This is It - Episode 5: The Adversary

And into the marvelous light, he rose. He opened his eyes, his mouth, his nostrils. Rucha fully inspired him. 

I know you must go, John said, embracing him.  He struggled to find the proper words. Now, you truly understand what and why I am. It is such with you, son of man and son of the holy one.

Yes, Yeshua replied, also struggling to find words. The light was dazzling his eyes, his mind, his heart. His entire frame was buzzing with energy, and he knew he had to get away from this place, all these people. He needed solitude. He needed rest. He needed reconnect with the gentle earth. Right now, he did not feel that connection.

Yes, you are right. I must go. I don’t know if I will see you again. Shlomo ‘aleykhun.

John embraced him, Peace be for you, also. He helped Yeshua up the riverbank, watched him as he gathered his cloak and bag. 

John watched him walk away.

Who will be next?

—

The desert stretched before him, and he just kept walking.  Whenever he found water, he drank. He had no food. He walked in the cool of the mornings, rested in the warmth of the afternoons, then continued to walk toward evening. At nightfall, he found places to stop, where he would rest or sleep fitfully until first light.

Many days passed in this way, too many to number. He thought about many things. He counted his footsteps as he went. He prayed to the holy one for guidance. As the days passed, the lack of food weakened him. 

One night, he had a dream.

In the dream, the Adversary came to him, smiling.

In a pleasing voice, the Adversary said, I can sense you are hungry. If you are indeed a son of the holy one, surely you could use magic to transform these stones into bread.

A pile of stones appeared between them. A smell like bread wafted from the stones. Yeshua’s stomach rumbled and hunger roared through his system.

Yeshua knew this dream to be a penultimate test, and his fevered brain ran to find the appropriate response. At last, as if a veil lifted, he saw the parallel of his desert wandering in the covenant days of Moses. 

A small voice inside his soul spoke the text so only he could hear it: And he humbled you, he gave you over to hunger, and he fed you with the manna, a food which you and your fathers had never known, so he could make you understand that people do not live by bread only; it is by every word spoken of the holy one that people live.

Yeshua heard his own wavering voice speak: Not by bread alone do I live, but by the word spoken by the holy one.

And in flash, the scene changed. The Adversary had placed him precariously on the outer ledge of a high parapet of the Temple. If you are indeed a son of the holy one, throw yourself from this height. Surely, angels of the holy one will come to your rescue if you slip and fall.

Fierce winds clawed at his clothes, and he could feel his toes curl over the ledge of the narrow parapet. Though he tried to grasp the sheer wall at his back, he felt himself slipping. 

But the small voice spoke another text: Do not tempt the holy one as you did in Massah. Instead, keep the commandments given to you by the holy one, keep the testimonies and the statutes as commanded of you; you were made to do only what is right and good in the sight of the holy one.

Through chattering teeth, Yeshua blurted out: It is written: Do not tempt the holy one!

And once again, with a flash of lightning, the scene had now become at a great height. Indeed, it was the highest place in the world, overlooking every shining kingdom of the earth. With unctuous voice, the Adversary put forth his last challenge: Worship me, and I’ll give you dominion over all of this. You’ll be able to do whatever you want with it all.

And Yeshua heard the words flow as if through his very blood: Beware lest thou forget the holy one, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, who released you from bondage. You will honor, serve and attest only to the name of the holy one.

And he heard himself yelling: Get away from me, fiend! It is written that we must honor and serve the one and only holiness!

And from this horror, fevered and shaken, he wrested himself to wakefulness.

On a rock nearby, someone had left a small gift of food and drink. There was no sign of the benefactor.

Slowly consuming the sustenance, he knew it was time to return. It was time to live and breathe the covenant to this generation, in service to the holy one by serving all people.

Strengthened by the offering of the departed stranger, he gave his heart and voice to prayer in the time-honored way, as he began his return:

Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad…

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings

This is It - Episode 4: The Blessing

The crowd parted, and he approached the water’s edge.

John beheld him with sudden and certain recognition.  You’ve come!

Yes. I am here to be immersed by you.

John hesitated, his fevered eyes boring deep into the eyes of this man. But it is for you that I have been waiting.

Yeshua closed his eyes for a moment, softly taking in a breath of air.  This brought clarity to the moment, to this meeting. When he opened his eyes, he smiled. I am here for your gift. I am here to be immersed, to sanctified by your service.

Surely, said John, feet firmly planted in the river, the roles should be reversed. I crave your blessing, cousin!

You are blessed and you are blessing. I come to be immersed by you, to be renewed and sanctified toward the fulfillment of my own calling.

While they were speaking, soft white clouds had gathered overhead, offering the people a coolness and shade from the warmth of the midday sun.

He didn’t know why, but tears gathered in John’s eyes. He felt a profound sense of being at a time and place before time and places, within a presence greater than any standing here at the riverbank. This was meant to be, and he knew it, and he was humbled. 

He reached out his hand.

Come to the water.

Yeshua dropped his cloak and bag on the embankment, stepped down into the water and waded to where John stood.

Tell us what you want to turn away from. Then, fall backward into my arms. I will dunk you under the water, and you shall rise up, clean in body, mind and spirit, in thought, word and deed. This is how you let the holy one know you are awake to your calling.

Yeshua spoke only one word. Pachad, he said, as he let himself go into John’s arms.

And John whispered in his ear, as he gently lowered him into the river, Be not afraid.

And then a gentle sprinkling of rain fell from the puffy clouds on all who were gathered there. 

And then the clouds opened to reveal the fullness of the sun. 

And then all were suddenly bathed in rainbow colors.

And then John lifted him up into the marvelous light.

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings

This Is It - Episode 3: Finding Purpose

He’d returned from being on the road. He’d been traveling, observing, learning, and teaching. From time to time, he’d return to see how things were at home. Each time, it seemed things had further deteriorated. 

The occupation was putting more and more strain on the people. The average person found it difficult to make ends meet, as more and more taxes were being levied—some to fund pleasure palaces and cities meant to honor men who had no honor. Building the city of Tiberius over the bones of the dead, not good—unclean. No pious person could live there.

Having made his way out into the world, he learned that there were more ways of worship than what Jerusalem offered; the farther you traveled away from the Temple, the greater chance of discovering a new sect of people who proclaimed to know better, more perfect ways of divine observance. And then there were the Greek gentiles and all their gods—and their philosophical thinking. Everyone was competing to be “right.” 

But more immediately, having returned home for a visit, the family spoke to him about their growing concern for cousin John, his ministry and mission. He had not seen John much over the years; as an adult, John had become a bit odd and estranged from immediate family. He’d found he couldn’t live indoors, and had left town to live in the countryside. And then he’d found a purpose—and now had a following. The family feared his purpose would make him a target. Perhaps an intervention was necessary.

And so he had been shadowing John, at the behest of family, to see what it was all about, to hear what John had to say. He found that with much of John’s talk, he was in full agreement. 

Daily, he had witnessed the same corruption John spoke of, impinging on the lives of the people. It wasn’t enough that the Roman occupation was burdening the people with new taxes and gentrification, but there were things going on in Jerusalem, even at the Temple, that were disquieting to him. Human nature, business as usual, quid pro quo—whatever you wanted to call it, the world seemed utterly at odds with what the scriptures taught was “the way it should be.”

What disturbed him personally was that people were complacent in their powerlessness, rote in their observances and treating their mundane daily tasks as a burden rather than a blessing—or worse, as an emptiness rather than a fulfillment. It was easier to point fingers of blame than it was to find solutions from within the foundations of faith. The politics of everyday secular life was dividing people, and the life of the sacred was begging for renewal.

He watched as John helped people to renew their covenant, to acknowledge their need for healing, to turn back to the holy one. Person after person walked away refreshed and with new purpose. For how long that might last, who knew—but in the moment, with the support of the crowd, this was a shining moment in the life of a soul.

And a feeling welled up in his own soul, a need not to intervene, but to be a part of this movement and in support his kinsman, John. 

This, he felt to his core, was the sign he himself had been waiting for, in order to make his own purpose manifest.

So, he stepped forward, out of the crowd, and said, Me. Take me. I’ll be next.

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings

This is It - Episode 1: At the River

Though he lived alone, he was never alone. Nature was his home, true, but people never left him alone there. They followed him around. It was because of the things he said, strange things, some thought. People wanted to know what he was all about. 

The message was simple, and always the same. It was a message from before time, from before sky and before earth and before oceans. It had formed itself in his mind from a dream he could vaguely remember, from deep in his childhood. As it was so like some of the sayings he had been taught of the prophets, he knew from where it had come and that it was truth. 

The message of the dream obsessed him to the point that it was all he could think, all he could say, all he could do. He knew that he had to give the message away, that he could not keep it to himself. Ultimately, it was this message that made him go out into the world. 

This is it, he said to all within earshot, the dominion is at hand, and you will be judged on your actions, as well as all the thoughts and words that led to them. Regret your thoughts, words and actions that are selfish and immoral; return to the bosom of the most high. Lighten your soul by doing good, being kind, and sharing.

One day, during a rare instance of hiking alone in the wild, he came upon a spring. He felt dirty, tired and thirsty. 

He’d always understood water, loved water. This was so ever since boyhood, when he fell out of a fishing boat into the sea, and suddenly knew how to swim. No one taught him; he just knew how. 

At this moment, he plunged his head in the spring. Water was the way through the muck and mire, the way to be refreshed and renewed. He reveled in the coolness and wetness of the fresh, fresh water. When he rose, the feeling of the soft breeze over his wet face was like a blessing, likewise the trickle of water rolling down his body.

That was where and when he heard the voice. It was not a big voice, but a very small one. It surprised him that he could hear this tiny voice. It said: You are here baptized, for your heart and soul long for goodness in the world. This makes me happy. Share the blessing of your friend, water.

After that, he couldn’t bear to be inside. He stayed outdoors, close to the land and water, where he found sustainable nourishment from insects, berries, flowers, herbs and honey. He wore simple clothes he fashioned for himself. And he talked to the stones and the plants and to the creatures of the wild. People heard his talk, as well, and they followed him, to see what might happen next. Some thought he was crazy; he didn’t care. He knew he had to talk his talk, so that is what he did.

One day, at the riverside, while he was talking his talk to all that would listen, someone asked him, How will the holy one know I’ve changed in my heart and soul?Will you speak for me?

That stopped him short. He fell silent. Surely, he could not speak for others.

Then he heard the voice, again; that one from the spring, the small one. He heard it even in the midst of this noisy knot of people.

Share the blessing of your friend, water, with everyone. As this was the sign for you, it is the sign for them, too – and for me.

So, to the one who had asked, he said, Come, walk with me into the river. 

The person hesitated, and the gathered group held their collective breath. What would happen next?

Do you admit to wrong ways of thinking and speaking and doing, to these assembled people and to the most high?

Yes, said the penitent one.

Take my hand. Come wade with me. Tell us about the bad things you want to turn away from. Then, I will dunk you under the water, and you shall rise up, clean in body, mind and spirit, in thought, word and deed. This is how you let the holy one know, and how you awaken to a new life for yourself.

When that person rose up, refreshed as if new, all could seethe change. And they wanted to be reborn to goodness, as well.

And so, in part, that is how the life of this particular person found it’s bloom.

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com 

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings