Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

Yeshua followed the dejected family to the south side of the Temple court of the nations. The open area was vast enough to hold about eight thousand or so pilgrims, but instead of finding them down in the ground worshipping and praying, the open area was lined with rows of vendor booths and money changers shouting out to passersby. The family approached a booth that had stacked cages of doves. The merchant, who wore the garb of a Sadduccee, watched them approach looking a little too satiated; like he knew he was going to see them again.

“Did I not warn you that the priest would reject your lamb?”, he said, pointing out the smudge on the lamb’s leg.

“But that is not a blemish in the skin!”, exclaimed the head of the family. “It is just dirt from the road.”

“And yet, they rejected it… and of which, it will continue to be rejected!”, the merchant knowingly declared. “But if you purchase one of my lambs, I guarantee quick approval. Then you and your family can go home knowing that you have Adonai’s forgiveness for the rest of the year.”

“But what you ask for is beyond what I can afford, especially after the moneychangers change my coin for temple coins.”

“Times are hard. You can blame the Romans,” the merchant said, looking sympathetic. Then he picked up cages. “Here is a bargain for you. Buy these two doves and I will give these two sparrows. You can release them for luck.” He gave them a big toothy smile.

Yeshua walked away disgusted. He approached a money changer’s booth and watched closely the transaction of a Greek Jew handing over foreign silver coins for the required temple shekel. The man was not too happy with the exchange rate. On another table, a money changer was greedily counting his profits. Booth after booth, Yeshua witnessed the temple-sanctioned practice of exploitation and extortion. Slowly but surely, he felt his anger rise like a boiling kettle. But then, from deep within, he reminded himself that this was not the time for judgement. His breathing slowed and steadied. He cast his eyes heavenward and said a silent ‘Thank You.’ 

He was about to gather his followers and leave, but he caught sight of a confused commotion nearby. Five young men had tripped and tumbled over. When they got up, brushing the dirt off their fine clothing, the focus of their ire was towards what he first thought was an assorted bundle of rags on the ground, but was really a dishevelled individual crawling. One of the men was about to kick him, but Shimon’s beefy hand grasped the back of his tunic and pulled. Facing a big man like Shimon with a smiling Sy next to him, the man and his companions backed away.

The man on the ground continued his crawling despite a bleeding wound on his forehead. He literally was walking on his elbows which were wrapped with goat leather. His legs, which were unusually scrawny and showing no sign of life, trailed after him. On this crowded floor, he would weave himself around booths and clusters of people, but always heading toward one direction, the Temple. Yeshua unwrapped his sheepskin sash and wound it around both his elbows. Then, to the surprise stares of his followers, he got down next to the man and started to crawl just like the man.

“Young man, where are you going?” Yeshua said, after sneezing from the kicked-up dust. 

The paused man paused to tighten the elbow wrappings with his teeth. “I am going to the Temple walls,” he said, nonchalant. 

“How long have you been crawling?”

“I started about three days ago.” 

Yeshua listened intently as he described his excruciating climb from the plaza gates, below at the western base of the Temple mount. It took him three days to climb it. He said that for years, every festival, he would make this trek on his own. 

“And you would do all this, to worship at Adona’s feet?” 

Yeshua’s eyes teared, not from sadness or pity. When they were about thirty feet from the Temple complex, he got up on his feet and stepped to block the crawling man’s way.

“Man of faith, do you wish to stand and walk the rest of the way?” 

The man looked up, at first frustrated, but then he looked intently at his eyes. He nodded and reached up to Yeshua’s outstretched hand. He was so focused on his smiling face that he didn’t realize he was standing on normal legs. When he realized his eyes were the same level as Yeshua’s, he almost stumbled back in shock.

Smiling, he said, “Now, walk! Your family awaits you by the wall.”

Dazed and still in shock, he slowly walked toward the Temple. Meanwhile, Yeshua gestured for his disciples to quickly follow him back into the colonnades of Solomon. When under the eaves of the columned hallways, he turned to his companions.

“Let us go from here and go back to Yair’s encampment, so we may retrieve our possessions and the women of our group. We leave for Jericho as soon as possible.” Seeing the questions in their eyes, he said, “I will explain much later, but we must leave before official inquiries are made of us. It is still not yet time to reveal myself but it will soon be.”

Two hours later, they were on the crest of the Mount of Olives. On the road, they were already hearing of a wild story of a cripple man able to walk again. Some say that it’s a hoax, but more believe that Elisha, a prophet of old, had returned.¹ Yeshua was deep in thought when he halted and turned around. People were passing them by but he paid no heed to them. He was eyeing a well dressed man trying to hide behind a fig tree. Yeshua was amused and the man knew he was discovered. He came out from behind the tree and approached him looking a little sheepish.

“Sir, forgive me. I was there when… when you helped that cripple to stand. When I watched you crawling with him, his legs were unmistakably deformed. But then, I saw you… I could not believe my eyes. So, I followed you. Are you the… the Messiah?”

“Follow and see for yourself.”

“My name is Yehudah. I am from…”

“Kerioth, I know. I have been expecting you.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Footnotes: [1] Elisha is the successor of Elijah. His recorded miracles in Second Kings actually parallels that of Jesus in the Gospels.

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