(no subject)
This is not funny, it's only a scene from my life.
Miriam rang out a robe, squeezing the dirty water into a bucket. She passed it on to the woman next to her, who expertly laid it out in a pile with the others.
"Very good," she said, smiling gently. She bent down to Miriam's level and touched her shoulder. "Do you know what hour it is?"
"Ohh!" Miriam gasped. The other Miriam smiled and nodded.
"Yes. Go meet him, run!"
She didn't need to be told to run. Miriam hurried out the door, her sandals flapping and kicking up a cloud of dust as she ran down the road. As she turned around the bend she saw a small caravan approaching. There were five donkeys, all bearing baskets and heavy bags. A swarthy, well-dressed man rode on one, two servants walked along side with a much shorter male figure. The boy waved at her, and Miriam waved back.
"Yeshua!" she embraced him hard before they broke apart, blushing a little. He slipped his hand in hers.
"Miriam. I have so much to tell you," he said. "I got you some presents too."
He rustled in one of the sacks and produced a diaphanous pale blue scarf. Mary took it and her face split into a grin.
"It's beautiful!" She spun around holding it out so it floated in the air. She covered part of her face like a sultry houri. "Do you like me this way?" she purred. Yeshua made a choking sound and lost the battle with his smile. His uncle rode by and cleared his throat sternly.
"I am betrothed, Uncle Yoseph," Yeshua said.
"You're thirteen," he retorted.
"But I'm a man."
"Ceremonially. You'll be a man when you have hair on your face." He rode ahead, while Miriam and Yeshua wandered slowly, hand in hand.
"Tell me all about your travels," she said. "I can't wait to hear."
"No," he said earnestly. "Tell me what you've been doing while I was gone. My story can wait. You were alright?"
"I didn't hear those voices. And well, I learned to cook more things," Miriam shrugged. "And your mother showed me how you like your laundry folded."
"I like my laundry folded?" Yeshua blinked. "It doesn't sound like you got to have much fun."
"I don't mind so much, when it's for you,"Miriam said. "But I'm not anyone's servant, alright?"
"I know!" He nodded. "Mostly I don't care how my clothes are folded, as long as my robes aren't too stained or smelly. I don't care what I'm eating as long as I'm not starving. Just you and a tent and I'd be happy."
"Eww,"said Miriam. "We're going to live in a house, Yeshua ben Yoseph and it'll be a nice one. We're going to have big dinners for all our important friends and you will buy me nice furniture."
"Some nomad tribes eat sitting on rugs," he ventured with a sidelong glance.
"No!" Miriam said, punching him on the arm.
"Ow!"
His cousin Yokhanan was sitting on the village well, eating pomegranates with a dreamy look on his face.
"Hello, Cousin,"Yeshua said.
"Millennium hand and shrimp," Yokhanan nodded.
"Shall I thump him?" said Miriam. "He's stuck again."
"He'll come around, "Yeshua said, and hopped up next to him. Miriam joined them. The sun was setting over the horizon and the scent of jasmine drifted past their noses.
"Doesn't looking up at the sky just make you think all about the infinite oneness of it all?" Yokhanan mused.
"That reminds me of the yogis I met in India when I went there with Uncle Yoseph,"Yeshua said. "They practice for years how to meditate so they can achieve full connection with the universe and the natural godliness in themselves."
"People have gods inside them?" Miriam said skeptically.
"I do,"Yeshua said. And he really meant it, like he believed so many of the stories he told. "But I mean, if God made everything, then God is in everything, God is everything. "
"Everything is holy in its own way,"Yokhanan agreed sagely. "It's all connected by this life force that culminates in the Creator."
"What about bad things?"Miriam said. "Like sickness and pain and war and devils?"
"It's to test us. Suffering is merely a test of your will," Yeshua said. "God already knows what's gonna happen because he's lived through it all already. That's why pain always has a purpose and he'd never let anything happen that something good won't eventually come out of."
"It's the only way you can grow as a person,"Yokhanan said.
"Like when you're making a pot?"Miriam said,"And you have to put it in the fire or it'll just be a wet pile of clay. When it comes out of the fire it's got this hard coating and it's actually useful."
"Exactly," said Yeshua. "People are like clay pots."
"Have you ever thought about not being a carpenter like your father, or a merchant like your uncle? "Miriam said. "I think people should hear all these ideas you have."
"Oh, I'm not going to be either of those. I'm going to preach," he said. "I'm -Yokhanan is going to do it too- I'm going to travel around telling everyone what I think about God, and tell them all about how to be better people. "
"I'm apprenticing to be a mad prophet," Yokhanan said placidly. He had juice stains on the front of his tunic, he had the look down already.
"I'm sure you'll be very good at that,"Miriam said diplomatically.
"Anyway, he's not my real father, I told you that,"Yeshua said. "My real father wants me to preach and do some other things."
"Do you ever actually see this man?" Miriam asked, and both boys looked at her with something akin to shock. "How do you know your mother isn't lying to you?"
A boy growing up surrounded by rumors that his parents had to marry in order to preserve his mother's reputation might very well convince himself his real father was an important man, who just happened to live very, very far away and was too busy to visit or write.
"I don't need her to tell me anything, I feel it," he tapped his chest, "in here. Like I've always felt kingish even though Herod rules the country."
"So when you grow up, are you going to depose him?" she asked.
"I can't really help people if I'm sitting on a throne, can I?" Yeshua said.
"No, I was just thinking how nice it'd be to be the queen,"Miriam said.
"You can still be my queen,"he said. "The most beautiful queen since Esther. You can be my Shekinah."
"You're not God,"Miriam sighed. He just had another one of his far away, mysterious expressions. She looked over at Yokhanan, to see how he was reacting to this conversation. He was sitting frozen, his eyes bugging out and his breath hitching. "Are you alright?" she asked.
He didn't answer.
"I think he's having another attack," Yeshua said and reached for his cousin's arm to help him stand. Yon fell, landing in a stiff, crumpled heap on the ground.
"You can't move him!" Miriam said. She knew about these things, when she was having one of her own miserable attacks she would claw at anyone who came too close. She knelt beside her friend's twitching body and turned him onto his side carefully. She put a stick in his teeth to keep him from swallowing his tongue.
"I'll go find a grownup," she said.
"No! I can do this!" Yeshua said. He slowly reached his hand out, hovering it over Yokhanan's face. He bit his lip, concentrating hard. Miriam watched him place his palm on his cousin's forehead, and close his own eyes. She couldn't breathe for a moment as Yeshua inhaled, and then exhaled slowly. Miriam let her breath out too. Yeshua was shaking.
But the other boy blinked at them, confused and lost as he tried to sit up. They both helped him lean against the well.
"Give him a moment, " said Yeshua. "And don't tell anyone what I did, please?"
They knelt, watching him somberly.
"I saw-I saw-"he tried to say. He struggled dizzily to his feet and ran away, stumbling up the road.
Miriam found Yeshua later, as he was sitting in the garden outside his cousin's bedroom. Yokhanan had been put to bed by his mother and all the family members were fussing over him. As Miriam approached Yeshua in the dark, she saw that he was alone, sitting quietly and not moving. She sat next to him on the stone bench.
"The flowers are really pretty this year," she said awkwardly.
"Yeah," he sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve in an unsuccessful attempt to hide his state.
"He'll be fine," Miriam assured him. She put a gentle hand on his arm.
"I know, I healed him. But he told me about the vision he saw this time. "
"Ohhh."
Yeshua turned a tearstained face to hers.
"He saw my death."
Miriam rang out a robe, squeezing the dirty water into a bucket. She passed it on to the woman next to her, who expertly laid it out in a pile with the others.
"Very good," she said, smiling gently. She bent down to Miriam's level and touched her shoulder. "Do you know what hour it is?"
"Ohh!" Miriam gasped. The other Miriam smiled and nodded.
"Yes. Go meet him, run!"
She didn't need to be told to run. Miriam hurried out the door, her sandals flapping and kicking up a cloud of dust as she ran down the road. As she turned around the bend she saw a small caravan approaching. There were five donkeys, all bearing baskets and heavy bags. A swarthy, well-dressed man rode on one, two servants walked along side with a much shorter male figure. The boy waved at her, and Miriam waved back.
"Yeshua!" she embraced him hard before they broke apart, blushing a little. He slipped his hand in hers.
"Miriam. I have so much to tell you," he said. "I got you some presents too."
He rustled in one of the sacks and produced a diaphanous pale blue scarf. Mary took it and her face split into a grin.
"It's beautiful!" She spun around holding it out so it floated in the air. She covered part of her face like a sultry houri. "Do you like me this way?" she purred. Yeshua made a choking sound and lost the battle with his smile. His uncle rode by and cleared his throat sternly.
"I am betrothed, Uncle Yoseph," Yeshua said.
"You're thirteen," he retorted.
"But I'm a man."
"Ceremonially. You'll be a man when you have hair on your face." He rode ahead, while Miriam and Yeshua wandered slowly, hand in hand.
"Tell me all about your travels," she said. "I can't wait to hear."
"No," he said earnestly. "Tell me what you've been doing while I was gone. My story can wait. You were alright?"
"I didn't hear those voices. And well, I learned to cook more things," Miriam shrugged. "And your mother showed me how you like your laundry folded."
"I like my laundry folded?" Yeshua blinked. "It doesn't sound like you got to have much fun."
"I don't mind so much, when it's for you,"Miriam said. "But I'm not anyone's servant, alright?"
"I know!" He nodded. "Mostly I don't care how my clothes are folded, as long as my robes aren't too stained or smelly. I don't care what I'm eating as long as I'm not starving. Just you and a tent and I'd be happy."
"Eww,"said Miriam. "We're going to live in a house, Yeshua ben Yoseph and it'll be a nice one. We're going to have big dinners for all our important friends and you will buy me nice furniture."
"Some nomad tribes eat sitting on rugs," he ventured with a sidelong glance.
"No!" Miriam said, punching him on the arm.
"Ow!"
His cousin Yokhanan was sitting on the village well, eating pomegranates with a dreamy look on his face.
"Hello, Cousin,"Yeshua said.
"Millennium hand and shrimp," Yokhanan nodded.
"Shall I thump him?" said Miriam. "He's stuck again."
"He'll come around, "Yeshua said, and hopped up next to him. Miriam joined them. The sun was setting over the horizon and the scent of jasmine drifted past their noses.
"Doesn't looking up at the sky just make you think all about the infinite oneness of it all?" Yokhanan mused.
"That reminds me of the yogis I met in India when I went there with Uncle Yoseph,"Yeshua said. "They practice for years how to meditate so they can achieve full connection with the universe and the natural godliness in themselves."
"People have gods inside them?" Miriam said skeptically.
"I do,"Yeshua said. And he really meant it, like he believed so many of the stories he told. "But I mean, if God made everything, then God is in everything, God is everything. "
"Everything is holy in its own way,"Yokhanan agreed sagely. "It's all connected by this life force that culminates in the Creator."
"What about bad things?"Miriam said. "Like sickness and pain and war and devils?"
"It's to test us. Suffering is merely a test of your will," Yeshua said. "God already knows what's gonna happen because he's lived through it all already. That's why pain always has a purpose and he'd never let anything happen that something good won't eventually come out of."
"It's the only way you can grow as a person,"Yokhanan said.
"Like when you're making a pot?"Miriam said,"And you have to put it in the fire or it'll just be a wet pile of clay. When it comes out of the fire it's got this hard coating and it's actually useful."
"Exactly," said Yeshua. "People are like clay pots."
"Have you ever thought about not being a carpenter like your father, or a merchant like your uncle? "Miriam said. "I think people should hear all these ideas you have."
"Oh, I'm not going to be either of those. I'm going to preach," he said. "I'm -Yokhanan is going to do it too- I'm going to travel around telling everyone what I think about God, and tell them all about how to be better people. "
"I'm apprenticing to be a mad prophet," Yokhanan said placidly. He had juice stains on the front of his tunic, he had the look down already.
"I'm sure you'll be very good at that,"Miriam said diplomatically.
"Anyway, he's not my real father, I told you that,"Yeshua said. "My real father wants me to preach and do some other things."
"Do you ever actually see this man?" Miriam asked, and both boys looked at her with something akin to shock. "How do you know your mother isn't lying to you?"
A boy growing up surrounded by rumors that his parents had to marry in order to preserve his mother's reputation might very well convince himself his real father was an important man, who just happened to live very, very far away and was too busy to visit or write.
"I don't need her to tell me anything, I feel it," he tapped his chest, "in here. Like I've always felt kingish even though Herod rules the country."
"So when you grow up, are you going to depose him?" she asked.
"I can't really help people if I'm sitting on a throne, can I?" Yeshua said.
"No, I was just thinking how nice it'd be to be the queen,"Miriam said.
"You can still be my queen,"he said. "The most beautiful queen since Esther. You can be my Shekinah."
"You're not God,"Miriam sighed. He just had another one of his far away, mysterious expressions. She looked over at Yokhanan, to see how he was reacting to this conversation. He was sitting frozen, his eyes bugging out and his breath hitching. "Are you alright?" she asked.
He didn't answer.
"I think he's having another attack," Yeshua said and reached for his cousin's arm to help him stand. Yon fell, landing in a stiff, crumpled heap on the ground.
"You can't move him!" Miriam said. She knew about these things, when she was having one of her own miserable attacks she would claw at anyone who came too close. She knelt beside her friend's twitching body and turned him onto his side carefully. She put a stick in his teeth to keep him from swallowing his tongue.
"I'll go find a grownup," she said.
"No! I can do this!" Yeshua said. He slowly reached his hand out, hovering it over Yokhanan's face. He bit his lip, concentrating hard. Miriam watched him place his palm on his cousin's forehead, and close his own eyes. She couldn't breathe for a moment as Yeshua inhaled, and then exhaled slowly. Miriam let her breath out too. Yeshua was shaking.
But the other boy blinked at them, confused and lost as he tried to sit up. They both helped him lean against the well.
"Give him a moment, " said Yeshua. "And don't tell anyone what I did, please?"
They knelt, watching him somberly.
"I saw-I saw-"he tried to say. He struggled dizzily to his feet and ran away, stumbling up the road.
Miriam found Yeshua later, as he was sitting in the garden outside his cousin's bedroom. Yokhanan had been put to bed by his mother and all the family members were fussing over him. As Miriam approached Yeshua in the dark, she saw that he was alone, sitting quietly and not moving. She sat next to him on the stone bench.
"The flowers are really pretty this year," she said awkwardly.
"Yeah," he sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve in an unsuccessful attempt to hide his state.
"He'll be fine," Miriam assured him. She put a gentle hand on his arm.
"I know, I healed him. But he told me about the vision he saw this time. "
"Ohhh."
Yeshua turned a tearstained face to hers.
"He saw my death."