Diary fiction; Historical fiction; Jesus Christ -- Fiction
A storm woke me as I lay in my tent. The wind was churning leaves and
I walked to the lake to watch the waves. I felt cold but pulled my
cloak around me and continued walking. Clouds were traveling fast.
When the rain started I retraced my steps. I heard voices and men at
their oars. Waves were piling against rocks. The voices in the boat
sounded familiar. Again the thud of oars. Yells. Wasn’t that Phillip?
It was Peter. Through rain and spray I made out the hull of the boat;
then I recalled someone saying they had to land a catch before dawn.
Someone shouted:
“We’re sinking...we’re sinking!”
I walked over the water toward the boat; it was difficult to see
through the rain and spray. I recognized the boat. As I walked the
waves calmed; the water was black underfoot. Two of our men had
slumped over their oars. I shouted. Nobody responded: they were
frightened at seeing me. Peter cowered. I called again.
“Peter,” I cried. “ Don’t you know me?”
“Is it you, Jesus?”
“Yes.”
“Let me come to you.”
“Come,” I said.
He sank as he walked toward me and I caught his arm and steadied him
and helped him climb into his boat. Luke welcomed me. The boat swung
toward me and I got in and sat at the stern with Phillip. Everyone
began bailing. The rain was letting up and I pointed to the shore. We
soon beached her and everyone began to talk, telling his panic, that
they had been unable to see; they crowded around me; they thought I
had saved their lives.
Luke built a fire of beachwood and as the sun came up we had
breakfast together—some of them singing, everyone hungry, the fish
tasting marvelous.
“Mark broke his oar,” Luke said and laughed. He was drying by the
fire, his clothes steaming. He explained that they had been blown
first one way and then another.
Nain
Tevet 18
This has been a beautiful week because I raised a man from the dead
and made a blind man see.
At Nain, a small village, my disciples and I met a burial procession
headed for tombs cut in the side of a nearby hill. A young man lay on
a flower-covered bier. I learned his name from a man in the
procession: it was David. He and his mother had been my friends for
years. I recognized Athalia walking behind the bier, weeping. Aaron,
her husband, had died recently.
It was a warm, still afternoon. The warbling of a bulbul seemed out
of place as the procession passed. As the bier scraped against a
rock, as the bearers stopped, I approached one of them and asked them
to wait.
“David...David...this is Jesus...arise...”
The disciples, astonished, bunched around the bier. I touched David,
spoke loudly, shook him.
“David, you are all right. Your mother is here. Get up...” He sat up
among his flowers and his mother rushed to his side. He recognized my
voice and asked for me. I talked gently with him.
A happy procession. The bier was abandoned; someone threw flowers
into the air as David walked...
I am overjoyed as I write. I see David and his mother kissing each
other. Someone is singing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account