set out to the nearest grocery store, which he fortunately found right next to his hotel. He got all he needed there, for instance licorice pastilles for snacking in between. But before he returned to his room, he drank a strong coffee at the bar and enjoyed the hustle and bustle all about him there. He looked around. No secret service far and wide. No one took notice of him. Everyone was occupied with their daily joys and cares.
Eventually he returned to his room and stared at the light brown and green striped wallpaper for about half an hour. His thoughts still were jumping around like wild monkeys, they simply could not settle down. That is why he sat down on the bed of his fairly dark hotel room and put the laptop on his lap. The musty, faded curtains of his room were not a plus for his room, but he had other problems than that right now. And he had something much more interesting to consider and do.
After what seemed like endless moments in which he tapped the table or restlessly swung his left leg back and forth, he took heart and started the film. Although despite the closed windows there was wild honking and deafening traffic noise coming in from the street, he concentrated on the film.
A man roughly his age appeared on the screen. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, his skin was lighter than that of Tai Shiin, and he wore a violet robe with golden decorations which seemed oriental to him. This man too seemed timeless, and almost genderless. The man, or perhaps better the being, stood on a paradisiacal meadow of flowers.
“My name is Joshua, and I am currently in the spiritual realm. After all I lived in the time of Jesus and already, as you put it, died before my friend.” A new shockwave rolled over Michael. Just a moment ago he was having to get used to the idea that an extraterrestrial was speaking to him, and now it even was one who even happened to be dead. However Joshua truly looked nothing like a zombie. There was something that Michael simply could not grasp just at the moment.
“I was born in Nazareth, in a small village which was consider3ed to be the home of Jesus for a while, the Jesus who, many hundreds of years from now when you will be watching this film and reading these scrolls, will have become more well known than in my own time, which is roughly 30 years after the birth of our saviour Jesus. I was a good friend of his although our paths went their separate ways for quite a while. Back then I wrote down my life and now want to familiarize you with my own life and that of Jesus, as I experienced him, the way he really was. The Santinians have told me about my death on earth and that they have recorded the lives of Jesus and me via moving pictures. They also said that they now desire to make this story available to all of humanity via a certain person. What is still missing and what I will now catch you up on is an introduction to these true events.” Joshua paused briefly. “However what you should know...” Joshua laughed merrily and knowingly.
“What should I know?” Michael was still speaking to himself.
“You should know that, if the divine plan succeeds, then you, Michael are the person the Santinians have chosen. However you already know that. But what you do not know yet is: You are me, and I will be you.”
Michael pressed the pause button and gazed up from the laptop. He let his gaze sweep through the window over the roofs of Jericho. Now what was that supposed to mean? Why am I Joshua? What did he mean by that? What was the point of all of this? Michael was in turmoil. His soul was in commotion. Despite this great restlessness he took a big sip of tea and continued watching the film.
“I am placing all of my hopes in you, for the true events about Jesus are too important than that they might be allowed to be lost forever. Already in my lifetime I experienced how easily records were falsified and how recklessly many people dealt with the truth. I was a scribe in my time and was occupied nearly from morning to night with that. There should be four papyrus scrolls in front of you, one larger and three smaller, as well as three parchment scrolls. The papyrus scrolls show my life, while the parchment scrolls are the eternal teachings of Jesus. His scrolls are considerable more important than mine, perhaps even more significant than any records that exist hitherto in your time, for Jesus wrote these scrolls personally. The words of Jesus, saviour of all human souls, are to be found in these scrolls. However perhaps also the original film-recordings of the Santinians will convince you and many people, since the preference for viewing moving images will be on the rise in your time, whereas the willingness to read will be in decline, as the Santinians have informed me. I wish you and your soul a deep recognition. I am Joshua, a friend of Jesus.”
Michael paused briefly, pressed the pause button of his laptop. Could this truly be? He took a licorice. Was it possible that original writings of Jesus could be right here in front of him? Why did this Joshua seem so familiar? Was he really right? And if yes, then he must have already lived before. His girlfriends Susanne had told him this again and again and also given proof for the reincarnation. He just had never taken her seriously.
Michael stretched out for a moment and started the film again.
“I would like to begin my narrative on the day, when Rachel and I... yes, see for yourself. You will not regret it, for the events that follow now have the power to change you and your life. I am aware that not many have the opportunity to be so closely befriended with a person who did not come from this world and yet was more human than all other humans. I know that this person will be a very well known personality in your time. I doubt that there will ever be a more exact description of the life of this man. After all you will be seeing original recordings of the Santinians, and I never noticed any other scribe such as myself who would have written down the life of Jesus and his teachings. Unfortunately not many people knew how to write in those days. Actually almost none did. And those who could write did not want to follow the life of Jesus, but rather try their hand as merchants. Believe me, that which you now hold in your hands is unique and precisely documented. After all Jesus was my best friend and also my life, as I now know.
What I now want to tell you began on the day when ....”
The Blue-Eyed One
3 B.C. according to the common calendar
“Eeny, meeny mice, who has lice? Eeny, meeny moo, and lice have you! Joshua, you are Jacob, and I am the Lord.”
“Why does it have to be you, Simeon? You always want to be the Lord. You always only want to be the catcher.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes it is. You always want to be the Lord.”
“Who cares, I simply am. Rachel, tie the cloth around Joshua’s eyes already. Get going.”
Joshua was angry. This idiot Simeon always had to act the big shot. It was not enough for him to constantly put Joshua down, he also had to declare himself ruler and decision maker for the girls.
Rachel approached him with the cloth. Now all grumbling was forgotten. Joshua liked Rachel and enjoyed it when she bound his eyes with the dirty rag.
“Rachel“, he whispered, “don’t let it get to you, Simeon is only a dumb Zealot. He can’t help it.” Both of them had to giggle.
The alleyways of Nazareth were always firmly in the hand of the children on afternoons. Most of the time they played ‚Jacob and the Lord’, since it was the favorite game of Simeon, and Simeon was the nearly undisputed King if the children in the village. Bigger than the others, no one dared to take him on. Except Joshua. He could still remember that day a couple of months ago very well, when he and Simeon had fought. There had not been a clear winner then, but a proud one. Since then Joshua had a scar on his left cheek. Simeon had injured him with a knife at the end of the fight.
