Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

Yeshua’s eyes opened staring up at the colorful canopy of the tent he and some of his followers were dwelling, courtesy of Yair, a merchant and acquaintance of his. Four days ago, they ran into his caravan among the heavy traffic of pilgrims heading to Jerusalem for the Passover. In his usual jovial manner, the merchant insisted that all of them ride on his wagons and stay with him and his family at their encampment which was pitched at the base of the Mount of Olives just at the top of the Kidron Valley.

Yeshua wrapped his cloak about him and stepped out of the tent without waking the others. The sky was still dark with only the brightest stars showing, but looking east, the top rim of the Mount of Olives was beginning to show a slight pale halo. He glanced down at the darkened valley. Yesterday, that valley was packed with hundreds of encampments, you couldn’t tell except for a few campfires and a number of scattered torches moving about.

“Master, is everything alright?” It was Yohanen who was stirring the fire.

“I am fine, Yohanen. Anybody else awake?”

“Sy was, an hour ago. He said he was going up early into the Temple to get a head start on his offerings.”

“How about you and your family? Did you make your offering?”

“We did, but the priest rejected our lambs due to stains under their shoulders. Abba was furious. Even when he told him of our family ties with the current High Priest, he still refused. I checked the lambs myself. Those stains were not blemishes at all but sweat and dirt on the wools.”

Yeshua stayed silent and contemplated the situation, for Yohanen was not the only testimonial he had heard since arrival. 

“Master, may I ask you something… something personal?”

“Ask.”

“Most of us had already gone up to give our offerings and ah… some of us are wondering…”

“You are wondering why I haven’t gone up to make my own offering.” 

Yohanen nodded.

“When I was twelve, my parents wondered whether to make an offering for me, knowing what they knew.”

“What they knew?”

“Come, Yohanen. Walk with me.” 

Yohanen lit an oil lamp and Yeshua led him into the nearby grove of olive trees.  They sat under one of the trees.

“Yohanen, I must implore upon you to keep this to yourself. What I tell you, our companions, especially Shimon and Sy, are not ready to hear.”

He nodded.

“Now, for an answer. Yohanen, for what purpose did you seek when you gave your offerings at the Temple?”

“Forgiveness… forgiveness for my sins.”

“What if you were without sin?”

“It would be… impossible! No man is without sin.” 

Yeshua gave him a knowing smile and said, “I believe it is time that you hear the entire story of my birth. Do you recall, in the writings of Isaiah, of the sign given to Ahaz of the house of David?”

Yohanen closed his eyes, trying to remember. He was silent for a long while, as Yeshua patiently waited. Then, his eyes opened wide and exclaimed, “I remember! ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.’¹ But I wonder whether Isaiah meant it to be symbolic. I mean I had never heard of a virgin ever giving birth. However, some rabbis have taught that the virgin represented Israel. And that from Israel, the Son would be Messiah. Master, are they right?”

Yeshua smiled knowingly and said, “One of these days, Yohanen, you will write about this, but not for a long while yet. What interests me right now, is that your thinking is only going down the metaphorical aspect… thinking only in things possible. Once upon a time, Sarah and Abraham thought like that. If you recall, Sarah was barren. And when the Lord Adonai declared to Abraham that ‘one who will come from his own body shall be his heir.’²  Sarah only sought out a human solution.³ She never considered the impossible. She had not thought that the power of Adonai could make her pregnant even when she was beyond child-bearing age. And still we know what happened.⁴ ” 

“Master, are you telling me that what Isaiah wrote of the virgin’s birth is literal?”

“Before I was born, my mother had a very special visitor.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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Footnotes: [1] Isaiah 7:14; [2] Genesis 15:3; [3] Genesis 16; [4] Genesis 21:1-7; 

Author’s Note: In this part of the story, we are now in the section of the Gospel Harmony where Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. According to the Harmony, this event occurred in John 2. However, I have taken artistic license by not yet implementing what was described in John 2:13-25 in this chapter. My reason for this is because this same word-for-word occurings also happened in Matthew 21, much later in Jesus’ ministry.

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