Son of Mary

by R. S. Ingermanson

  “Rabbi Yeshua, are we going back to Yodefat?” Yoni asks.

  “We are going to Bethlehem of Galilee.”

  “But then we should go straight—”

  “HaShem says we will go to the right.” My son takes my hand and begins walking north.

  Yoni hurries to catch up. “Rabbi Yeshua, I do not understand what is your plan. When are we going to raise up an army? Why have we not yet gone to Nazareth? We passed by it on the road three times, and you never turned to go up the hill. Is Little Yaakov going to be your commander? I think he would command your armies well, what do you think? Did HaShem tell you what we will eat tonight? How often do you hear HaShem speaking to you? When I was small, I thought a prophet heard HaShem speaking in his ear fifty times in an hour, but that is not the way of it with you. Sometimes you do not hear a word for a whole week, and you look as you will break from the torture of waiting. Why does HaShem—”

  “HaShem is teaching me obedience,” my son says. “When you long for a word from HaShem many days and at last you hear it, you treasure that word more than many ten thousand words from one who speaks every moment.”

  “What did HaShem tell you just—”

  “Yoni, hush!” Big Yaakov says. “Can you not tell when the rabbi is making a joke on you?”

  I did not think my son was making a joke on Yoni.

  “Rabbi Yeshua, were you making a joke on me?”

  My son stops and looks at the hillside we are passing. Two caves stare down on us like the eyeholes in a skull. My son looks like a man trying to remember something. “Yoni, have you read in Torah about tsaraat?”

  Yoni grins on him. “Who has not read many times of tsaraat?”

  “My memory is dim on tsaraat. Remind me what Torah says on the matter.”

  I shiver to hear him speak of it. Tsaraat is a punishment for a big sin. HaShem makes a man’s skin have a rash or scaliness or white patches for a time. A man who has tsaraat is unclean until he repents. Then HaShem makes it go away, and he is clean again. Tsaraat is what we call “little leprosy,” and Torah tells how to know when it is unclean and when it is clean again. I do not know those things. A priest knows them.

  Yoni closes his eyes and begins reciting Torah. He sways as he speaks, the way a man does when he reads a scroll.

  I think I see why they call Yoni a genius, for he recites many words without stopping. Torah says much about tsaraat, and Yoni recites long. I do not know how anyone can know so much.

  When Yoni stops, my son says, “You told the matter well. What do you men say? Did Yoni tell the whole matter?”

  Shimon the Rock says he thinks Yoni told it all.

  Toma the boat maker says he doubts Yoni told it all.

  Yoni says he knows he told it all.

  Big Yaakov scowls on Yoni as he always does when he thinks Yoni is being conceited.

  I do not think Yoni is being conceited. My son asked him to tell the matter, and he told the matter. I do not know why brothers cannot get along.

  I do not know why my son wants to hear about tsaraat now. I am hungry and wish to go to the next village and eat a good meal. Eating a few kernels of wheat by the road is not a good meal.

  My son begins climbing the rocky hillside. “All of you, stay back.”

  He climbs the steep hill until he stands before one of the caves. He shouts a greeting.

  A man comes out of the cave. I think it is a man. His face is thick with bumps and folds and horrible scabs. His fingers ooze with sores, worn down to half their length. He is thin as a wild dog that digs in the garbage pits. I never saw such an ugly man.

  This man does not have tsaraat.

  This man has something worse. People call it “the mighty leprosy,” and it is caused by a terrible evil spirit. A man can be cured of the little leprosy, but there was never any man cured of the mighty leprosy. A man who has the mighty leprosy will die of it.

  The leper steps away from Yeshua. “Stand back! I am unclean!”

  Yeshua takes a step toward him. “Friend, do you know who I am?”

  “You are a fool if you do not stand back.”

  Yeshua takes another step. “Do you wish to be clean?”

  “Fool, the mighty leprosy cannot be made clean.” The leper holds up his hands as he means to push Yeshua back.

  Yeshua reaches for him.

  I feel as I will faint. If you touch a man with tsaraat, you will be unclean for a time, but the tsaraat will not go in you, because tsaraat is not a thing that goes in you, it only goes on you. But if you touch a man with the mighty leprosy, the evil spirit will go in you, and you will have the mighty leprosy in you until you die.

  The leper turns as he wishes to run into his cave. He trips on his own feet. He falls. “Stand back! Back!”

  Yeshua squats beside him. He reaches toward the leper.

  The leper cringes away. “No!”

  Yeshua touches the leper’s hands.

  My head feels as it is spinning. I think I will fall over.

  Yeshua touches the leper’s face.

  I see black spots before my eyes.

  Yeshua gives him a kiss and a kiss and a kiss.

  I bend down and retch in the grass.

  The leper’s eyes flood with tears. I think he has forgotten what it was to be touched.

  All my skin is on fire. My mind is numb. Yeshua has touched a mighty leper.

  “Be clean, my friend,” Yeshua says.

  I cannot breathe. Now where will we go tonight? No village will have us. If Yeshua gets the mighty leprosy inside him, he will never raise up an army. He will never make a justice on my name.

  The leper shouts a great shout, like a man with his hand in the fire.

  He shouts again.

  Again.

  But it is not a shout of pain.

  It is a shout of surprise. “Blessed be HaShem! Blessed be HaShem!”

  The scabs on the man’s hands fill up and become whole. The fingers on his hands grow out to their full length. The huge bumps on his face smooth out and disappear.

  I shiver and shiver all over. My body shakes and my knees lose their strength and my heart skips and dances in my ribs. It is not possible. I see it, but I do not believe it. Such a thing was never done in Israel. It was never done anywhere. Tomorrow, I will think it was some dream and wonder if it happened. But for this one moment, I think it might be true.

  Shimon the Rock gasps for air like a man who has run many miles.

  Andre says, “Blessed be HaShem,” over and over.

  Yoni says, “That was a mighty wonder, Rabbi Yeshua!”

  Toma the boat maker says, “I will not believe it unless I inspect the man.” He climbs up the hill toward the leper.

  The leper stands.

  Toma the boat maker leaps back with a big leap. He stumbles on his own feet. He comes tumbling down the slope.

  The leper looks on his hands in wonder. He touches his toes. He hops up and down like a man with new feet.

  Yeshua smiles on him. “Friend, you are clean.”

  The man puts his hands to his face. He smiles so wide, it must break his cheeks. He laughs out loud. He shouts. He lies back on the ground, pounding it with his hands. “Blessed be HaShem!”

  Yeshua takes his hand and helps him down the slope. He points in the direction we came. “There is a crossroads not far that way. Go west from there, and you will come to Bethlehem of Galilee. They have a family of priests. Ask the village elders at the gate to find a priest, and show him your skin. The priest will tell you what to do.”

  The man stares on Yeshua. “Who … who are you?”

  “My name is called Yeshua from Nazareth, and I am sent to tell the kingdom of HaShem.”

  “The kingdom of HaShem is coming?”

  “The kingdom of HaShem is breaking in on us.”

  I do not know why he said so. That is not true. Yeshua oversaid the matter. The kingdom of HaShem cannot be breaking in. The kingdom of HaShem—

  “Blessed
be Yeshua from Nazareth!” The man runs away toward the crossroads. He does not look back to see if we follow.

  Yeshua’s eyes smile on me. He leads us back the way we came.

  I follow behind him. I am afraid to touch my son. He touched a man with the mighty leprosy. I never heard such a thing. Even Elisha the prophet never healed a man with the mighty leprosy. He healed some Syrian with tsaraat, and that was a great work of HaShem.

  Yoni hurries ahead to join my son. He takes my son’s hand.

  I think Yoni has lost his wits.

  “Rabbi Yeshua, did you come this way only for the leper?”

  My son says nothing.

  “It is a mighty work to heal the mighty leprosy, yes?”

  My son says nothing.

  “It is a mightier work to touch a man with the mighty leprosy, yes?”

  My son says nothing.

  “But it is the mightiest work of all to know you will heal a man with the mighty leprosy.”

  My son turns his head and smiles on me. “Imma, come walk with me.”

  I am terrified to walk with my son. He touched a man with the mighty leprosy. Now he will hold my hand, and I am afraid the mighty leprosy will come in me and I will die of it.

  “Imma, if I can heal a man with the mighty leprosy, then the mighty leprosy has no power anymore, forever. Now walk with me.”

  I hurry to walk with him.

  A thing has occurred to me, and it makes my heart glad.

  My son has power over the mighty leprosy. I saw it with these eyes.

  If Yeshua can heal a man with the mighty leprosy, then he can curse a man to have the mighty leprosy.

  That is what I want. He should curse the Evil Boy. Curse him with the mighty leprosy. Curse him with a living death. Curse him to suffer as I have suffered.

  The Evil Boy will not sing his wicked song when his lips fall off from the mighty leprosy.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Shimon of Capernaum

  We returned last night to Capernaum, and I was glad, for I had been away from my woman two whole weeks and that is a sore trial. Usually, we come back every Shabbat, but this time we went to the ends of Galilee in the far north. That is a walk of two days each way, and we stopped in many villages on the road, so we were gone long and missed being home for Shabbat twice. I feel sorry for Rabbi Yeshua, for he has no woman. But he is a tsaddik, and perhaps tsaddiks do not have such a strong yetzer hara as other men.

  Today, we are in the House of Zavdai. Two scribes from Magdala came to ask after Rabbi Yeshua, and many men of Capernaum came to listen, for Rabbi Yeshua has a big name now. All Galilee buzzes with the mighty wonders Rabbi Yeshua has done. The house is so full there is not room for one more man.

  Rabbi Yeshua tells the tale of Daniel the prophet, who had a vision from HaShem on the matter of the kingdoms of the world. First there was the kingdom of Babylon. Then the kingdom of Persia. Then the kingdom of Greece. Then the kingdom of Rome. Last will come the kingdom of HaShem, and that will be the kingdom of the Age to Come.

  One of the scribes from Magdala asks, “Rabbi, when will the kingdom of HaShem begin? You say it is coming, but why are you not raising an army to bring in the Age to Come?”

  That is the question I have asked myself many times. When Rabbi Yeshua called me to follow him two months ago, I thought we would make a big army and take up the sword and throw off the Great Satan.

  But so far, nothing. It is a sore trial to talk and talk on the kingdom of HaShem, when we should be making the kingdom of HaShem.

  I hope Rabbi Yeshua will make a good answer.

  Rabbi Yeshua stands as he is listening to a voice only he hears. “The kingdom of HaShem is all around you. It is breaking in on you. He who has ears to hear will hear it. He who has eyes to see will see it. The kingdom of HaShem is like a lump of leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of wheat.”

  I do not like this answer, which is no answer at all. I have had enough of idle talk. I wish for action. The blood of my brother keeps crying out from the ground to make a justice on him.

  Footsteps overhead. Shouts.

  I turn my eyes to the ceiling. Some fool outside has climbed the steps to the roof. Several fools, by the sound of it. Zavdai will be angry if—

  A sharp thud on the roof.

  My heart leaps within me.

  Another thud.

  It sounds as the fools brought a pick!

  More thuds, and then the sound of breaking through.

  Clay trickles onto my face.

  A small hole appears in the roof between two of the wooden rafters. It is a good strong roof made of reeds laid across the rafters, with clay packed on top. And they are destroying it, for no cause.

  My stomach boils with rage. That is a big evil, to break a roof.

  Everybody is talking now, shouting.

  A heavy iron bar pokes through the roof.

  I try to seize it, but they pull it back fast.

  Zavdai’s face is pink, and he hops up and down for his anger. “Stop this, fools!”

  If I could move through this crowd, I would push outside and run up the steps and throw them off the roof.

  “Rabbi Yeshua!” Yoni shouts. “Make them stop!”

  Rabbi Yeshua wears a crooked smile. “The kingdom of HaShem is breaking in on us, yes?”

  The bar pokes through again. The hole is larger now.

  I try again to seize the bar, but they are too quick for me.

  More strikes with the pick. A handful of roof falls on my head, broken reeds and dried clay. More handfuls. More.

  I cough and shake my head and feel the blood pounding in my temples.

  The hole in the roof grows and grows. Four faces grin down on me.

  I will go up there and break their teeth and see if they still grin.

  All around me, men press back from the hole, complaining on the mess.

  Rabbi Yeshua pushes through the crowd and joins me and Yoni. “It is good, yes?”

  My head throbs for my anger. “No, it is not good.” I do not see why Rabbi Yeshua thinks it is good. The hole will cost five dinars to repair, maybe six. Zavdai will need three men or four and a whole day to mend the damage. These fools will pay the cost.

  Another section of roof falls between the rafters. Another. The hole is so big I could climb up through it.

  I should go up and give the fools a lesson with my fists.

  Something comes down through the hole.

  A bed, lowered by ropes. With a cripple-man lying on it.

  I should smite his face, only it is not done, to smite a cripple-man.

  The bed reaches the floor. The cripple-man’s face twists in a big agony.

  I am sorry he has a big agony, but that is no good reason for breaking a roof, when there is a door already. Rabbi Yeshua should tell them all fools.

  Rabbi Yeshua kneels by the man and kisses him. “My son, your sins are forgiven you.”

  A sick lump fills up all my belly. That was not well said. That is what we call a blasphemy. It means to make a scorn on HaShem. Rabbi Yeshua has no right to tell forgiveness. Only HaShem can forgive sins. Rabbi Yeshua can tell repentance every day in the year, but telling forgiveness makes a scorn on HaShem. All my body feels hot. Sweat runs down my sides, and my head feels light. I think I will vomit.

  “Some of you ask if the son of Adam has authority to tell forgiveness for a man’s sins.” Rabbi Yeshua reaches down to the man. “My son, if your sins are truly forgiven, then stand up and walk. If your sins are not truly forgiven, then do not stand up and walk.”

  I cannot breathe for Rabbi Yeshua’s boldness. That was overbold. A man cannot tell forgiveness for sins. HaShem will be angry on Rabbi Yeshua for that.

  The man reaches up a feeble hand.

  Rabbi Yeshua gives him a strong right hand. “Stand and walk.”

  Nothing happens.

  The air in the room seems stolen away.

  “Stand and walk!” Rabbi Yeshua says.

>   A big shaking runs all through the man’s body.

  Dark spots fill up the inside of my eyes. I taste bile in the back of my throat.

  “Stand and walk by the power of HaShem!”

  The man shakes and shakes all over. His arms gain strength. His neck gains strength. His body gains strength. He sits up in his bed. He pushes himself to his feet.

  He throws his arms around Rabbi Yeshua and kisses him many times.

  My head feels as it is swimming in water. It is not possible that I have seen what I have seen. I would not believe it if seven honest men swore by The Name that they saw it.

  All the men in the house grumble on the matter. They stand back and scowl on Rabbi Yeshua and mutter behind their hands.

  I cannot remember when Rabbi Yeshua ever looked so happy.

  Yoni tugs on my sleeve. “Shimon the Rock, my eyes are lying to me. Did you see what I saw?”

  I scowl him to silence. It is not the thing I saw that disturbs me. I have seen Rabbi Yeshua heal many men.

  It is the thing I heard that disturbs me. Rabbi Yeshua told forgiveness to the man, which he had no right to do. That made a scorn on HaShem. Then he begged HaShem to show him righteous in the matter.

  And HaShem showed him righteous in the matter. HaShem showed him righteous in making a scorn on HaShem. That is not a good sense.

  Up has become down. Black has become white. Wisdom has become foolishness.

  I do not know what to think.

  Rabbi Yeshua has no right to tell forgiveness for sins.

  And yet he told forgiveness for sins.

  Rabbi Yeshua had a good name, and now he has lost it.

  That will make a mighty scandal.

  It is worse than the broken roof.

  I know how to mend a roof that is broken.

  I do not know how to mend a good name that is broken.

  Yoni of Capernaum

  I am so shocked I cannot stand. My hands and my feet feel numb.

  I thought Rabbi Yeshua was making a paradox when he told forgiveness to the cripple-man.

  I did not think he meant it. But he meant it, and he proved he meant it by telling healing to the man.

  And the man was healed.