Jesus did not speak about angels again, and one morning at the end of
the week before going away to Jerusalem to attend to some important
business Joseph, after a talk with Esora, turned down the alley with the
intention of asking Jesus to leave Judea. It would have been better, she
said to herself, if he had waited till evening; these things cannot be
settled off-hand; he'll only say the wrong thing again, and she stood
waiting at her kitchen door, hoping that Joseph would stop on his way
out to tell her Jesus' decision, but he went away without speaking, and
she began to think it unlikely that anything was decided. He is
soft-hearted and without much will of his own, she said.... Jesus is
going to stay with us, so we may all hang upon crosses yet, unless,
indeed, Master comes to hear something in Jerusalem that will bring him
round to my way of thinking. He believes, she continued, that Jesus is
forgotten because the apostles have returned to their fishing, but that
cannot be; the two young women that came here one Sunday morning with a
story about an empty sepulchre have found, I'll vouch, plenty of eager
gossips, and a smile floated round her old face at the additions she
heard to it yester morning at the gates. But no good would come of my
telling him, she meditated, for he'd only say it was my fancies, though
he has to acknowledge that I am always right when I speak out of what he
calls my fancies. In about three weeks, she muttered, the stories that
are going the round will begin to reach his ears.
The old woman's guess was a good one. It was about that time the
camel-drivers, assembled in the yard behind the counting-house, began to
tell that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and their stories, being
overheard by the clerk, were reported to Joseph. The Pharisees are angry
with Pilate for not having put a guard of soldiers over the tomb, the
clerk was saying, when Joseph interjected that a guard of soldiers would
be of no avail if God had wished to raise Jesus from the dead. The point
of their discourse, the clerk continued, is that no man but Jesus died
on the cross in three hours; three days, Sir, are mentioned as the usual
time. It is said that a man, Sir, often lingers on until the end of the
fourth day. Joseph remained, his thoughts suspended, and the clerk,
being a faithful servant, and anxious for Joseph's safety, asked if he
might speak a word of counsel, and reading on Joseph's face that he was
permitted to speak, he said: I would have you make an end of these
rumours, Sir, and this can be done if you will attend the next meeting
of the Sanhedrin and make plain your reason for having gone to Pilate to
ask him for the body. As it seemed to Joseph that his clerk had spoken
well, he attended the next meeting of the Council, but the business that
the councillors had come together for did not admit of interruption for
the sake of personal explanation, however interesting, and the hostility
of everybody to him was notable from the first. Only a few personal
friends spoke to him; among them was Nicodemus, who would not be
dismissed, but went away with him at the close of the meeting,
beseeching him not to cross the valley unarmed, and if thou wouldst not
draw attention to thyself by the purchase of arms, he said, I will give
thee the arms thou needest for thyself and will arm some camel-drivers
for thee. I thank thee, Nicodemus, but if I were to return home
accompanied by three or four armed camel-drivers I should draw the
attention of Jerusalem upon me, thereby quickening the anger of the
Pharisees, and my death would be resolved upon. But art thou sure that
the hirelings of the priests haven't been told to kill thee? Nicodemus
asked. Pilate's friendship for me is notorious, Joseph replied. I'm not
afraid, Nicodemus, and it is well for me that I'm not, for assassination
comes to the timorous. That is true, Nicodemus rejoined, our fears often
bring about our destiny, but thou shouldst avoid returning by the
valley; return by the eastern gate and on horseback. But that way,
Joseph answered, is a lonely and long one, and thinking it better to put
a bold face on the matter, though his heart was beating, he began to
speak scornfully of the Pharisees who, seemingly, would have consented
to a desecration of the Sabbath. He had done no more than any other Jew
who did not wish the Sabbath to be desecrated, and remembering suddenly
that Nicodemus would repeat everything he said, he spoke again of
Pilate's friendship, and the swift vengeance that would follow his
murder. Pilate is my friend, and whoever kills me makes sure of his own
death. I do not doubt that what thou sayest is true, Joseph, but Pilate
may be recalled, and it may suit the next Roman to let the priests have
their way. I am going to Egypt to-morrow, he said suddenly. To Egypt,
Joseph repeated, and memories awoke in him of the months he spent in
Alexandria, of the friends he left there, of the Greek that he had taken
so much trouble to perfect himself in, and the various philosophies
which he thought enlarged his mind, though he pinned his faith to none;
and reading in his face the pleasure given by the word Egypt, Nicodemus
pressed him to come with him: all those who are suspected of sympathy
with Jesus, he said, will do well to leave Judea for a year at least.
Alexandria, as thou knowest, having lived there, is friendly to
intellectual dispute. In Alexandria men live in a kingdom that belongs
neither to Cæsar nor to God. But all things belong to God, Joseph
replied. Yes, answered Nicodemus; but God sets no limits to the mind,
but priests do in the name of God. Remember Egypt, where thou'lt find
me, and glad to see thee....
On these words the men parted, and Joseph descended into the valley a
little puzzled, for the traditionalism of Nicodemus seemed to have
undergone a change. But more important than any change that may have
happened in Nicodemus' mind was the journey to Egypt, that he had
proposed to Joseph. Joseph would like to go to Egypt, taking Jesus with
him, and as he walked he beheld in imagination Jesus disputing in the
schools of philosophy, but if he were to go away to Egypt the promise to
his father would be broken fully. If his father were to fall ill he
might die before the tidings of his father's illness could reach him; a
year's residence in Egypt was, therefore, forbidden to him; on the top
of the Mount of Olives he stopped, so that he might remember that
Nicodemus' disposition was always to hear the clashing of swords; spears
are always glittering in his eyes for one reason or another, he said,
and though he would regret a friend's death, he would regard it as being
atoned for if the brawl were sufficiently violent. He has gone to Egypt,
no doubt, because it is pleasing to him to believe his life to be in
danger. He invents reasons. Pilate's recall! Now what put that into his
mind? He may be right, but this Mount of Olives is peaceful enough and
the road beyond leading to my house seems safe to the wayfarer even at
this hour. He followed the road in a quieter mood, and it befell that
Esora opened the gates to him, for which he thanked her abruptly and
turned away, wishing to be alone; but seeing how overcast was his face,
she did not return to her kitchen as she had intended, but remained with
him, anxious to learn if the rumours she knew to be current had reached
his ears. She would not be shaken off by silence, but followed him down
the alley leading to Jesus' cottage, answering silence by silence,
certain in this way to provoke him thereby into confidences. They had
not proceeded far into the wood before they came upon Jesus in front of
a heap of dead leaves that he had raked together. A great many had
fallen, he said, and the place was beginning to look untidy, so I
thought I would gather them for burning. Thou must not tire thyself,
Joseph answered, as he passed on with Esora, asking her as they went
through the autumn woods if Jesus found the rake for himself or if she
gave it to him. He asked me if he might be allowed to feed the chickens,
she said, and I would have let him if Matred's window did not overlook
the yard. Master, the hope of getting him out of Judea rests upon the
chance that he may recover his mind, and staring at the desert all day
won't help him. He musn't brood, and as there is no work like raking up
leaves to keep a man's thought off himself, unless, indeed, it be
digging, I thought I had better let him have the rake. But if Matred
should meet him? Joseph asked. She will see the new gardener in him,
that will be all. I told her last night, Esora continued, that we were
expecting the new gardener, and she said it would be pleasant to have a
man about the house again. But he musn't attempt any hard work like
digging yet awhile; he has done enough to-day; I'll go and tell him to
put away the rake and pass on to his supper. She waited for Joseph to
answer, but he was in no humour for speech, and she left him looking at
the hills.
A cloud lifts, and we are; another cloud descends, and we are not; so
much do we know, but we are without sufficient sight to discover the
reason behind all this shaping and reshaping, for like all else we
ourselves are changing as Heraclitus said many years ago.
And while thinking of this philosopher, whose wisdom he felt to be more
satisfying than any other, he paced back and forth, seeking a little
while longer to untie the knot that all men seek to untie, abandoning at
last, saying: fate tied it securely before the beginning of history, and
on these words he ran up the steps of his house, pausing on the
threshold to listen, for he could distinguish Esora's voice, and
Matred's; afterwards he heard Jesus' voice, and he said: Jesus eats with
my servants in the kitchen! This cannot be, and he very nearly obeyed
the impulse of the moment, which was to call Jesus and tell him to come
and eat his supper with him. To do this, however, would draw Matred's
attention to the fact that Jesus was not of her company but of her
master's, and distinctions between servants and master, he continued,
are not for him, who thinks in eternal terms.
He sat at table, his thoughts suspended, but awakening suddenly from a
reverie, of which he remembered nothing, he rose from his seat and went
to the kitchen door, regretting that he was not with Jesus, for to miss
his words, however slight they might be, seemed to him to be a loss that
could not be repaired. They are listening to him, he said, with the same
pleasure that I used to do, watching his eyes lighting his words on
their way.
At that moment a shuffling of feet sent him back to his seat again, and
he put food into his mouth just in time to escape suspicion of
eavesdropping. I thought, Master, that thy supper was finished, and that
I might take away the plates. I've hardly begun my supper, Esora. Your
voices in the kitchen prevented me from eating. We are sorry for that,
Master, she replied. Make no excuses, Esora. I said it was the voices in
the kitchen that disturbed me, but in truth it was my own thoughts, for
I have heard many things to-day in Jerusalem. Esora's face brightened
and she said to herself: my words to him are coming true. Sit here,
Esora, and I'll tell thee what I've heard to-day. And while Matred
listened to Jesus in the kitchen Esora heard from Joseph that the
camel-drivers had been talking of the resurrection in the yard behind
the counting-house, and that his clerk's advice to him had been to
attend the Sanhedrin, and make plain that his reason for going to Pilate
to ask for the body of Jesus was because he did not wish a desecration
of the Sabbath. But he had only met a show of dark faces, and left the
meeting in company with Nicodemus. Esora, is our danger as great as this
young man says it is? Master, I have always told thee that as soon as
Jesus leaves Judea he will be safe from violence, from death, and we
shall be safe too, but not till then. But how are we to persuade him to
leave Judea, Esora? Thou must try, Master, to persuade him, there is no
other way. He is talking now with Matred in the kitchen. Ask him to come
here, and thou'lt see, Esora, the sad face that uplifts when I speak to
him of Cæsarea. I'll speak for thee, Master, she answered, and going to
the door she called Jesus to them, and when he stood before them she
said: have I not proved a good physician to thee? To-day thy back gives
thee no trouble. Only aching a bit, he answered, from stooping, but
that will pass away. And my balsam having cured thy feet and hands is it
not right that I should take a pride in thee? And, smiling, Jesus
answered: had I voice enough I would call the virtue of thy balsam all
over the world. My balsam has done well with thee, but a change is
needed to restore thee to thyself, and seeing a cloud come into his
face, she continued: we weren't talking of sending thee to Cæsarea, for
it is of little use to send a man in search of health whither he is not
minded to go. Our talk was not of Cæsarea. But of what city then? Jesus
asked, and Esora began to speak of Alexandria, and Joseph, thinking that
she repeated indifferently all that she had heard of that city from him,
interrupted her and began to discourse about the several schools of
philosophy and his eagerness to hear Jesus among the sages. But why
should thy philosophers listen to me? Jesus asked. Because thou'rt wise.
No man, he replied, is wise but he who would learn, and none is foolish
but he who would teach. If there are learners there must be teachers,
Joseph said, and he awaited Jesus' answer eagerly, but Esora, fearing
their project would be lost sight of in argument, broke in, saying:
neither teaching nor learning avails, but thy health, Jesus, and
to-morrow a caravan starts for Egypt, and we would know if thou'lt join
it, for one whom thou knowest goes with it, a friend, one Nicodemus, a
disciple, whose love for thee is equal to my master's.
Jesus' face darkened, but he said nothing, and Esora asked him if he did
not care to travel with Nicodemus, and he answered that if he went to
Egypt he would like to go with Joseph. But my master has business here,
and may not leave it easily. Is this so, Joseph? Jesus asked, and Joseph
answered: it is true that I have business here, but there are other
reasons, and weightier ones than the one Esora has put before thee, why
I may not leave Jerusalem and go to live in Egypt. But wouldst thou have
me go to Egypt with Nicodemus, Joseph? Jesus asked, and Joseph could not
do else than say that the companion he would choose would not be one
whose tongue was always at babble. But wilt thou go to Egypt, he asked,
if I tell thee that it is for thy safety and for ours that we propose
this voyage to thee? And Jesus answered: be it so.
Then, Jesus, we'll make plans together, Esora and myself, for thy
departure; and having thanked him, Jesus returned to Matred in the
kitchen, and they could hear him talking with her while they debated,
and as soon as the kitchen door closed Joseph told Esora that he could
not break the promise he gave to his father, and it was this very
promise that she strove to persuade him to forgo. For it is the only
way, she said, and he, agreeing with her, said: though I have promised
my father not to keep the company of Jesus, it seems to me that I should
be negligent in my duty towards Jesus if I did not go with him to Egypt;
and Esora said: that is well said, Master, and now we will go to our
beds. God often counsels us in sleep and warns us against hasty
promises.
And it was as he expected it would be: he was that night disturbed by a
dream in which his father appeared to him wearing a distressful face,
saying: I have a blessing that I would give to thee. There were more
words than this, but Joseph could not remember them; but the words he
did remember seemed to him a warning that he must not leave Judea; and
Jesus was of one mind with him when he heard them related on the
terrace. A son, he said, must be always obedient to his father, and love
him before other men.
Whereupon Esora, who was standing by when these words were spoken, was
much moved, for she, too, believed in dreams and their interpretation,
and she could put no other interpretation upon Joseph's dream than that
he was forbidden to go to Egypt. But Joseph might write, she said, to
some of his friends in Egypt, and they could send a friend, if they
wished it, who would meet Jesus at Jericho; and this plan was in dispute
till all interest in Egypt faded from their minds, and they began to
talk of other countries and cities; of Athens and Corinth we were
talking, Joseph said to Esora, who had come into the room, and of India,
of Judea. But if Jesus were to go to India we should never see him
again, she answered. It is thy good pleasure, Master, to arrange the
journey, and when it is arranged to thy satisfaction thou'lt tell me,
though I do not know why thou shouldst consult me again. I came to tell
thee that one of thy camel-drivers has come with the news that the
departure of the caravan for Egypt has been advanced by two days. But if
thou'rt thinking of Egypt no longer I may send him away. Tell him to
return to the counting-house, and that there is no order for to-day,
Joseph replied. You will settle the journey between you, Esora said,
turning back on her way to the kitchen to speak once more. She would
have me go, Jesus said. Put that thought out of thy mind, Joseph replied
quickly, for it is not a true thought. Thou shouldst have guessed
better; it is well that thou goest, but we must find the country and the
city that is agreeable to thee, and that will be discovered in our talk
in the next few days, to which Jesus answered nothing; and at the end of
the next few days, though much had been said, it seemed to Joseph that
Jesus' departure was as far away as ever. It has become, he said to
Esora, a little dim. I know nothing, he continued, of Jesus' mind.
On these words he went to his counting-house distracted and sad,
expecting to hear from his clerk that the story of Jesus' resurrection
was beginning to be forgotten in Jerusalem, but the clerk knew nothing
more, and was eager to speak on another matter. Pilate had sent
soldiers to prevent a multitude from assembling at the holy mountain,
Gerezim, for the purpose of searching for some sacred vessels hidden
there by Moses, so it was said. Many had been slain in the riot, and the
Samaritans had made representations to Vitellius, artfully worded, the
clerk said, and dangerous to Pilate, for Vitellius had a friend whom he
would like to put in Pilate's place. Joseph sat thinking that it was not
at all unlikely he was about to lose his friend and protector, and the
clerk, seeing his master troubled, dropped in the words: nothing has
been settled yet. Joseph gave no heed, and a few days afterwards a
messenger came from the Prætorium to tell Joseph that Pilate wished to
see him. We shall not meet again, Joseph, unless you come to Rome, and
you must come quickly to see me there, for my health is declining. We
have been friends, such friends as may rarely consist with Roman and
Hebrew, he said, and the words stirred up a great grief in Joseph's
heart, and when he returned that evening to his house he was overcome by
the evil tidings, but he did not convey them to Esora that evening, nor
the next day, nor the day afterwards, and they becoming such a great
torment in his heart he did not care to go to his counting-house, but
remained waiting in his own rooms, or walking in the garden, startled by
every noise and by every shadow.
Day passed over day, and it was one of the providers that came to the
gates that brought the news of Pilate's departure to Esora, and when she
had gotten it she came to Joseph, saying: so your friend Pilate has been
ordered to Rome? He has, indeed, Joseph answered, overcome by the
intrigues of the Samaritans, who sought to assemble together, not so
much to discover sacred vessels as to bring about a change of
government. We are beset with danger, Esora, for it has come to my mind
that the stories about the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth may be
kindled again, and it will not be difficult to incite the priests
against me; everybody is saying that I was the last man to see Jesus,
and must know where his body is hidden; that is enough for the priests,
and they will send up a band of Zealots to seek him in this garden.
There is no place here where we can hide him from them. That is why I
haven't been to my counting-house for three days, fearing to leave thee
and Matred alone with him, for they would surely choose the time when I
was away in Jerusalem to plunder my house. As he was saying these things
Matred came into the room with some wood for the fire, but before
throwing the logs on the hearth that Jesus carried up she looked at
them, and it seemed to Joseph her eyes were full of suspicion, and as
soon as she left the room he said: now why did she bring the logs into
the room while we were talking of Jesus, and why did she mention that he
carried them up this afternoon, having felled a dead tree this morning?
Esora tried to persuade him that his fears were imaginary, but she too
feared that Matred might begin to suspect that Jesus was no ordinary
gardener; she had said, ye speak strangely in Galilee, and to kindle the
story again it would only be necessary for somebody to come up to the
gates and ask her if one, Jesus, a Galilean, was known to her, one that
Pilate condemned to the cross. Her answer would be: there is one here
called Jesus, he is a Galilean, and may have been on the cross for aught
I know. And such answer would be carried back to the priests, who would
order their hirelings to make a search for Jesus, and the master and
servant often sat of an evening listening to the wind in the chimney,
thinking it was warning them of the raid of the Jews. If a tree fell it
was an omen, and they related their dreams to each other in the alleys
of the gardens, till it occurred to them that to be seen in long
converse together would awaken Matred's suspicion. The shutters were put
up and they sat in the dark afraid to speak lest the walls had ears.
Esora, who was the braver of the two, often said, Master, strive to
quell thy fears, for the new procurator has given pause to the story of
the resurrection. We have heard little of it lately, and Jesus is
beginning to be forgotten. Not so, Esora, for to-day I heard--and Joseph
began a long relation which ended always with the phrase: we are beset
with danger. We have been saying that now for a long while, Esora
answered, yet nothing has befallen us yet, and what cannot be cured must
be endured. We must bear with him. If, Esora, I could bring myself to
break all promises to my father and go away with him to Egypt this
misery would be ended. Master, thou canst not do this thing; thou hast
been thinking of it all the winter, and were it possible it would be
accomplished already. If it hadn't been for that dream--and Joseph began
to relate again the dream related many times before. Forget thy dream,
Master, Esora said to him, for it will not help us; as I have said, what
cannot be cured must be endured. We must put our trust in time, which
brings many changes; and in the spring something will befall; he'll be
taken from us. The spring, Esora? And in safety? Tell me, and in safety?
Nay, Master, I cannot tell thee more than I have said; something will
befall, but what that thing may be I cannot say. Will it be in the
winter or in the spring? It will be in February or March, she said. It
was, however, before then, in January (the winter being a mild one, the
birds were already singing in the shaws), that a camel-driver came to
the house on the hillside to tell Joseph that a camel had been stolen
from them on their way from Jericho to Jerusalem during the night or in
the early morning, and with many words and movements of the hands, that
irritated Joseph, he sought to describe the valley where they pitched
their tent. Get on with thy story, Joseph said; and the man told that
they had succeeded in tracking the band, a small one, to a cave, out of
which, he said, it will be easy to smoke them if Fadus, the procurator,
will send soldiers at once, for they may go on to another cave, not
deeming it safe to remain long in the same one. Didst beg the camel
back from the robbers? Joseph asked, for he was not thinking of the
robbery, but of his meeting with Fadus. No, Master, there was no use
doing that. They would have taken our lives. But we followed them,
spying them from behind rocks all the way, and the cave having but one
entrance they can be smoked to death with a few trusses of damp straw.
But care must be taken lest our camel perish with them. If we could get
them to give up the camel first, I'm thinking--
It was a serious matter to hear that robbers had again established
themselves in the hills; and while Joseph pondered the disagreeable
tidings a vagrant breeze carried the scent of the camel-driver's
sheepskin straight into Jesus' nostrils as he came up the path with a
bundle of faggots on his shoulders. He stopped at first perplexed by the
smell and then, recognising it, he hurried forward, till he stood before
the spare frame and withered brown face of the desert wanderer.
Joseph looked on puzzled, for Jesus stood like one in ecstatic vision
and began to put questions to the camel-driver regarding the quality of
the sheep the shepherds led, asking if the rams speeded, if there were
many barren ewes in the flock, and if there was as much scab about as
formerly, questions that one shepherd might put to another, but which
seemed strangely out of keeping with a gardener's interests.
The camel-driver answered Jesus' question as well as he was able, and
then, guessing a former shepherd in the gardener, he asked if Jesus had
ever led a flock. Joseph tried to interrupt, but the interruption came
too late; Jesus blurted out that for many years he was a shepherd. And
who was thy master? the camel-driver asked; Jesus answered that he was
in those days an Essene living in the great settlement on the eastern
bank of Jordan. Whereupon the camel-driver began to relate that Brother
Amos was not doing well with the sheep and that some of the brethren
were gone to the Brook Kerith and had taken possession of a cave in the
rocks above it. The camel-driver was about to begin to make plain this
Amos' misunderstanding of sheep, but Jesus interrupted him. Who may
their president be? he asked; and with head bent, scratching his poll,
the camel-driver said at last that he thought it was Hazael. Hazael!
Jesus answered, and forthwith his interest in the camel-driver began to
slacken. The anemone is on the hills to-day, he said, and Joseph looked
at him reproachfully; his eyes seemed to say: hast forgotten so easily
the danger we passed through by keeping thee here, counting it as
nothing, so great was our love of thee?--and Jesus answering that look
replied: but, Joseph, how often didst thou speak to me of Cæsarea,
Alexandria, Athens, and other cities. Esora, too, was anxious that I
should leave Judea ... for my sake as well as yours. India was spoken
of, but the Brook Kerith is not twenty odd miles from here and I shall
be safe among the brethren. Why this silence, Joseph? and whence comes
this change of mood? Jesus asked, and Joseph began to speak of the
parting that awaited them. But there'll be no parting, Jesus interposed.
Thou'lt ride thy ass out to meet me, and we shall learn to know each
other, for thou knowest nothing of me yet, Joseph. Thou'lt bring a loaf
of bread and a flagon of wine in thy wallet, and we shall share it
together. I shall wait for thy coming on the hillside. Even so, Jesus, I
am sad that our life here among the trees in this garden should have
come to an end. We were frightened many times, but what we suffered is
now forgotten. The pleasure of having thee with us alone is remembered.
But it is true we have been estranged here. May we start to-night? Jesus
asked, and Joseph said: if a man be minded to leave, it is better that
he should leave at once.