“Who do we have in custody?” he asked the guard at the door.
“Two thieves and the son of a dog from the wilderness, Barabbas. The thieves have been condemned to be crucified.”
“And Barabbas?”
“Also scheduled for a cross.”
“What else can you tell me about the thieves?”
“They are local.”
“Jews?”
“Yes, sir, I believe so.”
“Anything else? Public enemies, murders? How about killers with multiple victims?”
“No, Excellency, just common thieves.”
“Very well, prepare to bring Barabbas to me.”
“Now?”
“Not now. I will send someone, but I want him produced the moment I do.”
Pilate left and resumed his post on the broad plaza at the top of the stairs. A small crowd of supplicants still waited to plead their cases.
“Come back tomorrow,” he snapped and waved them away. He was feeling good. He sat down and waited for the High Priest and his sad little teacher to arrive. If that rabbi’s claims, outrageous as they seemed to Caiaphas, were believed by a sufficient number of those Hebrews, problem solved. It was an intriguing thought.
His wife’s personal maid scurried over to him.
“You must come, Excellency.”
“Must? Why must I come, Drucilla?”
“It is your good wife she…”
“She is in one of her states? How bad?”
“Very. She insists she will not rest until she tells you of this new vision.”
Pilate glanced over the expanse of the Temple Mount below him. Caiaphas was nowhere in sight.
“For a moment only, then I must take up my position here. It is a matter of great importance.”
***
Gamaliel broke a crust of bread and gouged out a wad of cheese from the large ball on the table. Loukas sipped at his wine. He’d made a point of adding a generous dollop of water. It was still early, and he said he did not want to have his faculties made fuzzy.
“Tell me your impression of the Prefect’s question,” Gamaliel said between mouthfuls.
“At this moment I cannot. What possible interest would he have in gods? As far as I know, he is not a serious believer in their pantheon or any other deity. Frankly, I don’t think any of those people are. Why would they dispute over gods? If they need one, they just make one up. They have more gods than sand in Sinai. And why would he seek your opinion on the matter? He knows as well as anyone you have no interest, much less knowledge about their deities. Really, it beggars belief.”
“It does, but even though he tried to hide it, he seemed delighted by my answer. If I didn’t know better, I would swear he had found a way out of a tight spot. What’s even worse, it appears that I may have given him the means.”
“Did he tell you anything else that might suggest what that might be?”
“As I said, he agreed that the murder and the mission the visiting dignitaries had were not related. It had something to do with what Rufus, the eminently likeable but woefully inept official, overheard. He refused to elaborate.”
“Or believed he couldn’t. Is it possible that the news from Rufus and the relief he exhibited at your suggestions were related?”
“That is very good, Loukas. Congratulations, you have hit on it. Now, if we just knew what Rufus knew, we’d have our answer. Care to guess?”
Loukas helped himself to more bread and cheese. He popped a large portion of each into his mouth and chewed. Gamaliel was reminded of an ox with its cud.
“Sorry, I haven’t a clue. This is excellent bread.”
“Your Sarai made it. She sent some loaves with Yakob the night he walked me home. She could make a fair living selling them, I should think.”
“Really?”
“I know little or nothing about being a baker or business, so I don’t know whether she could or not. But they certainly are the best I have ever tasted.”
Loukas shrugged and helped himself to another piece of cheese.
“To answer my own question, I believe Pilate’s obvious delight in my answer and the news from Rufus is the only possible connection. That said, I have to wonder if, without realizing it, we had slipped back into the device of speaking about one thing in the guise of speaking about another. First we were discussing his problem while pretending to discuss Yeshua. When he asked me about the war between members of the pantheon. were we in fact discussing the dissonance between Ha Shem and their gods?”
“Sometimes, Gamaliel, you amaze me. At other times, you leap into the sea without checking for submerged rocks. How can you make such a jump?”
“In this case, it is the only solution that fits the time and place. Sometimes, if reason fails, one must rely on the unreasonable. He didn’t want me to know what the two Romans were after, but somehow, he couldn’t resist leaving a hint. I don’t believe he was aware of that.”
“But, if that is the case, then—”
Binyamin tapped on the door and slipped into the room.
“There is a woman here to see you,” he said.
Gamaliel looked up. “A woman? To see me?”
“Sorry, no, sir. She wishes to speak to the honorable Physician. She says she knows he is busy with important matters, but she has news of some urgency to report. It is about her husband and…she is a tiny bit hysterical, sir. She seems to think there is a plot afoot. She said something about releasing a wild animal. I asked her where this animal was caged and she only shook her head. She may not be all there, if you take my meaning.”
Loukas rose and moved toward the door, happy for the water in the wine. “Did she give a name?”
“I believe she said her name was Sarai.”
“Sarai? The Sarai who works for me?” Loukas stopped and glanced at Gamaliel.
“Show her in here, Binyamin,” Gamaliel said.
Sarai required a cup of wine laced with one of Loukas’ powders before she could manage anything coherent. Gamaliel could not be sure if it was her news or the company she found herself in that caused her hysterics. Finally she took a deep breath and blurted out her story.
“Yakob has gone to the Praetorium with some men intent on freeing Barabbas.”
“But that is patently ridiculous,” Loukas said. “How does he think he will manage that?”
“I do not know how. He did not confide in me, only he seemed certain it could be done.”
“There is a more pressing question here,” Gamaliel said. “Why would he want to do such a thing? Barabbas may be a nuisance to the Romans, but he is a terror to the rest of us. Releasing him does no one any good. Is your husband contemplating joining his band of cutthroats?”
Sarai blanched. “I do not know about that. He only said he thought that if Barabbas were back in the wilderness, it would force the Romans to chase after him, and that made them vulnerable.”
“More misguided nonsense. If the Romans feel their ranks are too thin to handle the local population, they simply send in more troops, and there seems no end to them. Who are these men he has joined in this misadventure?”
“I am not sure, but I gather from what we’ve heard here and there that they are former legionnaires like him. Some of them have positions in the Fortress and others…well, I don’t know.”
“They have positions in the Antonia Fortress, you say?”
“Yes, I believe so, and in the city.”
“Ah. How do they imagine they can free a dangerous man like Barabbas from the most secure prison in the country?” Gamaliel frowned and turned to Loukas. “On the other hand, suppose there was a commotion in the city or, better, on the Temple Mount, a commotion of sufficient size to require the local guards to leave their posts temporarily. Then these plotters with their intimate knowledge of the fort and its passages and access to the prison cells could simply whisk him away. Recall, Loukas, how we were brought in to see Pilate last week.”
“But will there be a commotio
n? It is the Passover, Rabban. Who would dare start one?”
“Ah, yes, who?” Gamaliel frowned and stared unseeing at the remnants of his meal. His jaw dropped. “Ha Shem, forgive me, that’s it. It must be. It is the High Priest who will create the confusion. Think about it for a moment. He will not mean to, but in his zeal to bring down the Galilean he will attract a crowd to the Mount. If Yeshua’s supporters show up, there could be a small riot, a disturbance, at least enough to pull the troops from their stations. That would leave the cells poorly guarded long enough to whisk the man away.”
“What shall we do?”
“We must stop it.”
“How?”
Gamaliel shook his head. “For once, I do not know.”
Chapter XXXVIII
Caiaphas needed a full cadre of Temple Guards to make his way from Herod’s palace back to the Antonia Fortress. With Passover upon them, pilgrims clogged the streets to near impassability. Yeshua trailed serenely behind him, oblivious of the crowd and his shackles. As they neared the Temple Mount and the Praetorium, the crowd became closer and, if Caiaphas read their mood correctly, more surly. Someone must have spread the news of Yeshua’s arrest among his followers.
“Make way for the High Priest,” The guards shouted and manhandled those slow to respond.
“We should find a less crowded route,” the captain of the guard shouted above the din.
“Press on, press on. We have nothing to hide or fear.” Caiaphas stepped to the head of the column. “Make way…. Make way, now. I am the High Priest and I command you to step aside.”
People grumbled. Most were not city residents and had only a vague idea who he was much less whom he escorted through the streets, but they resented the bullying by the guards and the High Priest’s tone. He would make few new friends from this throng. The crowds did move back a bit, enough so that they could continue. A few, he supposed Galileans, began to raise a ruckus. He hurried on. Once he’d reached the Mount, he would be in safer company. He had given the remainder of the guard explicit instructions to prevent anyone who looked like they might be in Yeshua’s party from approaching the Praetorium.
Josef of Arimathea pushed through the masses clogging their way.
“You cannot do this High Priest. It is contrary to—”
“I can and I will. You forget yourself, Josef. I am the High Priest. I am charged with maintaining the purity of our worship, our Temple, and our way.”
“But the Law?”
“The Law is the purview of the Rabban. Talk to him.”
“You are not above the Law, High Priest.”
“Not above it, but in matters of faith, in matters that concern the way, the life and, in this case, the truth, I am the Law’s final arbiter. Step aside. We dare not anger the Lord any longer.”
He shoved the old man aside and motioned his guardsmen on.
***
Pilate found his wife huddled in a corner of their apartment. When she saw him she stood and pointed a wavering finger at him.
“Do not do it.”
“Do not do what, wife?”
“Whatever it is you have planned for that rabbi. It came to me this morning after that ridiculous priest person left. He wishes to have the teacher from the north destroyed, and he would make you the instrument of his destruction. Nothing good can come from this. I saw the darkness. Wash your hands of it. I beg you leave that teacher alone.”
“Calm yourself, wife. I know you set great store in your visions.”
“You never listen to me.”
“I do, but you know as well as I that not all come to pass. Remember last year when you believed the wine was poisoned? Was it? No, it wasn’t. This matter holds little consequence for us. It has importance for me, but only incidentally.” Procula began to whimper. Pilate put his hand on her shoulder. “There, calm yourself. You are not seeing this aright. I am doing nothing untoward beyond my sworn duty. These Hebrews have their own peculiar laws and customs. As Prefect I am obliged to support them in the pursuit of those laws and customs to the extent that I am able or required. Do you see? If the High Priest has a case which, under their law, requires a certain action, I have no choice but to carry it out. The High Priest and his fellow religionists will order the man’s destruction, not I.”
“It will destroy that man’s future.”
“Indeed? Which man’s future will be destroyed and why should that worry us? Also, when is that likely happen?”
Procula’s eyes rolled upward and disappeared. Pilate had seen it before. The eyes became all white, no iris, her teeth would start to chatter, she would moan, and then collapse. She would sleep for an hour or so and then, on awakening, would nag him about what she had seen for at least a week. He turned on his heel and left the room after giving a curt command to Hannah to tend to his wife.
“Woman, surely by now you know what to do next.”
He managed to regain his seat on the plaza as the High Priest, his escort of Temple Guards, and his prisoner reached the far end of the broad platform that spread out before him to the south. They were bullying the crowds to move aside, but with little luck. Pilate relaxed. It could be awhile.
***
“Someone must warn the Fortress,” Loukas shouted. “Sarai, did Yakob give you any names?”
“Names? I don’t know. He told me some, but they are not real names.” Gamaliel shot her a quizzical look. “They use made-up names in case one is taken prisoner and tortured. Whatever names the captured man gave out would be untraceable, you see?”
“Calm yourself, Loukas,” Gamaliel said. He seemed serene in spite of the news they’d heard. “There is no way we can warn the fort. Even if we knew names and the plan in detail, and even if we did manage to reach them, who of that arrogant company would listen, much less believe us. In this circumstance, we would be considered the enemy or plotting something of our own. No, we must warn Caiaphas. He must delay his appointment with Pilate.”
Loukas looked skeptical. “Do you really think you can dissuade him from pressing on with his plans by a disputation about the merits of his arguments or that his actions are unjust, unlawful?”
“That is not what I have in mind. We can discuss his case against the rabbi later. What he needs to know right now is that if he continues, he will be responsible for setting loose a worse scourge on the Nation than that posed by an insignificant, if radical, rabbi. Let’s hope we are not too late.”
***
Locals, residents of the city, and pilgrims from beyond its borders, Caiaphas discovered, occupied the Temple Mount. That came as a blessing. Whatever else may be said about Jerusalem, its citizens understood the importance of keeping strictly to the Law. The Temple was the Lord’s dwelling place and the Temple dominated the skyline of Jerusalem. If the Temple were destroyed, the Nation would be destroyed. If Israel lost favor from the Lord, all would be lost. These people, with the exception of a few like the Rabban, would understand why Yeshua must be stopped before the wrath of an angry Ha Shem brought destruction to the Nation. It had happened before. This Temple constructed by the late King was technically the third of its kind and clearly the grandest, but Caiaphas knew that it could be swept away in an instant, should the Lord decide to punish his people for their faithlessness. It had been before. It could be again.
“Make way for the High Priest,” his guards shouted. The people separated before them like the sea opening for Moses. A fitting simile, Caiaphas thought, given that the Passover would be observed that night.
The entourage had traversed halfway to the Praetorium when an obviously anxious Gamaliel stepped in its path.
“Stand aside, Rabban. This matter is no longer within your jurisdiction.”
“That can be debated later and at leisure. I am not here to stop you. I wish only to delay this thing you plan to do.”
“Delay? Never. It must be done. The Nation is threatened.”
“You have so persuaded yourself, I know. I promise you I am not here
to debate with you today. There is a much greater danger to us at the moment than this rabbi.”
“Greater? What could be greater than the very destruction of the Nation?”
“If Adonai is angry with us over this man’s teaching, He is not likely to strike during Passover, High Priest. There is no need to rush. But, please understand, your presence here will create a disturbance large enough to draw the legionnaires assigned to the Fortress’ interior out onto the plaza. If that happens, we court disaster.”
“Nonsense. What disaster?”
“There is a plot in place to free Barabbas. With a weakened cadre left to guard him, his friends plan to infiltrate the Fortress and free him. That poses an immediate and far greater threat than Yeshua. All I ask is that you delay a day or two.”
“Free Barabbas from prison, from the Praetorium? Surely you are not serious. No one escapes the cells from that place. I don’t care if all the guards are drunk or sleeping, no one can penetrate the depths of that sinister place for any reason other than that which the Romans allow. Pilate will leave Jerusalem soon and this matter cannot wait for his return. Step aside, Rabban.”
Caiaphas signaled his guards to move on. Gamaliel was brushed aside and the party made its way to the steps leading up to the plaza where Pilate sat waiting.
Chapter XXXIX
Caiaphas, his prisoner and accompanying guards reached the platform and waited for Pilate to acknowledge them. Yeshua stood, hands still bound together and eyes focused in the distance. Pilate paced up and down, and came to a stop in front of the High Priest.
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