Martin Fieber - He Who Returned

Joshua had been sitting in his rooms the past hours doing his writing exercises as his father had told him to. He thought to himself that he was making good progress. But soon he did not feel like continuing and went out to look for Rachel. But first he saw ten to twenty figures jumping out of the bushes and attacking a group of roughly the same size. And then all he heard was continuous shouting. “Charge! Simeon, take out the Centurion.”

“I was going to do that anyway, Amos. And by the way: I am the only one who gives orders around here.”

“Ouch, that hurt, dumb-ass.”

“Well duh.. we are fighting here and not playing children’s games like ‚Jacob and the Lord’ anymore.”

“Hit. You’re dead.”

“Nonsense, I hit you first.”

“That isn’t possible, my spear’s longer.”

Joshua watched these scenes with disgust, for he was not a friend of violence. He headed up the alley in the direction toward Sepphoris and soon enough spotted Rachel and her girl friends there. And as expected Jesus was sitting there with them and playing flute, which the girls danced to. Joshua sat down next to Jesus and watched the girls hopping about in circle. He smiled at Jesus. After a while Jesus stopped playing and the girls greeted Joshua.

“Doesn’t Jesus play beautifully?”, Rachel asked Joshua.

“Very nicely. Where did you get the flute from, Jesus?”

“I carved it for myself a while ago. You know I love carving things out of wood. The olive trees of Galilee or something very special.”

“Jesus, how did you know what God had told me father while praying? How were you able to know that?”

“Sometimes I hear a very insistent voice, when it is important. I can not ignore it and even remember days later what the voice said. That is just the way it is. I am not sure why either. My Egyptian teacher merely told me that is was important for me to listen to this voice and to say things when the voice asks me to. And I know that the voice comes from God. Where should it come from otherwise?”

“Like my father said, from a demon?”

“What do you think a demon is, Joshua?”

“An evil spirit that does not want anything that is good.”

“Do you really believe that I would listen to an evil spirit?”

“Why are you so sure that you can distinguish the different voices? How doe you want to know for a fact what is a demon and what is God, our Lord?”

“God is my father, just as he is yours. Don’t you know that a father only wants the best for his son at all times?”

“Jesus, sometimes I am not sure about that. On the one hand yes, on the other hand I ask myself if a father is not sometimes also allowed to hurt his son.”

“Yes, I know, that must hurt you very much to think about when you wanted to defend me.”

“Almost forgotten. But I could not always tell the difference.”

Suddenly both of the boys saw Simeon and his friends running toward them. All Joshua heard was that Simeon shouted “Charge! I will take out the blue-eyed one. And you, Amos, take out the scar face“, that the girls hid themselves behind Jesus and that he advanced one step towards the roughly twenty charging boys. Then Jesus made a graceful motion with his hand that tossed something invisible on the approaching horde.

“In the name of God, leave them, ye demons.” The words of Jesus were loud and clear. A moment later the boys stopped, looked at each other, muttered this and that, and slowly walked back along the path which they had just run up.

“Now what was that, Jesus?”

“Joshua, remember how I told you about the grotesque faces that I always see. Just a moment ago, there were hundreds if dark figures all about those children. I merely spoke a prayer.”

“How do you know that God heard the prayer and we were not saved by a demon?”

“Joshua, do you think that a demon could chase away another demon? Only the light has that ability. Never forget that! It will one day be very important for you. For you too will be journeying to a large city. And there are many more of that kind there, believe me.”

Joshua gave Jesus a big wondering glance, shook his head and went home a little confused. That had really been enough for today.

He faintly heard how Rachel admiringly thanked Jesus for saving them from the boys. But he still did not understand one thing. Why could a demon not chase away another demon?

∞

It was time for an extended supper again. The family of the rabbi sat together in harmony, something that truly rarely occurred. Samuel was so light-hearted due to the words of God inside him that he even made little jokes now and then.

“Joshua, Judith and Esther, you can get up now. I have to discuss something with your mother.”

The children left happily, for that meant that they could still play a while outside with the children in the alleyways. “Sarah, my woman, I have to tell you something. You will hardly believe what happened to me this morning during my prayer.”

“I have noticed all day that you are very upbeat today, Samuel.”

“God spoke to me. God told me that I have an exemplary faith and that we will soon travel to a distant land, where I will carry this faith in God into the world. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“God told you that we will be journeying to a distant country?” Sarah was somewhat surprised. “What are we to do in a different country, Samuel? We belong here, our home is in Galilee.”

“You know that the priests in Jerusalem hold me in high regard. I say that with a little bit of pride. Bealja, a priest from the high council, indicated to me some time ago that something awaited me yet until now I was keeping had kept that information to myself. Sarah, there are not many who have as strong a faith as I in our country.” Samuel unconsciously straightened up and smiled.

“Which country is that to be? Nowadays almost everything outside of Galilee is Greek. How can God demand such a thing, that we leave our home, our safety and our friends here in Nazareth? And consider the children. Now Joshua has even found a good friend, and it would be very sad for him to have to leave soon.”

“Do you mean that Jesus? That blue-eyed lout, who speaks to demons? Do you think he is a friend of Joshua? I have told our son already that he is to stay away from him.”

“What is your issue with him? Can’t you tell that Jesus is a very special boy? True, he may be a little quieter than most, but he has a big heart. Even you should have noticed that, Samuel.”

“Woman, in school today this Jesus, whom you consider to be so special, almost told me word for word what God had told me just moments earlier. Isn’t that a major proof that he speaks with demons? Only a demon can do that.”

“Samuel, you say that God has told you that. And with Jesus you suddenly believe that the same words were spoken by a demon? Isn’t that a little odd?”

Samuel got angry. How could everyone in this village consider this Jesus to be so harmless! And now even his wife was stabbing him in the back.

“I am the rabbi. And God speaks to me when he has something to say to our village. God would never speak to an immigrant blue-eyed bastard who according to his naive father is even supposed to be the future saviour. Never! That shows that this Jesus is allied with demons. Otherwise he could not have heard those words. And unfortunately it is not possible to doubt that he did here them. “

“Samuel, please don’t talk like this about that boy. Jesus isn’t the way you portray him to be. I have spoken with Miriam and him several times. And he even seems more mature than most fathers in this village to me. And Miriam, has meanwhile become a wonderful friend to me, and I really like Jesus.”