Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

The village of Cana was established on a hill overlooking a long valley between two small mountain ranges. The middle part of the valley was once a vast bog, for that matter, Cana was named after the papyrus reeds that used to blanket the base of the hill. Yeshua bent and pulled up a reed by the side of the track that led up to the village. 

“Ah Master. Can I not…” 

“No, Shimon, you cannot. I know you are not fond of weddings but I love it! And you did say that you would follow me. What were your words again… oh yes, ‘follow you to the ends of the world!’ ”

Yeshua smiled at his resigned look. The rest of his group of eight were chuckling and chiding the big fisherman. 

They had been traveling for several hours. They actually did a quick time riding on trader wagons from Capernaum. Yeshua however made the mistake of commenting on the efficiency of the Roman roads. This triggered a heated debate between the two sons of Zebedee, who had nothing good to say about Romans, and Taddai, a young trades merchant from Capernaum who depends on good roads. Philippos, ever the prankster, fed the argument by playing both sides. Yeshua was so happy when they reached the trail that led up to Cana. As they alighted from the wagons, he quickly led the way to the village.

“Rabbi?” 

“Yes, Nethanel.”

“My father’s house is on the northern side of the village. Philippos and I will run ahead and find a good spot in our orchard to set up camp.”

“Give your father my thanks.”

As Yeshua watched Nethanel and some of the men of the group march off to set up camp, he heard his name being excitedly called. He turned to find one of his sisters running to him .

“Mare!” With hands wide spread, she threw herself into his ready arms. He picked her up in a twirl both laughing. “I have missed you, little sister!”

“Imma and I expected you yesterday. You do know that the big supper is still two nights from now? There is much to do and Yuda is no help.” 

Yeshua laughed out at that and gave her another twirl. As he put his sister down, he heard Shimon clearing his throat. Not too far back was him, Mariam and her companion, Shoshannah, a woman from Capernaum.

“Ah, forgive me. Mare, this is Mariam and Shoshannah. These ladies had taken it upon themselves to make sure I eat well.”

“Good! You do need taking care of,” Mare said good-humoredly. “Shalom.” She greeted them with a hug.

“Can they stay with you and Imma?” She nodded, then she looked up at Shimon questioningly.  “This giant of a man is Shimon and he is teaching me to fish.”

“Oh good, because he could not catch a fish if his life depended on it.”

Shimon was amused with her remark.

“Come, the family awaits,” she said, taking hold of Yeshua’s arm.

“Where is your husband?”

“Imma sent him to Sepphoris, the day before, to meet with the wine merchant.” She turned to Shimon and said, “My husband is a fisherman too, but he fishes the big water out west.”

“Oh, truly? I would like to try my hand on that, one of these days,” Shimon remarked wishfully.

“How about our sister?”

“Iliana is expecting again. So, she stayed at Joppa,” she answered. She turned her head again to Shimon and said, “Her husband is a fisherman like mine.”

The house they were approaching was just off the village square which was decorated with streams of colorful buntings, wheat stalks and late-Fall wildflowers. A few of the villagers were sweeping away the makings of last night’s merriments. At the front of the house were tables with six women kneading bread, one of which looked up and smiled widely. She stopped her kneading, ran to him and buried her face on his chest.

“My son…” she said, almost sobbing. Then, with both hands still covered with flour and dough, she cupped his face and looked at him for what seemed like a long time. “You have lost too much weight. I must remedy that.” She looked toward the side of the house where smoke from an oven can be seen. “Yehudah!”

“Yes, Imma!” answered Yeshua’s brother, out of sight. Then he appeared balancing two long planks with rows of freshly baked breads on them. “Greetings, big brother! Late again, when there is hard work to be done,” he chided.

“I am the eldest, after all. So, I can get away with most things,” he chided back. 

After putting the steaming bread down, his brother tossed him a small loaf. Yeshua caught it easily but then started to juggle it from one hand to the other saying, “Hot! Hot! Hot!” Not able to stand the hot bread any longer, he passed it to Shimon who caught it with one big hand and easily broke it in half; not being affected by the heat.

As Mare introduced the women, Yeshua asked his brother, “Where is Iacob?”

“He is at the big house at the far end of the square. It is the house of the father of the groom. Iacob arrived with Rabbi Tuvya, a Pharisee from Sepphoris. He also came with one of Antipas’ court officials. His name is Chuza, I think. His wife, Ioanna, was here earlier inquiring about the Baptist, our cousin. She seemed secretive but yet eagerly curious. She didn’t linger long, since none of us knew anything about our distant cousin.”  

Shimon asked quietly, “Can it be that it is really the tetrarch¹ that is inquiring about the Baptist?”

Recalling that Yohanen intended to publicly criticize Herod for his immoral marriage to his brother’s wife. “Herod Antipas is definitely interested in my cousin but I think this woman’s interest is of her own.”

“Master, I think we… that is… you must be careful of him. More importantly, you don’t want to attract the attention of the Romans,” whispered Shimon.

“He does have a point, Yeshua,” Yehudah said. “I hope that you do nothing rash or incredible.”

He gave them a knowing smile and said, “Only the Lord Adonai knows.”

TO BE CONTINUED

---

Footnotes: [1] Tetrarch – a subordinate prince or governor of the fourth part of a province placed by Rome  

Character names: Adonai [God]; Yeshua [Jesus]; Yohanen [John]; Iacob [James]; Shimon ben Yonah [Simon son of Jonah]; Andraus [Andrew]; Nethanel of Cana [Nathanael aka Bartholomew]; Philippos of Bethsaida; Taddai [Thaddeus];

Mariam of Magdala [Mary Magdalene]; Shoshannah [Susanna]; Chuza [Herod Antipas’ household steward]; Ioanna [Joanna, wife of Chuza]; Mariam [Mary, Jesus’ mother]; Iacob & Yehudah or Yude [James & Jude – brothers of Jesus]

Fictional names: Mare & Iliana [Jesus’ sisters]; Rabbi Tuvya; 

<PREV                                      NEXT>