More of the Life of Jesus (Yeshua)

The desert wilderness was intense in its desolation. In the noonday sun, rough, mixed boulders and dust of only slightly varying hues of the same color stretched seemingly endlessly without shadow. "Everyone needs to learn, even the most gifted," Micha-el had told him. He felt the purpose of this, although his humanness was repulsed at what he considered useless deprivation. Now he was tired and hungry and thirsty, his rations having run out that morning. He knew Qumran was close, but he felt this trek was bordering on ludicrous.

At a prominent spot, he sat down on a rock to rest. Ahead of him lay more wilderness, hill upon hill of the same terrain he had been in all day, rocks and dust, endlessly repeated at the next rise and the next and the next. Nothing lived, nothing moved.

Something moved now, though, in the periphery of his vision. Looking toward the movement, he saw a snake, lying on a flat rock in the sun. "How does it live out here?" he thought, "It doesn't have the abundance of food and water that exists elsewhere."

"Man does not live by bread alone."

"Why do people endlessly pursue unnecessary possessions, thinking their lives would be useless without them?"

"Why can't people attempt to discover how to have better relationships with other people -- why can't they lift themselves above pursuing material possessions that simply waste away? Why not achieve something permanent?"

"If this snake is provided for, then how much more are we provided for who are children of YHVH?"

He noticed movement again, this time beyond a near hill. He watched, and saw the figure of a man approaching him.

Clothed in the ragged garb of an ascete, he was certain it was a member of the Qumran community. As the figure approached closer, he recognized his cousin, Johannes. The two had regularly met at Feast Days, having established a boyhood friendship and Johannes would be permitted by the Qumran teachers to stay with Joshua's family wherever they would be in Jerusalem at that time, so Joshua had regular contact with his cousin up until manhood.

Johannes seemed more gaunt than usual. He approached with a deliberate slowness.

"Joshua!" he cried, "You have arrived! Well-fed, as always, but life here shall change that!"

Elated at such a propitious beginning -- being found by his cousin and best friend, in the midst of deepest depression tempered only by his discovery of the meaning of the First Lesson -- Joshua, already anticipating a unique experience here, at Khirbet Qumran, rose excitedly and embraced his "rescuer".

"Here? -- You mean I'm here already?"

"I see the heat and deprivation are already working their ways with you. You aren't your usual composed self."

"How far to the monastery?"

"A short walk."

The short walk took the rest of day, in the afternoon's heat. Joshua stumbled many times. Johannes strode strongly. Joshua perceived that the asceticism of Qumran strengthened a person.

Although Joshua had generally been rather unreceptive to the idea of deprivation, Johannes' example demonstrated the value of such to him. Joshua also recognized in the discipline of Qumran the further teaching of the First Lesson.

"Here is a community," he thought, "of dedicated men who are seeking God on a level beyond that of the Sect of the Priests, who seek only self-aggrandizement and gratification of the senses. Here are men who will teach me much."

His anticipation grew with each step. Here, surely, he will discover and learn with men who seek what he seeks.

Many things happened during this year at Qumran and, when he returned home, he immediately went to Micha-el.

Micha-el saw that Joshua was evidently worried.

"Joshua," he asked, "what do you think of yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"In relation to others."

"I wish they would see as I see -- would throw off the yoke of having someone else make their rules for them."

"Do you think it is by choice, then, that they do this?"

"They choose to follow the faith presented to them."

"They feel it is given to them -- handed down by our forefathers from generation to generation."

"But they can refuse it."

"How?"

"They just can."

"What if I told you that they cannot just refuse it -- that a very few privileged people only can choose -- anything."

"What do you mean?"

"You need to know why people fail to choose -- why they cling to counterproductive ways in lieu of learning that which could mean Life for them. They cannot help themselves -- they seek the fulfillment and security of the Law -- rules governing their actions -- this helps them find that fulfillment beyond themselves.
"
"That seemed to happen at Qumran, where I thought holy men were."

"And you discovered that they weren't really holy."

Joshua nodded his head.

"They're men," said Micha-el, "and only men, just as you are and just as I am."

"They depend upon rules, just as do the Pharisees."

Micha-el waited for Joshua to continue.

"The Manual of Discipline has fine concepts -- not holding grudges, for example -- yet it hasn't departed from the strictures concerning the Sabbath. Men work hard to obey these strictures, neglecting Sabbath's purpose of contemplating God."

"Again, the schoolmaster; am I correct?"

"They haven't progressed past that. Life, to them, has to be shaped by someone else."

Joshua paused, then asked, "If Men's lives are shaped by someone else, then who is the shaper?"

"They would tell you that it is God who shapes."

"And men are senseless clay."

"Are you senseless?"

"I am not -- I cannot be. I discover things that are contrary to what is taught, things that can be shown to be truer than those things they obey without question."

"Everything they obey?"

"In following rules that they have made which they think help them to obey, they have set an obstacle to their true fulfillment of the ways YHVH has revealed."

"How much of the Torah, then, and in that case, the Manual of Discipline, is really the Way of YHVH?"

"And how much is but commentary?"

"You know, then."

"'Whatsoever you would have Men do to you, do it also to them.'"

"Where do we go from here?"

"Do we discover what we truly would have others do to us?"

"Have you?"

"Not everything."

"When will you discover everything?"

"I cannot."

"Would you have Men always do Good to you?"

"I discovered, in the course of this year, that what can be perceived as Evil, hardship and suffering, can, in reality, be Good."

"What else have you discovered?"

"No man is not a beast."

"Say that again?"

"I was caught up in it -- yet I hardly understood what was happening. Like a pack of dogs -- or baboons -- they -- I should say we -- strove against each other for dominance. Men became leaders by being more forceful than their fellows."

"And the teachers? Did they not make effort to control this?"

"They did -- but it was -- is -- a natural part of us -- this competition went on in daily living -- the men accepted certain individuals as leaders naturally."

"Like dogs or baboons accept a 'leader of the pack' or a 'male dominating the pack'."

"Yes -- just like that."

"Shouldn't Men be better than that?"

"Men certainly aren't animals."

"Are we made of something different from the animals? Are we made of something other than flesh and blood?"

"We are different -- we think and build and create."

"Yet are our actions that much different?"

Joshua was silent, pondering the question.

"What I've observed," he then replied, "persuades me that we aren't."

"Then we have something of the Beast in us."

"Yes -- it is in us -- in our thinking and in our actions."

"It is unthinking thinking and actions -- do you understand?"

"The Beast in the head and the hands obstructs our movement toward YHVH -- true perception."

"Yes -- from the interplay in youths and their competition to Caesar himself, the same bestiality prevails. He who dominates most leads."

"The quest for dominance runs counter to the precepts of God."

"Escape from the Beast -- the confusion -- so that you will not reap its consequences. You see now how kingdoms are won -- why wars occur. What comes from the Beast is seeking this power over Men -- our own kingdoms -- and this becomes a single-minded obsession, blinding Men, making them see only that obsession for power -- even those who are subservient to others' power serve the same Master, just like those beasts who allow themselves to be dominated."

"I will not allow myself to be dominated."

"Be careful that, in not allowing others's domination, you, yourself, do not dominate. You have power far beyond that of others and could be mesmerized by its possibilities for domination."

Micha-el did not make the customary entry in his journal. Instead of chronicling all that Joshua had told him about the year at Qumran, Michael simply entered that Joshua had discovered his First Lesson, "Man shall not live by bread alone.", and was well into discovering and learning the Second Lesson.

Discipleship

For the next four years, Joshua grew in knowledge, far outdistancing his peers, and was recognized by Micha-el and other teachers and others of superior rank among the Believers as having potential for great things. Micha-el tried to persuade these superiors to suppress their enthusiasm.

It was a time of Messiahs. The "Christos", it had been said, has been prophesied to come for many generations -- who would, as a king over Israel, lead His People in victory out of the oppressors yoke, to domination once again of the Promised Land and to possible ascendancy over even Rome, itself. To these elders, Joshua was that "Christos". After all, wasn't he born in The Sign and wasn't he fulfilling all -- no -- more -- than they had expected?

Micha-el didn't share their enthusiasm -- he knew Joshua's Second Lesson, a lesson even these elders had yet to learn. Part of their enthusiasm was toward the possibility of Joshua's leading them to predominance over all other Jews, displacing the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jerusalem. They had already nurtured their synagogues in the direction of accepting Joshua as a great leader and were preparing the way for his ministry.

Joshua was invited to speak at synagogues, or, as some would call them, knowing some Greek, "ecclesia", throughout Galilee. He would work with his father as a carpenter in his home town during the week, then, in the afternoon of the sixth day, he would journey to wherever he was invited, stay in the house of the community of Believers there and join in Synagogue on Sabbath. Some synagogues were receptive and some weren't. These were extremely independent people, religiously and otherwise. Then he would rise early on the first day and return home to his work.

Because of his powerful speaking in Synagogue, his reputation grew. In his twentieth year, he was accepted officially into the company of the Believers, welcomed enthusiastically, and spent the mandatory year of trial traveling the countryside as he had been and bringing new people into the synagogues in greater numbers so that the ranks of the Believers grew in a manner more than satisfactory to the elders.

These elders in turn assured Joshua that he would attain great office in their ranks upon finishing that year. He felt elated. The business of learning from the elders took up more of his time and the sessions with Micha-el became fewer until these latter ceased altogether. Joshua felt he was past the elementary teaching that he felt he had received from Micha-el. He was a full member of the community of elders, now, not a mere student.

On a Sabbath, at the lakeside town of Magadan, he had finished his contribution to the ideas and had sat down. He felt good about what he had said -- it seemed he was now at his best -- and the synagogue readily accepted his ideas.

A voice rose from the back. It was Micha-el's. The teacher, who seldom ventured from his home base now and seldom participated in synagogue, was here, speaking. The words seemed to mesmerize the audience and what he said rang much truer than anything that had gone before.

One thing, though, bothered Joshua, and that was a statement about worshiping the self. No one dare counter Micha-el. The teacher was known and respected throughout Galilee. Anyone that started to respond was quickly silenced by his neighbor.
Joshua arose.

The assembly was silent. This was a confrontation between a teacher and his disciple.

Joshua quoted simply, "'Thou shalt worship YHVH, thy God and Him only shalt thou serve.'" Then he sat down.

"Well put, my friend," replied Micha-el, "That is the answer I wanted. But when the scripture says 'Ye are gods' and the 'sons of God', then, when we worship the self, aren't we also worshiping God?

"Actually, it is when we worship all men as God in worshiping the self that we truly worship YHVH. The self at the exclusion of others is certainly idolatry, but the self as others, and others as the self, as the Torah commands, then this is no idolatry -- this is obeying YHVH."

Afterward, Joshua rushed after Micha-el as the teacher strode along the road home.

"Is it because you no longer need a teacher that you haven't been to the house these many months?"

Joshua couldn't answer the question and walked back to the town.

The New Scroll

The wilderness doesn't change. All rocks look alike every time a person sees them -- from one time to another, they are constant and unchanging, in all directions the same, at all times the same -- that which was here in David's time is here now and that which lies at one's feet lies also there on the next ridge, and the next -- as far as vision allows -- all the same for all time.

Joshua felt distinctly the difference between this wilderness and the world in which he was at home -- the Galilean villages and richness -- crowds, people always around -- activity continually. Here there was nothing. No life, simply contemplation. No activity, rather inactivity. Here was the immensity of nothingness -- pain and suffering of isolation -- weeping and gnashing of teeth at deprivation. Yet here he was attracted -- to this unattractive place. To this expanse of sameness, nothingness, absence of all that makes and gives life. What is this place that it does so?

Here he was drawn upon the occasion of the pinnacle, so far, of his ministry -- the bringing together of the two greatest ministries of the Believers and the impact that must now make upon Judaism. When logic dictated that he immediately return to Galilee to capitalize on the increase in converts the event must produce, he was drawn here. He would return, shortly, to lead the Believers to new influence among the Jews and the Jews to new influence in the world -- after all, wasn't that what he was born to do? The "Christos" must lead his people to their former greatness -- no, greater than that.

There a raggedy old man comes, a vagabond, lost. How many days has it been, now, of preparing for the responsibility lying before? He should have left long before this, but he wasn't ready. Something was missing. He searched his thoughts diligently for that vacant spot he knew was there, but it eluded him. "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ."

What does he want, that raggedy man?

How long -- he was hungry -- that man -- there he is.

"I have nothing for you old man."

"I want nothing from you."

"The monks at Qumran, now they have . . . "

"You want."

"You have nothing for me."

"You hunger and thirst."

"I am filled."

"Are you a son of God?"

This last remark startled Joshua.

"I am -- as are you."

"You pity me -- therefore you are more a son of God than I."

"I didn't . . . "

"You have been here long?"

"I cannot tell."

"You have the dust of many desert days on you."

"It has been several days."

"You cannot tell how many?"

"I cannot -- what gives you the authority . . . ?"

"Has it been ten days? Twenty? Forty?"

"It has been forty days! -- All right?"

"Then you must be hungry."

"Your concerns should lie elsewhere. I am sufficient unto myself -- you should see to your own house -- your own self rather than attempting to distract another from his own cycle of life."

"You are truly a son of God?"

"Yes . . . "

"A 'high' son of God? -- a prophet? -- a 'Son of Man'?"

"That is my title."

"As such, aren't you empowered to fill your hunger as and when you see fit?"

"Such power, when used unwisely, becomes an impairment."

"But this certainly must be a necessity -- look at these stones -- they are like loaves of bread -- certainly one of them . . . "

"'Man shall not live by bread alone . . . "

" . . . but by every word of God' -- you remember your Torah, 'Son of Man'."

Joshua looked at this man -- his skin and garments were blotched with the dust of the desert and he almost resembled the snakes of the desert, like the one he saw that first time he came here.

"I don't need bread -- my mission is my bread."

"And you live on that?"

"Yes."

"You have a great and powerful work?"

"Many follow me."

"You lead, then?"

"I am being considered . . . what affair is it of yours, old man?"

"You are great in Israel?"

"Were you to leave your nothingness, you would know, old man."

"My something is your nothing, just as your everything is my nothing. Yet you are destined for greatness?"

"It is up to God."

"And if I said I could give you greatness?"

"Unless you are a leader in Israel, you cannot -- and I perceive you are no leader in Israel, old man."

"If I said I could give you all the kingdoms of the world -- as YHVH told Abraham from the mount -- look to all directions and imagine that you can see the world and all its kingdoms -- if I said I could give you that?"

"How could you give that to me?"

"If I could."

"I haven't need of you for that."

"If you did and if I could."

"Nothing is without price -- what would be your price."

"Worship me."

"'Thou shalt worship YHVH, thy God . . . "

"'. . . and Him only shalt thou serve.' But am I not YHVH?"

"Are you not but a small part of YHVH, to be considered equal with all parts of YHVH?"

"Am I not YHVH?"

Joshua arose to walk away.

"You stumble, oh 'Son of Man'. Do you not fear that you might, in your condition, stumble down a deep ravine and there, at the bottom, die?
"
"I have been watched and kept from perils before. I fear none now."

"God has set protections about you? God would save you from perils?"

"Yes."

"Then you must certainly be great -- 'Christos' maybe? You are closer to being the Son of God than anyone ever has? If you are so great -- let me show you a great precipice and you can throw yourself off of it so that I might watch as God's angels catch you. If you are so great, simply to stub your toe and trip would bring legions of angels to catch you before you fall to the ground."

"What is this to you, old man?!"

"I am simply an adversary, testing you."

"I need no adversary -- get out of my sight! Why you test me, I cannot tell and why should I, for frivolity, test God, for it is written, . . . "

"'Thou shalt not test YHVH thy God.' I know. And you would not be tested?"

"I am not found wanting."

"I see a hole in you."

Joshua turned from the old man and left to return to Galilee.

On a visit to the south, he met Johannes on the road. Johannes had just finished his year of trial and had begun preaching. He had already gained a substantial reputation in the countryside and had acquired a following of disciples, some from Qumran's novitiates and some from the outlying areas.

Upon the two cousins meeting, after embracing and the usual greetings of old friends after a long absence from each other, Johannes turned to his disciples.

"Here is the man," he said, "I have told you about. Although he follows me in being given rank because of being younger than I am, yet he always has been ahead of me in knowledge."

Apparently, Johannes had described Joshua in excellent terms, for the look of awe was apparent on the faces of his disciples. Even Johannes gave him great respect and now, had apparently spoken of him extraordinarily highly to his own disciples, a few of whom were ready to follow Joshua.

Two of Johannes disciples, one of them being a man by the name of Andrew, ran after him as he was leaving, having been given leave by Johannes to join him.

Joshua looked, now for disciples -- people who would follow him, respect him --men who depended upon him in certain ways -- men who were impressed with his manner -- not competitors; rather, emulators. And the next day, upon returning to Galilee, he sought out Philip, who had been expressing his desire to be a disciple for quite some time, now, and who received with gladness Joshua's simple answer.

"Follow me"

Philip was an enthusiastic follower of Joshua and now was ecstatic at having been chosen as a disciple. He immediately went to his friend, Nathaniel, and declared wonderful things about Joshua.

"Can anything good come of the Nazarenes?" was Nathaniel's answer.

"Come and see."

Immediately upon seeing Nathaniel, Joshua recognized an honest man and remarked aloud about it.

"How can you know me," asked Nathaniel, "never having seen me before?"

"I saw you underneath the fig tree."

The secrets were at work.

Nathaniel was impressed totally, declaring that Joshua was the Son of God and the King of Israel.

"Something like this impresses you so much? It is nothing -- you have your mind on physical things. You are receptive, though, and, along with your integrity, that will carry you far. You will perceive things that far outweigh this in importance.

"You, Nathaniel, will have the doors to the Spiritual open to you and you will see God's messengers and the Son of Man in truth."

The death of his father affected Joshua's entire family. It was up to Joshua, being the oldest, to take care of the family's affairs, now. The house was sold, the money went into the general fund of that community of Believers in Capernaum and there the family moved to be taken care of by that community. Only Joshua's brother, James, who had taken a vow of the Nazarites, was not there.

Concurrent with the happiness of rebirth and renewal that Spring brings, feasts of celebration were held, including many weddings.

Joshua's mother and Joshua, himself, were invited to a wedding in the village of Cana. Nathaniel, Philip and Andrew accompanied Joshua, wanting to follow him wherever he went. Joshua was not known here as well as he was in the larger towns.

But his mother apparently wanted him to be. She felt he could do mighty things. When the wine had run out, she approached, asking him to do something about it.

"Woman," he said, "what business is it of mine that you want to impress your friends. I haven't reached my Age yet. I can't show these things.

She wouldn't take no for an answer. She turned to a porter and said, "Do whatever he tells you."

"All right," Joshua felt put upon, "the jars for purification water -- fill them completely then give some to the man who's overseeing the party."

Once the water had been turned to wine, he left.

The secrets.

And they all returned to Capernaum

He knew now that he had power. This time in Jerusalem would be different than all others.

Passover was near and he felt that he had to do something particularly special at the Festival to demonstrate, there, in Jerusalem, his authority and station.

Once in Jerusalem, he went directly to the Temple. God would give him a sign, he knew, just as the water had turned to wine.

The scene in Jerusalem at the Temple Grounds was the scene enacted since Herod had built the Temple -- shop prices were outrageous, doves and sheep and other sacrificial animals were being sold on the temple grounds at equally, if not more, outrageous prices and foreign currency was being exchanged at exorbitant rates. It was common knowledge that the priests controlling the temple were profiting by this by charging for the space used on the temple grounds.

An economy developed around this great influx of worshipers, where inns and shops flourished and artifacts were sold to the pilgrims so they could demonstrate at home that they had been to Jerusalem. All year, but particularly at the festivals, merchants displayed special "Jerusalem" mementoes and "exotic" foods or gifts that could not be purchased anywhere else.

All here profited, but not the worshipers. Joshua saw many people going away sadly.

"You cannot afford an animal for sacrifice?" he asked one old woman.

"I've brought my life savings, just for this moment," she replied, "One last sacrifice before I die and I will be forgiven. It's been eight long years since I came to Jerusalem -- I came all the way from Smyrna - now I cannot sacrifice."

She was crying.

"I'll buy you a sacrifice," Joshua said, "and you can keep your money."

"Then I'll have something to give to God." the woman stated simply.

But the price for even a dove was more than he had.

"Why is this being sold at such a price?" he asked the man.

"No price is too much for worship of God," was the reply.

Joshua laid the money down.

"You are serving only the rich," he said, "they are the only ones who can pay.

"Be equitable -- this woman wants only a dove -- a small sacrifice so she can die at peace with her God. She cannot afford what you charge. Surely you have made a good profit today from the rich who have come here."

"If I charge her a lower price, then I will have to lower my prices for everyone."
"As if it would
make you a poor man to give a poor woman a small advantage." and he picked the money up. He didn't move, staring at the money in his hand, turning the coins over several times.

People were waiting in line to buy a dove.

"You'll have to move along if you aren't going to do business." the dove-seller said.

Joshua then lost his temper. He threw the money in the man's face and grabbed a dove. The man rose to stop him. Then Joshua handed the dove to the woman. The man attempted to grab it out of the woman's hand, but Joshua grabbed for another dove and the man moved to stop him. But Joshua began knocking over other cages, breaking them, and doves, released, started flying away. The man frantically grabbed at them in an effort to recapture them and tried to block Joshua from breaking open more cages. In the ensuing melee, Joshua stumbled over the table on which the money laid, overturning it and spilling its contents over the pavement.

He got up, dusted himself off and looked around him. This was the moment, he thought to himself.

"Don't you know," Joshua said, that this is God's house and you're violating all that is right!"

He grabbed the cord the cages were suspended from and swung it around wildly and the people around the stall backed away. Then he strode away from the stall, tying a few knots in one end. He walked over to where sheep were being sold. The man moved to stop him, but Joshua swung the cord at him, hitting him across the face; then he untied the sheep and drove them away, the sheep stumbling over the tables and knocking them over and running among some others. Joshua began striding about the grounds, swinging the cord as he went, driving people out of the way, untying sheep and releasing doves. Then he walked over the money-changers' tables and hit a few of them across the shoulders.

As he kicked over the tables full of various sorts of currency, he shouted, "It is written, my Father's house shall be a house of prayer.', but you have turned it into a den of thieves!"

The chief priests came out to investigate the bedlam. They had little choice but to confront him and ask him to leave. When he didn't, they called for the temple guards, who quickly ushered him off the grounds.

He was invited to speak at several houses, though, and he and his disciples were warmly welcomed and his message received with enthusiasm.

He exulted in what he was doing and wanted to tell Micha-el. After leaving Jerusalem, instead of going Capernaum, he would go straight to his home town.

The shortest route would be through Samaria.

He and his disciples stopped around noon at a well near the Samaritan town of Sychar.

"Why don't you go into town," he asked them, "and buy some food. I'll rest here."

They left and, while Joshua sat by the well, a woman approached to draw water.

"Do you mind giving me a drink out of your bucket?" he asked her.

"You, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan and a woman to give you a drink?"

This was the old enmity between Jews and Samaritans. She evidently didn't expect such an unbiased attitude.

Joshua supposed that she knew he was a Jew since he was traveling from Jerusalem and this was a main route for Jews to travel from Jerusalem to the southwest Galilean hills. He had to separate himself from the Jews to her somehow.

"If your people could understand the gift of God," he said, "that it recognizes no boundaries."

The woman continued letting down the bucket. He wanted to give her his message.

"If you knew who is asking you for a drink," he said, "you would ask him to give you living water and he would give it freely."

The woman stopped.

"Sir," she said politely but incredulously, "this well is deep -- and you have nothing to draw with. Where will you get your 'living water'? Are you saying that you are greater than our ancestor, Jacob, who dug this well and whose family and animals drank from it?"

"Those who drink this water," he replied, pointing at the well, "are thirsty again later; but those who drink the water I have to give will be filled beyond thirst. Such gift will become a spring in them; it will live perpetually, quenching other thirsts through the ages."

Now she was interested, for she stood up facing him, letting the rope slip through her hands.

"Sir," she said, "give me this water so I will no longer be thirsty or have to come to this well to draw."

At least she was interested. Maybe she had not understood, but she was interested.

Something prompted him to tell her, "Get your husband and return."

"But I have no husband," she replied.

"It is good that you have told me that."

She began drawing the bucket back up.

"You have had five husbands and the man you are with now is not your husband."

The secrets were at work again.

The woman stopped pulling up the rope.

"Now I know you are a prophet," she said, "But our ancestors used to worship on this hillside. We have always contended that worship should be intimate, concentrated in the community. You Jews, though, say that Jerusalem should be the center of worship . . . how . . . "
"The truth is, the day is coming when worship will not be based on such things as 'where' and 'with what', mere physical things. Presently you, and all who are set on physical modes of worship, are worshiping blindly. The time is coming, and now is, when those who worship the Father truly will do so in spirit -- from the heart, with minds set on worship from within rather than without -- that is what God seeks in people. God is spirit and those who would worship God must do so truthfully and from a true spirit of worship."

"Look," she said, "I know that 'The Anointed' is coming, the 'Christos', and when he comes, he will reveal all to us."

She had finished drawing the water an the bucket was sitting on a stone by the well.

Joshua had an insight -- he was revealing things that never before had been revealed -- could it be? -- yes!

"I am 'Christos', who is speaking to you now."

He was excited. He had forgotten his hunger. The three disciples had returned. They saw him talking to the Samaritan woman, but none dare question what he was doing.

The woman then left and went back into town, leaving the water for the men's use.

The disciples set the food out and began eating, but Joshua just sat where he had been sitting, seemingly oblivious to the food they had brought.

"Aren't you going to eat something?" they asked him.

"I have food you know nothing about," he replied.

They then discussed where he could have gotten his food.

"My food," he said, "and my drink is this work I am doing. This is what sustains me. There is a harvest going on -- it is not four months from now -- it is right now -- look about you -- the fields are ripe for the picking."

Joshua could see that his disciples were puzzled.

"You are harvesting," he went on, "and you are reaping a harvest for which you have never worked. The seeds have been planted by other men and you will reap the fruits that are the result of their labors."

The harvest was coming up the road from the town. The woman was bringing the townspeople out to see this wondrous man. He spoke to them and taught them marvelous things and they begged him and his disciples to stay. They stayed for two days and he taught them more, his words convincing the townspeople of his importance more than anything the woman had said, impressing them so much that they were left certain, now, that Joshua was the one come to save the World.

Joshua sent his disciples on to Capernaum while he, himself, went home. Micha-el, he was sure, would be glad to see him, and impressed when Joshua stood up during Synagogue. The message would be stronger, now. He would be mighty in the secrets.

Joshua decided not to see Micha-el until Synagogue, where the teacher would be contributing as always. He had arrived back in town a few days before Sabbath and word went out quickly that he was there. Synagogue was larger than usual on the Sabbath, people whom he had never met wanting to see and hear this man whose reputation for being a great prophet was widespread.

Because of the great crowd, Joshua could not tell if Micha-el was there.

Joshua could tell that he was known -- he could see by the size of the crown attracted to this meeting. Joshua was the first to be given a scroll of the Torah to read from. It was the scroll of Isaiah. The custom was to stand when quoting the Torah and to sit when commenting on it. He rolled open the scroll and his eyes fell on a passage. This was a sign, he felt. All eyes in the assembly were on him.

"The Spirit and the breath of YHVH," he quoted, "has been brooding upon me, and as a result, I am anointed and created anew, given a new life so that I can announce welcome things to the poor.

"I am sent to uplift the spirits of the depressed, to tell captives of their freedom and the sightless of the recovery of their sight.

"To promote the recovery of those that are hurt by others' thoughtlessness and to proclaim the arrival of the favored and acceptable Year of YHVH."

Then he sat down. This is it, he thought -- the message will go out. The True Believers will be bolstered by what he has to say.

The synagogue was silent, waiting for him to comment.
"These words are being fulfilled this very day, while you are listening to them."

The silence seemed to intensify. Then the leaders of the synagogue began speaking.

"What is this?" one stood up and shouted to the crowd, "What are we hearing? Here is a man from among us, who has been gone many years and far from us has gained a reputation for being a great prophet. Now he has returned and what do we see?

"I'll tell you what I see. I see a child running the streets, his mother having to watch his every move. I see mischief and his father dragging him home screaming. I see that carpentry job he did on poor Jacob's house -- one of the worst jobs I ever saw in my life. I see a young upstart who could never listen.

"I see a young man whose very manner was that he was better than us -- having been fed all that garbage about being a "Great Prophet", having been born under a "Great Sign" -- now he's returning the garbage to us.

"And now he comes back and tells us that he is fulfilling a prophecy concerning Messiah.

"He grew up among us -- we know his mother and his brothers and sisters. Are they not all just people as we are? Is not he?
"Messiah is perfect. This man is not."

Joshua rose again, so he could be heard.

"I think you are expecting me to work miracles," he said, "to prove myself.

"Because, as it is written, 'A prophet is never without honor -- except in his own homeland and among his own family.'

"There is precedent in this. In Elijah's time, during the Great Famine, that prophet was not sent to any widow in Israel, but only to Serepta of Sidon.

And Elisha was not sent to the many lepers in Israel, but only to Naman the Syrian."

"Garbage!" replied the elder, "You are garbage, insulting us like that! As if you are better than us -- as if we were garbage -- well, I think you are the garbage and we should put the garbage where it belongs!"

Suddenly, the crowd rose, almost as one, and rushed Joshua. He was grabbed by several strong arms and taken out of town. He fought to break free, but could not. The entire surging crowd moved as one living mass purposefully somewhere; where, he could not tell. Finally, the movement slowed and the crowd in front of him parted to reveal a precipitous drop into the valley below. The arms still held him. He knew this spot, for it was notorious for careless people slipping to their deaths. Past a certain point, where the ground sloped toward the precipice, always slippery with loose dirt and rocks, there was no return and the men around him were careful not to step past that point. The crowd behind was putting pressure on the forefront, though, evidently in an effort to observe this central drama. He looked down off this spot, along the dizzying distance to the rocks at the bottom.

"If you really are the Messiah," one of his captors told him, "God's angels will not let you fall. For it is written, 'His angels shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash your foot against a stone.'"

The press behind was pushing this forward group closer to the precipice and those around him were struggling to hold their ground and, in the process, Joshua could feel some hands lessening their grip on him. But now a new hand had grasped him, much more tightly than any had, with much more strength. The crowd inched forward. The point of no return was being reached. The men around him attempted to push against the crowd, almost futilely and grips loosened, except for the one. Then that one hand jerked him hard away from the precipice and into the crowd. Back, now, away from the precipice, the man pulled him into the crowd of strangers, through them and, finally, out into the open. The hooded figure then let loose his grip and strode toward the distant mountain. Joshua followed to thank him.

When they were out of sight of the crowd, Micha-el lowered his hood and faced the youth.

"Two lessons in one brief moment," he said.