by Brian Godawa
The patients were painfully silent with the implications. Some could be heard weeping.
Moshe added, “The Son of Man has a sickle. And the hour to reap has come for the harvest of the land is fully ripe. Are you wheat, or are you tares?”170
Moshe stopped his preaching when he saw Simon arriving in the hippodrome entrance with a company of two hundred guards. The monk Aaron rode beside him.
Moshe shared a knowing look with Elihu.
Simon and Aaron dismounted their horses and approached.
Simon said, “I need to speak with the four of you.”
Alexander had taken Simon, Aaron, Thelonius, and the Witnesses to his tent for privacy. Simon’s guards stood at attention by the entrance of the hippodrome with arms displayed, ready for orders.
Simon appeared agitated. He said, “We have been betrayed by a spy. He, or they, helped guide a company of legionaries through the city to ambush us behind the wall.” He was looking straight at the Witnesses.
Elihu shook his head with incredulity. “And you think we are the spies?"
Aaron jumped in, “Your constant sermon is that Rome is God’s chosen army to destroy city and temple.”
“And so it was Jeremiah’s sermon as well,” said Moshe. “Was Jeremiah a spy of Babylon—or a prophet of God?”
Aaron’s face turned sour. Moshe had forced him onto the horns of a dilemma. However Aaron answered, he would condemn himself. If he admitted Jeremiah wasn’t a spy, then he would have to admit that the Witnesses were not either. But if he claimed Jeremiah was a spy, then he would be denying God’s prophet. Jeremiah had prophesied that Yahweh was coming to judge Jerusalem through the armies of Babylon. Ezekiel had said that Yahweh put his own sword in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar to scatter the Egyptians as well. And then Isaiah wrote that Yahweh had mustered the Medes as his own army to punish Babylon. In the providential hands of Yahweh, these tyrants were not the gods they supposed themselves to be.171
Simon stared intensely at Moshe and Elihu. “Aaron here has advised me more than once to stay away from the two of you. It seems you are dangerous on a level that we cannot understand. So I want to know, are the rumors true? What will happen if my soldiers arrest you?”
“What did Gischala tell you?” asked the dark-skinned Elihu.
“Nothing. All I have is gossip and rumors. Whispers of angels and demons. Claims of sorcery.”
“Did Gischala put you up to this?” Moshe asked. “To deal with us?”
“Yes.”
Elihu and Moshe shared a glance. Elihu said, “What Gischala tells you may not be as important as what he does not tell you.”
“Do you think we are sorcerers?” asked Moshe.
Simon thought for a moment, then said, “No. But I do not have the luxury of theological speculation. I have a city to save. And traitors to stop.”
Moshe got to the point. “We are not spies for Rome, General. And the Christians are not your enemies. Yahweh will pour out his wrath upon Rome just as he does Jerusalem. The prophet Zechariah was clear in his condemnation: ‘And this shall be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them.’”172
Again, Simon stared at the Witnesses, deep in thought, trying to decide what he was going to do.
Finally, he spoke up. “I believe you. Unfortunately, that leaves me without a suspect and the strong possibility that Titus will use the strategy again—more successfully—if he is shown other tunnels by the Herods.”
“Have you considered Gischala?” asked Alexander. “He seems to have the most to benefit from your defeat.”
“And the most to lose as well,” said Simon. “Gischala cannot hold the temple alone. No. I have a better idea for how to draw out this rat of a traitor.”
He also had a better idea as to who the true traitor was, now that he’d had opportunity to ponder. At least two people within the Roman camp knew more about Jerusalem’s secrets than even Simon—his erstwhile lover Berenice and her brother Agrippa.
Still, if the siblings had turned those secrets over to Titus, they had not been wandering Jerusalem’s night streets with patches of red cloth. Someone with intimate knowledge of the city had done that. And whether their accomplice remained within the city or had long since fled back to the Romans, an accusation to that effect could have its uses to Simon.
Simon stood up. “Doctor, I leave you to your duties for the city. And you two,” he paused, looking thoughtfully at Moshe and Elihu, “I leave you to God.”
Aaron at his heels, he turned and left.
CHAPTER 41
The entire populace had been called to assemble in the outer court of the temple. Gischala, now in a truce with Simon, had agreed to allow the men of the city to represent their families for the announcement that he and Simon were about to make. The courtyard was filled with tens of thousands, and the air was filled with anticipation—and fear.
Alexander and Thelonius were near the front of the temple steps, where Gischala and Simon, Aaron and Simcha now stood. The Jewish generals were backed by several thousand of their soldiers surrounding the inner temple. They had managed to quiet the crowd.
Gischala spoke first. “People of Israel, as you now see, Simon and I have entered into a truce to protect this city and temple from the abomination of desolation at the gates.”
Cheers in the masses forced him to wait to be heard again.
“We are prepared to fight to the death to defend you and God’s own honor. But we have a danger in our midst that jeopardizes everything, even our very survival. A traitor inside this city has given intelligence to Titus that almost led to the loss of the second wall and which threatens further breaches of our defenses.”
Anger and murmuring broke out as Simon held up a piece of red cloth and waved it back and forth.
“Perhaps one of you saw the traitor who marked the way for the Romans with such cloths as this. We are calling upon all of you to find this person and turn him in. If he continues to help the Romans, we could lose this war.”
More agitation in the crowd.
“But I appeal to that person right now. If you turn yourself in, we will grant you leniency. But now is your only moment. For the sake of this city, your people, and your God, give yourself up now and save us all.”
He stood silently as the crowd looked around, murmuring. People were asking one another if they knew anything. Had they seen anything suspicious? Had anyone boasted about their betrayal? Hinted at it?
There was no surrender.
Gischala surveilled the crowd with a cold-eyed, stony expression. But Simon’s face betrayed his fury. He stepped forward and spoke with a harsh anger that made Alexander shudder.
“One man, this Achan in our midst, betrays the entire city because of his actions. Now the entire city will suffer. Food rations will be cut in half for everyone until the traitor hands himself in.”173
The crowd burst out in shock. Alexander could see that even Gischala and Aaron were surprised at the extreme course. They had already been on half rations for months now. To halve them again would be devastating.
The crowd became unruly.
Gischala ordered his men to present arms.
The crowd backed down.
But no one handed themselves in.
Soldiers surrounded the entire courtyard in the pillared porticoes. Alexander felt the fear that washed over the masses. It was dangerous. An angry crowd could turn into a mob, and a mob was hard to stop even with armed soldiers.
Gischala managed to calm them down with assurances of safety if they only obeyed.
And still no one came forward.
Alexander saw Simon and Gischala talking to each other about their next course of action.
Suddenly, Thelonius stepped forward from the crowd and mou
nted the steps.
The guards surrounded him with weapons drawn, protecting the generals.
But they were waved aside.
Alexander watched Thelonius with confusion.
The young Roman spoke to the generals.
They alerted some guards who came and bound Thelonius in chains and began to whisk him away.
What have you done, Thelonius? thought Alexander.
Gischala then announced, “The traitor has handed himself in!”
The crowd yelled, but more with anger at the traitor than with relief. The guards whisked Thelonius away so that a riot would not break out to lynch the confessor.
Alexander could not believe what he had just witnessed. He had been having trouble trusting Thelonius. But this?
Was the Roman’s newfound belief in Jesus a motivation? If he believed the city would fall as Jesus predicted, was he trying to help the prophecy? Had Thelonius turned from a secret unbeliever into a secret fanatic?
Alexander felt sick. A wave of dizziness overcame him.
Alexander could only mutter in unbelief. “Thelonius, what have you become?”
CHAPTER 42
Pella
Cassandra sat expectantly, awaiting the decision of the Pella council over the Ebionite affair. The elders and citizens had returned to the temple after a day’s consideration. The number of people in the audience was overwhelming. Maybe two thousand or more filling the streets. This was an important day for the future of the kingdom. Cassandra prayed for God’s will to be done.
Boaz took the podium again to speak for the council of elders behind him. The masses immediately quieted down in anticipation of the verdict. He said, “I want to give an exhortation to the ekklesia here to endure in faith to the end. We are in the last hour of the end of the age. Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, so we have lived through forty years of waiting to enter our promised land. During his ministry, Jesus called this generation an ‘adulterous and wicked’ one for rejecting him as they had rejected him in the generation of Moses. And like those days, God will judge this generation before he allows us to enter into that kingdom in full.
“We have lived in the tension of a transition period between covenants. The old covenant has become obsolete. It has grown old and is ready to vanish away with the destruction of the temple.174 At the same time, the new covenant has been inaugurated but not yet consummated, leaving some believers confused and fueling false teachers who try to pour new wine into old wineskins. This has caused the very trouble that we have dealt with from the start regarding the Judaizers, who sought to place a burden upon believers that was too great to bear.
“But soon the old will vanish with all its elementary principles, its stoicheia.175 As the writer of Hebrews has written, the Lord says yet once more he is about to shake the heavens and the earth. This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are—that is, things that have been made, the temple and all its elements—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain: the new covenant kingdom and its stoicheia. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”176
The entire crowd with the exception of the Ebionites broke out with praises that lasted for several minutes. Expressions in the congregation displayed awe of this moment of history in which they lived. A moment of transition between covenants that heralded a change of cosmos.
When they quieted down, Boaz continued. “The elders have concluded that the Ebionites promote false teaching by their doctrines that deny the godhood of Messiah and the God-breathed letters of the apostle Paul. Their enforcement of circumcision and Torah as justification severs them from Christ and crucifies the Son of God all over again. They are shipwrecked as regards the faith, and we hereby cut them off from the congregation of the Lord.”
More murmuring broke out in the crowd. The Ebionites were not pleased. Boaz concluded, “We have given them five days to gather their belongings and leave the city. May Yahweh protect his sheep.”177
The chatter in the crowd grew. Cassandra sighed and prayed a prayer of thanks to the Father. It felt like they had dodged an axe. When this was all over, the ekklesia would grow with the protection of the Holy Spirit over her. The Church would not die out or apostatize.
But it was not over yet. The shaking of heaven and earth was about to occur, and it would be devastating.
CHAPTER 43
Jerusalem
Thelonius groaned and shifted his position where he lay on the floor of the dungeon below the temple mount. He had been in the cell for five days now. He was dehydrated and starving. But he’d had a lot of time down here in the dark to think about his life and the choices he had made. He knew it was all coming to an end. Would his beloved Livia ever find out what had happened to him? Would she live a lonely life, waiting for years for his return before giving up in resignation? Would she find someone else to love? He prayed she would.
He drifted in and out of foggy wakefulness and restless sleep. The sound of a guard’s voice and the opening of the cell door awakened him. “Thelonius Severus.”
He rubbed his eyes as a figure approached him.
The figure sat down next to him and leaned in close. It was Alexander. The doctor pulled out a small water skin from his cloak and lifted it to Thelonius’s mouth to drink. He did so, gulping the life-giving water desperately.
“Slowly,” said Alexander.
Thelonius looked up at him. “Thank you,” he whispered back.
Alexander reached into his cloak and pulled out some pieces of bread. Snatching the bread, Thelonius stuffed it into his own cloak in several places. All but the last piece, which he jammed into his mouth. He was so hungry he almost swallowed the sustenance whole.
Alexander watched his captive ally chewing the bread with desperation. The doctor had thought through the incident with much prayer. He knew Thelonius was not the spy. He said, “So you lied about your identity again.”
Thelonius stopped eating. He searched Alexander’s face for his intent.
Alexander added, “But this time you did it to save others instead of yourself.”
Thelonius smiled. “The best lie is a half-truth. I told them I was an agent of Caesar. Unfortunately, my confession didn’t match their evidence, so I’m not sure what they are going to do next.”
Alexander said, “You saved the innocents from starving. You’ve given them a few more days to live. But you know how this ends.”
Thelonius stared into his eyes with conviction. “So do you. Yet here you are.”
The implication was obvious. As Alexander sought to snatch some from the fire, Thelonius sought to help him in the face of great odds against them.
Alexander said, “You sacrificed yourself. But the real traitor remains hidden.”
“The real traitor was never going to reveal himself. You know that.” He returned to his bread.
Alexander turned dour. “The Romans returned to the gates of the second wall the next day and broke through with their battering ram. They burned down the wall and now occupy the Mishneh area and the Tyropeon Valley. Simon has been pushed into the Upper City. Gischala still holds the temple mount. It will not be long.”
Thelonius quoted the Apocalypse, “Alas. You great city, you mighty city, Babylon. For in a single hour your judgment has come.”178
Alexander reached into a hand bag and pulled out some parchment along with ink and a quill. “I thought you would want to write a letter to your beloved.”
Thelonius sighed. He lifted his trembling hand to show Alexander. He had been beaten badly by his captors. “Would you be my scribe?”
Alexander solemnly nodded and set up his ink bottle and quill for transcription. He could not help but think of his own beloved Cassandra and how he had not heard from her since the Roman blockade. He would write a letter for her as well—in case he didn’t make it.
> Thelonius started to choke up when he thought of Livia. Oh, how he missed her. If only he’d had one more day with her. If only he could tell her he loved her one more time in person. Touch her, smell her, embrace her. Just one more time.
But it was not to be.
“Thelonius Severus, to my most loved Livia Bantius.” He waited for the scratching of pen on parchment to catch up with him. “I am writing to you from prison in Jerusalem. I have done no evil but have been caught in the crossfire of war. My execution shall shortly take place. I do not know the day or hour, only that I will never see you again in this life. And that is a fear that far outweighs death. Do not mourn long for me. God has allowed me the grace to be able to right the wrongs I have done.
“As I wrote you in a previous letter, I have come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. I want you to know this love and forgiveness as well. This savior is not only for Jews, but for all peoples and nations. But unlike Rome, his kingdom does not conquer and enslave through the sword. Rather, it converts and changes hearts through freedom from sin. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
“Livia, the gods are not our creators but tainted projections of our own humanity. Though we knew the Creator, we did not honor him as God. We exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and other creatures. We exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped creation rather than the Creator. So God gave us up to the lusts of our hearts and depraved minds.179
“When I was an unbeliever, I told you that Jesus was just another charismatic leader with the gift of persuasion who had managed to fool some Jews into thinking he was God on earth. Now I know him as my resurrected lord and savior. He has baptized me in his Holy Spirit, brought me out of the domain of darkness, and transferred me into the kingdom of his beloved Son. Join me there, Livia, and you will find redemption and forgiveness of your sins.180