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.”
“You have had met up with those ominous folks? Sarah, I forbid you to have any further contact with that family. Have you understood?”
“Samuel, I am so sorry, but I will not allow that to be taken away from me. From anyone. Not even from you. I married you, I value your strong faith and I will even go into another country with you if it is necessary, but I will not let you tell me whom I am allowed to meet or not! And especially not when we are speaking of such nice people that are so good for me, that see my soul, and that cherish me as much as I cherish them.”
Suddenly Samuel turned into a raging beast. He hit Sarah right in her face, again and again. Then he took a stick that was always at hand in a corner of the room, and kept beating his wife with it. Countless times. Endless moments passed. Then he threw Sarah on the floor, pushed up her robe, and took his wife as brutally as he could.
Samuel was no longer in control of himself. He pounded away in her, again and again. His body cramped up, he moaned and screamed until he had reached the peak of his crazed lust. Then his body relaxed. He could only hear the whimpering of his wife. Then he stopped in shock and let her go.
He got up, smoothed his robe and left the room, followed by a large shadow that left Samuel and vanished in thin air a few moments after he had left the room.
Samuel would have to return at any moment, having completed his evening walk. Even this evening, after he had brutalized Joshua’s mother so badly. Joshua had been the one to find his mother. He sat next to her at the bed and held her hand. Joshua looked into the eyes of his mother. Something in her soul had broken today. It seemed as if the love had vanished from her and as if desperation and sadness had taken its place in here.
Joshua trembled with fear, for when Samuel was in that kind of a mood, anything was possible. His fear of Samuel had grown so great that even the bottomless hatred against him seemed so minor that he hardly felt it. His hand dug into the wooden cross, without him being ware of it.
Joshua was sad. Why did he and his mother have to suffer so much under Samuel? And why was he always a model of justice for everyone else? Joshua recalled a trial that had recently taken place in the synagogue as usual. Almost the entire village had been present. Samuel, who as rabbi was also the judge in the village, had settled a dispute between two farmers, who had been fighting over a calf, so astutely and justly, that on the one hand Joshua’s admiration for his father was increased, yet on the other hand the recognition, that his father was just to everyone except his family, destroyed that feeling immediately. He never wanted to attend court proceedings again. Joshua never wanted to experience how loving his father could be to other people again. He hated Samuel.
The feelings coming from the house of the rabbi were so intense that Jesus, who had just lain down to sleep, picked up on them and immediately called upon his father in the vast heavens above.
“Father, please help my friend Joshua and help his mother, so that she no longer need be in pain. Please remove any and all hate from that house and transform it into loving and forgiving energy. Thank you father.”
News
“Jesus, I want you to help me and your half-brothers in the workshop today.” Joseph’s voice sounded very serious. “We still have to prepare quite a few things before we go to Sepphoris in a few days to aid in fully rebuilding the city.”
“Why was the town destroyed?” Jesus was very curious and always wanted to know about the background of events.
“You have already heard of the zealots, right?”
“Yes. Those are men who want to drive the Romans out of Galilee.”
“Exactly. They want to drive the Romans out of all of Galilee and Judea. These zealots fight and are very brutal. Many of the members of their various groups are from Sepphoris. One might say that city is the home of the zealots. After the death of Herod the Great the situation was very dangerous, and the Romans wanted to keep the town from falling into the hands of the zealots. After all it is located on the main trade route which connects Damascus and Egypt.”
“Many people must have been killed.” Jesus became sad.
“Yes, and not only that. Many of the former inhabitants were sold as slaves to the Romans. Among them many children. One hears a great deal of awful things.” A tear slipped down Joseph’s cheek. “Jesus, we have to hurry up. Come now.”
Jesus followed Joseph, whom he viewed more as an uncle or a brother than as a father, into the workshop. There Jossi and