by Mary Pearson
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Phillip asked Jesus.
“Neither,” Jesus said and he looked into Phillip’s eyes before adding, “It was so that the works of God might be made visible through him. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” Then He spat on the ground and made clay with saliva, and smeared the clay on the eyes of the blind man. “Go wash in the pool of Siloam.”
The man left and the troop of Apostles with the children and Jesus slipped into one of the simple whitewashed shelters and closed the door. None too soon, either, as within minutes the area was swarming with the remnants of the mob, who were still looking for Jesus. It was to this angry group that the blind man, now seeing and jumping for joy, returned to the square.
“What’s going on?” Molly tried to peer out the window where Phillip was watching the crowds talking to this man.
“They’re taking him to the leaders to be questioned.” Phillip sighed and sat down on the floor by the children. “The Master is always getting in trouble for healing on the Sabbath.”
“What’s the Sabbath?” Lucien asked.
“Our day of rest.” Phillip shrugged. “It is forbidden to do any work.”
“Even healing?” Lily was amazed.
“The Master disagrees with this, also.”
When John and James returned with the word that the Pharisees had thrown the healed man out of the temple for having been healed on the Sabbath, Jesus left His hiding place and found the healed man, with His followers and the children close behind. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He asked him.
To this the man seemed to ask a question.
Jesus answered him, “You have seen Him and the One speaking with you is He.”
Then the man fell at Jesus’ feet and worshipped Him.
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who see might become blind.” And He looked piercingly at the Pharisees who had followed him there. “Amen, amen, I say to you , whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate, but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. I Am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters through Me will be saved.” Then He turned to the Gonker children and blessed them home.
***
Their mother was staring at them when they snapped out of their trance. “Nice outfits,” she said. “Where did you get the sheets?”
Molly and Lily exchanged guilty looks. “From our beds,” Lily said in a small voice.
Their mother just looked very tired. “It may be awhile before you get new ones,” was all she said. “Your father and I went to that hearing about the sqwaps and if you’ll all come to the dining yurt we’ll tell you how it went.”
The Bootzers were there before they reached their destination and their father gave them all the play by play. As a summary their parents had disputed that the sqwaps were endangered. They thought them to be a brand new species. This revelation had the officials arguing amongst themselves. Finally the Gonkers were dismissed to prepare their property for an inspection which was to happen sometime within the next few days.
So they all needed to clean. Starting now.
Nathanael and I Am the good shepherd
“I hate cleaning!” Finne plopped on his butt and just looked at the wash rag with which he had been scrubbing fingerprinted walls.
“No one likes it,” Lucien tried to tug his brother back on his feet. “But we have to.”
“I like to clean.” Molly had her hair tied back in a babushka and she was busy spraying and shining windows.
“That’s cause Mom lets you use the spray.” Even Logan was not allowed this privilege.
“Because I’m twustwothy.” Molly spitshined the smudgy spots. “I nevoy spway people in the face.”
“That was just one time!” Logan muttered under his breath.
“One time too many,” Lily was also allowed to use spray. She hadn’t lost her privileges.
“Well, high and mighty spray possessors, would you mind squirting some on this spot.” Lucien pointed to his part of the wall where he encountered a stubborn patch of crayon. “Who did this, anyway?”
“Mom never cares who made the mess, she just expects us to clean it,” Lily said and she sprayed some lemon cleaner on the area.
“I think the sqwaps are doing it,” Finne said, grumpily.
Even Maggie had a cloth and she was cleaning a low spot. She looked at Finne, perplexed. “Could they?”
By now Lucien had put down his rag and retrieved Squirmy. He gave him a smack on the duck bill. “You could, couldn’t you, little guy? You’d just wait until no one was looking.” The sqwap looked the picture of innocence.
“He could hold a crayon in his beak,” Finne said.
This started a major discussion of whether sqwaps would be capable of this kind of mess and before long nobody was working anymore. Of course that’s when their mother decided to check in on them. She tore at her hair and reminded them of the importance of this task, and then she sat down and put her head in her hands, overcome with the enormity of the situation. Maggie climbed into her lap and Finne stroked her hair. Then they all got back to work with no more griping and before long the walls were clean.
The Bootzer’s yurt was also clean and the children were reassured that if they completed the rec yurt they could have free play until dinner. So this time they accomplished the task in record time and with hardly any squabbles.
***
“Okay, so who gets to read this time?” Logan asked.
“Me,” Molly said. “I’ve been pwacticing.” She opened the book to Nathanael (who was also known as Bartholomew) and read with Lily’s help. When they stopped spinning they found themselves right where they had been, with Jesus’ hands on them.
“Where’d they go?” Phillip shouted.
“Where’d these kids come from?” Nathanael said at the same time.
The other apostles exchanged a look. “Gonkers,” Andrew said with a grin. He might as easily have said, ‘goblins ’. Then the apostles and Jesus went on as though nothing had happened. They were getting used to this.
“I Am the gate,” Jesus said again. “Whoever enters through Me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy. I come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.”
“I Am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. A hired man who is not a shepherd or an owner of the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away. The wolf catches and scatters them. I Am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and mine know me.” Then Jesus bent and picked up Maggie, her silky hair cascading down her back. He held her in the crook of His arm. “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.” He looked at the Gonkers, one at a time, before continuing, “these also I must lead and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” And, once again, they were blessed back to their home.
Mary Magdalene and I Am the Resurrection and the Life
“Why is Mom so sad?” Lucien asked Lily. They were picking apples in the orchard.
“It’s not just the inspection and what could happen with that. Molly heard them the adults talking-“
“Of course she did!” Lucien rolled his eyes and placed another juicy honeycrisp in the basket they were filling for their parents.
“They’re worried about us.” Lily’s face was somber.
“What for?”
“The way we all seem to go into a trance when we time travel. Mom says it’s unnatural. She’s going to talk to Father Andy.”
The worried look left Lucien’s face. “Oh, so then it’s no problem. He’ll tell her it’s okay.”
“We don’t know that.” Lily chewed on her lower lip. “We were suppo
sed to be more careful.”
“Yeah, I know.” Lucien grinned sheepishly. “We can’t help it if the Apostles keep breaking that rule.”
“It’s not all them, you know.” Lily frowned at her brother.
“So we’ll try harder.”
Lily sighed. “I’ve heard that before.”
Lily logged out of the computer. It was getting worse. Every time she entered the word ‘Gonkers’ she found them on more sites. They were now in the writings of Justin Martyr and Polycarp. She sure hoped Father Andrew was right about the Bible being immune from Gonkers infestation.
So far no word of the inspection and with the place sparkling clean Richard Gonker had decided to take his sons into town to sell some of the many extra apples at a farmers’ market. As he put it, there was no way they could eat, store or freeze more than a fraction of the bumper crop which God had given them. They might as well try to pay for the sqwap yurt with apple money.
That left the girls alone with the book. Way too irresistible for them.
“You know,” Lily was chewing on the eraser of her pencil as she underlined the next ‘I Am’ incident in the Bible, “it’s a shame there were no girl Apostles. I mean, especially in this story. The major characters are two women and a dead guy.”
Molly looked over her sister’s shoulder, mouthing the words as she read. “Maey Magdalene has a window,” she pointed out.
There was a thinking pause before Lily said, “This is true. All right. Get Mags. It is only fair, after all.”
Molly nodded. “Jesus had girl followers, too.”
Their destination this time was Bethany and when they stopped spinning they found themselves in a very dark room. At first they thought there was no one in it and then they saw her, reclined on a cushion, her body slumped and her face turned toward the wall.
A woman entered with a tray. “Miriam?” When she got no response she just set the food on the low table by her.
The three Gonker girls sat down on the floor beside Mary Magdalene and Mags reclined beside her, half hugging the woman.
“It’s going to be okay,” Molly reassured her.
Mary’s head snapped up. “Our brother is dead. It has been four days! It would have been okay… if He’d have come!”
Then Lily took one hand and Mags the other and the three girls lead Mary to her sister, Martha, who was talking to Jesus.
Looking also towards Mary and the girls, Jesus said, “I Am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me-- even if he dies-- will live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
They all nodded.
“Where have you laid him?”
Mary took him by the hand, “Come and see.” And she led him to the tomb, which was a cave, and a stone had been rolled across the entrance.
Then Jesus was overcome with grief and He wept. The mourners who had been at the house began to murmur when they saw this.
“Take away the stone,” Jesus said. Martha started to object but He stopped her. “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” After they had rolled away the stone Jesus raised His eyes to Heaven. “Father, I thank you for hearing Me. I know that You always hear Me but because of the crowd I have said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Then he cried in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
And he came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and with a cloth over his head.
***
Of course the girls stayed for the party, and you can imagine what a party that was. The wedding at Cana was nothing in comparison to the rejoicing for this family who had received their brother back from the grave. For his part, Lazarus had amazing stories to tell of those people he had met who had died before him, people with whom he had been able to see and talk. By the time Jesus blessed the girls back it had been many hours-- thankfully only minutes back home. When they came to themselves this time they were surrounded by their mother and aunt and a bunch of strangers, who were looking at them with raised eyebrows.
“They do this,” their mother said nervously. Then, as they started to blink and move, “See. They’re all better now.” She smiled in spite of the awkward silence.
The inspectors exchanged a look and a woman with her hair pulled back into a tight bun scribbled something in the notebook she was holding.
***
“They probably think we’re some kind of cult.” Their mother pasted on a smile and waved as the inspectors backed out of the driveway. After they were gone she shot the girls an exasperated look. Then, turning to their father she said, “Oh, Richard, what are we going to do…?”
I Am the Way, the Truth , and the Life-- Matthew
Not only their parents, but the boys were livid when they found out the girls had gone to the raising of Lazarus.
“It was supposed to be my project,” Logan shuffled through the notes he had taken from the other I Am trips. “Now how am I supposed to get this report done?”
“We’ll tell you everything,” Lily assured her brother.
“It’s not the same!”
It was no surprise when the whole bunch of them was hauled in for confession that weekend-- and their mother had also asked Fr. Andrew to say some special prayers over the children.
“I warned you to be careful,” the priest said to Lily when she had finished her confession.
“But tell Mom we don’t need an exorcism!” she pleaded.
“Don’t worry, Lily,” Father Andrew’s eyes were extra kind. “A little exorcism now and then never hurt anyone.”
***
After that it became very difficult to go on any more trips. Maybe as penance the girls were taken to the farmers’ market the next three times by their mother. Maybe she just wanted to keep an eye on them. Whatever the reason they managed to sell most of the apples and would soon have enough money to buy a no-frills yurt for the sqwaps. None too soon either, as they were just about to give birth.
A whole week had passed since the girls’ trip to see Lazarus. “The next trip will probably be quick.” Logan was studying the Gospel of John.
“Even so,” Lily warned him. “We can’t take chances of them catching us gone.”
Then came the snow. When you go to school a snow day is pure fun for kids. But living in the yurt village for more than a year had taught the children that snow was more work than fun, even for kids. They were all given shovels and assigned little paths to clear while the adults tackled the larger chores.
Normally after they finished their chores there would be the making of snowmen or the building of forts. But this time they had other things in mind.
“Let’s get done quick,” Logan said. “Then we can go see St. Matthew.”
It was going to be a quick turnaround again, between St. Matthew and St. Simon (not Peter). With luck they could get them both in while the adults were out moving snow.
So Logan read into the part of the Gospel where Jesus was gathering with His disciples for the last time before He would be crucified. They had been there before, slightly earlier in this last evening that Jesus was to spend with His apostles. This time, there were only the twelve Apostles with Jesus.
The Apostles were seated when the children arrived. Only Matthew looked up when they appeared and he didn’t seem much surprised, having heard of the Gonkers from the Apostles they had previously visited. Matthew motioned for the children to sit on cushions beside the Apostles. So they sat and quietly waited. Then Jesus came in with a basin and towel and he knelt beside Simon Peter and unfastened his sandal. Peter seemed to object but Jesus said, “What I am doing you do not yet understand, but you will understand later.” Then he washed the feet of Peter and, after him, each of the apostles in turn. When Jesus came to the Gonkers He removed their crocs and washed their feet as well. Molly fully expected the water to be wet-less, like the other times they had gone back into watery environments. But this water was completely w
ater-like, and it didn’t tickle to have her feet washed, like she thought it would. Her feet just felt super clean and soft, and something else… Can feet feel holy…?
Then, standing, Jesus spoke. “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master’, and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one anothers’ feet. As I have done for you you should also do.”
Later, as they were reclining and eating their meal Jesus spoke to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God, have faith also in Me. In My father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you also will be.”
Thomas spoke and Matthew whispered a translation to the children. “He says we do not know where the Master is going, how can we know the way?”
Jesus spoke with authority. “I Am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Then He blessed the Gonker children home.
After the ground below them was feeling firm again, the children scrambled to the window to check on their parents’ progress. It seemed they had only finished half of the snow removal so they quickly regrouped around the book, this time on the page of Simon, the zealot. Lucien read and they flew through time and space.
***
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.” Jesus met the eyes of the Gonker children who had popped back into the same places which they had vacated only moments before. Matthew was looking surprised that they were gone, but now Simon nodded as he became aware of them. “Not as the world gives do I give it to you,” Jesus went on. “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You have heard Me say I am going away. If you loved Me you would rejoice that I am going to the Father.” Then He motioned for them to get up. “I Am the true vine, and My Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in Me that does not bear fruit… Remain in Me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches… If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” Then Jesus blessed them home a second time.