and it was said that around 200.000 lived in Ephesus. And the number of Jews in that town, in which the whole world met, was probably much higher. There he could bring about something new, there he could bring the errant Jews back to God. He was not afraid of the countless whores that apparently existed in Ephesus. After all he was discipline incarnate. And he knew how to deal with women. They only needed a strict hand. And that he had. Sarah was the best example. She was always at his service and did what he wished. Ephesus was still a long way off though, and thus he let go of those thoughts and placed the torah scrolls back into the shrine. He was satisfied with his lot. The Lord must be satisfied with him. The only thing he was still worried about was Joshua.
His son had repeatedly made a very distant impression on him. That damned dreamer! If he had not been his son and been so talented, he would have thrown him out of class already. At least the dumb could still work on the fields or tend the sheep. But dreamers? They did not even notice when a sheep went missing. O, this Joshua! As the son of the rabbi he was not allowed to engage in such dreamy reveries. After all Joshua might become a good priest or even his successor. Joshua had all of the abilities for this, was not lazy, but often, like today, simply not present. He would even sleep away the Passover celebration if he, Samuel, did not ensure that he did not miss it. He wanted to cast a more watchful eye on his son in the near future and sort out this daydreaming. No matter how, after all he was not afraid of applying corporal punishment when it served its purpose. After all, did not the Holy Scriptures put it quite nicely: “Blessed is the man whom you chastise.”
∞
Miriam prepared a lentil soup for the celebration which was to be given in their honor today in the village. She stirred in a large pot that she had received from the women of the village. The intense weariness from the long journey made her work harder. Yeshua sat quietly in a corner of the room and watched her while she was cooking. He had just written a few sentences in his diary. The scroll was lying next to him on a small dresser. Miriam was alone with her son, for Joseph had just walked over to Samuel’s place to go over some things with him.
“Mommy, why are we here?”, her son asked.
“Yeshua, it has been ordained that you grow up here for the next few years. Bakenor, your teacher from Alexandria, gave us this instruction on our way and besides that I had a dream again, in which a heavenly messenger told me that we should return into the hometown of Joseph. You will get used to the little place eventually.”
Miriam added the finishing touches to the soup and also gave Yeshua a piece of the bread she had dipped in the soup to taste. “And?”
“Yummy.”
Miriam smiled, for she knew that Yeshua loved this ritual. It would surely help him to feel at home here soon.
“Mother, why am I the only person in Nazareth who has blue eyes?” Yeshua gave her an inquiring glance.
Miriam was thunderstruck, for she knew that this question had to come sometime.
She could still remember the morning well on which a heavenly being had appeared to her and told her that she had been chosen to bear the future saviour of Israel into the world. At first she had not wanted to accept this message, but the heavenly messenger had been very insistent and convinced her, so that she eventually accepted her mission. She and Joseph had apparently been chosen since they were very pure human beings. And the future saviour could only grow up with pure parents. However there was a more important reason: the genes which she and Joseph carried in each other had to be modified slightly so that all of the preconditions were fulfilled so that the saviour could be born. When she had asked what that meant and what consequences could result from that, the messenger had only replied that the changes necessary with other parents would have been more complex, which however was not possible for a number of reasons. One of the consequences of this change in the genetic structure would be that her son would have blue eyes.
Miriam still flinched at the mere thought of that apparition for she knew what consequences she would face. Defamations, and the worst kind of insults. For how was anyone to believe that hers on was not the bastard of another man, but rather a son chosen by God? She had to learn how to deal with the glances and animosities of people and there words. Adulteress was the mildest of that which she had to suffer being called. Hopefully that would be different here in Nazareth. After all this was the home of Joseph, her sometimes naive but kind-hearted man.
“Yeshua, I think you already know that you are different than the other children, or?”, Miriam answered after a brief pause. “Yes mother“, he said without thinking long, “Yes, I know.”
Miriam had also noticed every day how different Jesus was. She had already noticed when he was two what healing energy the small hands of Jesus had. One day a heavy water bucket had fallen on her foot. Her foot had bled and hurt! Jesus had noticed this and simply stroked his hands over the area. The wound disappeared immediately, the pain ceased. Nothing remained to be seen of the wound. She could have recounted many such stories.
“What kind of dreams have you had in the last couple weeks, my son?”
“There were many but one haunts me. I dream this dream again and again.”
“Tell me about it.”
“It is night, I am walking along a long path with many curves up a hill. The path is shining as brightly as the torch in Bakenor’s garden. Lots of snakes and other icky creatures are crawling along the side of the path and want to pull me down into the abyss, but they do not reach me. Up on the mountaintop these ugly animals are gone and there is only an empty huge wooden cross.”
Miriam was surprised how clearly the soul of her son already now saw his future life path before him, which was not to be easy for him. Animosities and many human snakes would cross his path. Hopefully this dream did not mean that her son would end up on a roman cross, of which one saw so many on the side of the road. She quickly apologized in her thoughts however for presuming to call Yeshua her son.
“This dream is showing you the life that lies before you, Yeshua.” Miriam smiled. “Our father in heaven has prepared an especially bright path for you, from which, though it leads through darkness filled with many demons, you will not err, for they will not be able to touch you. Look at the children in this village. In their youth they play on the street, but as fathers they will stand on the fields or work on construction sites and maybe ask themselves shortly before their death whether that was truly everything in life. You on the other hand will travel about in the world, help many people and tell those who wish to hear it of another world and thereby create another world here. God has given you special gifts in this life. And for these tasks he also gave you blue eyes. Do you understand my words?”
“Yes, mother.”
Suddenly there was a knock on the doorpost and a smiling woman appeared at the entrance.
“Sarah, come on in, I am just finished with the preparations for the lentil soup.” Miriam put her left hand on her heart in greeting the way she always did. “Now I am just preparing the olive paste. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for welcoming us so warmly. “
“It is a joy for us, Miriam.”
“By the way, this is our son, Yeshua.” Miriam proudly pointed toward her son.
Sarah sat down in front of the boy. “I greet you, Yeshua. Just how old are you?”
“I am five years old“, he said in such a calm and lovely voice that it surely must warm Sarah’s heart, Miriam thought to herself. After all that is how she felt whenever Yeshua had a certain expression in his words. “O, then you are only a few years younger then Joshua. You will get along well with him. This evening the two of you will get acquainted.” Then she turned to Miriam again. “The women in the village are all very busy. I think this is going to be the most beautiful celebration that our village has had in the past years. I simply wanted to quickly see how you are doing.”
“That is nice of you, Sarah.”
“Miriam, it is nice that you all are here.” She laughed, briefly waved at Yeshua and then