’t think of any disciple who we’re told was rich before he became a disciple.’

  ‘Which, of course, is my very point, Lil! Now, remember how we don’t even hear of the beloved disciple until the Last Supper? Well, just a short while before, we hear how Jesus is approached by a rich young man wishing to become a disciple.’

  With a flicking of the pages, Azar drew his finger across a passage in Mark 10.

  ‘“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”’

  Narrowing her eyes sceptically, Lil read out the following line.

  ‘“And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” So, Azar, he’s sent away; he doesn’t become a disciple.’

  ‘He’s sent away; it doesn’t mean he won’t repent and follow Jesus after all. In fact, he later sends his sister, his mother and Mary Salome to beseech Jesus once again; only for Jesus to ignore them, because their beseeching would mean nothing to him until the young man willingly gave up his riches and–’

  Azar’s voice was drowned out by a mix of angry and frightened cries coming from farther up the street lying beyond the end of the garden. Realising the danger they were in, both Azar and Lil quickly moved back towards the door.

  ‘The trouble’s either started again or it’s coming this way,’ Azar said, handing Lil his Bible and telling her to go back inside, bolting the door behind her.

  ‘I’ll go and see what’s happening; see if anyone needs my help.’

  ‘No, Azar! It’s dangerous!’

  ‘Would that stop Harry, if he knew someone might need his help?’

  Lil shook her head. ‘No, Azar; but he’s a soldier. He’s trained to help.’

  Azar shrugged, grinned.

  ‘You don’t need training to help someone who’s being attacked.’

  He turned away before Lil could make any further protest, lithely skipping across the grass and then the strewn rubble that used to be the wall.

  Lil pulled back into the house, shutting and bolting the door behind her. She turned around, looking over towards where Harry still lay unconscious on the bed,

  She clutched the Bible tightly in her hand. And she found herself quietly praying once again.

  ‘Please please let Harry be all right! Help Azar get back safely! And let us all remain safe!’

  *

  Chapter 24

  By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

  Song of Songs 3; 1

  The early morning air was tinged with the smell of the still smouldering houses and shops that had been set on fire in the riots of the previous day.

  It had been another day of looting, beatings, rape and murder, a disturbed, uneasy calm only returning to the city when martial law had been declared. At last, with the threat of being shot if he remained out on the street, Azar had finally returned to the house, dusty and covered in the blood of the people he had helped flee to the relative safety of their own homes.

  He had slept on the floor alongside Harry, while Lil had been offered Mary’s bed in the minute, upper room she shared with Martha. They all rose early, Azar and Lil tending the still unconscious Harry while Martha and Mary went out to buy something to eat.

  There was an urgent knock at the heavily bolted door. Standing behind it, Azar cautiously demanded to know who was out there.

  ‘It me, Azar; Sidney!’

  *

  Chapter 25

  Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

  Song of Song 1; 7

  ‘The last of the soldiers were pulled out of the city last night,’ Sidney said immediately on stepping into the house. ‘There were hardly any around before, but now there’s no one!’

  ‘Why? Why would they withdraw the soldiers?’ Azar asked incredulously.

  Sidney shrugged nonchalantly.

  ‘Because if all the soldiers get themselves killed, what do the rioters have to fear? They’d go on a complete, murderous rampage, with no one to sto – Miss Pine! Well well well!’

  Looking up and throwing back the covering of his headdress, he had at last seen Lil. He peered curiously beyond her, in an attempt to see who she was attending to on the bed.

  ‘And…is that Harry?’ He laughed. ‘So it’s not true that you two eloped, then?’

  ‘Eloped? What do you mean, eloped?’ Lil irately snapped, jumping to her feet.

  Azar scowled admonishingly at Sidney, but Sidney ignored him.

  ‘Well, that was the rumour going around explaining your disappearance; that dear old Harry here had been a bit of a cad and run off with his commander’s niece! There’s a warrant out for his arrest.’

  ‘His arrest? But that’s ridiculous! He didn’t abduct me–’

  ‘Yet here you are with him. And my dear cousin Harry failed to report for duty yesterday, meaning–’

  ‘He’s your cousin? So that’s why he’s always letting you–’

  ‘– get away with things, yes. I should have had him arrested ages ago.’

  ‘Harry!’ Hearing Harry’s croaky voice behind her, Lil whirled around, falling to her knees alongside the bed and exuberantly throwing her arms about him. ‘You’re better! You’re awake!’

  Harry chuckled weakly.

  ‘I’m alive, but–’

  He tried to rise but, quickly stepping back towards the bed, Azar stopped him.

  ‘But you’re still weak,’ he said. ‘You still need to rest.’

  Unable to push past even Azar’s lightly restraining hand, Harry slumped back onto the bed with a dismayed, pained groan.

  ‘There’s no rush, Harry,’ Sidney said with an amused grin. ‘Turn up for duty now, while everyone’s on their nerve’s edge, and they’ll probably line you up in front of a firing squad before you have chance to explain.’

  ‘So, why did they finally let you and Ha-Shomer in?’ Harry asked in his pained, croaky voice, looking over towards Sidney once more.

  ‘What choice did they have? They stopped us on Sunday, even though they’d got two hundred of us to swear in as deputies; and look what happened.’

  ‘Hah! Before they let you in, or after? Same result, I’m betting.’

  Sidney nodded despondently.

  ‘They could stop it, Harry; the authorities, I mean. But they’d have to be totally brutal to do it. And they don’t have the resolve to do it – yet. A great many sacrifices are going to have to be made, Harry, before they decide to act.’

  He looked about the room curiously, as if he had only just remembered why he had originally come here

  ‘Martha? Is Martha around?’

  ‘Out,’ Azar replied. ‘While things are calm.’

  With a disappointed pout, Sidney turned to leave. But, as he had done the last time he’d left the house, he turned back in the doorway to give Azar a final, parting salute

  ‘El Azar!’ he barked.

  ‘El Sid!’ Azar replied with his familiar amused smile.

  As Sidney vanished out onto the street, Harry stared at Azar distrustfully.

  ‘El Azar?’ he said suspiciously.

  *

  Chapter 26

  Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lo
rd, which is he that betrayeth thee?

  Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

  Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.

  Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die.

  John 21; 20-23

  ‘El Azar; Elhazar. Hebrew for Lazarus. And your sisters; Mary and Martha. Just like in the Bible.’

  ‘So, Harry?’ Lil was embarrassed by Harry’s suspicious questioning of Azar. ‘Lots of people call their children biblical names.’

  ‘But why such an unusual name?’ Harry persisted. ‘One with strong connotations to death.’

  ‘To life, surely Captain?’ Azar replied breezily, without even bothering to point out to Harry that the name only became Lazarus with the addition of the ‘El’. ‘He is raised from death, after all.’

  ‘Harry, please…’ Lil mopped his brow with an ointment-soaked cloth, as if implying that his rudeness was all down to a fever.

  ‘Lazarus…’ Harry continued, almost as if he were still dazed, or attempting to work something out that continued to elude him.

  ‘Lazarus!’ Azar leapt up from the bedside, rushing over to where Lil had placed his Bible on the table. ‘Of course Captain. The answer was there all the time, in my own name! And no one realised it!’

  ‘Azar? What do you mean?’ Lil asked curiously.

  ‘Not long before the appearance of the rich young man wishing to be a disciple, there is another wealthy young man whom we’re told Jesus loved. John 11; “So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick.”

  Even as he finished reading the passage, Azar was excitedly turning to another, later page.

  ‘Lazarus wasn’t a disciple, Azar!’ Harry wheezed, at last finding the strength or the will to sit up slightly in his bed.

  ‘But Captain, if Lazarus is the beloved disciple, it means a passage that follows after Jesus’s Resurrection that has always puzzled me now makes perfect sense.’

  He began to read.

  ‘“Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following…Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.”’

  He grinned excitedly, only to be met by Lil and Harry’s blank, uncomprehending stares.

  ‘Don’t you see? Peter is scared of the beloved disciple! Scared because he was once dead. And now Peter is hoping Jesus will take the beloved disciple away with him. See, the next passage confirms that it is Lazarus!’

  Once more, he excitedly read out the passage.

  ‘“Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die.”’

  He slapped the Bible shut with satisfaction.

  ‘Captain, Lil; Lazarus is our beloved disciple!’

  *

  Chapter 27

  Immediately a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going up to it, Jesus rolled the stone away from the door of the tomb, and immediately went in where the young man was. Stretching out his hand, he lifted him up, taking hold his hand. And the youth, looking intently at him, loved him and started begging him to let him remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus gave him an order and, at evening, the young man came to him wearing nothing but a linen cloth. And he stayed with him for the night, because Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God.

  Secret Gospel of Mark. Mark 9; 53-57

  ‘And so, because Jesus has brought him back to life, that’s why he becomes a disciple?’

  Lil was disappointed when Azar shook his head.

  ‘No, that’s why this rich young man had flattered himself that he was worthy enough to become a disciple; because Jesus had initiated him into the mysteries of the coming kingdom. “Loose him, and let him go,” Jesus had said when raising Lazarus; because the shedding of his white linen burial clothes would free him of worldly constraints, just as Jesus’s own Resurrection is signified by his empty linen in the opened tomb. Even so, to become a disciple our rich young man has yet to shed himself of his riches.’

  The door rocked under a heavy, desperate knocking from outside. They could also hear the yells and threats of an angry mob somewhere slightly higher up the street, yet rapidly drawing closer.

  ‘Let us in, let us in Azar!’ Mary pleaded.

  Rushing to the door, Azar opened it. Both Mary and Martha almost tumbled into the room in their urgency to escape the oncoming raucous crowd.

  ‘It’s started again,’ Martha breathed in a mix of anxiety and relief as Azar quickly closed and bolted the door behind them. ‘They’re killing each other!’

  *

  Chapter 28

  But I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go.

  Song of Songs 3; 4

  The door buckled, shook, jolted on its massive hinges as people in the violently scuffling crowd outside fell against it again and again. Even the thick stone walls seemed to reverberate with the furious screams, the frenzied blows of people determined to punish each other, Muslim, Jew and Christian united in the urge to cause harm.

  ‘I have to go out there, calm them down,’ Harry insisted, swinging his legs off the bed and beginning to rise up from it.

  ‘No, you’ll be killed Captain,’ Mary warned him. ‘You’re still weak. You’re not fully recovered yet.’

  ‘I’m strong enough to stand for at least a few minutes; they won’t know how weak I am. Bluff is all part of authrority. A commanding presence, as we were informed at Sandhurst.’

  ‘You don’t have any authority, remember Captain?’ Azar pointed out, indicating Harry’s robes with a nod of his head.

  ‘Azar’s right, Harry!’ Lil rushed towards him, held him close to her. ‘’You can’t do anything out there!’

  ‘I have to try, Lil,’ He kissed the top of her head as, standing up straight, preparing himself, he briefly hugged her tightly before drawing away from her.

  ‘If you go out, they’ll come in,’ Martha warned him.

  ‘The back door to the garden; I’ll use that,’ Harry said, looking towards the door with a determined stare. ‘I’ll come around on them from there. If I tell them I’m a British officer, they might go away.’

  ‘They might kill you,’ Azar said.

  ‘And bring the wrath of the British administration down on them?’

  ‘They think you’re a deserter, Harry,’ Lil reminded him.

  ‘When – if – they hear of an officer being killed, it won’t matter; they can’t let something like that go unpunished without endangering every other officer. Deserter or not.’

  He had already made his way to the door and unbolted it as he’d talked.

  ‘I’ll go with you Captain,’ Azar offered, realising there was no longer any chance of preventing Harry from going ahead with his plan.

  ‘Take a club or something…’ Lil pleaded, looking about the room for anything they could take to defend themselves.

  ‘There’s been enough violence,’ Harry said, opening the door.

  *

  Chapter 29

  His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.

  Song of Songs 5; 13

  As Harry and Azar stepped out through the door, they realised too late that the surging crowd had already curled around the side of the house and its walled garden. Some of the warring couples were already stumbling into the gap created by the shattered wall.

  ‘Quick, bolt the door behind us!’ Azar warned, turning to slam the door shut behind him – but not before an apprehensively watching Lil had pushed her way through, rushing up and clinging protectively onto Harry.

  ‘Stay inside!’ Azar shouted through the door to his sisters. ‘We’ll be all right!’

  As Azar spoke to his sisters
, Harry cried out to the crowd, in Arabic, in Jewish.

  He managed, somehow, despite his weakness, to project a powerful voice, a powerful presence.

  Even so, equally powerful voices answered back at him from the aggressively fluctuating crowd. Only a few of them had stopped their fighting to stare at him.

  Amongst them, Lil was sure she caught a glimpse of Sidney. But he ducked his head, swerved, then vanished once more into the flowing of the crowd.

  A shot rang out.

  And Harry fell to the floor.

  *

  Chapter 30

  And it had one horn in its forehead, and it providentially came to Moses' hand just for the occasion, and he made the covering of the Tabernacle, and then it was hidden.

  Talmud, Shabbat 28b

  ‘You’ve killed a British officer!’

  For some strange reason, even though she knew he must be speaking in Hebrew and Arabic, Lil could understand Sidney’s baying cries as he strode to the front of the briefly shocked and frozen crowd.

  ‘I was in the army! I know this man!’

  Ignoring Lil and Azar, who had both dropped down beside the barely breathing Harry to comfort and protect him, Sidney bent down between them to brutally pull back the tangled headdress and robes, clearly revealing Harry’s face.

  ‘He’s English. When the authorities hear of this, do you think they won’t seek retribution?’

  The crowd stared fearfully at Harry’s face.

  Even through her tears, Lil could see their shock, their growing horror at what they had done, what they had brought down upon themselves.

  Yet she could see nothing frightening in Harry’s face. She saw only agony. And yet, also, a strange sense of peace, of resignation.

  Azar, crouching beside her, smiled.

  ‘Azar! He’s dying! What’s wrong with you?’

  ‘Look! Look at them,’ Azar replied, strangely happy.

  Lil whirled around to look at the crowd, even though it meant having to briefly let go of Harry.