Chapter 1

Chapter 1

27 AD

            It was a long, hard walk down the narrow paths of the old city; harder even for a man of his age. But his mind wasn’t on the difficult terrain. No, as he stumbled through the dusty roads and alleyways, winding his way up and downhill, his mind was on what he had witnessed that day. He couldn’t get his mind off of it. Even afterwards, while the cases were brought before the Sanhedrin, he still couldn’t take his mind off of that man. He was on his way now to talk to him. He had to talk to him, even if it meant losing his reputation and his wealth; he had to ask him these questions.

            He remembered the same man from roughly eighteen years before. Then this man was just a young lad trying to get away from his parents. He remembered listening to the lad talk in the temple, answering questions as if he had been reading and teaching from the scriptures for some 50 years yet he was just 12 years old.

            He had heard stories from the past few months of this same man performing miracles throughout the towns around Jerusalem. There were reports from Cana that he had turned water into wine. Normally, these reports would have been taken seriously, but these came from the poorer folks. The man of that house only reported that the wine was the best he had ever had but didn’t witness any such act occurring. But when this man came in the temple today, he was on a mission.

            Nobody expected him to do what he done. First, he went to the money changer’s tables and upended them. Then, he went to the tables where they sold the animals for sacrifice and done the same thing. There was not a table left in the temple unturned all the while talking about turning his father’s house into a den of thieves. Finally, as if enough chaos hadn’t occurred, he began to talk about tearing down the temple and building it back in 3 days. That was impossible talk. The temple took years to build. How could one man tear it down and build it again in three days. He had to be crazy! But was he?

            As Nicodemus walked down the dusty road, leaning heavily on his cane, he finally came to the meeting place. Earlier, before this man left, Nicodemus had sent a servant to ask for an audience with this stranger tonight. He had to get to the bottom of what this man was about. As he waited in the shadows, Mount Olives to his back and the Temple to his right, he heard the footsteps.

            He picked this spot for a reason. This was the only spot in town where nobody would be. Even as busy as Jerusalem was due to Passover, people seldom came here. So, as he turned toward the sound, he knew who it was he would be looking at. There, in the shadows of the house across the alley, was the man they called Jesus.

            “Rabbi,” Nicodemus reverently said as he bowed toward Jesus.

            “Nicodemus,” came the reply.

            He had rehearsed the questions in his mind what seemed a hundred times on the way here. Even spoke them to himself, though there were some bewildered glares from the people around him. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent from God.” Finally, he just decided to come out with it right from the start. “Nobody can do these things that you have done except God be with him.”

            “Nicodemus,” came the reply again, this time softer but yet somehow more urgent. “The only way for a man to see the kingdom of God is to be born again.”

            Did he hear Jesus right? Did he just say “born again?” Nicodemus step closer as to hear better. “Born again? How can a man be born again when he is my age? Can he enter again into his mother’s womb and come out again?”

            “Nicodemus, “again came the reply, this time more stern than the last two. “Listen to what I’m saying to you. Unless a man is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” The words lit something in Nicodemus; a burning sensation that he couldn’t quite place but also a desire to hear more. He inched even closer to Jesus. “That which is born of the flesh is indeed flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Don’t marvel at my statement that you must be born again.”

            Now Nicodemus was hooked. Now he was right on Jesus, hanging on to every word. Though he was scared to interrupt, he had to ask a question. “How can this be? How is this possible?”

            “You call yourself a master of Israel, ruler of the people, but yet you don’t know these basic truths?” Nicodemus hung his head as if he had been caught in a lie. “If I had told you of something from this earth and you didn’t believe me, how are you going to believe me if I tell you things from Heaven? As Moses, when they were in the wilderness, lifted up the serpent, so must also the Son of Man be lifted up. For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I’m not come here to condemn, Nicodemus, but he that doesn’t believe me has already been condemned because he doesn’t believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

            “And what is the name of the only begotten of God,” Nicodemus asked as he lifted his head back up.

            “My name is Jesus Christ. John told of me before, and now I have come to fulfill the law that was passed down from Moses.”

            Was this blasphemy? Did He just hear this man correctly? Did he just call himself the son of God? Surely this can’t be. But what about the miracles? What about the words he had just spoken and the effect they had inside of him? There was definitely a drawing there. However, this wasn’t the first man to come through town and proclaim himself to be God’s son. Just last year a man was expelled from town for the same thing, but could this man be different. Nicodemus stared into the eyes of this stranger. There had to be something more to this man.

            As Nicodemus stood and stared in thought, Jesus turned and walked away. Nicodemus knew better than to call after him, surely someone would hear him, but their meeting was over. Instead of answered questions, all Nicodemus had to show for this encounter as he watched Jesus walk away was more questions. It would definitely be a longer walk back to his house than it had been from.

_    _    _    _    _

            The next morning, Nicodemus awoke, if you want to call it that since he never actually slept, with a greater determination to speak with Christ. This time, he didn’t care who saw him or what became of his reputation; he had to get some answers. He called his servants in to help him get dressed; he was getting too old for all of these robes. He quickly ate and went back out into the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem during Passover. When he got to the temple, he saw that the tables had been put back into their places. Looking out across the mass of people, one wouldn’t know anything had happened here just the day before unless he was actually here.

            When he walked into the Royal Porch, where the Sanhedrin met every day, it looked as if he had walked into the amphitheater. Never had he seen this many people gathered here. He asked out loud to the first person that gave him any attention, “Have you seen Jesus?”

            “No. We sent for him hours ago to bring him into question but he was nowhere to be found.”

            “Where did he go? How about the guys that was with him?”

            “Nobody knows, Nicodemus. Why the sudden interest in a stranger? Are you now one of his followers too?” What a ridiculous question? He only followed God. Nicodemus turned and walked out; they can wait. He walked back out of the temple and into the crowd of people.

            Up ahead he saw what looked to be one of the men that were with Jesus yesterday. “Hey you,” he called out. “Where is Jesus?”

            “Are you Nicodemus?”

            “Yes I am. How did you know my name?

            “My master told me I would find you here and he told me that when I found you to give you this.”

            The man handed him a rolled up piece of parchment. On it had his name and an inscription that caused goose bumps to run up his spine and his hands to shake.

المسيح أنا

            If Nicodemus wasn’t a follower before, he just became on. As he unrolled the scroll, his heart began to race and his hands began to shake uncontrollably. He had just been shared a secret from the beginning of time, and according to the letter, he couldn’t tell a soul.

 

Reviews

[Lady Glitter]

The story grabbed me and mesmerized me right away. The tempo is smooth and swift, carrying the reader along with anticipation. You're a good writer, because I could feel Nicodemus' tension as he determined to confront this Man. It is true that I am a Christian and understand the story, but I was entranced by it as most any reader would be. I enjoyed reading this first chapter. A very intriguing story with an undercurrent of mystery as to why Nicodemus was so fascinated with this Man.

Except for your predilection for using done in place of DID, this manuscript is very well-written. Your punctuation is good too.

Correction: Nobody expected him to do what he done. (Replace done with did.)

Correction: Then, he went to the tables where they sold the animals for sacrifice and done the same thing. (Replace done with did.)

Correction: How about the guys that was with him?” (Replace with - who were with him?")