The Road to Bithynia: A Novel of Luke, the Beloved Physician
Page 46
Now as Luke walked through the streets of Caesarea toward the palace of Herod, where Paul was still a prisoner, he saw little change in the months that he had been away. The waves still washed endlessly against the stones of the mole which Herod the Great had built. The streets echoed to the rumble of carts and the cries of vendors shouting the virtues of their wares. And in the grim forbidding headquarters of Roman might, soldiers tramped the battlements on sentry duty, as they did throughout the far reaches of the empire.
The Voice which had taught the gentle precepts of brotherly love along the shores of Galilee and in Jerusalem was stilled, but the message continued to be spread through the tongues of those who had seen and loved His Way and followed it. And the Way would soon be known even more widely through the words set down upon the bulky scroll beneath Luke’s arm. Another voice had carried the Good News by Roman highways and sea routes to province and continent. Now it was momentarily stilled within the palace of Herod, but the message continued to be spread through the letters which Paul was writing from his prison, letters which one day might bring even more people to know the Way of Jesus than Paul’s own inspired words had ever been able to do.
At the palace Luke was admitted to the room where Paul was kept, still guarded only by a single Roman soldier who stood outside the door. The room was more like a study than a prison, for Felix had imposed no harsh measures upon Paul. When Luke came in, Paul was pacing the floor, dictating to Timothy, who was writing with a metal stylus upon a wax-covered tablet, just as when Luke had seen them last. Paul stopped his dictating and ran to embrace Luke. Timothy, too, greeted him warmly. Prison had been kind to the apostle, Luke saw. He looked better than Luke remembered seeing him in many years; some of the restless energy had been curbed, and the fire in his eyes which only death would quench burned more quietly, if just as intensely.
The three friends gathered about the table while Luke gave an account of the happenings since he had left Caesarea. When he came to the scroll, Luke took it from his robe and put it into Paul’s hands.
“So you found it, Luke,” Paul said, turning the small parchment roll reverently in his hands and touching the dents where the stones had struck it at his own order so long ago. Then the apostle added thoughtfully, “I wonder if its story is ended yet.”
“Peter let me keep it,” Luke told him. “But I promised to guard it always.”
“We must keep it safe,” Paul agreed. “It is our only relic of Jesus. But what is that other scroll you carry, Luke, the larger one?”
Luke told them then of his writing the life of Jesus and the strange and thrilling story he had heard in Bethlehem. With Paul and Timothy listening, he began to read, nor did he put down the parchment until he came to the final paragraphs:
And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.
Timothy had long since lighted the lamps when Luke lay down his scroll containing his story of Jesus. Paul was silent while he rolled up the parchment again, then he said, “The pattern is clear now, Luke. God intended you for this from the first.”
“Do you approve of the writing?”
“It is the most beautiful story ever written,” Paul said sincerely, and Timothy gave eager assent. “No one but you could have set it down in just that way. What do you do next?”
“I plan to have copies made,” Luke said. “Theophilus is in Rome, and I am thinking of sending him one, asking that he have it published abroad there.”
“Why not take it to Rome yourself?” Paul asked, smiling. “Unless you are unwilling to travel again with an old companion of the road.”
“Is Felix letting you go free?” Luke cried.
Paul shook his head. “Felix still hopes for a bribe. Besides, he is afraid to release me for fear of angering the high priest and the council, so I am determined to appeal to Rome. Then he will be forced to send me before the emperor’s courts, and they will release me, for there are no real crimes charged against me.”
“Then we can go together,” Luke said happily, “and take the story of Jesus with us.”
Timothy and Luke walked back together through the darkened city to the house of Philip, stopping at the foot of the great stone mole that formed the harbor of Caesarea to watch the play of phosphorescence in the water as it battered the stone barrier which formed a safe haven for ships. The sky was clear and brilliant with stars. To the north, one shone far more brightly than all the others.
“I have never seen the North Star as bright as it is tonight, Luke,” Timothy said. “No wonder the mariners use it as a guide. Look how its light makes a path of silver across the water.”
Luke looked up at the brilliant star which did seem to glow tonight, not with the cold brilliance of the other heavenly bodies, but with a warmth of its own. Watching it, he felt the sense of loss which he had experienced ever since he had laid Thecla to rest there on the mountain above the Sea of Galilee begin to fade. Instead, some of the star’s warmth crept into his heart, filling it with a quiet joy, for he knew now that the star was not shining of itself alone. Like the lamp in the window which guides the weary traveler homeward through the dangers of the night, his beloved was there, directing his footsteps toward the place of beauty and of peace which waited below the star to the north, now that his great task was done. His road might lead to Rome or to the ends of the earth, but he knew that she was keeping her promise to wait for him there. In token of it she had set the warm brightness of the star to guide him always along the road to Bithynia.
Author’s Notes
While the name of Thecla does not appear in the New Testament, she is in no sense a fictional creation, for she appears prominently in apocryphal literature. The vivid and dramatic Acts of Paul and Thecla describe the adventures of a beautiful young girl of Iconium who was converted by Paul and later, because of her faith, bound to a wild beast in the arena from which she was miraculously saved. The biblical historian, Harnack, says, “There must have really been a girl converted by Paul at Iconium whose name was Thecla, and who took an active part in the Christian Mission.” Another biblical authority, Sir W. M. Ramsey, said, “Thecla was a real person and . . . she was brought into relations with the greatest figures of the Galatic province about A.D. 50—viz., Paul, Queen Tryphaena, and the Roman Governor.” For a very interesting account of the complete adventures of Thecla, the reader is referred to More Essays on Greek Romances, by Elizabeth Hazelton Haight, page 48, Longmans Green & Co., New York, or to any one of several volumes of apocryphal literature.
Of all the many odd customs of the early Christian faith, none is stranger or more startling than the true history of men living with virgins as husband and wife in everything except a physical sense. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:36-38:
But if any man thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of youth, and thus it must be, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin; let them marry. Nevertheless he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so determined in his heart that he will keep his virgin, does well. So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.
Of this same custom, Arthur Darby Nock (St. Paul, Harper & Brothers) says:
A second matter, presumably raised by the Corinthians in the letter brought to Paul, now follows—the problem of “virgins”; it apparently relates to a curious custom whereby men were spiritually betrothed to virgins and even lived with them without having any physical relations; difficulties were liable to arise. Once more Paul prefers continence, but regards the concession of ordinary matrimony as right if it is the way to avoid sin. In the same manner he permit
s the remarriage of a widow “only in the Lord,” that is, presumably to a Christian for the prevention of moral evil.
Many other references substantiate the authenticity of this odd custom in the early church.
Historically, Luke did reach Bithynia, for the Monarchian Prologue to Luke’s Gospel, thought to be written about A.D. 200 and considered by most biblical authorities to be authentic, states: “Luke, by nation a Syrian of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostles, was afterward a follower of Paul till his martyrdom, serving the Lord blamelessly. For having neither wife nor children, he died in Bithynia at the age of seventy-four, filled with the Holy Spirit” (Graham Chambers Hunter: Luke, First Century Christian).
LOOK FOR THESE OTHER BOOKS BY FRANK SLAUGHTER
The Galileans: A Novel of Mary Magdalene
The Crown and the Cross: The Life of Christ
Copyright
The Road to Bithynia
© Copyright 1951 by Frank G. Slaughter. © Copyright renewed in 1979 by Frank G. Slaughter.
Previously published by Doubleday in 1951 under ISBN: 0-671-81051-0.
Pocket Book edition published in August 1977 by arrangement with Doubleday & Company, Inc.
First electronic printing in 2012 by eChristian, Inc. as a derivative work, © Copyright, 2012 by Frank G. Slaughter, Jr. and Randolph M. Slaughter.
eChristian, Inc.
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Many of the Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction, which includes a mixture of real and fictionalized individuals and events. Some license has been allowed in order to present what could have happened. Consequently, some events have been changed slightly.
Cover and interior design by Larry Taylor.
Produced with the assistance of Livingstone, the Publishing Services Division of eChristian, Inc. Project staff includes: Dan Balow, Afton Rorvik, Linda Washington, Linda Taylor, Ashley Taylor, Lois Watson, Tammy Hensel, and Tom Shumaker.
ISBN: ePub 978-1-61843-056-4
ISBN: Mobi 978-1-61843-057-1