by Woods, Karen
“Yes. I understand that. It is your son who has caused the agitation in the Temple recently, isn’t it? Yehoshua, the prophet from Natsarat?”
“He is my son,” she said.
Daniel spoke in a low voice, “Personally, I am delighted to have the merchants out of the Temple. Not everyone feels the same way.”
“I’d imagine not.”
“Tell him to be careful. The times are evil.”
“He knows that, only too well.”
Daniel spoke even more softly, as not to be overheard, “Even the Temple is not safe for him. Yosef bar Kayafa is in league with the parushim. He is afraid of what the Romans will do if there is another uprising. Fear is a dangerous place from which a man of authority can act. Your son needs to be extremely careful.”
“You did know that Yochanan, the baptizer, was Zechariah’s son, didn’t you?” Miriam asked.
Daniel sighed. “I suspected he might be. But I never got to see him. When I’m not serving here, I stay close to home. We will have to speak again.”
“I would like that.”
They reached the priest who was receiving grain offerings. Daniel left them then.
It was very shortly after their gifts were received that Yehoshua entered the Temple and began to teach, standing under the colonnade of the Court of the Women.
Miriam joined the crowd who stood there, listening to her son.
A group consisting of several of the leading members of the parushim sect, the scribes, and a number of the priests of the temple came to Yehoshua, forcing their way through the crowd. Their spokesman said, “Tell us by what authority are you doing these things? Or who it is who granted you this authority?”
She watched her son carefully. It was clear these men were spoiling for a fight, but didn’t want to alienate the people. They were looking for something to use against him, something that they could use to turn the people against him.
Yehoshua said, “I will ask you one thing, and answer me. The baptism of Yochanan, was it from Elohim or was it from man?”
The group exchanged glances and spoke quietly among themselves for a moment or two before their spokesman said, “We don’t know.”
“Then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things,” Yehoshua said.
Then her son told a parable about a man who planted a vineyard and left it in the hands of tenants. The tenants abused all those servants sent to them to collect the rent. Then the owner sent his son, whom the tenants killed, thinking they would inherit the vineyard if the heir was dead. He finished the parable by saying, “The owner of the vineyard will come and destroy those tenants, and will give the vineyard to others.”
The look on the faces of scribes, the priests, and the parushim told Miriam that they knew her son’s parable had been directed at them. That hadn’t made them any more happy with him. But then, she doubted anything could have done that.
Still, Yehoshua continued teaching in parables. Miriam stayed until mid-afternoon, then she, Shoshonah, and Yehuda, Yosef’s son and daughter-in-law, walked back to Bethany. Yehuda didn’t want his wife making that walk in only the company of another woman. That made Miriam smile, to know Yosef’s son was still so in love with his wife. Shoshonah was truly a blessed woman.
The sisters of Eleazaros had returned to Bethany at noon to begin preparing the evening meal for the group. When Miriam and Shoshonah returned to the house, they immediately lent a hand in that work.
At dinner, Yehoshua announced, “We will not return here tomorrow. The women can sleep in the room we have arranged for the Pesach. My men and I will go out into the hills to sleep.”
“The room is large enough for all of us. I don’t like you sleeping outdoors right now. It leaves you vulnerable.”
The knowledgable look in her son’s eyes broke her heart. “That can’t be helped. This must be done.”
The conversation changed, centered on the people her son had healed during the day.
After dinner, after they had sung their praises to God, Yehoshua went outside for some time alone. Miriam followed him.
“Emma,” he greeted her.
“Son, I spoke today with a priest I’ve known since my childhood. Daniel was related to Zechariah. He says that Yosef bar Kayafa is in league with the parushim in seeking your life.”
“That does not surprise me.”
“I will leave you.”
“No, don’t. Stay with me for a while.”
“As you wish.”
“Do you remember Leah’s nissuin?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“So many of the wonders I’ve shown people, and yet the wine from water there was the one that made Simon bar Yonah, the man I call ‘Cephas’, believe in me. After so many left me, offended at my teachings about my being the bread of life, he stayed with me, saying there was no one else who had the words of life. He’s going to need your help, Emma. He thinks he’s so strong. And yet, he will have to come to terms with his own dramatically demonstrated weakness. He will need your friendship and your guidance when I’m gone. You will have to be strong for all of them.”
“The only strength I’ve ever had is what I’ve drawn from Avinu Malkeinu,” Miriam said.
“That’s the only strength anyone really has. You will need to remind them of that truth, most likely repeatedly.”
“Eleven of the twelve are good men,” Miriam allowed.
“And the last one will betray me into the hands of sinners.”
She sighed. “Why do you allow him to stay with you? You’ve known for quite a while what a disloyal person he is.”
“Do you remember the parable I taught about the wheat and the tares?”
She nodded. “It would cause too much harm to the others if you removed him from the twelve.”
“Yes. Emma, the next few days will be difficult for you.”
“I’m not worried about myself.”
“No. You never have been.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Miriam listened to her son teach his men and women over dinner. They were all in the room they had always rented for years for the pilgrim festivals, in what had once been Adlai’s house.
Then she was shocked to see her son rise from the table, take off his outer robe, tuck the hem of his linen tunic into the belt, and to drape a towel over his belt. He poured water into a basin and came to his men, prepared to wash their feet, as a servant.
Simon, the one called ‘Cephas’, became clearly upset, even more upset as his master came to him.
“Master, you are to wash my feet?” Simon Cephas demanded.
“What I am doing now, you do not understand. But you will know later,” Yehoshua answered.
“You will never wash my feet!”
“If I do not wash you, you have no part with me,” Yehoshua replied.
Simon Cephas shook his head. “Then, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”
“The one who has bathed only needs to wash his feet to be completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.”
After Yehoshua had washed the feet of all, he took the basin back to where he had found it. He removed the towel from his belt, untucked the hem of his tunic from the belt and pulled on his outer robe once more. All eyes were on him as he rejoined them at table.
“Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and so you say well, for so this is who I am. If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have given you an example. You should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
A few minutes later, Yehoshua said, “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’ Now, I te
ll you before it comes, that when it does come to pass you may believe that I am he. Truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives Him who sent me.”
Miriam looked at her son, and saw that he was troubled.
Yehoshua continued, “Amein. Amein. I say to you that one of you will betray me.”
She watched as the twelve looked among themselves and murmured among themselves wondering who it was who would, who could, betray their master into the hands of the parushim. Simon Cephas motioned to Yochanan bar Zebedee, and mouthed to him to ask Yehoshua who he spoke about.
When asked, her son said, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.”
A few minutes later, he dipped a piece of bread and gave it to Yehuda bar Simon of Kerioth.
She watched as her son said to that man, “What you do, do quickly.”
Miriam wanted to cry as the man from Kerioth rose from the table and left the room. She bit her lip to keep the tears from falling. And she prayed for the strength to forgive the man who was even now on his way to betray her son. And yet, as she looked around the room, it was clear that none of the men, nor any of the women, apart from herself and her son, understood the significance of the departure of Yehuda bar Simon.
Yehoshua met her eyes. The peace she saw there gave her strength. “Now,” he said, “the Son of Man is glorified and Elohim is glorified in him. If Elohim is glorified in him and will also glorify him in Himself, and glorify him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you only a little while longer. You will seek me; and as I said to the people, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you will also love one another. By this will all know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
“Lord, where are you going?” Simon Cephas asked.
“Where I am going, you cannot follow Me, now. But you shall follow Me later.”
Simon Cephas said, “Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Miriam’s heart broke as she saw the compassion and bittersweet sorrow mingled in her son’s eyes. He answered his disciple, with kindness in his voice, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Truly, I tell you, the rooster will not crow before you have denied Me three times.”
Then he sighed and continued, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in Elohim, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions. Were that not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
The disciple called Teom, the twin, said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?”
Yehoshua smiled slightly. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known Me, you would have also known my Father, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip asked, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Yehoshua shook his head. “Philip, have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So how can you now say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. Truly, I tell you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatsoever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
He smiled at them. “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
“A little while longer and the world will see me no more. But you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and show Myself to him.”
Yehuda, Yosef’s son, said, “How is it that you will show yourself to us and not to the world?”
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”
“These things,” Miriam heard Yehoshua say, “I have spoken to you, while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you.”
Miriam met his eyes as he looked at her just then. He spoke, looking at her, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Miriam sighed and remembered the mashal she had twisted to say, “A brave mother is a crown to her son.”
He continued, “If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father’, for my Father is greater than I.”
“And now, I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass you may believe. I will not longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do.”
“Arise, let us go from here,” Yehoshua said.
Miriam and the other women sat there as the men left the room.
When they had gone, Miriamne, the one called Magdala, asked, “What was all that about?”
Miriam bit her lip. “We must be brave. Yehuda bar Simon of Kerioth has gone to betray my son into the hands of the parushim. By now, he’s probably sold my son into their hands. We will not be with Yehoshua, like this, ever again. Tonight, He is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
“Surely not!” Yoanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, exclaimed.
Miriam sighed. “This was His farewell to us. He just gave us our orders. We are to love one another, and to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.”
Miriamne’s expression was one of great horror.
“’Weeping may be for a night, but joy cometh in the morning’,” she quoted the mizmor, the psalm. “Come, let us clear away. As my son taught, ‘Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will worry about itself. Every day has enough trouble of its own.’”
“How can you be so calm, Sister?” Miriam, the wife of Halphai, asked.
“You were with me when He was born. How can you ask this?” Miriam, Yehoshua’s mother, answered, her voice strained. “All His life has been coming to this point from the moment Gavriel announced to me I’d found favor with Elohim and asked me to be the mother of Yehoshua, to the moment He was born into the hands of the holy angels, until this moment. Do I like it? No. It terrifies me. But He wants me to face this with an untroubled spirit and unafraid mind. And for Him, I will do the best I can to give Him that gift. Honestly, it’s all I can do not to sit and weep, to run after Him, and beg Him to flee, to save Himself. There would be no sense in that. He wouldn’t flee. He will be obedient to Avinu Malkeinu, even to the point of death. His men are with Him. This is the way he wants things done. So, I will do what I can do. I will serve him as I can. Right now, that’s the clearing away, and saying my bedtime prayers and living, as I always have lived, trying to be a good daughter of the Covenant. Beyond this, I can do nothing more.”
She shook her head. “Now, come and help me clear away, then we’ll sing our bedtime prayers and try to sleep,” Miriam urged. “We will need our sleep. The next few days will be more difficult than any of us can imagine.”
It was reasonably short work t
o put the room into good order, as there were several women working. They prepared for bed, said their prayers, and lay down to sleep.
But sleep didn’t come easily, nor did it last very long.
Less than three hours later, Yehuda, Yosef’s son, came in, carrying a lamp. He woke his wife, Shoshonah. Then she woke Miriam and everyone else.
“He’s been arrested. They’ve taken him. Yehuda bar Simon of Kerioth betrayed him to the parushim by greeting him with a kiss!” Yehuda, Miriam’s stepson, said. “They came against him with swords and led him away.”
Miriam sighed. “Who followed when they took Him away?”
“Yochanan bar Zebedee and Simon Cephas. The rest of us fled. I came to you.”
“Poor Simon Cephas. He’s going to have a hard night,” Miriam said on sigh. “We will need to comfort him, and forgive him. For I don’t believe he’ll ever forgive himself.”
Yehuda looked at her, as did everyone else in the room, questioningly.
“Think about what Yehoshua said to him, at dinner. It is a terrible thing to be so frightened that you deny knowing someone you love in order to save your own skin. Yet, that is precisely what he will be doing tonight. Three times, before the rooster announces dawn, Simon Cephas will deny my son,” Miriam said, her voice breaking. “That’s a terrible thing for him to live with. We must pray for him.”
“We have to find a way of saving Yehoshua,” Yehuda said. “Perhaps, we can go with arms to rescue him?”
“No. I forbid it,” Miriam said. “He wouldn’t want that. Besides, none of you are trained in arms. Soldiers would make short work of any of you.”
“Then money. We can offer them a sum of money in exchange for him. We have to do something!” Miriamne, Magdala, protested.
Miriam shook her head in the negative. “No. We don’t have to do anything. Everything’s in the hands of Avinu Malkeinu. Have you not heard any of what my son has said to you, during the last few hours?” she demanded. “He knows this is His hour. Why do you think He bid us all farewell?” Then she began to teach them about the true role of the Moshiach, omitting only the prophecies about the resurrection, because she knew they were ready for that, yet.