The Didymus Contingency by Jeremy Robinson

took his mind hostage.
    Tom didn’t understand. “David, what are you doing?” he asked.
    The rugged man replied to Tom, “He has eyes that can see and ears that can hear,” and then said to David, “Stand, David.”
    David did his best to stand, but his knees had become as stable as a bowl of Jell-O. He clutched his kneecaps and stiffened his arm so as not to fall over. David had never felt such emotion in all his life. He had been a believer in Christ for twenty-five years. He had gone to church, been born again, received the Holy Spirit—everything that Christians might relate to a supernatural experience with God. But everything paled with this experience. David was undone.
    The rugged man placed a hand on David’s head and said, “Peace be with you.”
    Instantly, a wave of serenity washed over David. He felt his strength return and his mind clear. The adverse effects of extreme joy disappeared and David was left feeling lighter than air.
    Tom finally understood. “Jesus?”
    The rugged man removed his hand from David’s head and nodded at Tom. He said, “Your eyes will be opened soon enough, my friend.”
    Jesus turned and walked toward the crowd of expectant followers. Tom looked into David’s wet eyes. Each was as befuddled as the other. They turned their eyes back to Jesus, who had walked to the boulder David climbed earlier. Jesus turned to them and said, “Now make yourselves useful and help me up.”
    The most important man in the history of the world was asking Tom and David for a boost and all they could do was stare at him.

    *   *   *   *   *

    Ten minutes passed before Tom or David spoke. They had broken every rule imaginable for time travel scenarios. They hadn’t just observed an event. They hadn’t simply carried on idle conversations with meaningless people in the past. They had become friends with Jesus Christ! They’d had drinks with him! Joked with him! David was beyond playing out doomsday theories with Tom; they were already in the midst of one. David sat on the grass next to Tom, while Jesus addressed the crowd on the hill below them.
    “What’s he doing?” asked Tom.
    David looked at Jesus speaking to the crowd. He used to think going back in time would be romantic, like watching a movie, but this was real. They were witnessing actual events recorded in the Bible. His stomach twisted as he answered, “I tried to tell you before...he’s calling the twelve.”
    “The twelve what?” asked Tom.
    “The disciples,” David explained. “Peter, John, Matthew, you know, those guys.”
    “Right... How much money did you bring? We’re going to need—”
    David burst out laughing. The idea of staying was ludicrous and it pushed him beyond rage to unrelenting laughter. Then he realized Tom was serious and the laughter was suddenly silenced. David knew that simply calling Tom a fool wouldn’t do the trick. Perhaps he could prove his beliefs to Tom with the events they had already witnessed? David started, “Tom, you’ve seen him now. You saw how he stopped me from shaking with just a touch. You—”
    “Still can’t believe you think he’s God,” Tom said. “Granted, he’s a nice guy. He’s funny. He drinks. I like him.”
    Tom pointed a finger toward Jesus, still standing on the stone, waving his arms as he spoke. “But I’ll never believe he’s God.”
    David took a breath and said, “If we stay any longer we risk changing the future worse then we may have already. Do I really have to explain this all to you again? You might plan on keeping the results of your quest for atheism between the two of us, but our mere presence here changes things. We might swat a bug that would have transmitted a disease to man. Our conversations might change the way someone thinks—like the old woman in Bethany. We’ve spent an entire day with Jesus already. Who knows how many historically important conversations we’ve already distracted him from.”
    “We’ll distance