There was another pause that Jack felt he was expected to fill, but could not. Whilst he had heard the words before, he did not have the faintest idea what either ‘myrrhs’ or ‘aloes’ actually were.
“As Brother Frederico is correct in stating, extract of myrrh is a common sedative used in contemporary medical practice and the juices of aloes are a strong and fast-acting purgative. One chemical to ease suffering as another cleansed the poisons from the system. And they took in one hundred pound weight.”
Frederico was pausing for dramatic effect. When he felt he had achieved it he raised his eyebrows and continued as vigorously as before. “So what Frederico is implying now is that Jesus was poisoned on the cross and then quickly resuscitated in the tomb. He says that when John 20:14-15 states that ‘Mary Magdalene turned to find Jesus there, whereupon she took him to be the gardener’ it was because the ‘gardener’ was a term for the owner of the garden; Jesus’ own brother James. Of course she mistook him, he says, because there would be an obvious family resemblance. So, if Jesus was indeed alive, why did he say to Mary ‘touch me not’. Why? According to Frederico it was because Mary Magdalene was pregnant with Jesus’ child and he reminds us of Essene law on such matters. A dynastic bride could have no physical contact with her husband during the time of pregnancy.”
Jack was visibly stunned. Frederico’s implications were almost beyond belief yet despite his excitement, he was often very matter-of-fact in his delivery. “So Jesus is not the Messiah, he did not die on the cross and he made Mary Magdalene pregnant?” He looked unconvincedly at Frederico who smiled broadly and then back to Peter. “And Brother Frederico is a Christian?”
Brother Peter shook his head. “No,” he said quietly. “Not any more.”
the lord gave her conception
Ruth 4:13
“So what exactly did he mean by ‘pregnant with Jesus’ child’?” Jack asked.
It seemed a reasonable enough question to ask, given the obvious implications. It was, after all, the first thing that seemed in any way to be related to Lara, or at least the fact that she too had given birth, possibly ‘chosen’ like the Mary.
Brother Peter rolled his eyes. “This is one of our most hotly contended arguments, I have to say. I’m sure you already know the Christian point of view, and therefore mine, so I will simply explain Brother Frederico’s as dispassionately as I can. If he will allow me. After all,” he nodded his head in reluctant acceptance, “I do know it by heart.”
He turned to his older colleague who waved his hands dismissively in a reluctant ‘do what you like’ gesture.
Brother Peter sneered back at him and began. “You are aware of the wedding at Cana, I suppose?”
Jack nodded. “Water into wine, Jesus’ first miracle....” He thought for a moment. “But that wasn’t Jesus’ wedding...?”
“Well, Brother Frederico believes it very strange that Jesus never married. After all, he was raised under strict Essene law and marriage was an important part of the Essene way of life. If there was no marriage, then there were no descendants with which to continue the family line. How could the priests maintain their birthright if their lineage came to an end? How could Jesus himself ever have been a descendant of David if his forefathers had not borne heirs?”
Jack nodded his understanding. “The laws were very strict. Once a bride was chosen and was legally declared a virgin then a strict chain of events was set underway. A male heir to a patrimonial succession was required ideally to bear his first son on or close to his fortieth birthday because four decades was the recognised period of dynastic succession. The birth was always planned to occur in September, the holiest month of the Jewish calendar...”
“First marriages also took place in September, the month which included the Day of Atonement, so marriage would ideally be scheduled for the September of the bridegroom’s thirty-ninth birthday. Then, in order for a child to be delivered the following September, sexual activity for strict Essenes occurred in December.”
“But Jesus died when he was thirty-nine.” Jack offered. He knew that much.
“Yes, he did. But provision always had to be made for the first child being a girl. To do this, Essenes usually moved the marriage to the September of the bridegroom’s thirty-sixth birthday, just in case. No sexual contact was permitted before the first marriage and, once a child was conceived, not again for six years afterward. Unless, of course, the firstborn was a girl in which case the celibate period was limited to three years. Then they were permitted to try one more time and still be within the desired timeframe.”
Jack offered his coffee cup for refilling and looked puzzled. “What do you mean by first marriage. How many marriages were there?”
“Two,” Peter explained. “The second marriage occurred in March when they knew for sure whether or not December’s conception had been successful. If, year after year the woman never conceived, she was useless and the second ceremony never occurred. The marriage was therefore easily annulled. The second ceremony was more of a confirmation or a solemnisation really. That is why, apparently, Jesus’ birth on 1st March 7BC meant that conception had occurred before Mary and Joseph’s first marriage, and he was conceived ‘of a virgin’.”
Jack was no longer hearing what was being said. Conception in March, birth in September. Best estimate are that the child was born approximately four months pre-mortem. September to January.
Lara was, to the best of his knowledge, a virgin at the time she left home. She also fulfilled one requirement as yet unmentioned by his hosts but presumably a pre-requisite for maintaining a particular line; she was, like Jack and Elizabeth themselves, of pure Jewish descent.
What if, he wondered again. What if Lara’s new ‘friends’ believed the same things that Brother Frederico did and had chosen to rekindle them for their own ends? What if ‘Abraham, with Jacob and Joseph at his side,’ really had ‘shown the way and selected Mary to bring forth a Saviour’ in the form of his own daughter? And what if an impressionable Lara truly believed that she was chosen, and therefore that she was blessed in some way? What would she do if she discovered that she was wrong? She would try to run, to take the child. What if that was impossible? She would run to somebody who had the resources she would need to fight for custody. She would run to her father.
“Frederico believes that Jesus’ own first marriage occurred in AD30, the year of his thirty-sixth birthday. He believes this because Mary Magdalene anointed his feet at this point, as detailed in Luke 7:37-38. Ceremonial anointing of the feet, especially with expensive spikenard oils, was something that a bride did for her groom before a wedding ceremony. Then, in AD32 Mary Magdalene finally conceived and so she anointed his feet again at Bethany as detailed in Matthew 26:6-7, Mark 14:3 and John 12:1-3. You see?” he said with a smile, “I know my New Testament. Now that second anointing formally sanctified their second marriage in March AD33.”
“So what became of Jesus’ disciples after the supposed crucifixion?” he asked. “Where did they go, what did they do?” Where are they now?
“Well,” Brother Peter explained. “In John’s Gospel, Jesus is described right from the outset as ‘The Word of God’. It begins: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,’ etcetera, etcetera, ‘and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,’ etcetera, etcetera. His view is that whenever it says ‘The Word of God’ in the Gospel texts, it is actually referring to Jesus himself, even after crucifixion. In Acts 8:14 it says that ‘the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God’. He states adamantly that the apostles were telling us of Jesus’ whereabouts after the Ascension. He suspects that whilst they may have been preaching in many different areas, many were still following him.”
Peter took a deep breath. “Frederico also suspects that when, in Acts 6:7, it states that ‘the Word of God increased’ it tells us that Jesus had finally fathered a son and heir. The child referred to in The Antiquitie
s of the Jews as ‘Jesus Justus’; Justus being another Davidian title. Frederico’s most startling claim, however, is that after Jesus died in the church at Ephesus in AD70, those with Eternal Life took Justus under their wing so that they might continue his line.”
Jack felt embarrassed on Brother Peter’s behalf. It was obvious that Frederico believed everything that Peter was saying, and that he cared little as to how ridiculous it made him sound, but it was Peter whose voice Jack would be hearing whenever his mind brought back the words.
What Frederico had not managed to do, however, was give Jack anything that related directly to his daughter or the people she had become involved with. All he had was a phrase which rang through his head like church bells; continue his line. Neither Frederico nor Peter knew exactly who Jack was and for now that was how he wanted it to stay. Because of that, he was forced to phrase his next question carefully, with no mention of Mil’el, Flight 320 or a girl by the name of Lara Bernstein.
“So, aside from contradicting the Gospels and being denounced as heretical, what bearing might any of this have today?” It was a suitably open-ended question. Jack could only hope that it was not too open-ended.
Peter posed the question and Frederico widened his eyes with shock and moderate disbelief. “He says that you are like the others, you do not listen,” Peter explained, “John had Eternal Life and he gave it to others. They killed him and found another. But their new Saviour was failing them....”
There was a long pause and then Frederico’s words were very deliberate. Peter made an attempt to mimic the tone in his translation. “When he knew that betrayal was close he asked them for a second chance. He asked for Eternal Life, but they would not give it to him. John 17:1 ‘Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son that thy Son may also glorify thee. As thou hast given him the power over all flesh, and that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.’ They gave him more time, but they did not give him what he really wanted; he wanted eternal life. He did not get it. Eventually he died.... they did not. Be warned, for they maintain the line of David.”
Frederico leaned across the table again and delivered his words with a firm expression. Jack looked into his eyes, and heard Peter delivering the translation as though dubbing a film.
“So they maintain the line of David, so what?” Jack could hear his heart trying to burst through his tightened chest. “Why does that mean that we must be warned?”
The old man’s face changed. His eyes widened and he took on an air of prophecy usually reserved for television evangelists. He looked directly at Jack, his eyes alive not with passion but with a consuming torment, and lowered his voice to a menacing growl.
Even Brother Peter lost his mocking affability as he listened to what Brother Frederico was saying, and how he was saying it. When he had translated Brother Frederico’s final words, Jack was left wishing to God that he had chosen not to listen...
of the lineage of david
Luke 2:4
A difficult, awkward silence. Two people, neither knowing whether to speak or what they would say if they did. All that remained was the growl of the traffic and the creaking of soft leather in MaryBeth’s Mercedes. Jack sank as deeply into its comfort as he could. He wanted the chair to envelop him; to wrap itself around his body and his problems. He rubbed the last drains of sleep from jetlagged eyes, hoping that some of the confusion would go with them. It stayed. He had known deep down that it would.
MaryBeth, tiring of the silence she had created, reiterated the question. “What do you mean descended from Jesus. How the hell could Lara’s child be descended from Jesus?”
“On the father’s side,” Jack said.
MaryBeth shook her head. “Even I’m not so stupid that I couldn’t figure that one out. What I mean is; Jesus did not have any children. So, by simple reasoning, he could not have had any descendants.”
“But... if he did have children?” Jack asked.
“If he had children then he can’t possibly have been The Son of God,” she said. “He would’ve been as much a product of flesh and blood as the rest of us.”
He looked beyond the city to the approaching mountains, silhouetted in the fading light of day. Darkness approaching. “Yep,” he said. Calmly and quietly. “That’s the theory.”
MaryBeth’s ensuing silence was a quiet demand for a suitable explanation. Jack did not know if he could offer one, at least not one that could be classed as adequate, but he felt forced to make at least some attempt.
“So... if Jesus Christ was not The Son of God, then who was? Was there one?” he asked rhetorically. MaryBeth shrugged. “Apparently Da Vinci and Cocteau thought that Jesus was not the Messiah; that it was John the Baptist, for the simple reason that it was he who had the power to baptise Jesus. But the thing is, in some people’s eyes that’s only theory number two. Number one is that we haven’t actually played host to the ‘Son of God at all. Not yet. Consequently, they think we’re still waiting.”
MaryBeth looked sceptical. “And these people are...?”
“Mentally ill and probably holding Lara’s child,” he said. It was a hard truth to face.
MaryBeth lifted a sarcastically questioning hand from the wheel. “So what about Jesus? What was he to these people?”
“A failure by all accounts,” he replied sardonically. “Somebody who was merely ‘set up’ to act as Messiah, but who seemingly never made the grade. On the face of it, even his crucifixion did nothing to aid the cause of his people.”
“Set up to act as Messiah?” asked MaryBeth. “By whom? You mean by his followers?”
“Not according to Brother Frederico,” he replied, his words heavy with reluctant acceptance. “He doesn’t talk about those who followed Jesus, only about those who controlled him.” He could see in an instant that MaryBeth did not understand. He was not even sure that he did.
“Look at it like this,” he said, “at some point in history, around the time of Jesus’ birth, somebody decides that the time is ripe for the arrival of the promised Messiah. The Romans are in control, the people are oppressed etcetera, etcetera. All they have to do is find someone from the line of David, as it had been decreed, and set them up to play the part. Thousands would follow him and his death would cause an almighty uprising. The Romans would be thrown out, the Jews would believe that this was God forgiving their sins and those who had set Jesus up would probably step in and rule the New Kingdom, with Jesus acting as their figurehead.”
“I thought you said this was after Jesus’ death?” MaryBeth said.
“It was, but he wasn’t dead. They resuscitated him in the tomb....” he was going to explain but he thought better of it. “Long story. Anyway, his reappearance was going to be the ultimate miracle whose sole aim was to prove his qualification as Messiah beyond doubt. When he eventually died for real, which he apparently did in Ephesus in AD70, the idea was that the new dynasty would be so firmly in place that it couldn’t be shaken.”
“Where’s Ephesus?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It’s probably a biblical term for somewhere that we know by another name. I’ll look it up when we get back, but I’m not convinced that it will help us any.”
MaryBeth reached into the doorwell and retrieved a packet of spearmint gum, placing a stick in her mouth with one hand as she swerved through the traffic with the other. As she chewed, she did simple calculus. The figures did not tally. “So they’re alive before he was born and they rule after he’s dead? I presume we’re talking about a hierarchy of people whose rule is passed down from generation to generation?”
“No,” Jack said. “That’s where it gets even more weird; if that’s possible. It’s the same people ruling long after he’s gone as set him up in the first place.”
MaryBeth laughed wickedly. “So what the hell are they...? Immortal?”
“Yes,” he replied. It was a simple response with no allusion to her pronounced sarcasm.
MaryBeth looked at Jack as
though she had just watched his fingertips lose a death-grip on the precipice of reality. As though she was now watching him plummet out of control into the depths of madness.
He read her expression. “Hey, I don’t believe it,” he protested wildly, “but Frederico does.”
“Then I’m afraid that Frederico’s lost the plot,” she said.
“That’s the point,” Jack replied calmly. He delivered the words as though it was that one statement which justified his entire argument. “So are a lot of people. Especially the second-rate megalomaniacs who take it upon themselves to found religious cults.”
The guard waved the car through the steel gates of the Bernstein Ranch and the powerful Mercedes started a half-mile race to the house. MaryBeth put her foot down hard, as she always did. It was the one stretch of road where she could be assured of no police presence or oncoming traffic.
The silence returned, created by MaryBeth thinking through the possibilities and Jack having no desire to distract her from driving. Not when she was touching ninety on a track barely wide enough for the car.
As she skidded the car to a halt on the gravel in front of the house she turned to face him, her conclusions reached. It was time for the defence to sum up. Or would that be the prosecution?
“So what you’re saying is: the cult Lara joined is headed by people who claim to be immortal and who claim to have an inroad into the line of Jesus and/or David. And they’ve made her believe that in some way she has helped to continue that line. That way, when the Messiah does come, which they think it has yet to do, it would still be truly Davidian as dictated in the Old Testament?”
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