Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

Yeshua woke to his name being called from below. It was Shimon’s. Then he heard stirrings outside his door. Then, someone rapped on it.

“I am awake, Shimon. Come on in.”

“Master, I am sorry to wake you, but Rabbi Amos is asking for you. And by the sound of the acolyte who banged at my door, it is desperate.”

Fifteen minutes later, they, guided by the acolyte, approached a house in the wealthier sector of the city. As they were quickly let into the courtyard, the night air was disturbed by an agonized outcry coming from inside the grande house. Yeshua rushed in, followed by Shimon. They followed the screaming to a room in the second level. Without knocking, they both barged into the room. At the far side of a large canopied bed, a woman who was weeping was being comforted by two grown daughters. All their focus was on the grotesque scene of the city’s only chirurgeon¹ slicing open an ugly, extremely swollen leg. Lying practically naked, sweating, feverish, being held down by two men, the struggling head Pharisee of Capernaum was grimacing as the knife cut deep. Again, he howled in excruciating pain.

“Stop!” Yeshua forcefully shouted.

Surprised and shocked, the chirurgeon looked and held up a bloody knife. “Who are…?” Then, he recognized Yeshua. “You!”

“Everybody, please wait outside,” he said calmly.

“What?! Who do you think…”

“Chirurgeon, Rabbi Amos asked for him,” said one of the Acolytes in the room. 

Looking at the weeping wife, he angrily said, “Lady Shayna, you must not let this charlatan…” 

“Shayna!” screamed Rabbi Amos, reaching out his beefy hands to her. 

She leapt to him and grasped his desperate hand, Her head bent down to hear his painful words. While this was going on, the chirurgeon was ranting and demanding that Yeshua be taken out. Then Shayna’s hand on his shoulder silenced him.

“My husband wants to be left alone with…” she glanced at Yeshua with a little doubt in her look, “Rab…Rabbi Yeshua. Please everyone, step outside the door.”

Everybody shuffled out with the chirurgeon voicing his protest. Yeshua signaled for Shimon to go out as well and close the door.  Then, he came near the bed. Rabbi Amos tried to sit up but Yeshua placed his hand on his chest.

“Be still, Amos. The pain shall subside in a moment.”

Then, the Pharisee’s face relaxed and he fell asleep. Yeshua looked at the bloated legs which were swollen twice their normal size. One leg had two long ugly cuts, the work of the physician. It was oozing both a yellowish pus and blood, almost black in color. His eyes probed his midriff and saw that the cause was his diseased liver and failed kidneys. With one hand already on his chest, he laid the other over the abdomen. Then he felt power flow through his body, down his arms, to his hands into Amos’ body. He watched the body heal with fascination. In a matter of moments, the swelling dramatically went down until his legs were back to normal. Even the ugly cuts were gone, no sign of it ever existed. The fifty year old Pharisee even looked slimmer than he was.  

“Amos, awake.” 

Amos’ eyes opened in confusion. He blinked twice and sat up in surprise.

“What happened?” he asked. “The pain? It is gone.” Then he looked down at his legs to find them impossibly whole. He looked up at Yeshua with tears forming. “Lo… Lord, I am overwhelmed. When the pain came throbbing up my legs, I expected the worst. Servants and friends told me of you, but I dismissed that you are the promised Messiah. Even when I heard you speak one time… your words were thought provoking, but I refused to accept because you were not of us. I have not seen any of the miracles that had been reported to me, so I put you out of my mind.But as my pain grew, your face kept appearing in my mind. It was when it was unbearably excruciating, then I sent for you. Now, I know who you truly are.”

Amos stood to face him. With his tears running profusely down his cheeks, he solemnly said, “It is written: Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with… ter… err… em… trembling.² ” Then, he went down on his knees and reached out to hold his hands. He kissed them and said, “To kiss the Son, lest He be angered. And I perish in the way, when Your wrath is kindled… but a little.³ ” 

Yeshua bent to pull him back up and said, “And blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”⁴

“Yes, but I am unworthy. For at this moment, part of me is revolting at the thought that you are the Messiah. Lord, I… ah…”

“Do not despair, Amos,” Yeshua said reassuringly. “Truth shall prevail under the light. But for now, I must ask that what happened tonight must be kept unconfirmed. Rumors will spread, of course. And that is as it should be.”

“But why, Lord? This should be shouted at the highest point of Zion in Jerusalem. All of Judea must know.”

“In due time. Where once the land of Zebulun and Naphtali was humbled, but the time had come when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.”⁵

Amos’ eyes widened and whispered, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”⁶

As Amos was dressing in the adjacent room, Yeshua opened the door. Shayna and the daughters rushed in and gasped when they saw the bed empty and its corner soaked in blood. He pointed to the other room and the wife dashed into it. The room filled with curious acolytes. Shimon entered last. When asked what happened to the physician, Shimon related how the angry doctor left with a huff and was heard saying that by tomorrow there will be a funeral here.

When Amos entered, he demanded that most of the Pharisee wannabes leave the room. When the door closed, his wife and both daughters went to Yeshua and gave him a big hug. Amos offered a room for them to sleep off the rest of the night but Yeshua begged off and so, he and Shimon left the house. 

“Master, just a week ago, that Pharisee attacked your teachings as non-sense. I am so amazed by this. Why do we still keep this quiet?”

Yeshua did not answer. It was about two hours to daylight. The nearby hillside called to him. So, he told Shimon to go home and walked toward the gate, toward the hill, to commune with his Father. Much later, a tax collector awaits his scrutiny.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Footnotes: [1] Chirurgeon – an archaic word for surgeon; [2-4] Psalm 2:11-12; [5-6]  Isaiah 9:1,2

Author’s Note: Chapter 5 of this story covers that part of Jesus’ biblical timeline from after He changed water into wine until He clears the Temple of greedy hawkers.

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