Thirteen

'I thought I saw your father walking down toward the boats," said Philip, the son of the wine-merchant, coming up to John, who was standing with Jesus outside his front door beside the boat that Jesus built, looking at it.

"You probably did," said John, matter-of-factly. Jesus smiled.

"But that is not possible!" he exclaimed. "I was one of the ones who carried him in! His legs--one could see the bones sticking out! It was horrible! I came to see if he was still alive!"

John looked over at Jesus, and then back to Philip. "Well, you must have been mistaken. He--"

"Nonsense!" cried Philip.

"A noble effort, John," said Jesus. "But there is no need to hide the truth from Philip, even if it were possible. Yes, Philip, his legs were broken, and yes, Philip, you did see him walking down toward the boats. I wanted you to see both of these things, because I want you to know that I did it, because I have something for you to do."

"You did it? You mean you restored his legs?"

"I did."

"I do not believe it! How?"

"It matters not how. You saw him walking. His legs are perfectly healed."

Philip just stared at him, as Zebedee had done.

John spoke up. "I know not whether you knew Jesus before as merely a carpenter. Well, it turns out he is much more than a carpenter. He is the Prince who was prophesied."

Philip looked over at John, in complete confusion. "The Prince? What prince? What prophesy?"

"You know, the son of David who was supposed to come; the one we have been waiting for all these centuries."

"You mean to take over the throne of Judea, and drive out the Romans?"

"Well, not exactly that," said Jesus. "The Prince was not prophesied as a kind of Judas Maccabeus. Remember, 'It is too little for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations, so that my rescue will reach to the ends of the earth. They will not be hungry or thirsty, and the scorching wind or the sun will not assault them, because the one who pities them leads them and guides them beside springs of water.' There is more, of course. The point is that the time has come--or is about to come--and I want you to be part of it."

"Me? But . . . But how do you know me? I am no one."

"As I was a carpenter. But you will be great, as will John, and James, and Simon, and Andrew, and--and it is for this I need you--Nathanael and Thomas." John drew in his breath.

"Thomas!" cried Philip. "He is worse than Zebedee was! I am sick with worry about him! He comes, or used to come, to me sometimes to buy wine, and every time was more and more--it is--I have not seen him for--I know not if he is still alive! You have no idea!"

"Fear not. All will be well, with your help, if you would. First, you must find Nathanael, and bring him to me. I will be down by the shore, near Simon's boats."

"But no one has seen him either, for--for months! He and that slave of his have simply disappeared, ever since the accident with Samuel. I went up to his house once and he told me not to come back until I had good news."

"You have good news now. Go back. Or better, try the fig tree."

"He has never been there. Never."

"Try it. Trust me."

Philip looked at him. "And you really did restore Zebedee's legs?"

"With simply a touch," said John.

"Indeed I did. And John is correct. As I said, I am telling you this because I need you. Nathanael will come if you urge him."

"And you really are the Prince we have been waiting for all this time?"

"Indeed I am."

Philip ran off. Jesus looked at John, and said, "He is a trusting soul, is he not? That is why he is in such danger, and why he must keep himself near me. But all will be well."

"Then even this has been arranged," said John, overwhelmed.

"Not a sparrow falls to the ground," he answered. "Let us go down to the shore with the others."

John did not know what to say. Jesus's remark about Philip set him thinking. If Jesus wanted Philip to be in his--what would one call it but his 'entourage?'--because, as a trusting soul--a naive soul--he was in danger elsewhere, then it followed that John was to be with Jesus, not because he had some great talent, but because he was in severe danger if he were anywhere else. It was a humbling, not to say humiliating, thought, but John could see that in his case, it was probably very true. How many Daniels were there out there, and worse, how many Andrews who felt as Daniel did, and how would he be able to keep himself from doing what he was convinced was wrong, if someone Daniel showed up in something like Andrew's body? The mere thought of it both frightened him while it enticed him. He shuddered.

"Fear not," said Jesus. "I am here. All will be well. I told you that it will be difficult, but all will be well--if you too become a trusting soul."

"I hope I can be so," said John, not realizing he was answering Jesus as if he had spoken the thoughts that Jesus was answering.

"You cannot. Have no trust in yourself. Trust me. It will not be hard to do so as time goes on. See what I did to your father. You will see much greater things. Nothing is impossible with God."

John thought, but did not say, "And, according to you, you are God."

"Very true," said Jesus, and John turned scarlet. Jesus laughed. They walked on in silence, and presently came down to the shore, where Andrew (John saw with joy), James, and a few others had gathered.

"As I told you," said Jesus to them as he came up, "we had an errand to do with Zebedee, who, I believe you have found out, is not really seriously injured after all."

"I cannot believe it!" cried Andrew. "We thought we saw him inspecting his boat, and he was!--in fact, Simon went with him to discuss what we would do, because he wanted to suggest that he take Malachi as a partner. Simon and Philip and I had carried him home, you know. He was at death's door! But there he was, it seemed, but a moment ago, walking about as if nothing had happened, and worried about what he was going to do without us!"

"Yes, well," said Jesus, "it might not be prudent to advertise the real situation; it is too early, really, but it was necessary if we are to begin properly. Zebedee had reason to be worried. But all will be--if not well, exactly, satisfactory--even there, or I miss my guess."

The others stared at him. "Then it is true?"

"Put it this way. Zebedee had an accident, but it turned out that any damage was temporary."

"You will not convince Philip of that," returned Andrew. "You know how he is--or perhaps you do not know. He saw him, and knows that it is a miracle if he merely did not die."

"I know. I have talked to Philip, and as it happens, he also has seen Zebedee walking, and, in spite of what you might think, Andrew, he was convinced. Ask John here. Philip, by the way, is on an errand for me at the moment."

"Amazing!"

"I should warn--or perhaps advise--you to prepare yourselves for amazing things. Soon they will begin happening thick and fast, and you yourselves will be doing many of them."

No one had any reply to that. "James," said Jesus, partly to break the embarrassed silence, "Could you introduce John to those here he does not know?"

"Of course, Master," said James. He brought John to a fiery man with a beard of ebony, and said, "Simon, this is my brother John. John, this is Simon, who used to be one of the revolutionary party they call the Zealots."

"Indeed?" said John, considerably surprised, shaking hands.

"What is so odd about that?" he answered. "From all I could gather--and from what we just heard--he is the Prince who was prophesied, and we have all been waiting for him so that we can rid ourselves of the cursed Romans!"

"I am not at all sure that the Master has that in mind. He told Philip--"

"What else could he have in mind? He is the Prince."

"Well, he told Philip," John insisted, "specifically that the Prince was not prophesied as a kind of Judas Maccabeus. And then he quoted some prophesy--I think Isaiah, but I am not sure, to the effect that 'It is too little for you to be my servant, merely to save the tribes of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations, for my rescue to reach to the ends of the earth. They will not be hungry or thirsty, and the sun will not assault them, because he leads them beside springs of water.' Something of that sort. You may remember it better than I."

"So?"

"So I would not be counting on the Master to lead a rebellion."

"Perhaps not as Judas Maccabeus did. But how can he save us if we are slaves to Rome? You will see. You will see."

James at this point grasped John by the shoulder and turned him to another man, who looked exactly like an owl, with his round face and prominent ears, and his nose like a beak. "And here we have my own namesake, James."

"And so you are the younger brother I have (hem) heard about," he said. "It is a (ha) distinct pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," said John, not at all sure that he was not lying. This constant clearing of the throat could take some getting used to.

"I am Judas," said another, stepping up, "but people have taken already to calling me Thaddeus, because there is another Judas among us, from Kerioth, and so we call him Judas Iscariot." He rattled this off as if it were a speech that he had been rehearsing and he wanted to get it over with. Apparently, he was very shy, and used this ploy not only to introduce himself but to deflect attention away from himself immediately.

And now John was confronted with the handsomest man he had ever seen. Not as tall or quite as muscular as Andrew, though clearly physically fit and fully as tall as James, with gently wavy hair and beard, and a very winning smile as he held out his soft-looking hand. Had he seen him before? He looked vaguely familiar.

John took the hand, and the grip was firm but without any attempt to show how powerful he was; he returned it in kind. He was floundering about in his mind for words--he felt like gasping at the sheer beauty of the man--when Judas said, "You are the one, are you not, that is studying to be a rabbi?"

"Well, no, not really," John managed to answer. "I went to the school in Annas's house--"

Judas nodded in recognition.

"He is a relative of my mother's, you see," John went on, trying not to babble, "and my father decided that I should spend a week there to see if that was what I should do with my life, and I, well . . ."

"And you found it was not. I had the same experience, more or less, but only after years of pursuing the studies."

"Indeed?"

"Judas is a priest," said James.

"Ah," said John.

"Of course," Judas answered, "One is a priest by birth, so there is nothing in that. But one must do some studying to discover what one must do, must one not? And I was quite captivated by it at the beginning, I must say."

"It is a very--one could get very absorbed in it."

"If one is a certain type of person. I imagine it would be a bit confining for one used to the outdoors, such as a fisherman."

"One of the students there told me he suspected something of the same thing about me. He was right. But what decided me was that we went to the Jordan, to John, you know, and we saw Jesus there."

"Did you! I saw him myself. Did you see him when he was bathed?" Ah, was he the one he saw just after Jesus?

"As a matter of fact, we did."

"As did I. I was a kind of hanger-on of a delegation that went to question him--John, that is--and he did not satisfy them, but there was something about him that made me stay."

"He certainly was a forceful speaker."

"And he said things that my companions decidedly did not want to hear; but I thought they had truth in them. At any rate I lingered, to see if he could point me toward this person he was referring as 'a voice crying in the wilderness' to, and so forth, and I happened to be present when Jesus stepped up to be bathed."

"Then you saw what occurred."

"I did. Most people said that it thundered from a clear blue sky, but I thought the thunder said something. And a bird came from nowhere and lit on Jesus's shoulder. My hair stood on end."

"I heard the words--or not words exactly, but--and I saw the dove also."

"It was a dove, now that you mention it. And I know what you mean about the words. I thought I was hallucinating."

"No, there definitely was something, and the thunder meant something like, 'This is my son, the one I love; I am pleased with him.'"

Judas became excited, "Exactly! So it was real! At any rate, shortly afterward, I introduced myself to Jesus, and he said he would meet me here in Galilee after forty days. I gather he intended to make a forty day fast to prepare himself for his ministry."

"Oh, is that what it was?"

"Well, it is pure speculation on my part. But if he is the Prince, and is about to make himself known as such, it would sound reasonable."

"I must ask him some time."

"I do not think I would have the temerity to do so, myself."

John blushed. "Ah, well, you see, I knew him before, when he was simply--well, not 'simply'--a carpenter. He built a little boat for James and me when we were but children."

"Indeed? What a privilege!"

"Now that I think of it, it was a tremendous privilege! But at the time, it seemed--well, at the time a carpenter was a carpenter. One did not think otherwise. But even then there was something about him."

John glanced over at Jesus, who was standing a bit apart, looking to see if anyone was coming. John, and also Judas, had been so engrossed in their conversation that they had forgotten that Jesus was among them. He hoped that he had not said anything that Jesus would not approve of, but Jesus was obviously preoccupied.

"Well," said John, "but I must become accustomed to a completely new Jesus, no matter how much he is like the old one."

"So must we all," replied Judas. "Even those of us who knew nothing of him before are discovering new wonders in him every day. This business with your father, for instance. Who could do it except the Prince? And I have no doubt also that he knows--if he wishes--every word we have said."

"You have had that experience also? I found he not only knows words he could not have heard, but my very thoughts! It is most disconcerting!"

"Actually, I was prepared for it. You see, I did a good deal of studying of Greek philosophy--Plato and Aristotle and especially Plotinus--because when I dipped into it, I found to my astonishment how very close they, especially Plotinus, came to what we Judeans believe in. They proved it scientifically, if you will. And Jesus clearly has what Plotinus called the 'One' flowing through his soul. I was not at all surprised that he knew others' thoughts."

John, who had never heard of these philosophers, said, "It is--it is a frightening experience."

"Indeed it is. Fortunately, this incarnation of God, if you wish to put it so, is one of love and not mere indifference, and so one fears with the fear of awe, not of terror."

"I think one can say that. I hope one can say that. No, I know one can say that. He may be awesome, but he is a friend."

At this point Jesus pointed off in the distance, where two men were approaching, and said, "Now there is a real Israelite; there is nothing devious about him."

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