is grown, it is larger than all the
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plants in a garden and becomes a tree, and birds come to rest in its branches."
"Are you sure that's what he said?" I frowned.
"Heard it myself. I follow him every chance I get--have for months now. He also says the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea that gathers all kinds of fish. And then when it's full, men pull it ashore and sort the good fish into containers, and throw away the bad ones."
"I don't like it," Simon murmured the second evening. "What teacher teaches with stories like these? How does one teach truth with fictions? It's a dangerous thing to toy with scriptures, to chance changing even one jot or tittle of the law!"
"He's speaking to common people, Simon. Not learned men like you."
"I heard someone say today that he doesn't even wash his hands before eating. What teacher ignores the purity laws?"
I did not tell him that I didn't think the Nazarene was interested in that form of purity. Nor did I remind him that the Maccabee himself had gone from town to town raising his army until the day that he was ready to march on Jerusalem and purify the Temple. I did not say that the day we arrived I had not seen just a throng of hungry peasants, but the beginnings of an army. I did not share any of this, though it sent my heart soaring in my chest and I knew I would report it to the Sons.
But Simon remained unconvinced.
"Someone told me they almost killed him when he went home to Nazareth.
Because there he is only a hand-laborer and yet he claimed the scriptures were fulfilled in his being there. And because he does not teach by quoting the sages, but on his own word as though the scriptures were the commentary!"
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"It's rumor and hearsay! What else have these peasants got to talk about?" I said.
"He didn't heal a leper or perform any sign there. Do you know the reason he gave? Because they did not believe. And so he couldn't perform it. Isn't that how conjurers work? Do you know what another man told me today? That he was in Egypt as a boy. Egypt--the land of magicians!"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Judas, be careful. We will know the Messiah by his might, but we know a man of the Lord by the law and the company he keeps."
"To keep the company of the poor is not a sin."
"Why do you defend him? We're nearing the end of our funds. If we return now, we can get back to the city ahead of the pilgrims going up for the Feast."
"Simon, there's something happening here. Can't you tell? Can't you feel it?
These men haven't come out to hear stories. They came for hope."
"Hope in what? I see a horde of peasants that will eventually get scattered when their leader gets put down like a dog! This is not the way, Judas."
Anger welled up in me like desperation.
"How do you know? Because they do not wash? Did you not see that leper come away with whole skin? Fingers--where there were no fingers? Can you not see the faces of those people, more desperate for what he has than they are even for food? There is something more simple and profound here that even you and I, in our learning, can understand."
"You're infatuated with him!" he burst out. "You want so much for him to be this thing you desire, you overlook that he flouts the law!"
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"He came from Egypt. You said it yourself. Andrew says he wasted away in the wilderness. For forty days. Forty--the number of years Moses himself wandered the wilderness. And then he returned and crossed the Jordan.
Does this mean nothing to you? Didn't our forefathers do the same on their return from exile?" Even saying it raised gooseflesh on my arms.
"Bethlehem," I went on. "Did you hear that he wasn't born in Nazareth? He was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Simon. The birthplace of David. And his parents were even of the line of David."
"So are a hundred other peasants every year. Someone whispers 'Messiah'
and you go all crazy? Did anyone tell you he's also of questioned birth?"
I blinked. Of "questioned birth." Not
100
plants in a garden and becomes a tree, and birds come to rest in its branches."
"Are you sure that's what he said?" I frowned.
"Heard it myself. I follow him every chance I get--have for months now. He also says the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea that gathers all kinds of fish. And then when it's full, men pull it ashore and sort the good fish into containers, and throw away the bad ones."
"I don't like it," Simon murmured the second evening. "What teacher teaches with stories like these? How does one teach truth with fictions? It's a dangerous thing to toy with scriptures, to chance changing even one jot or tittle of the law!"
"He's speaking to common people, Simon. Not learned men like you."
"I heard someone say today that he doesn't even wash his hands before eating. What teacher ignores the purity laws?"
I did not tell him that I didn't think the Nazarene was interested in that form of purity. Nor did I remind him that the Maccabee himself had gone from town to town raising his army until the day that he was ready to march on Jerusalem and purify the Temple. I did not say that the day we arrived I had not seen just a throng of hungry peasants, but the beginnings of an army. I did not share any of this, though it sent my heart soaring in my chest and I knew I would report it to the Sons.
But Simon remained unconvinced.
"Someone told me they almost killed him when he went home to Nazareth.
Because there he is only a hand-laborer and yet he claimed the scriptures were fulfilled in his being there. And because he does not teach by quoting the sages, but on his own word as though the scriptures were the commentary!"
101
"It's rumor and hearsay! What else have these peasants got to talk about?" I said.
"He didn't heal a leper or perform any sign there. Do you know the reason he gave? Because they did not believe. And so he couldn't perform it. Isn't that how conjurers work? Do you know what another man told me today? That he was in Egypt as a boy. Egypt--the land of magicians!"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Judas, be careful. We will know the Messiah by his might, but we know a man of the Lord by the law and the company he keeps."
"To keep the company of the poor is not a sin."
"Why do you defend him? We're nearing the end of our funds. If we return now, we can get back to the city ahead of the pilgrims going up for the Feast."
"Simon, there's something happening here. Can't you tell? Can't you feel it?
These men haven't come out to hear stories. They came for hope."
"Hope in what? I see a horde of peasants that will eventually get scattered when their leader gets put down like a dog! This is not the way, Judas."
Anger welled up in me like desperation.
"How do you know? Because they do not wash? Did you not see that leper come away with whole skin? Fingers--where there were no fingers? Can you not see the faces of those people, more desperate for what he has than they are even for food? There is something more simple and profound here that even you and I, in our learning, can understand."
"You're infatuated with him!" he burst out. "You want so much for him to be this thing you desire, you overlook that he flouts the law!"
102
"He came from Egypt. You said it yourself. Andrew says he wasted away in the wilderness. For forty days. Forty--the number of years Moses himself wandered the wilderness. And then he returned and crossed the Jordan.
Does this mean nothing to you? Didn't our forefathers do the same on their return from exile?" Even saying it raised gooseflesh on my arms.
"Bethlehem," I went on. "Did you hear that he wasn't born in Nazareth? He was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Simon. The birthplace of David. And his parents were even of the line of David."
"So are a hundred other peasants every year. Someone whispers 'Messiah'
and you go all crazy? Did anyone tell you he's also of questioned birth?"
I blinked. Of "questioned birth." Not
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