The pastoral story

A tall, strong stranger, about fifty years old, stomped into the crowded inn and looked around, blinking at the smoky light of the clay oil lamps that were randomly scattered around the room. Abiel and I smelled it before we saw it. We instinctively shifted our positions at our small table to make it look smaller. Nevertheless, the stranger came over to us and asked: Could you make room for me?

Abiel looked at me questioningly. We didn't want him to sit next to us. He looked like a shepherd and smelled accordingly. The inn was full at the time of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The law required strangers to be treated hospitably, even if they were shepherds.

Abiel offered him a seat and a drink from our wine bottle. I'm Nathan and this is Abiel, I said. Where are you from, stranger? Hebron, he said, and my name is Jonathan. Hebron is 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem at the place where Abraham buried his wife Sarah over 1500 years ago.

I came here just before the festival, Jonathan went on. I can tell you, it is teeming with soldiers and I will be glad if I get away again soon. He was angry with the Romans and spat on the floor. Abiel and I exchanged looks. If you were here for Passover, you must have seen the earthquake, I said.

Jonathan replied, yes, I saw it up close. People from Jerusalem told me that tombs were opening and many who had died awoke from death and left their graves. Abiel added that the heavy, woven curtain that separated the two main rooms of the temple was torn from top to bottom, as if by an invisible hand. The priests keep everyone away until the damage is repaired.

I don't mind, said Jonathan. The Pharisees and the temple guardian won't let people like me in anyway. We are not good enough for them, they even consider us unclean. May I ask you something, said Jonathan. Did any of you witness the crucifixions on Golgotha? Who were these three anyway? Abiel glanced at me, then leaned closer to the shepherd. They captured a revolutionary and notorious robber named Barabbas and two of his people just before Passover. But there was also a well-known rabbi whom they called Jesus. Many of us hoped he was the Messiah. A frown crept across his face. The Messiah, said Jonathan? That would explain all the soldiers he'd seen. But this Jesus is dead now. He couldn't be the Messiah, could he?

He was a good man, said Abiel in a low voice, looking around the room as if to make sure no one was listening to our conversation. The Pharisees, the elders and the high priests accused him of blasphemy. Abiel looked at me as if asking my permission to say more.

Go ahead and tell him. What do you want to tell me? Asked Jonathan. Abiel's voice fell to a whisper. The word got around that if they killed him, he would come back to life. Hm? Jonathan, leaned forward and said, go on. Abiel went on, yesterday the open grave was found, although the Romans closed it with a heavy stone and guarded it. The body was no longer in the grave! What? Jonathan narrowed his eyes and stared blankly at the wall behind me. Finally he asked: Did this Jesus live in Jerusalem? No, I said, he came from the north, from Galilee. Jesus was not a blasphemer as the Pharisees accused him. All he did is, he went around healing people and preaching about love and kindness. Surely you've heard of him, even down there in the hills. But the shepherd did not listen. He stared blankly at the wall behind me. Finally he said softly, where did you say he came from? Galilee, I repeated. He was the son of a carpenter from Nazareth. Abiel looked at me, then cleared his throat and said: It is said that he could also have been born in Bethlehem and that his mother was a virgin. Bethlehem? Are you really sure about that? Abiel nodded.

Jonathan slowly shook his head and mumbled, born in Bethlehem, of a virgin. Then it could have been him. Who could it have been? I asked? What are you talking about, what are you talking about The shepherd looked meaningfully at our wine bottle. This Jesus, I think I know who he is.

I am telling you a strange story. As I said, I saw the three crucified on Golgotha. The one in the middle was already dead and they were about to finish off the other two. Some women sobbed and wept under the cross. But another woman was standing a little further back and a young man had his arm around her. As I passed she looked straight into my eyes and I knew I had seen her before. It's been a long time.

Abiel refilled our cups and said tell us your story. Jonathan drank some wine, then took the glass in both hands and stared into his glass. It was in the days of Herod Antipas, he said. I was a young boy then. Our family was poor. We made a living by tending rich people's sheep. One night I was in the mountains near Bethlehem with my father and a couple of his friends. There was a census and everyone was supposed to go back to their homes to be counted so the Romans could find out how much taxes we had to pay. My father, my uncle and I and some of our friends decided to stay in the hills until it was over so the Romans had fewer heads to count. We all laughed. Shepherds had a reputation for being deceivers. That night we tended the sheep and sat around the fire. The older men joked and told stories.

I was starting to get sleepy when suddenly a bright light shone around us and a man in a glowing robe appeared out of nowhere. It glowed and glowed as if it had a fire within it. An angel, asked Abiel? Jonathan nodded. We were scared, I can tell you. But the angel said: do not be afraid of me! Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will befall all people. It was wonderful news for everyone.

Abiel and I gestured impatiently for him to tell more. The angel continued: Today in Bethlehem the Savior was born to you, who is the anointed, the Lord, in the city of David. The Messiah, said Abiel with wide eyes! Jonathan nodded again. The angel instructed us to go and see this child, swaddled in diapers and lying in a manger in Bethlehem. Then all heaven was full of angels singing: Glory to God on high, and peace on earth among the men of his good will.

As suddenly as they had appeared, they were gone again. We rushed to Bethlehem and found a man named Joseph and his wife Maria with their child, wrapped in diapers, in a manger in the stable of an inn. The animals had been moved to one end of the barn and one of the barns had been cleared. Maria was young, no older than 15, I guessed. She was sitting on a heap of straw. It was all exactly as the angel had told us.

My father told Joseph about the angel and how he asked us to come to them. Joseph said they had come to Bethlehem for the census, but there was no room for them in the inn. The child was due to be born soon, so the owner let her use the stable. Joseph told us how an angel told Mary, and later to him, that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah and that although she was still a virgin, she would become pregnant with this special child of God.

Mary was shocked, said Joseph, because she was always a very virtuous woman and she trusted in God. Josef looked at his wife and we could see the love and respect in his eyes. I watched Maria while the men talked and I was amazed at how calm she was. It was as if God's peace was upon her. She must have been exhausted, but she had a mysterious beauty. I don't know how else to describe it, but I've never forgotten her.

Jonathan looked thoughtfully at Abiel, then went on in a firm voice. It was Mary I saw at the crucifixion on Golgotha. She was the one with the young man who comforted her. She is much older now, but I know it was her. So Jesus, Abiel began, but Jonathan cut him off, wondering, was the baby in the manger the savior of his people? I thought he was killed years ago when Herod ordered all boys under the age of two to be murdered in Bethlehem. Abiel and I listened in horror. Herod had heard from some wise men from the East that the Messiah was about to be born. They had come to honor Jesus, but Herod saw him as a rival and tried to kill him. One of my nephews was killed in this massacre.

But you told me that this Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary, was going around doing miracles and people thought he was the Messiah. Now the authorities have tried again to kill him. What do you mean, they tried to kill him, I asked? He was crucified. He's dead, finally get it! Jonathan replied. But didn't you say the body was gone? What do you mean by that? Asked Abiel? Only this, if the woman I saw was Mary and I am quite sure that it was her and the man they crucified was their son, whom I saw the night he was born, then it didn't end on this cross. It was no ordinary night when the angels sang for us and this Jesus was no ordinary baby. The angel told us he was the Messiah, come to save us. Now, even though his enemies have crucified and buried him, his body is gone.

The shepherd drank his glass, got up and said before he said goodbye, I am just an ignorant shepherd, what do I know about these things? But I feel like we haven't seen this Jesus for the last time.

by John Halford