want to see you here again today. Get lost, you false Messiah.” Samuel was angrier than he had rarely been before. The gall of that lout. How dared he expose him in front of all of the children like that? “Go on, get lost already.”
“Nothing rather than that, honorable rabbi.” Jesus stood up and left the synagogue, gazing deeply into Joshua’s eyes on the way out.
The rest of the lesson went by fairly quickly. Joshua barely even dared to breathe. Nor was as much as a sigh heard from any of the other boys. Samuel continued and told them everything else there was to know about cleanliness and impurity. But Joshua did not register even a single word of it. Finally, the lesson was over.
Samuel threateningly approached Joshua. “Joshua, I want you to forget the words of Jesus as quickly as possible. They were spoken by a demon. Jesus was not himself today. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, father.”
“And I also don’t want you playing with him or speaking with him anymore. Is that clear as well?”
Joshua did not answer this time.
“Is that clear, my son?”
Joshua was very afraid and wanted to go to bed in one piece tonight. So he said yes.
Joshua was sad and shaken. He wanted to never forget those words of Jesus, for the power of Jesus was simply too impressive. What energy Jesus radiated! He was impressed how that boy was able to stand up to his father, and how he in fact did stand up to him! Where did those words come from? What was clear to him already was that the words did not come, as his law-loving father claimed, from a demon. So where did they come from then? It seemed as if Jesus had stepped into another world earlier. And when his gaze met the blue eyes of Jesus, when he had to leave the synagogue, he had gazed deeply into the origin of the universe and recognized the love that was behind it all. This love came directly from God. This love made him sad and angry, just like the prohibitions of his father. He hated the rabbi. He would always hate him.
After the lesson today I noticed the anger I felt toward the rabbi. How could that dumb man react in such a way? He ought to be a role model for us. Or am I that for off here, father? Why did you grant him the office of being a rabbi? Sadly I am not getting any reply from you. And sadly I had an attack of weakness when I got home. I simply must be more patient with myself.
My mother says that I have to have patience and understanding when it comes to people, especially for example Samuel. But how is that possible, father? Father, how can I be patient with a dumb person who has so much power? And how can I possibly even be understanding toward him? I do not comprehend that.
Please teach me how I can love Samuel ,how I can understand his way of doing things. God, please bless the people of Nazareth. Father, please also bless Samuel.
∞
Today Joshua was allowed to stop his writing exercises early, for Samuel was satisfied with his performance. This was very convenient for Joshua, for he longed to see the olive tree up on the hill, to lean up against its trunk and spend the rest of the day of there.
He quickly set out toward the tree. None of the playing children could sway him to pause in the dusty alleyway. He ran up the hill and heard himself say “I love you“, as he touched the olive tree and sat down next to its gnarled trunk which radiated patience and absolute love. Joshua got comfortable and let his spirit wander with his gaze across the horizon. He left time and space behind. For a long moment he was in a sun-filled world without violence. He was in a world of beauty and harmony, until he heard a flute melody reach his ear from somewhere. It took him a moment to recall where he was, sitting against the olive tree. Then a moment later he spotted Jesus coming up the path, still playing his flute.
“Joshua, may I lend you some company?”
“Sure, Jesus, gladly.”
“Are you often here?”
“Yes, but not often enough, for this is where I find peace and quiet. I often miss that.”
“Yes, I understand that.” Jesus sat down next to Joshua and gazed into the distance until his view settled on Mt. Tabor. “Isn’t that a beautiful mountain? Sometimes I dream that lights travel over the mountain very quickly. Then a voice tells me that I am being accompanied on my life’s path and protected, no matter where I go.”
“No way!” Joshua was astonished. “I have also dreamt that once or twice. The only difference being that I did not hear a voice. What is the meaning of all this?”
“I had a very sensitive teacher named Bakenor while in Egypt. He told me that there are people who live on other planets, who sometimes visit this earth. Bakenor told me that he had often seen moving lights in the heavens above three large, pyramidal structures that he called pyramids. They are located a few days journey south of Alexandria near the great river Nile. They moved in every possible direction. Sometimes the lights were as big as pomegranate.”
“There are people on other planets? Why do you hear their voice? Who are you, Jesus?” Joshua gave Jesus a questioning look.
“Our father in heaven has sent me here. He is the father of all humans, no matter which planet they currently dwell on. A while ago the voice already told me that I …“ Jesus paused.
“What were you going to say, Jesus?” Joshua knew that Jesus had just kept some significant information to himself.
“I am not sure whether I am allowed to speak of it. I was getting a little ahead of myself and don’t know if your soul wants to hear it, really. Please forgive me.”
“Jesus, please tell me. You can’t simply start a sentence and then leave it half-finished. I want to hear everything you have to say, Jesus. I know that your soul heals mine, I know I will be able to understand.”
Jesus could tell that the only was out of this situation was in fact to finish his sentence. “As I was saying, the voice had already told me a while ago that I lived on another planet a long time ago in order to prepare myself for the task which I have taken upon myself in this life-time. The only thing that I do not know exactly yet now is what the details of the task are.” he wanted to go onto some more detail regarding his task in order to avoid touching on the topic of earlier lives, but it was too late for that now.
“You used to live on another planet?” Joshua stared at Jesus with an open mouth and fearful eyes. He was speechless.
“Yes, I lived with the great holy lineage.” Jesus smiled. “Well, you see, Joshua, maybe I shouldn’t have told you all that. Please don’t tell anyone else, not even your father. Otherwise I would get into a lot of trouble with him. He would kick me out of school or maybe even do something worse than that.”
“Jesus, hold on. First you tell me of people that live on other stars and that are watching over you here in Galilee. And how am I to tell if that is true? There is no reference to anything of the sort in the scriptures of our ancestors and prophets. And besides, how are they supposed to get here if they do exist? With flying horses? And why you? Why are you in Galilee, if you have such an important assignment? Why not in Jerusalem?”
“I do not know why our father in heaven has sent me here to Nazareth.”
“Hmm. Und why do we have the same dream? Why do I dream about the lights? What do I have to do with those people?”
“Perhaps
