by Brian Godawa
Simon had been staring back at Mary with wonder. He turned red with embarrassment.
Jesus drew closer to the women and said with affection. “Greetings, Mary.”
“Greetings, Rabbi. I want you to meet some other women who may be able to help fund your ministry.” She pointed to an older woman with graying hair but a bright smile. “This is Susanna, a seller of fabrics. She is a widow. I told her all about you. She has known me for many years.”
Susanna said, “Thank you for what you’ve done with Mary.”
Jesus placed his hand empathetically on her shoulder and said softly, “I am sorry about your husband. How long has it been?”
Susanna suddenly teared up. She could barely get out, “Four years.”
“You loved him deeply.”
She couldn’t say anything without bursting into tears, so she just nodded her head.
Jesus pulled her close and hugged her.
Peter looked uncomfortable. Such affection in public was not appropriate. People could get the wrong idea.
Jesus pulled away from Susanna and looked at the other woman. “And who is your other friend?”
“Joanna.” Mary then lowered her voice with a quick look around. “She is the wife of Chuza, Herod Antipas’ steward.”
Jesus’s brow raised with interest. Peter and Simon looked around to see if they were being watched.
Joanna said, “I know you must be wary of me. But I assure you, I have been following your travels and teachings, and I believe you are Messiah.”
Peter looked around again to see who was watching them. “She has spies.”
Simon added, “Antipas killed John the Baptizer.”
She tried to allay their fears, “Herod does not know of my interests. My own husband does not know. I’ve told no one, and my servants are believers in you as well.”
“He is contagious,” said Simon. He noticed that Mary chuckled at his remark.
Joanna said, “I agree with Jesus. Herod is a vixen.” Vixen was a female fox, which was an insulting political reference to the manipulation of Herod by his own wife.
Simon elbowed Peter and said to him teasingly, “She has attentive spies.”
Another chuckle from Mary, another lifted smile from Simon.
Joanna said, “I have money, earmarked for charity, that I have put aside to help you and your disciples. Pay for food, lodgings, fresh clothes.”
“I will need a donkey when we get to Jerusalem,” said Jesus thoughtfully.
“I can buy you fifty donkeys.”
“Well, Peter,” said Jesus. “Do you know of any men who will provide as much?”
Peter felt like a scolded child. “No, Rabbi.”
Jesus said, “We are certainly in need of finances.”
Peter muttered, “I think Judas is pilfering from the treasury.”
Jesus said, “Nevertheless, I see no reason to reject the help of such beautiful and resourceful women.”
Jesus reached out and hugged Joanna. Another moment of discomfort for Peter.
Simon thought of another comment. “What a funny irony to have Herod on the one hand hunting you, and on the other, funding you.”
He immediately looked to Mary to see her reaction. She giggled.
Simon felt on top of the world.
Jesus turned sober. “Peter, get James and John. We are going up Mount Hermon.”
Simon gulped. Whatever had happened inside that cave, the incident at the Gates of Hades was a breach of the walls. But how could four unarmed commoners make an assault on the stronghold of evil itself?
Chapter 20
Longinus waited patiently for Pilate to arrive at the Chamber of Hewn Stone, adjacent to the Court of Priests inside the Temple area in Jerusalem. He had made the trek down to Jerusalem from Galilee in pursuit of his revolutionary Zealots. He had requested that Pilate call a Sanhedrin meeting to address the question of Messiah.
The Sanhedrin of Jerusalem consisted of seventy or so of the city’s elders and leaders, who acted as a supreme judicial court and a political diplomatic link to the Roman governor. As guardians of the public order, they were invested with the authority to try, convict and sentence criminal cases, with one exception: capital crimes. Only Rome had the authority to execute. But even then, Rome often relied upon the Sanhedrin’s legal process before receiving convicted felons for execution.
Longinus could make out two major factions that vied for control of the Sanhedrin council, Sadducees and Pharisees. Sadducees were mostly the rich aristocracy, while the Pharisees had popular support. In the current scenario, the Sadducees seemed to dominate the proceedings with their numbers.
Since Pilate was late, the chattering and small talk had evolved into a full-blown debate between the factions.
These Jews love to argue, thought Longinus as he observed the group from his seat at the pillared entrance. The Chamber of Hewn Stone was a fairly large, open area in a high-ceilinged room that gave him the impression of loftiness toward heaven, despite the very earthy and emotionally charged argumentation unfolding before him.
He was glad for it. He was glad to get a glimpse into the way they thought and saw the world. Anything to help him figure out the mindset of a rebellious people who seemed to inspire so much trouble for themselves.
They mostly sat around the outer edge of the room with polygonal walls which created a circular structure. At the forefront of the room was a head seat, that looked very much to Longinus like a royal throne, with its framed arch and red curtains displayed behind it. This was the seat of the High Priest, who was currently Caiaphas, a bootlicker of Herod, under Pilate’s direction.
Longinus detested this despicable monkey, not in spite of Caiaphas’ intimate relationship with Pilate, but because of it. The fat and luxury-loving sycophant was an ally of Rome, due to informing on his fellow Jews and keeping them in line. But Longinus still detested anyone who betrayed their own people. He had more respect for the Zealot lunatics and their fanaticism than for subtle serpentine traitors like Caiaphas.
It was Caiaphas who led the current heated debate about some theological difference that seemed quite unimportant to Longinus. It seemed to be one that had a long history to it.
Ridiculous, he thought.
Caiaphas said, “Order! Order! You will please refrain from interruption!” The noisiness calmed down. “Now, Annas, you were trying to say?”
“I am saying that these so-called signs and wonders of Jesus raising a little girl and the man, Lazarus, from the dead are unsubstantiated rumors and legends. There is no resurrection and there is no afterlife spoken of in the Scriptures. Pharisees draw their arguments from non-Scriptural sources and traditions, which we Sadducees simply do not recognize as authoritative. We alone stand on the Word of our God.”
Annas had a snooty arrogance to him.
Another gray-haired gentleman spoke up. Longinus had heard that he was Joseph of Arimathea, another wealthy man, but a Pharisee.
Joseph said, “My brother Annas sounds more like a pagan Greek than a Hebrew.” Some scattered laughs peppered the crowd. Longinus shook his head with contempt.
“Not only does the prophet Daniel clearly speak of a general resurrection of the dead, but Isaiah and our beloved David reveal it to be so. May I quote from the Scriptures that Annas and his Sadducees so proudly claim to be the sole beneficiaries of? A Psalm of David: ‘For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.’ And the prophet Isaiah, who, I may remind my illustrious opponents, wrote Scripture, said of a Suffering Servant, and I quote,
‘But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities…
And they made his grave with the wicked…
Yet, when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.’”
Annas responded quickly, “My colleague Joseph is t
aking Scripture out of context. David was speaking metaphorically, and Isaiah’s Suffering Servant is Israel, not Messiah.”
A voice interrupted their debate. “I can see my tardiness has inspired you to discuss the matter of Messiah in my absence.”
Pilate paused at the entrance of the chamber, with his personal guard. Everyone stood in respect.
Longinus saluted Pilate and whispered, “Prefect, sir, their quibbling and bickering only now touched on the subject. You know how they can get carried away.”
“Do I ever.” Pilate looked back around at the council. “You may be seated.”
They took their seats.
Pilate paraded to the center of the room, the center of attention. He snapped his fingers for Longinus to join him.
Pilate looked at Caiaphas and said, “Beside me is Marcus Lucius Longinus. I have tasked him with tracking down some particularly egregious Jewish rebels. One of them goes by the name of Jesus Barabbas. Do you have any intelligence on him?”
Caiaphas said, “No, my prefect.”
“And what of his comrades, the brothers Demas and Gestas Samaras?”
“No, my prefect.”
“What good are you to me, Caiaphas, if you don’t keep on top of your own people, and their rebel leaders?”
“Your eminence,” said Caiaphas, “we have told you everything we know of Amram and Tholomy, as well as the sons of Judas the Galilean. Is Barabbas the leader of the cave-dwellers of Galilee?”
Pilate nodded to Longinus, who replied to the high priest, “Yes. They are considered a separate splinter group of the Zealots.”
Pilate threw out with a laugh, “Yet another ‘splinter group.’ I swear, Caiaphas, if this increases, you may find Caesar himself coming to crush these brigands and the entire nation with them. Then you might take it all a bit more seriously. Would you prefer Caesar take his place in your Temple as god?”
The whole crowd erupted in shock and muttering at the blasphemy. Pilate’s previous incident of placing Caesar’s standards in the temple was blasphemous enough and still fresh on their minds. The thought of Caesar’s personal presence was too much to consider.
Pilate shouted, “QUIET!” They quieted down.
He said, “And what of this other Jesus, the Nazarene? I heard you mention signs and wonders. Do any believe him to be your Messiah?”
“He is nothing, governor,” said Caiaphas. “They are parlor tricks, and his followers are fishermen and plebs. He speaks nothing of violent overthrow. Merely peculiarities of our laws.”
Pilate looked to Longinus for response, who nodded in agreement.
Pilate said, “I have no more patience for this tripe. If any of these men, be they Barabbas, Amram, Tholomy or even this patsy, the Nazarene, if any of them enter Jerusalem, I want you to immediately alert Longinus, who is now stationed in the Antonia fortress. Am I understood?”
“Yes, my lord,” said Caiaphas.
“Let us go, Longinus.” Pilate turned and left the room with Longinus in tow.
Outside the room, as Pilate and his soldiers marched away, Longinus stayed behind and hid just around the corner of the open entrance. He wanted to hear what these sniveling little Jews would say behind their backs.
After a few moments of rumbling discontent, Longinus heard Caiaphas command everybody, “Settle down!”
As they settled, he then heard Annas say, “Why did you downplay the Nazarene? You know his influence is on the rise. And the signs and wonders are not being discounted as ‘parlor tricks.’ They are spreading like wildfire. You heard what the prefect said, if this rebellion keeps up, Rome will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Caiaphas’ voice again, “Annas, you know nothing at all. We need to be in control of the information. We let the Jesus movement gain momentum, and the next time he arrives in Jerusalem, he will be significant enough to become our scapegoat, and we the loyal Roman subjects who will in turn be trusted. And with trust comes power.”
In the silence, Longinus imagined Annas with his mouth open in surprise. Yes, the high priest had actually had an original thought in his head, utterly self-serving thought it may be.
Caiaphas concluded, “It is better that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
Interesting, thought Longinus. That crafty Caiaphas is scheming to place all the unrest symbolically upon the back of the Nazarene and away from the rest of the Jews. How easily the vermin gives up his own. A pity the high priest doesn’t know anything about Demas and Gestas. I would have them by now. Well, regardless. They will eventually come to Jerusalem, and when they do, I will be waiting for them.
Chapter 21
Simon and Mary made their way up Mount Hermon. It got colder as they ascended. Mary pulled her cloak tighter around her. Simon saw her motion.
“Would you like my outer cloak?”
“No, Simon. You need it or you’ll freeze to death.”
He gestured up the hill to the four figures they were following at a safe distance. “Well, you can just call up to Jesus and he will thaw me out.”
Mary giggled. She couldn’t believe that she felt like a teenage girl around this scribe. He made her laugh. He was so smart. He could quote her Scriptures that fed her hunger for Yahweh’s Word.
“Wait,” he said.
She looked up to see the figures had stopped to enter a small wooded area. They were not yet past the tree line, thank Yahweh. That would be too barren of foliage to hide, and far too cold to survive. It had already begun to snow lightly on them.
They were following Jesus, Peter, James, and John on their way up the mountain on a mysterious mission. Jesus did not say what for. Only that he would take his three closest friends with him.
Simon and Mary longed to be in the inner circle. They had both come from backgrounds where they previously were in the inner circle. Their curiosity got the better of them. They conspired to sneak up after the four hikers and spy on them.
They moved around some boulders and stayed close to the brush, in case they needed to duck out of sight.
Simon continued to explain to Mary as they climbed. “David’s Psalm says that the principalities and powers of heaven and earth would take counsel together to stand against Yahweh and against his Messiah. But,
Yahweh will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
“When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by the prophet John, he was given the kingship of Yahweh’s holy mountain, Zion. Now, Mount Sinai was Yahweh’s first cosmic mountain of habitation. But with the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, it is now Mount Zion. But this mountain we climb, Hermon, is the cosmic mountain of the Watcher gods, the mountain of Bashan.”
She said, “Bashan is the place of the Serpent.” She knew more about this world around her than he realized.
“Yes,” he said. “It is like a battle between two cosmic mountains. That is why the Psalm says,
“O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that Elohim desired for his abode,
yes, where Yahweh will dwell forever?
The chariots of Elohim are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands…
Elohim will strike the heads of his enemies.”
Mary stopped walking. They were almost to the forested area. She looked fearful. “Do you mean that we are walking into the midst of a battle of gods and angels?”
“Well, it’s too late now. We’re here.”
Mary turned and began to tromp back down the mountain.
“Mary, wait.” Simon scurried to catch up to her. He held her arm to stop her.
“Listen. I
didn’t tell you the next part of the Psalm. It prophesies, ‘You ascended on high, leading a host of captives, in your train.’’’
She said, “A triumphal procession.”
“Yes. The king parades his conquered foes behind him in victory. If Jesus is the Messiah as we believe, then yes, he will face off against the principalities and powers over the nations. But he will conquer them, and ascend to heaven with them bound behind him.”
“What if you are wrong?”
“Then we won’t be in the midst of a supernatural battle.”
She sighed. “That’s hardly comforting.”
They had already come too far. “Let’s go.”
He led her back to the forest and they tread softly through the brush to find where the four men had gone.
• • • • •
Deep in the heart of Mount Hermon, a desperate assembly of the gods met in council. The cavern was aflame with the fiery light of over sixty Shining Ones. Their bronze and beryl-like skin flashed with raging emotions of fear and anger. Huge stalagmites and stalactites filled the cave with millennia of their crystalized formations that reflected those flashing lights. It created a lighting spectacle not unlike a rapidly exploding nebulae of stars.
Molech, the underworld god, and infamous abomination of the Ammonites, squinted in the brightness. His eyes had become sensitive, along with his pale, calloused skin, from spending so much of his time underground. He led the major complaint with his scratchy, fearful voice. “Jesus is ascending the mountain at this very moment. This is it. This is Armageddon!”
Belial presided over the assembly. He kept judiciously silent, as he listened to the debate.
Zeus said, “He is coming with three of his weak and foolish disciples. It looks more like a diplomatic mission for cease fire than a declaration of war.”
“Declaration of war?” replied Molech. “Easy for you to say, gallivanting around on your distant decadent homeland of Greece. Jesus has been exorcising demons and diseases throughout Judea and Galilee, He has compromised the Gates of Hades, and he has taken out the gods Dagon, Asherah, Ba’al, Lilith, Pan, and even Gaia! I alone am left of the gods of Canaan!”