The Redeemer (24 page)

A
FTER THAT, THINGS
got worse. The disciples were worried about Jesus, and I was worried about the disciples. They were confused and perplexed by Jesus’ attacks on the religious system. No one that side of history could have understood it any better. I admit it wasn’t until much later that I figured it out. I blamed myself for being AWOL all those centuries since David. I hadn’t paid attention to how Satan’s religious specialists wove their way into Judaism until the people were in bondage to the very system they believed was serving God.

The Jews thought their oppression was from Rome. If Jesus was the Promised One, they expected Him to make a frontal assault on the Roman government, and when He didn’t, it got harder and harder to explain how He fit the hope of a Messiah who would come to establish the government of God upon His shoulders. I was afraid the Twelve might get so discouraged they would abandon Jesus and leave Him alone to face the wiles of Caiaphas and Judas.

“Judas!” I blurted out. “Where is he?”

I didn’t see him anywhere. Every morning I counted the disciples to be sure they were all still there, but that day I forgot. In a panic I went in search of him. I found him walking by himself around the wall of Jerusalem. At least, he thought he was by himself. He couldn’t see Reywal walking along with him. I had to find out what Reywal was telling him. I sauntered over to them as if our running into each other was a coincidence.

“Reywal, how’s it going?”

“Go away. I’m busy.”

“Yes, I see that; but say, maybe I can help you.”

“I don’t need any help.”

How can I persuade him that he needs me?

“I know you don’t need any help in the traditional sense; no one’s better at his job than you are. But I was thinking I might be able to help you with Satan.”

When I saw his pointed ears twitch, I knew he was interested.

“What makes you think I need help?”

“Well, between you and me, Satan himself has spent almost no time on the earth.” I paused until I saw agreement in his eyes. “Therefore he won’t believe it when he’s told how difficult it is to manipulate humans. Why, I’ve heard him say how they’re nothing more than chips in a high-stakes poker game.”

He stopped walking and let Judas proceed on by himself.

“I’ve wondered why no demon ever gets promoted,” he said.

“He simply won’t appreciate the skill it will take for you to maneuver Judas and Caiaphas to do what he wants. You’ll succeed, no doubt. But he won’t see it that way. He’ll minimize your accomplishments.”

“I’ve seen it happen to others.”

“Yes—and why? Because they didn’t have a witness to corroborate their reports. That’s where I can help you. I’ll follow along with you and Judas—he won’t know the difference anyway—and I’ll take notes about the fantastic strategy you execute. There’ll be no denying your success when there’s a witness.”

“All right, but don’t get in my way.”

We were fast to catch up with Judas. Reywal gave me that “ready” look, and I gave him a thumbs-up to let him know I was listening and recording. I must say he was good at his job.

“Judas, you see how this has gotten out of hand, don’t you? Jesus is off task. He meant well, but maybe He underestimated how hard it was going to be to live as God in a human body. Let’s be honest. How much progress has He made against Rome? If He wants people to believe He’s God, why doesn’t He do something to prove it? Face it, the miracles are a great attraction in drawing a crowd, but what’s new about healing the sick or raising the dead? Elijah did both centuries before Jesus came along. And don’t forget how Jesus sent out those seventy-two novices, and every one of them could heal the sick, even cast out demons. Does that mean they can claim to be sons of God as well?”

Judas’s head hung low, and his gait slowed as he took in every word Reywal said.

“And another thing, what’s with the wine, women, and partying? You’ve heard the people call Him a glutton and a drunkard—they say He’s nothing like His cousin John. Now there was a man who knew how to represent God.”

I knew that would come back to haunt Him. Ever since Mary poured perfume on His feet and dried them with her hair, Jesus’ friendliness with women had been a hot topic of conversation.

“You know what you have to do, Judas.”

“What?” The word shot out of my mouth like an arrow. Reywal glared at me. “Sorry,” I mouthed silently.

“You’ve got to force His hand before it’s too late. He’s got to stop wasting His time railing against the priests and take on Rome. They’re the enemy. Do something radical to shock Him out of His stupor.”

Judas was pacing rapidly back and forth. I knew he heard every word Reywal was saying. Reywal knew it too, so he kept up the pressure.

“Caiaphas hates Jesus. Help Caiaphas get Him arrested. Don’t worry; Jesus won’t spend a day in jail. When He realizes He’s about to become a prisoner of Rome, He will be forced to use His supernatural powers to defend Himself. Once He does, everyone will know He’s God, and then all of you disciples will be free to set the world right. In the end, Jesus will thank you for forcing His hand.”

Reywal looked to me for approval, so I clapped and thumbs-upped him. Judas took off running, and I took off behind him. Reywal was through for the day.

We soon came upon Jesus in the temple courts teaching the people. The chief priests and the elders had come to Him with questions.

“Who gave you the authority to be here?” they asked Him.

“I will also ask you one question,” Jesus replied. “If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

The priests exchanged looks with each other then nodded for Jesus to go ahead.

“John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven or of human origin?”

One of the elders opened his mouth to answer, but the teacher tugged on his sleeve.

“Let’s chat about this among ourselves before you say something we’ll regret.”

They went a short distance away and huddled. I huddled with them.

“We’ve got to be careful. If we say John’s baptism was from heaven, He will ask us why we didn’t believe him and get baptized.”

“Why not just tell the truth? We didn’t believe John’s baptism was from heaven,” said another. “Why pretend like we did?”

“Hello? Because of the people. They all hold that John was a prophet. If we say he wasn’t, they might riot.”

“No riots. Caiaphas was adamant about that. Rome wants no street fights.”

“We have to give an answer. Look, everybody’s staring at us.”

Jesus waited patiently until they agreed on an answer and presented it to Him.

“We don’t know.”

The first thing He did was laugh. Then He chastised them.

“I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. Take a seat. Let Me tell you a story.”

I suppose they were caught off guard and didn’t know what else to do, so they all sat down on a bench to listen to Him. I loved Jesus’ stories, so I sat down next to the fat one on the end.

“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

“The tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“When the owner of the vineyard comes, what do you think he will do to those tenants?”

“He will bring those evil tenants to a wretched end,” one replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

“And who do you think the wicked tenants represent?”

“Rome.”

“Gentiles.”

Dumb as a post. No idea He was talking about them.

Jesus paused to see if anybody else could figure it out. Nope.

“I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

Now they knew He was talking about them. They were incensed.

“Why did you start talking to Him in the first place?” whispered one elder to another. “You should have left Him alone.”

“Let’s have Him arrested.”

“In front of all these people? And on what charges? That He made us look ridiculous?”

“Caiaphas has to do something about Him. This can’t go on.”

Without so much as a “good day,” they gathered up their robes and tassels and hurried off to look for the high priest.

C
HAPTER 28

W
HEN THEY WERE
a short distance from the temple, Peter asked Jesus to hold up.

“Master, can we talk about how you treat Israel’s leaders?”

“It’s as if You think the Sanhedrin is our enemy,” John said. “Are they not the keepers of the Torah, our spiritual guides, and guardians of this beautiful temple?”

“Take a good look at the temple,” Jesus answered. “I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

“May it never be!”

“How can You say that?”

“It’s God’s house. Who could destroy it?”

I suppose Jesus knew the shock level was so high that no matter what else He said, the disciples wouldn’t be able to process it. They thought the temple was the most magnificent structure on the earth. They were right; I’d seen them all. The idea that it could somehow be dismantled was incomprehensible to them—and to me, for that matter.

Jesus went over to the Mount of Olives and sat down to wait. I stayed with the disciples to hear what they were going to do.

“Peter, you must find out what this means,” said Matthew.

“Why me?”

“You’re the leader,” James answered.

“I don’t want to be the leader anymore.”

“Look.” John’s tone was edgy. “Let’s not go through this again. We didn’t vote you in, and we can’t vote you out. If you didn’t want the job, you should have said so when Jesus appointed you.”

Peter lowered his head, shook it, then looked over at Jesus. After a minute he turned back to John.

“I don’t know the questions,” he confessed. “I thought I knew what this was about. Now I’m not sure. John, you’re the educated one; you talk to Him.”

John looked almost sympathetic at Peter’s confession that there might be something in the whole wide world he didn’t know.

“Come on,” John said. “We’ll all go together.”

Everyone was quiet as they went over to Jesus and sat down on the ground around Him.

“Rabbi, You’ve said some hard things to us,” John began.

“How are we supposed to react when we’ve given up everything to follow You, then You tell us it’s all for nothing because You’re going to be killed?” Thomas always got right to the point.

“I promise you,” Jesus answered, “no one who has left family and possessions to follow Me will fail to be rewarded with even more treasure—in this life and in the next.”

“We are simple men, Lord,” Peter said. “If You want us to understand, You must speak to us in simple words.”

Jesus looked at them with such compassion I thought I might cry.

“You know from the prophets that when the Messiah comes, it will be the end of this age and the beginning of another. I am He, and all these things will come to pass. The kingdom of God is coming, but it will come in violence.”

Not an eye blinked.

“You must watch out that no one deceives you. After I’m gone, many will come claiming to be the Messiah and will deceive multitudes. The temple will be destroyed as I told you, but before it happens, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you are not alarmed.”

Alarmed? Jesus, these men are petrified. Why do You think they’re so still?

“Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”

“The end of what, Lord?” It was Thomas again.

“The end of the age of the religious law that has held My people in captivity.”

“Do You know when this will come about?”

“Be on the alert and watch. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

Jesus paused as if taking a barometer reading of the fear level among the men. I knew exactly where mine was—stroke level.

“Before it’s over, you will be handed over to be persecuted. Some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all nations because of Me.”

There was a cumulative gulp and gasp from the disciples.

“At that time many who have believed will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other. False prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved.”

His words were met with hard swallows and rapid blinks—no words.

“So when you see the abomination that causes desolation, that which the prophet Daniel spoke of, standing in the temple, warn those who are in Judea to flee to the mountains. Tell the people to watch. When they see the armies advancing against Jerusalem, no one on the roof will have time to go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. Get out of the city quickly.”

“Lord,” James said in a shaky voice. “Will anyone be saved?”

“All my followers, those who have believed Me, will flee the city and be saved. But many of the Jews will perish. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! For your brothers’ sake, pray that day does not come on the Sabbath. The very bondage I’ve come to free them from will hold them captive to death by forbidding them to leave their houses to keep the law. If they don’t escape to the mountains, the Romans will surround them, and no one who remains in the city will survive.”