Martin Fieber - He Who Returned

Slowly he became aware of the voices of children coming from outside the house. He went out sadly and sat down under the shadow of a pomegranate bush that stood near where the girls were playing their favorite game with Jesus: “Jacob and the Lord.” He watched the children a while and noticed that the girls always insisted that Jesus play the Lord. He tensely observed that the girls loved being caught by Jesus. Now it was Rachel’s turn and Joshua could not avert his eyes. He stared at her, curious to see whether she would also act so childishly, after all one had to try at least a little to avoid being caught in the game and to run away from the Lord some.

“Jacob, where are you?” Jesus called out with a gentle voice.

“Here.” Rachel laughed as she answered. It seemed as if Rachel also was not doing much to hide from Jesus, the Lord. After a couple of moments he had her already. They laughed and hugged for a while after they had taken off their blindfolds.

Joshua was still sitting under the tree and suddenly felt very lonely. He noticed it getting darker around him. His sadness increased and his loneliness was almost unbearable. But suddenly it got brighter again. “Joshua“, a voice called out and tore him from his thoughts. “Joshua, do you want to play with us?” It was Rachel’s voice, which brought a smile to his face with its cheerfulness.

“Yes, I will join you. Who am I supposed to be?”

“Jacob, of course.” Rachel brought him a blindfold. “Jesus is always the Lord. We decided on that yesterday.”

She wrapped Joshua with the blindfold. Then she turned him around a couple of times until he had lost his sense of direction.

“Jacob, where are you?” Jesus called out to him. He seemed to be somewhere behind him. Joshua turned around.

“Here.” Joshua answered and went in the other direction, until he noticed that the girls standing around in the circle wanted to push him back into the middle. He would not make it so easy for Jesus. Some time went by. He listened for the footsteps of Jesus, which he suddenly could barely hear anymore.

“Jacob, where are you?” Jesus seemed to have come nearer.

Joshua moved away from him before he replied. After all he did not Jesus to catch him so quickly. But all of his thoughts were no use. After a short while Jesus touched him on the back and he had to give up. How had Jesus been able to find him so quickly? He had after all been on the opposite side when he had called out.

“I found you. I have found Jacob. I have found Joshua.” Jesus seemed to be very happy. The girls laughed, for they enjoyed it very much when Jesus had been successful once again. In the old days when Simeon still played with them and called all the shots, they had been happy when it had taken longer until Simeon had found the Jacobs. But with Jesus the situation was completely different.

Both of the boys took of their blindfolds.

“How were you able to find me so quickly?”, Joshua asked Jesus.

“I concentrate, look inside myself, ask my father in heaven and then I see a weak light. This is the light that shows me the way and guides me to you.”

Joshua was astonished. It truly seemed as if Jesus had abilities that were not normal. Who was Jesus? Was he truly connected to God, the Lord, or was his father someone else, perhaps a demon, as his father suspected?

These thoughts wouldn’t leave Joshua alone for the entire rest of the day. He loved Jesus on a level of which he had never been aware before. This love was simply deeper, he could find no better word for it. It was closer, it touched something inside his heart of which he had not until now even known that it existed. On the one hand he always wanted to be close to his blue-eyed friend. On the other hand he was also a little afraid of him. Afraid? Yes, that is what one might call it. Afraid that his innermost feelings could be unlocked and come out.

How did Jesus know all of that? It could only come from God. He could not believe that this kind Jesus was connected to dark forces in any way. No, it was not possible. But he could not make his father understand this. The prophets of the olden days also had had gifts that were sometimes simply inexplicable. How, for example, could Moses transform stick into a snake?

As Joshua observed his thoughts he noticed that he was indeed a hidden thinker, a kind of philosopher, as his mother had once said. He was not familiar with the term, but he knew its meaning. Sarah often asked him why he, thought so much about everything, why he couldn’t simply take the days as they came. He was not able to do that. How could Simeon and Amos take life so lightly and view every day as a merely game?

∞

When Jesus rose the following morning it was still dark, he had awoken much earlier than usual. He reviewed the day gone by in his mind. Thoughts came and went. There were moments in which noticed that he was different than the others. In principle that was not so bad, after all no two souls were alike, yet he felt lonesome nonetheless, as he ad to admit to himself. Not even his mother could take this loneliness from him. She did try to cheer him up and explained to him again and again that he, unlike other children, had a special task to fulfil on this earth that he had to learn to accept. Although Jesus understood this he found it hard to accept. He liked many of the children, especially the girls, for their souls were softer and more open, and they simply liked him the way he was. Just like Joshua, although he had noticed that Joshua’s father had been keeping his son away from him lately.

Yes, it was true, since Joshua had been attacked by the dark creatures he had retreated some. Jesus wanted to change this development. He wanted to take care of Joshua better in future. He had realized that. Now it was getting lighter and he heard the first sounds of the new day. He put on his garment and greeted the new day with an inner gratitude for being alive.

Like every other morning Joshua had gone over to the synagogue with Samuel. That is, he had gone over a few minutes before the other children. His father had already announced that they would speak about cleanliness today. That was the favorite topic of Samuel. Joshua and the other boys were however already sick of hearing about it. But the topics were like an iron law from which there was no escape.

Last of all Simeon arrived, who disliked the topic most out of all of them. After the noise level had gone down and an initial prayer had been spoken, Simeon had to demonstrate his knowledge of Hebrew. He stood up and went to the torah scroll.

“Simeon, start reading already.” After only a few minutes Samuel was already enraged.

“Umm, rabbi, where am I supposed to begin?” Unlike in others situations, in the presence of the rabbi Simeon was obviously quite scared .

“Simeon, I just announced that we would be reading in the scriptures of Moses. Namely the exact passage where you learn which animals you are allowed to eat and which animals God forbids us from eating.”

Simeon read – in very poor Hebrew – of the quadrupeds, then of the animals that dwell in water. What followed next was a passage about birds and insects. Joshua enjoyed the moments when Simeon had to endure the strictness of his father.

“Simeon, that is enough.” The rabbi could not believe how badly Simeon still read. After all he was already eight. Although children were not sent to school as early as here in Nazareth in the other villages, it was up to the local rabbi to decide on what age they were to begin at. Why of why couldn’t the children grasp what a grace it was to learn how to read so early on?

Samuel took a deep breath. “So Simeon, please tell me again which quadrupeds we are allowed to eat.? You just read it aloud. It should be easy fro you to repeat it in your won words.”