Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

Chapter 2

Yeshua’s eyes popped open to another vision. This time, he was in the middle of a desert, but it was no desert that he had ever experienced before. The landscape seemed devoid of color. Though the sun was high up, the environ was strangely bathed in twilight. Even the cloudless sky seemed darker. He looked down upon his feet and was puzzled for a short while until he realized that he cast no shadow. Then, a cawing sound behind him caused him to turn. It was a raven roosting on top of a sole broom tree in the middle of a stark landscape. 

He came closer to the tree and noticed that the black bird was peering through the sparse foliage at something on the ground. Yeshua looked down as he inched his way closer. There was a shape under the tree. At first, he thought it was a small brush, then he realized it was a body. A body that looked strangely like his cousin that baptized him. But he looked closely, it was someone else. Then, there was a disturbance in the air next to him. Out of thin air, some steaming flat bread and a jar of water materialized next to the man’s head. At the same time, a being glowing in light suddenly appeared next to him. The being reached out, shook the man’s shoulder and told him to “get up & eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” 

When Yeshua saw him sit up, he knew who he was. It was Elijah. And it hit him. This was the time after Elijah was threatened by Queen Jezebel because he caused the slaughter of 400 of her prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah fled and ended up in this desert, totally disheartened and gave up to die! Yeshua knew what was to come next. Sustained by the food he just ate, Elijah will trek 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb. Then everything went dizzyingly blurry.

When his vision steadied, Yeshua was standing upon a rocky ledge. Behind him was the mouth of a cave. He knew where he was. He was on the slopes of Mount Horeb which is also known as Mount Sinai. Hungry and exhausted after an incredibly long fast, Elijah climbed up this slope and collapsed within the very cave behind. It was on this same shelf that he expected to find the Almighty Adonai in the midst of a raging wildfire, an earthquake and a devastating windstorm but instead encountered Him in the gentleness of a whisper. 

Then Yeshua heard the same whisper, “What art thou doing here ¹… my Son?”

He woke up. The sun had traversed the sky thrice since he had been immersed in the Jordan. During that time, he had busied himself with chores. He cleared more debris from under the tree. He stretched out his cloak from a low hanging branch to the makeshift shale wall as a roof over his sleeping mat. The day before, as he went to get water at the end of the narrow canyon, he saw some desert birds struggling to drink from inside the narrow cracks on the jagged canyon wall. He had pity on them. So, he broke open one of the cracks allowing water to trickle out and flow down the outer surface of the rock wall. But the water ended up flowing in between the stones at the base. 

He went back to the campsite to collect some of the same flat rocks that he built his windbreaker-wall. He took four round-trips carrying 3 to 5 thin slabs at a time. Then, he laid flat the largest slab that had a recessed dip in the center on top of the stones. Water easily pooled in that depression but then flowed out. Some would have been satisfied and left it at that, but not Yeshua. He wanted to fashion a basin so that the water would pool at least 3 inches deep. He broke a number of the slabs into smaller block pieces. Then he mixed together dried grass, sand, tiny shale particles and water into mortar. He laid out a first layer of blocks to form a crude oval encircling the depression. Then, he applied mortar like he was laying out bricks. He repeated the process until he formed a ring about a hand’s-breadth high. He let the mortar dry for half a day before diverting the trickle of water back into the crude basin. The water was slightly muddy but he was sure the birds and the animals would not complain. However, the water in the basin will not be good for him due to the critters that will drink from it. So, he took a long shard of shale and drove it deep into the same crack causing the water to trickle to the protruding end and drip down into the pool. Now, he could easily refill his empty water-skin. 

He was leaning against the tree trunk wondering what else he could do around the campsite. At night, he prays and his Father in Heaven speaks back by voice, vivid dreams or visions. During the day, however, is left to his own devices. When his younger brothers refused to help out in the workshop, he would often hear his abba quote from the proverbs, ‘Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.’ ² Then he’d send them to bed with no supper.

Chuckling, he stood up and walked along the shaded side of the canyon. Then he spied a long, almost straight stick on the ground. He picked it up and it was as tall as him. At the spindly end, it branched out into 2 prongs both about the length of his forearm. The stick was already dried and not too wobbly when he shook it. It would make a good rake, he thought. So, he searched the canyon for other materials. When he returned to his shelter, he had gathered more sticks of various lengths and a coil of stripped bark from a palm tree that he would first make into twine. By the next day, he had fashioned his rake with six four-inch-tines. He tried it out and produced 6 straight furrowed lines. Yeshua was satisfied. Then on a small patch of sand, he made some wavy lines ending in six circles. Seeing the beautiful pattern, he remembered the tale of a gentile merchant who traveled and traded to the very far east. He described how some wizened bald men would spend all day silently and gracefully draw intricate designs on sand using a rake. It is said that it was a form of meditation.

Smiling at that thought, he went to an area of the canyon where there was much sand. There was a rock, about the size of a head, jutting out of the middle of the sandy area. He started by lightly drawing around it. Then he would draw another larger circle around the drawing, being careful not to cross over onto what he drew. The lines were not perfect, but he liked it. He would incrementally expand the drawing outward but keeping a tight design. If there was an object in the way, he just drew around it. For as long as the sun was up, he covered the canyon floor with intricate patterns while softly singing psalms. By the time he returned to his shelter, a plan was cooking in his mind.

TO BE CONTINUED

Footnote: [1] Vision based on 1 Kings 19:4-13; [2] Proverbs 19:15

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