When Jesus Wept Read Free Page B

the pass. Roman soldiers in uniform stood watch above us.
    Judah remarked under his breath, “Look at them. Stationed there under the guise of protecting travelers from bandits.”
    I replied, “Hoping for a reason to slaughter Jews.”
    “Then they truly are afraid of this fellow, John the Baptizer.”
    “Can Rome think there is danger in one man who lives in the wilderness?”
    A grim-faced peasant overheard us and said, “We pass through the stone gate as sheep, but perhaps there will come a day when John will send us forth as lions.”
    His friend rested a hand on the hilt of a rusty sword. “I long for that day, brothers! When the courage of the Maccabees is revived and we take back our nation!” His accent was thick with the dust of Galilee.
    Judah nudged me, then urged the peasant, “Be careful what you say, Galilean. You don’t need to draw a sword to have your tongue cut out as a rebel.”
    The peasant challenged me. “Some say the Baptizer will rally us to fight when he calls all of Israel to overthrow Herod Antipas and Rome. What do you say, brother?”
    I paused long before I answered, knowing that both Rome and the Herodians had planted spies among us. A careless word could bring a charge of treason and lead to crucifixion. “I’m curious about this wild man, this John. Why he stays out of Herod Antipas’s territory.”
    “He’s more afraid of Herodias, the wife of Herod Antipas, than he is the Romans,” the peasant interjected. “The Baptizer has taken a great dislike to her and Antipas. He preaches openly about the sin of their illegal marriage.”
    His friend added, “That witch would have John killed theminute he dares step foot in the territory of Antipas. What we need is a combination of a prophet like Elijah and a general like Joshua.”
    The peasant smiled, revealing two missing front teeth. He put a finger to the space. “This from a Roman foot soldier and his friends, who beat me in the marketplace for entertainment. A tooth for a tooth, the Scripture says. Perhaps John is sent from God … the fellow to help us pull a few Roman teeth.” He gestured toward a group of Sadducees, who stepped to the side of the road to pray. “The prayers of religious leaders who do not believe in God are no use to us, brothers.”
    Judah pared an apple and offered a slice to the travelers. “Prophets seldom make good generals.”
    The peasant spit through his gap as we passed beneath the gaze of the sentries. “I ask only for the Baptizer to call down fire from heaven first, and then I’ll wade in and finish the job.”
    I surmised these coarse Galileans were neither spies of Rome nor of Herod, nor any real threat to anyone but themselves.
    Past midday we came to a place opposite where Elijah the prophet had been taken up in a fiery chariot hundreds of years before.
    I heard the Baptizer’s stern, rasping voice even before I saw him: “Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” 1
    The crowd was intense and silent, listening. Judah and I made our way along the west side of the Jordan. John was preaching on the riverbank. He was square built and sturdy like a laborer in a stone quarry. Sun-coarsened face was framed by a beard, which was long, parted, and braided. Black hair was tied back. Dressed in camel skin and wearing a wide leather belt, he matched my childhood mental image of Elijah.
    The prophet directed his ire at the Pharisees and the Sadducees I had seen praying by the road.
    “And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” 2
    Heads snapped up, and the skeptical expressions of the religious rulers hardened into anger. They had lived their lives in hypocrisy, counting on their genealogy to save them.
    The Baptizer had offended the authorities in Jerusalem from the beginning. Although they themselves had no authority from God, they