by David Riley
He took a deep breath, readying himself for action, grasping the fabric of the bag as his palm began to perspire. He clumsily tossed the pebble over the snake, and as it landed with a clatter on the hard ground, the snake turned its head. At that moment, he darted his right hand out, covering the snake with the bag and gripping its writhing body through the canvas.
The snake’s body whipped around and the hissing increased. He was able to get a strong grip on it somewhere near its head to keep it from turning and biting him. With his left hand, he was able to pull the edge of the bag up around the snake, and then he quickly tied a knot in the canvas so the snake could not escape.
He sat back again to catch his breath, keeping a wary eye on his prize as the snake’s movements subsided. He knew the snake would stay quiet in the dark confines of the bag. He was quickly formulating a plan.
The problem he faced was trying to get close enough to Paul to kill him. If he was guarded by soldiers all day, that would be nearly impossible. If he could get aboard with this snake, however, he may be able to smuggle the snake into the prisoners’ quarters while they were on deck and let it do what it was made to do. If that did not work, at least it may create a distraction for the guards and he would still be nearby waiting for an opportunity to do the job himself.
He stood up and dusted himself off as he picked up his meager belongings, making a pouch with his cloak and wrapping it around his waist. Then he picked up the bag, feeling the snake moving again with the activity, and began walking toward the port. He needed to find a way onto the ship that night.
Notes:
6 See Acts 23: 12–24.
Chapter Twelve
Julius found Gaius on board. He was given report on the soldiers and prisoners. All prisoners were confined to the hold under continual guard. No trouble noted so far. He had also inspected the soldiers in the regiment, keeping them sharp, enforcing discipline where needed.
“Well done,” said Julius. “I knew you would have it all under control. It looks like we are going on to Phoenix tomorrow and planning to winter there. The harbormaster was to send word ahead so they will be prepared for a ship of this size. I have already made arrangements for a room ashore tonight. I’ll need you to be in charge here tonight, but for the next several hours, you are free to go ashore as well. Stretch your legs, and get some real food, even a bath if you want.”
Gaius’ face brightened at this. “Julius, you are truly a great centurion! I would love to get off this ship even for a few hours! Thank you!”
“You have earned it. You make my job much easier. Go make arrangements for one of your best lieutenants to take command while you are gone. After that, you are free for the next several hours.”
Gaius saluted and turned to go. Julius walked on to his quarters to gather some things for the night.
A half hour later, they climbed down the rope ladder to the skiff bobbing alongside. The crew member manning the skiff rowed back to the dock. After clambering up onto the dock, Julius reminded him to pick him up at sunrise. Gaius promised to find his own way back to the ship with one of the many small boats acting as a ferry to the ships in the harbor.
Julius told Gaius of his plans to return to the inn and enjoy his hot bath. Gaius went his own way to find a hot meal. After enjoying his meal in solitude for the first time in many days, he leisurely made his way to the inn Julius had told him about. He was looking forward to trying out the bath.
He made arrangements with the innkeeper and waited for his appointed time. Julius emerged after a few minutes appearing more relaxed than Gaius remembered him looking for a long time.
“Well, it’s not quite like the bath house in Caesarea, but it sure was nice!” he said, a blissful expression on his face. “I am relaxed and ready for a good night’s sleep now.”
Gaius smiled. “You deserve it, Julius. Thanks for allowing me to get off the ship for a few hours.”
“Enjoy it,” Julius responded. “Sorry you have to go back to the ship tonight instead of sleeping in a real bed for the night, but I appreciate having someone I can trust being in charge.” He suppressed a yawn. “I am going to my room to relax and enjoy the quiet. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Julius,” Gaius said as he turned to go.
Gaius waited a few more minutes as the innkeeper refilled the bath with fresh hot water. Soon, he was soaking in hot water, forgetting the stresses of the journey and the struggles involved in keeping the men in line. His mind wandered as he relaxed.
His thoughts meandered but eventually focused on Paul. Gaius had heard several of his informal discourses on Jesus. He had been intrigued by the way Paul referred to him with such reverence, to the point of calling him the Son of God. Even the talk of Jesus coming back to life after being crucified almost seemed plausible the way Paul discussed it.
Gaius knew how awful crucifixion by Roman soldiers was. He had acquaintances that had been assigned to execution detail, and he had seen them transformed from normal soldiers to some of the most callused and hardened men, even joking at the suffering they inflicted on the condemned. There was no doubt the prisoner would have been dead after they finished with him.
Of course, once the prisoners were dead, they were no longer a problem. Jesus was different, however. The Roman governor of Jerusalem had actually placed his body under guard! He must have been amazingly powerful to warrant that level of concern.
Gaius had heard stories about Him when he was growing up. Surprisingly, the most memorable stories had come from his own family, coloring his upbringing as long as he could remember.
—————
Gaius’ grandfather was always gruff and strict but somehow Gaius had grown fond of him. He had died when Gaius was just a young boy, about ten years old. He knew his father did not share much love for the man. Their anger seemed to stem from his father feeling judged by his grandfather, as if his military career had not measured up to his grandfather’s expectations. Whenever they were together during Gaius’ childhood, sparks would fly. Both men seemed to carry a great deal of anger. When the arguments got heated, Gaius would leave the home and wait outside until it got quiet. At times, his father would storm out, muttering and cursing under his breath stomping off to find a place to drink until the anger faded. When that happened, Gaius knew things would finally begin to settle. Several times, after such episodes, his grandfather would come out, a somber look on his face, and find him. He would kneel down beside him, apologizing for what had happened. On a few occasions, he told him stories about his years as a soldier. Gaius always enjoyed these moments, and over time he learned a few things about his grandfather.
When he was a young soldier in Jerusalem, he was fortunate enough to be assigned to the garrison closest to Herod’s palace. Gaius always loved the stories about Herod and the luxurious things in the palace. Now, however, soaking in the tub, his memories were of another story. It was one that his grandfather had only told him once, and Gaius could tell he had immediately regretted saying anything about it.
On that occasion, Gaius remembered the night was clear and the stars especially bright. He had been lying in the grass near the house, staring up at the stars as he waited for the argument to subside. Finally, his father had stormed off, as usual. A few minutes later, his grandfather had come out to check on him. He found him lying there and sat down beside him. Initially he just sat quietly, looking at the sparkling stars spread across the sky.
“You know Gaius, this reminds me of a story,” he had said. Immediately Gaius had sat up and scooted closer, excited to hear the story. “Years ago, when I was just a young soldier at Herod’s palace, there were some men who had traveled a long way because they had been studying the stars and following one that had been particularly bright, brighter than any of these.”
He had gone on to tell him about these men, appearing to be royalty of some type, very wise and learned. They started asking people throughout the city about the birth of a king, wanting to
know where he had been born. That was the reason they had been following this bright star, because they had become convinced it was leading them to this powerful king. The people knew nothing of this and told him to ask at the palace, which seemed like a reasonable place for a king to be. When they went to the palace repeating their questions about this king who was supposed to rule over the Jews, of course Herod felt very threatened (and everyone knew that when Herod felt threatened, it was a dangerous time for everyone around him!).
At this point in the story, his grandfather had paused, trying to decide how much more to say. Gaius had peppered him with questions about this king. Where was he? Did they find him? Was he a famous king? Did grandfather meet him? And on and on.
To end the barrage of questions, his grandfather had gone a little further with the story. He told Gaius that Herod had asked some of the palace guard to secretly watch these men very closely. If they could find this king, he wanted to dispose of him before he became more powerful. Gaius had gasped at this but still waited with anticipation to see how this story ended. “What happened? Did they find him?”
Herod found out the Jewish king was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem. He had called the stargazers to him and informed them of this. He told them to go find this king and bring the child to him so he could pay his “respects” as well. But they did not return to the palace. They had departed from there to return to their home in the East.
His grandfather was looking down at his hands, a faraway expression on his face, a mixture of sadness, shame, and anger. He stopped talking and would go no further with the story. Gaius had begged for more but he would not budge. He had abruptly stood up, clearing his throat and wiping his eyes. Gaius had stood as well but could tell there was something about this too painful for his grandfather to share. He had briskly said good night and turned to go. As he walked away, Gaius followed quietly and overheard him talking to himself, muttering “The babies! Why did he make us kill so many babies?! I don’t want to remember anymore!” and he hurried away to drown his sorrows.
Later, after Gaius grew older, he heard stories about Jesus. Some referred to him as the King of the Jews. It was a few years before he could put the clues together to realize Jesus was about the right age to have been born when his grandfather was serving Herod. He wondered what was so special about this Jesus that such learned men had traveled so far just to see him when he was only a baby. Now, Paul was teaching about this same man.
Gaius’ fondness for his grandfather was more than balanced by his disdain for his father. When he was just a baby, his father had been a soldier in Jerusalem. From all he could determine, he had been respected and a good soldier. But Gaius never knew him like that. Something happened that caused his personality to change. After that, he had become gruff, suspicious, and defensive.
As Gaius grew older, he became aware of people whispering as his father walked by. He had heard taunts from his friends about his dad being a bad soldier. Even his grandfather made frequent pointed comments that caused his father to bristle and become angry. There were rumors he had let a prisoner escape but instead of being executed for this, which was the typical punishment for such a crime under Roman law, he had instead been paid a huge amount of money to cover it up. When he was old enough to understand the implications of this, he had asked his father about it. His father had become angry, yelling at him, red faced, cursing. Then he had threatened to beat Gaius for bringing this up. Fortunately, his mother had intervened.
The relationship between his parents had never fully recovered. His father had spent more and more time at the inn, drinking. When he came home drunk, Gaius knew enough to keep quiet and out of his line of sight or he would be rewarded with a beating.
There were times, however, when being drunk had caused his father to be sad and full of self-pity, defending himself to anyone who would listen. When he had come home in that condition, Gaius began to piece together the events that had led to his father’s personality change.
From the information he was able to glean, Gaius learned that his father had been called in to his centurion’s presence urgently one day and given a very strange assignment. A man had been crucified because he had offended the Jews and claimed to be their King. (Surely this “King of the Jews” must have been the same one in his grandfather’s story!) The Jewish leaders had demanded that his tomb be guarded. They wanted to be sure no one stole the body.
On the surface, this had seemed like a simple job. The man was thoroughly dead, having been scourged severely and then crucified, having a spear thrust into his side. Then, although he was poor with no resources of his own, one of his followers who was apparently rich had donated a tomb for his burial. Gaius’ father had never heard of such a thing but who was he to judge. He was only there to guard a dead man’s grave for a few nights. The Jewish leaders had claimed that this man had predicted he would come back to life on the third day. They feared the man’s devout followers may try to steal the corpse and spread rumors that he had done it. The soldiers laughed about this, thinking it was a ridiculous idea. But orders were orders.
The tomb had been covered with a large heavy stone, and there were three men designated to watch over it. When they were assigned to this duty the day after the execution, they checked the tomb to be sure it had not been tampered with, even moving the stone to be sure the body was not gone. They had seen the bloody shroud covering the corpse. Then they sealed it thoroughly with the stone and settled in, preparing for a slow and boring couple of days. They made sure to have at least one of them awake at all times (they were not ignorant soldiers, and they knew sometimes the commanders made surprise inspections).
Then, everything changed. Gaius had heard his father relate this story a few times, every time with a tone of awe and fear even years later. Early the next morning, the earth shook violently. The soldiers were scared, but then what really terrified them was that the stone which blocked the tomb rolled aside and a searing bright light poured out! All of the soldiers fell to the ground, their hearts pounding, their mouths dry, and their hands trembling. Their breath was fast and shallow and they became light headed as their vision began to darken. They all succumbed to unconsciousness, but just before his vision faded, Gaius’ father swore he saw a figure surrounded by the light emerge from the open tomb. As he reached this point in the story, the terror on his face was still evident even after several years. He never wavered in this belief even after years had passed, but the few times he related this story, it was only to his family. He always told them to never tell anyone, afraid he would be thought insane.
When the soldiers regained consciousness, the tomb was empty and no one was around. They huddled together wondering what to do. They knew they would be executed for losing a prisoner. How could a dead prisoner disappear like this? (Gaius’ father did not tell the others what he had seen.) They decided to go to the Jewish leaders first, since they were the ones who had been suspicious the man’s followers would steal the body. They would know the prime suspects to interrogate. Maybe the soldiers could find the corpse quickly and no one else would need to know.
When they talked to the chief priests, however, their response was much different than expected. They had hastily called together the other leaders and then called in the soldiers again. They instructed them to only say that the man’s followers came in the night while they slept and stole the body. At first this seemed like a stupid plan. Admitting to sleeping on guard duty was bad, but a missing prisoner, even dead, was likely to result in their own death. However, the Jews paid them a huge amount of silver, more than any of them ever hoped to earn, and also guaranteed to vouch for them if the governor or their superior officers questioned it. It was a deal too good to pass up.
After that, his father was reassigned away from Judea. This conveniently kept him from sharing this story in Jerusalem. The money allowed them to purchase a large plot of land, and he resigned from the Roman army a year later. He could never put his heart int
o it. He was isolated and his colleagues were constantly whispering and pointing at him. When Gaius grew up and left to join the army, it was against his father’s wishes. He would not be deterred from this, however, so his father’s parting advice was to avoid prison guard duty at all costs. He had not been in contact with him since.
As he mulled this over, Gaius recalled another key piece of information, which did not mean much to him when he was a child. The man’s name was Jesus. Back then, he did not really know the significance of this, but now, after the other information he had learned and after Paul’s teaching, it was astounding to him that his own family had inadvertently taught him from his early childhood that Jesus was a special person, so special that even foreign rulers had sought Him out, considering Him a king. His birth had caused fear even in Herod’s palace. And the story of His coming back to life, seeming to be so unbelievable, had been corroborated by his own father.
—————
Gaius sat in the tub, pondering all of this. Soon, he became aware that the water had cooled and his fingers were wrinkled from soaking for so long. He climbed out of the water and dried off, dressing in his uniform once again.
He settled up with the innkeeper that had arranged his bath and walked out to the street. It was dark, and the streets were mostly quiet. People were in the inn or settled into their rooms. The shops were closed. There were still a few people making their way to the dock. Some sailors who had indulged in too much ale were weaving their way down the street singing out of tune.
Gaius was still lost in his own thoughts, mulling over the things he had been pondering during his bath. There seemed to be evidence from more than one source that Jesus had risen from the tomb after being crucified. What should he do with this realization? If this was true, then the other things Paul had been teaching may also be true. Could Jesus really be the Son of God?
