VII
Throughout that day and the next the city continued in a ferment over Paul. Now that the immediate controversy between the Pharisees and the Sadducees had subsided, both parties realized how Paul had cleverly set them at each other’s throats to save himself, and their anger at him was even greater. When he was able to learn nothing by inquiry about the further plans of the council, Luke decided to go in search of Joseph. The youthful money-changer might have heard something in the temple which would give them a clue as to the next event in the controversy.
Making his way to the temple, Luke walked idly along the lower terrace where he knew the money-changers were located, stopping to look at the wares of the scroll sellers and to sniff the rich scent of frankincense and myrrh offered by the vendors of precious oils and balms. When he saw Joseph sitting behind his small table among the money-changers, he approached idly in order not to attract attention, and stopped before the table. The youth looked up, and a quick gleam of intelligence showed in his eyes. “You have foreign coins, sir?” he asked. “I can change them for you.”
Luke fumbled in his purse until he found a gold piece of Ephesus, with the many-columned façade of the Temple of Artemis stamped upon it.
Joseph examined the coin, then looked up. “This is indeed from a far-off land,” he said. “I will have to go to another part of the temple to learn the rate of exchange. If you will go with me,” he added significantly, “you can be sure that I do not cheat you.”
Asking another money-changer to watch his table, Joseph got up, and he and Luke walked along the terrace until they were out of earshot of the other changers. “I was coming to see you as soon as I could, Luke,” Joseph said hurriedly, “but the man to whom I and apprenticed would not let me leave. There were many people in the temple today, but not all to sacrifice.”
“Have you learned something?”
Joseph nodded. “Many have been going and coming from the upper levels where the priests are, and I overheard some of their talk. Forty Jews have taken a vow to kill Paul and have persuaded the council to ask that Paul be brought to the council chamber tonight secretly, on the excuse that the crowd must not be stirred up by knowing that he is here.”
Luke nodded his understanding. “Go on.”
“The forty men plan to set upon the Romans and Paul in the darkness outside the temple and kill him. Then before the colonel can do anything, it will all be over.”
“Are you sure this is to happen tonight?”
“Yes. And a messenger has already been sent to Claudius Lysias from the high priest, asking that Paul be brought to the temple tonight.”
“Can you go with me to the Romans?” Luke asked Joseph. “The colonel may not believe the story unless you give him the details.”
Joseph hesitated. “If it is known that I have gone to the Antonia, the conspirators might be warned. I think they may suspect me, anyway. But in another hour I will be allowed to go home for the noonday meal. Wait for me at the gate of the Antonia and I will go to the colonel with you.”
Luke and Joseph were forced to cool their heels in the quarters of Claudius Lysias until the Roman commander had finished his meal. When he came in and saw them waiting, his face hardened. “I have had enough trouble about this man Paul!” he snapped irritably before they could speak. “If you have come to ask me to release him, you are wasting your time and mine.”
“We do not want Paul released,” Luke said. “He would be killed immediately by the crowd if he were. This young man is Paul’s nephew Joseph; he has a story you should hear.”
“Get on with it then,” Claudius Lysias said curtly, but he listened attentively while Joseph told of the plot to kill Paul on the way to the council meeting that night.
When Joseph finished, Luke said, “The youth would have no reason to lie about this. He may be in trouble with his employer already because he came with me to tell you the story.”
The colonel nodded slowly. “I am sure he does not lie,” he said, and picked up a small wax tablet from the table before him. “I have here a request from the council that Paul be brought before them tonight. I wondered myself why they could not examine him again by day. Now I know.”
“Then you will protect him?”
“My sworn duty as a Roman officer requires me to do so,” Claudius said crisply. He shouted for the captain, who was in the adjoining room, and when the officer appeared gave him cryptic directions. “Get two hundred men ready to march to Caesarea with seventy mounted soldiers and two hundred armed with spears.” He smiled then. “I hardly think the crowds would attack such a body. Have them ready to march by nightfall,” he continued to the officer. “You will provide horses for Paul and Luke to ride; I want them safely out of Jerusalem as soon as it becomes dark. And send me a scribe,” Claudius added. “I wish to write a letter to Felix, the governor of Caesarea.”
When Claudius Lysias finished the letter, he said, “This should insure that your friend gets a fair trial, Luke. One thing I would like you to tell me. How is it that you, a Greek and an aristocrat, are so devoted to this Jew who is always getting into trouble?”
Luke smiled. “Paul is my friend. We both serve God and follow in the Way of Jesus.”
Slowly the colonel shook his head. “I must learn more of this strange faith of yours if it can inspire such loyalty. What does it offer that is so precious?”
“The right to eternal life, for one thing.”
“The Pharisees claim they can obtain that merely by obeying the laws of Moses.”
“There is something else,” Luke explained. “An inner sense of peace and contentment from living as Jesus did.”
“The Jews and all of us could use that,” Claudius said. “The world seems to be in a turmoil which grows steadily worse instead of better.”
VIII
Luke was happy to be away from Jerusalem and its troubles and back with Thecla in Caesarea, although his joy was tempered by the knowledge that Paul was still in prison. Felix, the governor, had confined Paul to Herod’s palace, however, so his condition was much better than it might have been had he been put into a dungeon such as the one from which they had been released by the magistrate at Philippi.
It was five days before Paul was brought to trial before the Roman governor, but Luke made no attempt to get in touch with Felix during that time. He remembered well his quarrel with Paul after he had spoken to Gallio in Corinth, and in addition, he was not at all sure that he could accomplish anything with Felix, who was of a far different stature from Gallio. A favorite of Emperor Claudius, himself one of the most dissolute in a line of Roman emperors more renowned for their cruelty and licentiousness than for their leadership, Felix had been elevated to the governorship of the province upon the urging of the Jewish high priest, Jonathan. But when Jonathan objected to the habits of the governor, Felix had hired assassins to kill him, and the more compliant Ananias had been installed in the place of Jonathan. Felix had also seduced his present wife, Drusilla, away from her husband with the aid of a notorious magician, Simon Magus, and it was well known that those prisoners able to offer the governor a sufficiently large bribe usually went free, while the less fortunate languished in prison.
This was the sorry specimen of Roman judicial authority before whom Paul was heard. Time had been allowed for Ananias to come from Jerusalem with his bill of complaints against Paul, and he brought with him the leading orator and expert in Jewish law in the capital, a lawyer named Tertullus. But this time, in spite of what he knew about the character of the judge, Luke felt that Paul had some chance of obtaining justice. For no screaming mob packed the room, and Felix showed no sign of enmity toward Paul; rather his mood was one of boredom with the whole affair. Luke had brought with him the Ephesian, Trophimus, in order to prove the charge false that Paul had taken a non-Jew into the sacred portion of the temple.
Tertullus opened the hearing, bow
ing deeply before the Roman judge. “Your Excellency, Felix,” he said in an ingratiating tone, “since we are enjoying perfect peace through you and since reforms for this nation are being brought about through your foresight, we always and everywhere acknowledge it with profound gratitude. But, not to detain you too long, I beg you in your kindness to give us a brief hearing, for we have found this man a perfect pest and a disturber of the peace among the Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes; once he tried to desecrate the temple, but we arrested him. And now by examining him yourself, you can find out exactly what charge we bring against him.”
The tirade continued, a tissue of lies as obviously false as the accusation of desecrating the temple. Then Tertullus brought a procession of witnesses before the judge, all swearing to these fantastic charges. When they had finished, Felix said, “Is there anyone else who should be heard before Paul speaks in his defense?”
Luke stood up. “I have with me Trophimus, an Ephesian,” he said. “He is the man whom Tertullus claims was taken into the temple by Paul.”
Felix looked up alertly. “Bring him forward; perhaps we can learn the truth of this matter.”
The Ephesian made a convincing witness, establishing without question that he had at no time been near the portion of the temple which was sacred to the Jews. He told of the conspiracy and how those who denounced Paul had actually seized both of them and carried them up the steps almost to the forbidden portion of the temple before raising the cry of blasphemy. Luke then told the story of how Joseph had overheard the plot to kill Paul on the way to the temple and how Claudius Lysias had believed it and sent Paul away for his protection. When he finished, he turned to face the high priest, who sat beside Tertullus. “You may learn the truth of what I say from the high priest of the Jews, who knew of this plot,” he said. “Since it is against the laws of the Jewish people to lie under oath, he must tell the truth.”
Felix looked at Ananias, but the priest did not speak, and everyone there knew that Luke’s statement had been verified. Then the governor turned to Paul and asked him to speak in his behalf.
Paul stood up and came forward confidently. “Since I know that for many years you have acted as judge for this nation, O Felix,” he began, “I cheerfully make my defense, for you can verify the fact that not more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship, and they have never found me debating with anybody in the temple or making a disturbance in the synagogues or about the city, and they cannot prove the charges they have made against me. But I certainly admit this as a fact, that in accordance with the way that they call heresy I continue to worship the God of my forefathers. And yet, I believe in everything taught in the Law and written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God that they cherish for themselves, that there is to be a resurrection of the upright and the wicked. So I am always striving to have a conscience that is clear before God and men. After several years’ absence I came to bring contributions to charity for my nation and to offer sacrifices. While I was performing these duties they found me just as I had completed the rites of purification in the temple; however, there was no crowd with me and no disturbance at all. Let these men themselves tell what wrong they found in me when I appeared before the council—unless it is for one thing that I shouted out as I stood among them. ‘It is for the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”
Paul stopped, and Felix turned to Tertullus. “Do you have anything more to say?” he asked courteously.
The Jewish prosecutor launched into another diatribe, but when he finished he had established no charges which were not already disproved by the testimony of Luke and Trophimus. Felix listened courteously, however, then thanked Tertullus and Ananias for coming down from Jerusalem for the hearing. “I will take this matter under advisement,” he promised, “and look into it again.” Upon that the trial ended and Paul was returned to prison.
Luke gave Thecla an account of the hearing that night. “Why did Felix not release Paul then, Luke?” she asked. “He must know that the charges against him are false.”
“I am sure he knows it,” Luke agreed. “But Felix will want to avoid any more trouble among the Jews, which would certainly erupt again if he freed Paul now. My thought is that he will choose to keep Paul in prison for a while. If he were guided only by the justice of the case, he would have released him at the trial.”
“And there is nothing you can do?”
“I am writing to Theophilus at Rome, but it will be months before he could do anything about it.”
“Are we to stay here then?” she asked. “Just waiting?”
“What would you like to do?”
She did not answer at once, then she said softly, “Do you remember when you and I and Probus traveled from Iconium to Ephesus together before Apollos Lucanus was born?”
Luke smiled. “I remember how pleasant it was, taking our time and enjoying the country as we went along.”
“Why can’t we do that now, Luke? I have never seen the region around Galilee, and you could visit the places where Jesus taught and perhaps find out some more about Him from those who heard Him.”
“Peter and Mark are in Galilee,” Luke said eagerly. “We could see them too.”
“Then if Mark is not writing down the life of Jesus, perhaps you could do it, Luke. You have always said that someone should set down the things He said and did while some of the people are still alive who saw and heard Him.”
Luke took her hands and looked deep into her eyes. “Tell me the truth,” he said with mock severity. “That is really why you decided we should go to Galilee, isn’t it?”
Her cheeks crimsoned at thus having her deception exposed. “I should know better than to push you into anything,” she said contritely. “But it is a good suggestion.”
“It is more than that,” he agreed. “Since this last experience in Jerusalem I have realized that someone must write a really authoritative life of Jesus. Then when the world knows what He really stood for, there will be less controversy over His teachings.”
Thecla threw her arms around him. “And you must do it, Luke,” she said happily. “When do we leave for Galilee?”
“I must see Paul first,” Luke said. “Unless he approves, I would not feel right about such an undertaking.”
Luke found Paul in a room of Herod’s palace, guarded by a single soldier who stood outside the door. Paul was dictating a letter to Timothy, but he stopped to embrace Luke. “I owe you much for testifying in my behalf yesterday, Luke,” he said. “When Felix heard you and Trophimus, he saw at once how false the charges against me were. How long do you think Felix will keep me in prison, Luke?” he added.
Luke hesitated, but he would not lie, so he repeated to Paul what he had told Thecla about the chances of release for the apostle. When he finished, Paul said, “That is just what I was telling Timothy this morning. You find me writing to the churches, strengthening them during what is sure to be a long absence from them. I may even have to be judged in Rome, Luke, and that sometimes takes years. Still,” he added thoughtfully, “it may be that God meant just this when He spoke to me in the dream of testifying in Rome.” Paul turned and put his hands upon Luke’s shoulders. “God has been good to me, Luke, to give me such staunch friends in time of peril. And I shall always owe you a debt of gratitude for showing me how near I came to sinning grievously by thinking of myself before Jesus when we were in Macedonia and Greece, and even in Asia. Only when you risked your life, and Probus gave his for me in Ephesus, did I realize how grievously I had sinned. I have asked God to forgive me and He has done so; I need only your forgiveness now, Luke.”
“There is nothing to forgive, Paul,” Luke said quietly. “Each of us was following Jesus in our own way.” Then he smiled. “But I am glad our ways are the same once more.”
“And I,” Paul agreed. “We must never let
anything threaten our friendship again.” Then he changed the subject. “Have you thought of what you will do next? I could not ask you to remain here, when I do not know how long I will be imprisoned. And you have both wanted to go to Bithynia for so many years.”
“Thecla and I have decided to spend a few weeks in Galilee,” Luke said. “Both of us have wanted for a long time to find out more about the life of Jesus.”
“You might even find the scroll again,” Paul suggested.
“I hope so,” Luke admitted. “Thecla wants me to write a life of Jesus using what I remember from the scroll and what I can learn from Mark and the others, as well as by talking to people in Galilee where He taught.”
Paul’s face lit up. “Of course!” he cried. “You are the very one who should do it, Luke.”
“Mark has gathered a large amount of information. I was hoping that he would write it.”
Paul shook his head vigorously. “Indeed he may, Luke. Nevertheless, it needs a careful man, a philosopher and a broad thinker such as yourself, to understand what Jesus means to the world. I believe that you are uniquely gifted to write the story of His life. Have you made any plans?”
“Not yet,” Luke admitted. “We have only spoken of it once.”
“If I were going to retrace the steps of Jesus,” Paul said, “I would start at Jerusalem, at the tomb where Mary Magdalene and the other women first found that He had risen.”
Luke rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps that is the way to learn the real story of His life,” he admitted.
“It is,” Paul cried. “Only when you remember that He was resurrected do the other events of His life fall into their rightful place.” Then he threw up his hands in that odd gesture of his, as if he were taking the world into his embrace. “How I envy you the privilege of following in the footsteps of Jesus, Luke.” Then his manner changed again and a note of deepest humility came into his voice. “No. The sin of envying others whom Jesus favors in His work is my greatest weakness. We all have our tasks. Yours is to set down the truth about our Lord. Mine shall be to testify for Him in Rome. May God show you the things you will need to know about Jesus, Luke.”
The Road to Bithynia: A Novel of Luke, the Beloved Physician Page 43