The Gospel of the King of the Jews

opened.

☥  1

God’s Holy Temple, Jerusalem

Then what, Iscariot, is the core of his teaching?

The what? asked the man, whose hands were tied behind his back. They were in the Chamber of Hewn Stone in God’s Holy Temple. The prisoner, a man of 25, with black, dishevelled hair and a short beard, was standing in front of the three semi-circular rows of cedarwood seats, where the 70 judges of the Sanhedrin sat when in session.

The main idea, said Caiaphas, the High Priest of Israel, seated on the throne of the President of the Sanhedrin. His hair and beard were pomaded. He stood up, turning to his father-in-law and speaking in Greek so that the prisoner would not understand, This is a waste of time.

One never knows, replied Annas from the ornate chair of carved ebony, inlaid with ivory, to which he was confined. Patience, my son. The weapon of those of us who work with our minds.

Come along, shepherd, Caiaphas said in Hebrew, leaving the throne and walking down the seven steps. He walked across the Chamber, his silk robes, ornamented with golden bells and pomegranates, swishing along the marble floor. He stood over the prisoner, Answer.

The shepherd went red and was silent.

The Temple guards had brought Judas in struggling. But his body had gone limp, like an animal when it knows it is overpowered, the moment they hauled him into the Chamber of Hewn Stone and he saw the famous triple tiers of the seats of the Sanhedrin. In the light from the oil-lamps suspended from the cedar beams of the ceiling, Judas had gazed with awe when the two High Priests of Israel entered: the majestic Caiaphas, and the crippled Annas, his chin sunk below his shoulders, hunched up in an ebony chair carried by two barefoot eunuchs.

Don’t be overwhelmed by His Holiness, young man. My sonin-law is a most august personage. I am intimidated by him myself, Annas told Judas, looking down at the floor. He is always busy, but you and I have plenty of time. Tell me, in your own words … what is the main thing that Rabbi Yeshua teaches.

Oh, I could never say, Judas replied, hunching his shoulders to ease the pain of the ropes tying his wrists behind his back. He understands everything.

Of course he does. That’s why you follow him, Annas nodded in his black skull cap. Just say the one thing you think is the most important … if you had to choose one.

The shepherd’s brow furrowed.

After a pause, the old man leant forward, Is it to rebel against the Roman oppressors, the scourge of our sacred nation?

Oh no, Your Holiness, Judas said, hunching his shoulders again. At least … one of the disciples said it was, but the Master doesn’t mention rebellion. I don’t think he does.

What does Rabbi Yeshua mention?

Silence.

Undo those ropes, Malchus, Annas commanded the sallow-faced confidant, who hovered behind his chair. "As El Shaddai lives, I can’t think what possessed them to tie up this young man."

Malchus, a man of 45 with greasy black side-curls, limped round to untie the ropes.

The eunuchs, both deaf-mutes, who carried Annas’ chair, were now standing by the Chamber’s cedarwood double-doors. They were the only other people present.

Caiaphas walked back up the seven steps and sat down on the throne of the President of the Great Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of all Israel. This was his position automatically as High Priest. He frowned, stroking his curled and oiled black beard: they were getting nowhere with this peasant. Either he was an incomparable actor, which Caiaphas doubted, or he was as simple as his own sheep.

Pandemonium had broken out in the Temple’s Outer Courts that morning, when the Messiah-claimant attacked the money-changers. The Temple guards in their leather armour and domed metal helmets had charged immediately but, with the cunning of Beelzebub, the Galilean rabble-rouser escaped into the mass of pilgrims with his disciples, all except for this shepherd, whom the guards had knocked unconscious.

Annas’ confidant, Malchus, folded up the rope and returned to his place behind the ebony chair. Judas flexed his wrists and arms, making grunts of pain. Malchus had deliberately rubbed the ropes against the chafed flesh, while untying them.

We cannot do anything for your Master, Annas explained, smoothing the bearskin rug that covered his legs, If we do not know what he says.

Judas opened his mouth and caught his breath. Then he said in a rush: The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.

What! exclaimed Caiaphas.

Go on, my friend, said Annas, looking down at the floor, but raising a forefinger towards the throne. Tell us what you mean.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for we shall see the Kingdom come, a smile spread to Judas’ eyes, as he spoke of his beloved Master’s teaching.

That’s it? Annas asked, a look of interest on his wizened face.

Mystical idiot, Caiaphas scowled, turning to his father-in-law. If that is all there is to it, we have nothing to fear.

Oh, you have nothing to fear, said Judas. The Master tells us to love our neighbour as –

Speak when you’re spoken to, shepherd, Caiaphas snapped, angry that he had spoken in Hebrew.

Judas looked down at his wrists. They had been bound so tightly that the ropes had lacerated the skin, even before Malchus gave him the rope-burn.

And what do you do with that kingdom, as you call it so earnestly, my young friend, the cunning smile never left Annas’ face, When you find it?

"Oh, you don’t do anything, Your Holiness. You are it."

Childlike, Annas said to his son-in-law.

Yes, Your Holiness, Judas agreed eagerly. That is just what he says: we must be as innocent as children. Then we can experience the Truth.

Well, you’re innocent enough, said Caiaphas.

Thank you, Your Holiness, said Judas. He rubbed the graze on his forehead. I’m not really. Oh, if only you could see the Master. Then you would know. The way he breaks bread.

Heavenly humility, said Annas, twisting uncomfortably in his ebony chair.

Oh, Your Holiness, Judas beamed. You understand.

I try to.

Caiaphas looked up at the gold counterweights used to raise and lower the gold oil-lamps suspended by gold chains from the cedar beams. He all but put his hand to his mouth to conceal a sneer at the way the shepherd took Annas’ words at face value, and found a friend in the scheming former High Priest, whose ruthless mind terrorised Jerusalem’s ruling aristocracy.

Caiaphas stared at the shepherd, whose eyes had closed. This was not what he had been expecting. The crowds had rioted when the Galilean Messiah-claimant attacked the money-changers. The unwashed masses had shed blood in God’s Holy Temple! It could have led to a massacre, if the Temple guards had not been on the alert, fearing trouble from the Zealots who, with their war-cry No King but God! were at their most defiant at the Passover. The Freedom-Fighters were prepared to die any kind of death rather than submit to pagan Rulers.

The guards with their heavy batons broke up the fighting, but even so, countless men in the crowd were injured, and seven of the guards had wounds. In the confusion the villains ran away. The guards captured only this imbecile.

From the start the High Priest had doubted if the shepherd would have anything to say worth hearing. But Annas had proposed it a second time. Caiaphas had learnt that it was not prudent to leave "El Shaddai’s old friend, the former High Priest", as his father-in-law liked to call himself, to propose something more than twice.

Caiaphas assumed that the Galilean was yet another Messiah-claimant trying to subvert the Temple of Yahweh, which bigots like the Essenes claimed was defiled. There had been so many in recent years, ever since that devil incarnate, the Roman General Pompey, had entered the Holy of Holies, access to which was permitted to only one man in the world, himself, the Cohen Gadol, High Priest of Israel. Since that desecration the Jews had been ground under the iron heel of Roma and the bronze fist of the Edomite tyrant, Herod.

Caiaphas had never experienced the assurance he saw in the shepherd’s face. He would not admit, even to himself, that he was bored by the rituals, that he found much of the dogma meaningless, that he sang the psalms without devotion. The contradictions in Torah distressed him: some of the divine revelation looked like deliberate duplicity. He wondered how the Sages could have compiled them, though he accepted that they were seeking the sacred Truth of myth, not the common reality of historical fact. Caiaphas did not tell anyone, not even his wife, and certainly not his father-in-law, that he hated the Festival of the Passover – with the noise and stench and bovine ignorance of the ritually unclean multitudes invading the Holy City, ritually unclean and physically filthy.

Looking at the shepherd and listening to his simple words, Caiaphas felt as if lashed by a whip: the Holy One of Israel had blessed this rough-handed peasant, who followed an ignorant Galilean Rabbi, while Hashem [God] had given nothing to His High Priest, who had devoted his life to His service.

It makes me wonder why he wants to destroy Temple, Annas said, scratching the skin under his sparse beard.

Oh, he doesn’t, Your Holiness.

He said he did, said Caiaphas.

Er … he didn’t … I … er …

He did threaten to knock it down in three days, said Annas as if apologetically, shrugging his head down further into his chest.

Oh no, said Judas. He said he would build it up in three days.

Then he would have to destroy it first, Caiaphas scowled.

Destroy God’s Holy Temple! Malchus muttered, his greasy side-curls shaking aggressively.

That is not what he meant, a faraway look came into Judas’ eyes. He is so wise no one could ever understand. He has seen the Truth … He is the Truth.

Maybe he is looking for work? If he knocks down the Temple, there will be work for carpenters to rebuild it, Caiaphas sneered. He is a carpenter, is he not?

Yes, Your Holiness. I mean, no. I mean … I mean … he is not looking for work.

Then what does he do for food and clothing? Caiaphas demanded. The shepherd reminded him of his own youthful aspiration, his joy in seeking the Lord, when he had spent all night praying that the Imperishable Blessed One would call him, as He had called the boy, Samuel. However, Caiaphas’ devotion had been stifled when they married him to Annas’ daughter and began to groom him to be High Priest. Is he a beggar?

Judas looked bewildered: We have a bag and th–

God will look after him, as he feeds the birds and clothes the lilies of the field, said Annas, scratching the dry skin under his beard, Because he has put God first.

Yes, Your Holiness, Judas said gratefully. That is what he himself says.

The High Priests knew it was. They exchanged glances. When their spies reported the inflammatory speeches of the Galilean rabble-rouser, this idea had struck Caiaphas. He had pointed out to his father-in-law that, like many of the reported speeches of Rabbi Yeshua, they were not a practical guide to life.

The Messiah-claimant had told his followers: go round the land of Yahweh, stirring up the people. Do not worry about money, or what to eat or drink or what clothes to wear. Do not even think of a woman lustfully, let alone commit adultery. Never feel envy or hatred, let alone fight or murder. If someone hits you, don’t get angry; turn the other cheek - let him hit you again. If someone borrows money from you, don’t ask for it back. Don’t judge and condemn. Don’t love only your neighbour, as Torah requires, love even your enemy. Don’t seek revenge: forgive.

Ordinary men can sustain such austere commands only for a short time: when they are certain that something momentous is going to happen, said Caiaphas "Any sacrifice might be demanded of them. They must be ready now for something they must not jeopardise by self-centred action. Undoubtedly: The Hour of Messiah!"

Annas looked up at him with respect, nodding.

Caiaphas summed up: The time had come. In flagrant contradiction to his appeasement teachings, the Messiah-claimant was now proclaiming that violence would bring the Kingdom. He would take it by storm! The End of Days! He had been hiding his intentions even from his closest followers. He was going to set the world on fire: he wished the blaze had already started! He had not come to bring peace, but a sword. He was going to set father against son, brother against brother, daughter against mother-in-law. He threatened anyone who opposed him with punishment worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The rabble-rouser flouted the Sabbath. He claimed to be greater than Israel’s warrior king, David, and wiser than Solomon. He maintained he could heal the sick and forgive sins. This was blasphemy: making out that he was equal to Hashem, who sends sickness to punish sins. At the same time he kept company with prostitutes and thieves. He goaded the am haarez [the common people] to follow him with promises of a better life. He would strip the rich of their money: the fat and greedy laugh now, but soon they will weep. The poor will inherit the earth. In this world he will give them houses, land, money, even wives – and in the world to come, treasures beyond anything they can imagine.

Malchus, Annas’ confidant, also came from Nazareth, where his father, Rabbi Ezra, was the Father of the Congregation. Malchus told the High Priests that Yeshua was a cowardly Zealot, who had fled from Nazareth to escape being stoned to death for blasphemy. He had slunk away to the Lake of Galilee where, even among the lewd fish-wives, he had gained a reputation for sexual promiscuity.

Galilee was the home of the Zealots, the fourth sect of Judaism, founded by Judas the Galilean. The Freedom-Fighters believed in terrorism: it would force the Hour of Messiah. They lived their cry: No King but God! The promised Messiah would restore the Kingdom. The King of the Jews would expel the Romans from the Promised Land.

Yeshua of Nazareth had built up a reputation as a Faith-Healer. Using his Zealot name, BarNasha (the Son of Man prophesied by the apocalyptic Prophet Daniel), he had sent his followers throughout Galilee, before advancing on Jerusalem itself. Now he told them to shout from the rooftops: "The Hour has come! Sell all your possessions! Buy swords! Follow me! Fight! Win back the Kingdom for God’s Chosen People. Then you’ll get all you ever wanted. Do not delay! Follow me now! He had even told one man, Do not bury your father: leave his body to the vultures." BarNasha had even taken a vow not to drink wine until after the victory, God’s Kingdom will come before the next harvest!

Annas looked down again; he appeared to be very interested in the state of his well-manicured fingernails. "Your Rabbi is expecting something to happen now, isn’t he? Something tremendous."

Yes, Your Holiness.

With difficulty Annas raised his head to look at the prisoner: What is it, my friend?

The Passover!" Judas’ expression indicated his surprise that the former High Priest did not know.

Trying to conceal a smirk, Caiaphas looked up at the high ceiling and the gold oil-lamps. "We’ll never get anywhere with the am haarez," he said in Greek. The am haarez were the common people despised by Pharisees and Sadducees alike. Literally, the people of the earth, they were called the scum of the earth and untouchable by the rich and powerful.

If he does not want to destroy God’s Holy Temple, looking up, Annas contrived to smile at Judas. At least our jobs will be safe. Or does he, like the Essenes, want to overthrow the High Priest?

Oh no, Your Holiness, Judas replied. The Master says religion is only a signpost on the Way, like a finger pointing at the sun. He would not want your job, not for all your wealth. He is only concerned with the Truth.

Go on, my friend.

☥  2

The Road from Jerusalem to Jericho

The Temple guards were pushing him, forcing the shepherd to jump down through the hole in the floor.

Judas struggled. He could not see into the hole. It was pitch black. He had no idea how far he would fall. He feared it was an old well: the shaft might drop down 100 feet. He would hurtle to his death.

Hold his arms! Malchus ordered the guards angrily, as Judas fought like a wild animal. Why didn’t you tie him up? Fling him in head first!

The guards fought to grab his arms, but they couldn’t push him down. Judas was fighting for his life.

Hold him! Malchus shouted, limping across. "I’ll do it. His side-curls flapping, he pulled up his robe and grasped the dagger strapped to his leg. Like his Galilean countrymen, the Zealots, who concealed weapons under their clothing, Malchus always kept a hidden dagger, unknown to Annas. Hold his arms!" Malchus stuck the dagger into Judas’ back, forcing him towards the hole. He kept prodding. The blood started seeping out through the shepherd’s tunic.

The High Priest’s confidant was smiling an evil smile. Looking strangely like a rat with eyes set close together, sharp nose, and small mouth, he turned his dagger in the wound.

Judas was forced to jump. The fall into the darkness seemed endless – but he hit the floor only ten feet below. He crumpled forward, grazing elbows and forehead, but he was glad to be alive. And no bones broken.

A wooden cover slammed down on the opening, shutting out any light. The pit was damp. Groping around the filthy straw, Judas came across rusty chains. He was in an underground prison. The only escape was through the trap-door at the top – which he could not even reach. He sensed the misery of those who had been imprisoned here before. He smelt their urine and excrement. The stabwound in his back hurt terribly. Insects bit and stung him. Judas groaned with despair. He heard a rat scuttling across the floor. It ran onto his foot. He kicked at it. Once, sleeping in a cave in the desert, he’d woken to find a snake had crept into his tunic. Aaagh! With a shriek he’d flung it away. He shuddered. He knew that the rat would attack him, if it was hungry.

Then Judas smiled: he was suffering for the Kingdom. The Master had told them they might have to suffer. If they did, for the Kingdom, they would merit a reward. And now he received that heavenly reward. Here, in the foul smell of the black pit, with the rat and the creeping, biting things, Judas felt as if he was charged with light. He was glowing.

Make your eye single. Concentrate on the one thing needful, so that your mind is focussed on the Kingdom of Heaven within, Yeshua had taught them, And your soul will shine in joy.

In the darkness Judas pushed the straw and muck into one corner: rather lie on the damp, bare stone than on that infested straw. How they stung! Scraping the filth aside was easy for him: a shepherd with hard hands was used to such things. He was glad they had not caught the Master. Judas could not bear to think of Yeshua’s slender fingers clearing this mess. Though the Master would have done it with less revulsion than most of them, James or Matthew for a start.

The shepherd knelt in the space he had cleared, keeping away from the slimy walls. He closed his eyes and entered within. He prayed the three words his beloved Master had taught him. Instead of the daily repetitions of the Synagogue, Rabbi Yeshua initiated each of them with a special prayer, suited to his own spiritual development. Judas felt the tension running out of his face. His body relaxed. After a moment he felt That descending. He was home. This was the love within.

Judas knew he was far from rising above the likes and dislikes of the mind, which the Master said was necessary if they were to realise – make real – their soul, the Kingdom of Heaven within. But he was able to enter into meditation at will. He tried to concentrate, but his mind wandered to their first meeting in the desert between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

It was just after the Feast of the Passover, three harvests before. Judas was sitting on a rock, playing his flute in the late afternoon sun, watching the flock nibbling, bells tinkling. The stony ground was not fertile: just thistles and thorns, and capers which grow everywhere, even in the walls of the houses. Not good grazing.

The shepherd saw a man in a white robe and prayer shawl walking along the trail skirting the hillside. He had a spring in his stride, as if he could walk like that forever. He passed the skeleton of a camel, one of the pack animals whose bones, bleached by the sun, marked the caravan route through the desert.

Judas had seen the camel being left for dead by its owner. Within a minute the vultures began circling overhead, then, as soon as they felt safe, they flew down. They pecked out the camel’s eyes, then they tore open the body and gorged till they were too heavy to fly. For some reason they reminded Judas of the priests.

The stranger looked up. His face was caught in the rays of the sun. It seemed as if he was radiating light. An aura shone about his head and his white robe.

The shepherd stopped playing his flute.

Stay! he ordered his dog, Sheba, in his I-really-mean-it tone. Guard the flock! He put down the flute, grabbed his acacia-wood staff and raced downhill, leaping over rocks and thistles as fast as if he’d been after a fox that had caught one of his lambs.

Who are you? Judas asked, scarcely out of breath, when he reached the stranger. Are you a Prophet? He was putting out his hand to touch the fringes of the stranger’s prayer shawl, almost as if to make sure he was not a vision, when he fell to his knees.

In his white robe the stranger gazed down, smiling the kindest smile the young shepherd had ever seen, kinder even than his mother’s. His face shone with an Inner Light. His eyes seemed to look right into Judas, and see everything he had ever thought or done. Judas’ heart glowed. His mind merged into a consciousness he could never have imagined, yet which seemed more real than anything he’d ever known. It was beyond him yet within, more truly him than his own body. He had no idea how long it lasted. The experience faded, but Judas remained overwhelmed. He felt charged with energy, gentle yet immensely powerful. He wanted to be with this man forever.

The man in the white robe bent down, cupping one hand under Judas’ bearded chin and gently raising him to his feet. They stood looking into each other’s eyes. Again Judas experienced that dimension. He lost all sense of time.

The stranger stayed with the shepherd that night.

With Sheba running here and there without a bark, Judas herded the flock into the cave, taking the smooth stones he had chosen out of his goatskin pouch, fitting them into his sling - and flinging them at the ribs of any sheep that straggled.

Smiling, the stranger watched Judas calling his sheep and goats. You know them all by name?

Of course.

When the flock were all in the cave, covering their heads, the two men prayed together. Then they ate some bread, almost as hard as the stones of the desert, with milk and olives. His eyes shining, Judas offered the stranger the dried fig cakes his mother had given him last week for his birthday.

As soon as it was dark they went to sleep in the cave. Judas lay across the entrance with Sheba. I am the gate of the sheepfold, he said, grinning.

When you live within, you are the gate to the higher consciousness. And I am that gate.

Judas fell asleep wondering what he meant.

When the shepherd awoke next morning, the stranger was already outside in his white robe and prayer shawl, sitting in a strange position with his legs crossed, motionless, facing east, where the sun would soon be rising.

Pulling at his short beard in surprise that the man had walked over him and Sheba without disturbing them, Judas watched him. Was he a Prophet? Was he an Angel of the Lord? Had Judas entertained him unawares like Father Abraham with the three angels? Judas saw a cloud of glory over the stranger’s head. He heard an Inner Voice: The Illimitable!

He stared and stared.

In a daze he let the sheep and goats out of the cave. He fed Sheba, while the flock wandered up the hill, bells tinkling. Then he sat on the ground beside the stranger.

Some time after the sun had risen, the stranger stood up. When Judas did the same, he said, I am going now.

Going? Where are you going? Judas blurted out, clutching at his heart. Somehow he’d thought the man was going to be with him forever. Can I go with you?

"I am always with you. The experience you had is the I that I am. Live your life based on seeing That in all things, and you will always be with me, the stranger said tenderly. In 40 days I shall come back to you. Then, if you wish, you can come with me. You will be my first disciple. There will be eleven others, one for each of the tribes of Israel. Until then, pray all the time, whatever you are doing."

How must I pray? After his experience of divine consciousness, repetition of the daily prayers seemed meaningless.

Love God. That experience is your true home. Stay within your home, and pray these words, the stranger stooped to pick up a white stone. He put the stone into Judas’ hand, but still kept hold of it. Then he put his mouth to Judas’ ear, so close that their beards touched, and whispered three words. He let go of the white stone and put his forefinger to his lips, looking into Judas’ eyes, Never mention this secret prayer to anyone. For you, these words are as sacred as THE NAME of the Holy One of Israel, blessed be He. Smiling, the man put his finger on Judas’ lips.

"You must give it all your love, and all your attention, he continued. Imagine you are inside the Holy of Holies. Now, imagine there is are droves of flies outside and you can keep them out only by the prayer. You must not relax your concentration - or they will get in. If they do, they will take you over: the Holy of Holies will be forgotten, your prayer will be lost, and you will find yourself at the mercy of the flies – that is, your own thoughts which pester you worse than any insects. Eventually something will bring you back to yourself. That something might be this white stone. So keep it with you always. You have been holding onto it all this time. In the same way you must hold onto your prayer at every moment of the day."

He turned and began to walk away.

The shepherd stared. He wanted to run after the Prophet and say, I’m going with you – when the man turned and waved farewell, "Shalom!"

Despite his anguish, Judas could not help smiling: the look the Prophet gave him was the look he gave Sheba, when telling her to stay. Suddenly he realised he had not asked the stranger’s name. And he did not know where they were to meet in 40 days time. He was going to use this excuse to run after him – be with him again – when he heard the Inner Voice: Be still, and know that I am God.

Nevertheless, Judas picked up his staff and was starting to run, when he sensed that this was a test. He stopped, thrusting his staff into the ground. Be still. You and I are one. Then he turned and leapt as fast as any goat up the rocky hillside to join Sheba and the flock. He was smiling: he had overcome the temptation.

☥  3

The Chamber of Hewn Stone

Judas felt the rat running over his feet. He tried to kick it away.

He crawled to another corner of the cell and scraped aside the filth. The biting things plagued him. He pulled his hand away with a shriek - Aaeagh! He had touched a snake. It slithered away. He felt a feathery stickiness about his face – Aaeaegh! He struck at it with his hand, then realised it was a spider’s web. Then he felt a large spider scurrying inside his tunic. He screamed.

The trap-door opened above. Light shone down into the black void.

No! He’d seen this before! His nightmare vision in Bethany! They were going to crucify him!

Grab this! one of the Temple guards lowered a rope. You’re wanted.

Who by?

No questions! Grab it!

You are going to be stoned to death, goatherd, Malchus sneered. But you can stay here and rot if you prefer.

Judas did not know what to do.

The High Priest wants you, Malchus shouted angrily. Hurry!

Judas was trembling so much he could hardly cling to the rope. At last he succeeded and they pulled him up out of the pit.

Looking filthier than ever. A typical disciple of that thief. Annas’ sallow-faced confidant pushed him in the back. Move!

Limping, Malchus pushed Judas all the way back to the cedarwood-panelled Chamber of Hewn Stone, his fist turning in the bloodstain.

"We have been attending the afternoon tamid sacrifice, said Annas, hunched up in his ebony chair, smiling down at its ivory inlay. The gates of Temple are now closed. You are our prisoner. Though where could you be better than in the company of God’s High Priest? Annas turned his head towards Caiaphas, Tt! We should have asked the shepherd to join us. He could have advised us on the lamb."

Seated regally on the throne of the President of the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas inclined his head as if in agreement. There was no way Annas would have allowed the shepherd, a member of the despised and ritually unclean am haarez caste, to enter the Court of the Priests. The High Priest suddenly started: why were shepherds untouchable, when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - and Moses and David - had all been shepherds? He had never thought of it before.

Putting his hand up to scratch his black skull cap, Annas looked up at Judas. Go and wash yourself, he said in a voice of apparent kindness, adding, Malchus, find him clean clothes. And never allow anyone to appear before me like that again.

Judas turned to leave.

Annas saw the bloodstained tunic. Malchus, he said in a sinister voice that filled his confidant with terror, I am aware that you had some experience of butchery, when you were working for that contemptible Antipas, but if you indulge in it any further without my consent, I will return you to your former master. Doubtless he will serve your insolent head up for dinner, as you served up that Baptising excrescence.

Malchus blenched. Looking like a rat scuttling away, he led Judas out without a word.

Annas loathed Herod Antipas, the Prince of Galilee, who was responsible for his injury. Sixteen years previously, the Prince in one of his ungovernable rages had whipped a horse in the eyes outside the Maccabee Palace in Jerusalem. The horse reared, then bolted and galloping blindly trampled down Annas, High Priest at the time. The accident had paralysed the lower half of his body. This was God’s punishment, according to the Zealots. Israel’s High Priest had been collaborating with the uncircumcised Romans, who had been controlling the Holy Land for 100 years, and were now directly ruling Judea.

This Galilean Messiah-claimant must have been about 12, when the Zealots rebelled against the Tax of Augustus, said Caiaphas in Hebrew. He left the throne and walked down the seven steps to stand in front of his father-in-law.

An impressionable age.

His childhood was spent in an atmosphere of rebellion, with the Zealots as local folk heroes, Caiaphas continued, running his long fingers over the ivory inlay of Annas’ elaborately carved ebony chair. Two Messianic revolts during his childhood.

I take your point.

Following the death of King Herod the Great, the Land of Canaan erupted at the Feast of the Passover. The uprising against the hated Romans was fiercest in Galilee, home of the Zealots. The rebel leader, Judas the Galilean, claimed to be Messiah. He captured the royal arsenal in the capital, Sepphoris, four miles north of Nazareth. However, his initial success was followed by disaster. Three Roman legions, commanded by Publius Quinctilius Varus, the Imperial Viceroy of Syria, marched out of the massive walls of Antioch, and rode south.

Varus put Sepphoris to the flames. He crucified 2,000 Zealots, sold all women under 30 into slavery, and sent all able-bodied men to the galleys. This was a fate as bad as crucifixion: chained in darkness, given only enough food and drink to give them strength for the back-breaking work of pulling the oars, whipped and cursed, in the slime and stench of their own excrement, few galley-slaves survived for as long as a year.

Caesar Augustus appointed Herod the Great’s son, Herod Antipas, to govern Galilee and Perea. The Prince rebuilt Sepphoris as his capital with marble palaces and colonnaded streets, a theatre and Roman baths - in the grand manner of his father. Sepphoris was justly called the jewel of Galilee.

Judas the Galilean was not caught. He remained a hero, hiding in the hills of Galilee.

Ten years later – when Yeshua was 12 – Roman rule was imposed on Judea, with a heavy Tax. All Jews hated taxation. The Zealots asserted that payment of taxes to a mortal ruler was treason to Hashem, the true and only King of Israel: Taxation is the first step to slavery. The Tax did not affect Galilee, but it was Judas the Galilean, who led his fanatic Zealots in the second revolt against Roma. To their war-cry: No King but God! the Freedom-Fighters added, after the 2,000 crucifixions, a desperate rallying call: Take up your cross!

However, Annas, then merely a wealthy Sadducee, believed that rebellion against the might of Roma would achieve nothing, except more roads lined with crucified Jews.

"Those goyim crucified 10,000 men after the slaves’ revolt of Spartacus, that gladiator who claimed to be the Theban ‘deity’ Dionysus, resurrected from the dead. Such butchers are worse than beasts, Annas went pale with malice as he lectured his five sons and his son-in-law, Though how could one expect anything from short-haired barbarians, whose origin goes back barely 700 years? As El Shaddai lives, those rapacious Romans with their inherent depravity, of which even Herod, sperm of Esau, would be ashamed, will see divine reprisal for their attempt to rape our sacred nation. Remember Jeremiah: ‘You will not go unpunished. You will become an object of horror and cursing. All your towns will be in ruins.’

However, we cannot defy the over-riding power of that evil Empire, Annas continued, almost spitting with rage. "We must follow Jeremiah, who counselled submitting to Babylon, warning that King Nebuchadnezzar was the instrument of El Shaddai’s anger to punish His Chosen People. Had Jeremiah been heeded, Solomon’s Temple would not have been destroyed. The Ark would not have been lost. Nebuchadnezzar would not have deported our sacred nation to Babylon, with King Hezekiah blinded and in chains."

Was it not King Zedekiah? Caiaphas interrupted, with some trepidation.

Good. At least one of you has some wits about him, Annas smiled at his son-in-law. Such a holocaust now could wipe out the People of the Covenant.

Rather than see his God’s People perish, Annas turned informant. The Romans crushed the revolt in Galilee almost before it began. They appointed Annas High Priest.

Again Judas eluded capture. A greater hero than ever, he lived in the hills of Galilee, waiting for his hour to come. Then he would arise, proclaim himself Messiah and overthrow the uncircumcised oppressors. The Hour of Messiah! The Zealots insisted that Judas would not die until the Kingdom was restored.

Annas ruled as High Priest for ten years. Then Herod Antipas’ horse trampled him. Recovering consciousness after the accident, Annas summoned his sons and son-in-law. "Leviticus tells us that no physical defect is permitted in a priest of Israel, least of all in Hashem’s High Priest. He must be without blemish … like an animal for sacrifice, Annas smiled, but his eyes were cold, I am obliged to resign as High Priest. However, Moses says nothing about the power behind the throne … so far as I know."

His sons looked at each other nervously. None of them sought to add to his knowledge of the Law.

Annas’ mind remained unimpaired. He made the holy office a dynasty, appointing his oldest son, Eleazar, to take his place. For two years Eleazar wore the gold head-band of the High Priest, engraved with the words HOLY TO THE LORD. Despite this reminder of his consecration to Hashem [THE NAME, as Jews call Yahweh out of respect], Eleazar committed a sexual offence. Annas had to remove him. The High Priest should be the embodiment of Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of THE NAME) – prepared to sacrifice his life rather commit any of the three heinous sins: serving idols, murder, or a prohibited sexual act.

Undoubtedly Caiaphas was the most able. The former High Priest appointed his son-in-law to the sacred office over his four biological sons. Caiaphas had now been ruling for 14 years.

Annas did not want a Zealot uprising. Not at this Passover. Nor at any other time. 200 years earlier, the Seleucid Empire had attempted to exterminate the Jewish nation. With her technology and discipline the Roman Empire might succeed. The last Governor had threatened: "One more Messianic uprising, and Roma will complete what Nebuchadnezzar began and destroy your Temple ad vitam aeternam (for ever)."

The poisoner had done her work well – even Caiaphas had attributed the Governor’s death to disease. But the new Governor was more intelligent, more subtle and more deadly.

In the same way that the Elders of Judah delivered Samson into the hands of the Philistines, said the High Priest, It is better to throw one Messiah-claimant to the dogs of Roma, rather than risk reprisals that might lead to the destruction of our sacred nation.

Or even one hundred, his father-in-law agreed. They were both aware of the excitable crowds surrounding Yeshua of Nazareth. Many of them were Galileans, doubtless Zealots.

When the shepherd returned to the Chamber of Hewn Stone, washed and wearing a clean home-spun tunic, Caiaphas asked, Did your Rabbi, as you call him, ever mention the destruction of Sepphoris?

Oh, Sepphoris has not been destroyed, Your Holiness, Judas replied. It is a fine city. His own village, Nazareth, is only an hour’s walk away.

Don’t you know anything, imbecile? the High Priest snapped. Sepphoris was destroyed by the Romans 30 years ago and rebuilt by Prince Herod Antipas. Has your Galilean Rabbi mentioned that?

After some hesitation, Judas replied, Not to me, Your Holiness.

The leader of the rebellion was called Judas, said Annas, scratching the skin under his beard. It wasn’t you, was it?

Oh no, Your Holiness. I’m only –

I know, my son. I was teasing, El Shaddai’s old friend, the former High Priest, smiled.

Judas blushed.

Annas made a sign to Malchus. The confidant hobbled across the Chamber. He opened one of the great double-doors and said something to the guard stationed outside. Malchus closed the door and stood there, waiting beside the two deaf-mutes.

Was this other Judas related to your Rabbi? asked Annas.

Which other Judas? Oh, the leader of the rebellion … er … I don’t know, Your Holiness.

He has a brother called Judas.

Has he, Your Holiness? That’s strange. Two brothers with the same name.

Not Judas the Galilean, you dolt! Caiaphas took an angry stride towards the prisoner. Yeshua of Nazareth has a brother called Judas, hasn’t he?

Y- yes, Your Holiness.

Tell us about him, said Annas. Sit down, my son: you are frightening my friend with your majestic bearing. As his son-in-law walked up the seven steps to the throne of the President of the Sanhedrin, the cripple added in Greek, In fact, that lust-slave Mark Antony had two daughters, both of whom he modestly called Antonia, like that hideous fortress that hovers over Temple like a vulture. It is the Roman way.

With those savages, uncircumcised of heart as of body, Caiaphas returned, sitting down and folding his arms magisterially. Any imbecility is possible.

Yes, my son, Annas prompted Judas. Rabbi Yeshua’s brother, Judas …

He is a Zealot, said the shepherd.

I know. And very close to your Master, Annas nodded, looking down at his fingernails.

Oh no, Your Holiness. Judas is not with us. The Rabbi’s four brothers are not interested in the Way. They are young, but very fiery. Yakov calls the Master a traitor.

Because …? Annas queried, deducing that Yakov was another brother.

Because he will not fight the Romans, said Judas. They are not like brothers at all.

A knock was heard. Malchus opened the cedarwood door. He took a bowl of Phoenician glass from the man outside. Then he limped back across the Chamber and held the precious glass bowl out to Annas, hunched up in his chair.

So you are saying that Rabbi Yeshua has no political ambitions, said the old Jew, dabbing his thumb into the bowl, which contained sheepswool oil. He rubbed the oil into the dry skin under his sparse beard.

Yes, Your Holiness. I mean – no.

Then why did the Zealot instigate the riot in the Courts of the Temple? demanded Caiaphas.

Which Zealot?

Your Galilean Rabbi, of course!

He’s not a Zealot.

Then why did he attack the money-changers?

The money-changer attacked him. He only – Judas began.

It could have led to a massacre, if the Temple guards had not acted with such expedition, said Caiaphas.

So fast, Annas explained to Judas. They charged immediately.

That kind of provocation is all the Romans need, Caiaphas said angrily, As an excuse to mulct Temple, send Jews to the galleys, enslave our women, and salt our fields.

The High Priest did not see fit to explain to one of the am haarez that the priesthood was responsible to Roma for maintaining order at the Festivals. Pontius Pilate who hates our sacred race as much as we hate his barbaric tribe would impose a horrendous fine on Temple, if there was any disturbance of the peace. Further, assaulting the money-changers was an attack on the Priesthood. The High Priests regarded the stream of money pouring into Temple as their own personal income, making Annas the richest Jew in the world. The river of treasure from Babylon alone flowed so deep that a guard of 5,000 heavily armed men escorted the iron chests of gold and silver all the way. When his oldest son, Eleazar, had been found to have a love-child, Annas had without a moment’s misgiving used the Temple billions to cover up the scandal.

The former High Priest nodded in perfect agreement with his son-in-law. The Treasury was their power base. Jews throughout the world had to pay Temple Tax: half a shekel annually, incumbent upon every Jewish man aged 20 and over. Further, in the Temple of Jerusalem worshippers had to buy sacrificial animals, or they had to pay a fee to the priests to certify that their own animals were ritually clean. The only money Temple would accept was the silver shekel of Tyre. The money-changers were vital: they had to convert coins from all over the Diaspora into the Tyrian shekels required by God’s Holy Temple.

The Roman Prefect could have called out the Garrison, Caiaphas added angrily. Thousands were slaughtered in a riot at the Passover by that Messiah-claimant, Athronges, when he attacked the money-changers at the death of the Edomite.

Still, our shepherd friend was not even being dandled on his mother’s knees in those far-off days, said Annas, rubbing more sheepswool oil into his beard. We can’t hold him responsible for that, Your Holiness.

Caiaphas nodded, mollified by this persuasive argument.

Judas looked gratefully at the former High Priest.

Annas now asked with a puzzled frown, Tell me, my friend, why does Rabbi Yeshua tell his followers to sell their possessions and buy weapons?

Judas shook his head in perplexity.

The High Priests waited.

I will tell you why I am so worried, said Annas, confidentially, scratching his black skull cap. "In the time of Prince Archelaus there was a riot. It was when His Holiness was a young man as you are now – you see, everything passes: I myself was young, though you may find that hard to believe. The floor of Temple was awash with Jewish blood. By El Shaddai, I never want to see that again."

After a long hesitation Judas said, He is wiser than we are.

You see, we know everything, Caiaphas rose from the throne. Putting his hands behind his back, the High Priest walked towards Judas, his long silk robes sweeping down the marble steps. We’ve been honest with you, Iscariot, he could not bring himself to call the shepherd my friend like his father-in-law, And we expect you to be completely honest with us.

Oh yes. Of course.

We have friends everywhere, Caiaphas looked down on the prisoner. They tell us everything, so we’ll know if you are not telling then truth.

Judas’ brow furrowed: Then why do you need to ask me?

You can’t outwit sheer simplicity, Annas said in Greek. He shivered, and added over his shoulder in Hebrew, Bring my lambswool shawl.

Malchus hurried across to the great doors and spoke to the guard outside.

We have to know whether we can trust you, before we go any further, Caiaphas frowned. You are very close to him, I believe, the first disciple to join him? asked Annas.

The first shall be last, Judas murmured.

Annas glanced up at his son-in-law and made an inclination of his head towards the throne.

Caiaphas walked up the seven steps. He seated himself again on the throne of the President of the Sanhedrin.

Looking down at his lap, but gesturing towards his son-in-law, Annas said to Judas, His Holiness and I want to be sure for ourselves, before we go to wor- visit your Master – I almost said, worship – dear me, that would be idolatry, El Shaddai’s old friend clapped his hand over his mouth. You cannot have God’s High Priest – the only man in the entire world permitted to say THE NAME of the God of our Fathers – and his venerable father-in-law, the former High Priest himself, falling at the feet of everyone who calls himself the Messiah. Though for me, of course, that would not be possible. Annas gave the arms of his ebony chair a playful slap. Or, if I did fall at his feet, I would need a friend to help me up, he jerked his thumb at the two deaf-mute eunuchs, standing by the great cedarwood doors. Those slaves are useless; they can do nothing properly. Would you do me that kindness, young man?

Oh, of course, Your Holiness.

Thank you. I knew you would help, Annas nodded, looking down. You can see what we mean, when we tell you how circumspect we must be … how very careful we must be.

Oh yes, Your Holiness, said Judas. I understand now.

The shepherd and I understand each other very well, Annas said to his son-in-law in Hebrew.

Like one of your own sons, Caiaphas concurred.

Malchus opened the door after hearing another tap, and took a lambswool shawl from the guard. He limped back and wrapped the shawl round Annas’ shoulders.

Do you remember that Baptiser maniac? Annas asked Judas.

He wasn’t a maniac, Your Ho-

He claimed to be a Prophet, but Herod Antipas chopped off his head – thanks to Malchus here, said Annas, gesturing at his sallow-faced confidant. So you do see, don’t you, my friend? It just wouldn’t do if they said at his trial, ‘Rabbi Yeshua numbers the High Priest amongst his followers.’ We might get into trouble.

Who with? asked Judas.

Not that your Master is likely to be tried, Annas answered smoothly. But we have to be so careful to avoid false prophets. There have been so many in these troubled times, even shepherds claiming to be the Messiah, like that Athronges.

Judas looked blank.

You do understand - don’t you, my son? - that His Holiness has been appointed by the blessed Adonai Himself, the Lord God of our Fathers. So you must tell us everything you can. In this way you can serve the Holy One of Israel, and you can serve His Holiness. You can take us to your Master. And maybe – I say this in all friendship – we may be able to help him.

☥  4

Jochanan the Baptiser

Elijah has come down from Heaven! He is preaching repentance and baptising people into new life in the River Jordan.

What excitement Judas felt when the nomad boys told him! His spine tingled. Shivers ran up to his head. His heart beat loud and sweetly painful … He wanted to tell his mother how thrilled he was.

Four weeks after the Prophet left him, with Sheba and the flock Judas was passing the black goatskin tents of some nomads, tent ropes held with large boulders. Smoke was rising from thorn-bush fires, as the women prepared the evening meal. The nomads’ dogs started barking at the stranger and his dog. Sheba was trained to stay at her master’s heel. She did not react. Two boys pushed back the heavy wool curtain across the opening of their tent and ran out to see what it was. Seeing the shepherd and his flock, they waved happily. Judas waved back. The boys ran across to greet him.

It was these nomad boys, who told Judas about the new Prophet, Jochanan the Baptiser. He wore a garment of camel hair and a leather belt like Elijah. He was preaching by the Jordan. They told him how they had heard Jochanan bellowing out:

"Listen – listen! You who are waiting for the Kingdom of God! Listen to the Prophet crying in the wilderness! Your society is corrupt. Why? Because you have missed your aim. Your leaders have dragged Israel into the gutter. Who? The Romans? No! Your own collaborating leaders. Hellenisers! The Edomites! They think they are liberated by goy ideas. Wrong! They are enslaved by them! They are unfit for the world to come.

"The sins of Israel are recoiling on your own heads! Why? Because you circumcised the Edomites. How? By force. Was that Halachah? No! It was not! Therefore the sons of Esau became rulers of Israel! Why? Because of your crime! Yes! It is God’s punishment! It was not the transgression of Herod; it was the retribution of THE NAME. It was not the cruelty of Herod; it was the turpitude of Jews."

The nomad boys did not know what turpitude meant, but they repeated the Baptiser’s words with the perfect memory of the illiterate. Nor did Judas. And that made it seem worse.

"It was not the wealth of the Edomite. It was the poverty of Jews! Spiritual poverty! Degenerate Jews! You! Disgrace to the God of Jacob! Yes, you! Brood of vipers! Don’t say, ‘We are the children of Abraham.’ God can raise children of Abraham up out of these stones! Repent! Turn back! Now! Remember! You are the Chosen Race! The Kingdom of God is here! Remember how Elisha purified Naaman the Syrian in the sacred Jordan. Be baptised into new life in the Jordan’s sacred water. Here! Now! Sons of the Covenant! Turn round and live a new life! Repent now!"

Judas was thrilled: was Jochanan the Baptiser the white-robed Prophet who had come to him? This was the fresh start he wanted. Even when he was a boy, Judas had longed for God. Not all those prayers and sermons standing in the Synagogue, which made him yawn till the tears ran down his cheeks. He wanted something real, like God calling the boy, Samuel. God had spoken to Israel once, at Mount Sinai. That seemed to be enough for everyone else. They said it was a sin when Judas said he wanted more. They said he was an ignorant shepherd. He had got it all wrong. You cannot see God and live. It is pride to want to be close to God like the Prophets, his mother told him, "Especially for us of the am haarez caste."

Judas had once had a strange experience in the desert. He had been alone with the flock and asked, Who am I? His thoughts fell away. He saw he was different from all he’d ever thought he was. He was something so vast it made his body seem like a pebble on the dry riverbed of a wadi. His personality was not himself. His thinking stopped and … he was being! He saw … everything! The experience did not last long, but the memory of the experience never left him. He tried again and again to recapture it – yet he never succeeded. He knew only that he wanted That to be the centre of his life.

Judas did not revere the priests. They seemed to do whatever they liked, and call it holy. They had turned God’s Holy Temple into a way of making money. But he did not say anything, not even to his mother. Anyway, the shepherd could not see why he should pay a priest to intercede for him with God. He wouldn’t trust one of them to look after his flock, not even for one day. And he didn’t see why lambs should be killed to absolve men’s sins. God created them. Noah carried them into the Ark. They had not sinned so that the world had to be flooded. Then why should they …? Why should he …? He wanted to … he didn’t know what … he burst into tears … for him, to be close to God was the only thing that would make life worthwhile. Even if he died that minute.

Judas felt this most in the desert, alone with Sheba and the flock and the bones, as he called the arid hills: he pretended they were the skeletons of mammoth creatures buried below. In the day, alone with the vast sky; at night, alone with the stars; and always the silence, which sometimes seemed to fall like a steel hammer on a bronze anvil. Alone with God, he liked to think. Later, the Master was to tell him: "Silence is the voice of God. And That is within your heart."

When Judas made his pilgrimage to Jerusalem last year at the last Feast of Shelters, he entered at the Sheep Gate with his mother and Ziggy, his brother. They went straight to God’s Holy Temple. As always Judas was overwhelmed by its grandeur. Then, standing in the Women’s Court, mouth open in wonder, in the spirit he saw the Lord!

Like a radiant flame, the spirit of Yahweh flew down from His Throne of Glory. He beckoned and the shepherd found himself flying through the Nicanor Gate and into the Court of the Priests. He followed the Angel of the Lord flying over the priests, who were going about their duties with solemn reverence. He flew past the Altar of Sacrifice, then between the bronze pillars, engraved with pomegranates, into the Sanctuary. He flew past the gold Altar and the sacred menorah.

The Angel of the Lord passed the Inner Doors and the Divine Veil, made of blue, purple and crimson linen, embroidered with cherubim, each with six wings. The cherubim rose from the Veil and flew into the Holy of Holies itself, Judas following on the wings of adoration. He saw the two gold cherubim, wreathed in fiery clouds, forming a canopy over the Ark. The Angel opened the Ark of the Covenant. Judas saw the two tablets, which Moses himself had placed there. The shepherd put out his hand and touched the sacred casket. The silence deafened him! A flame of light and thunder shot high … right up to the Lord seated on His Throne of Glory in the Heavens.

In the Women’s Court the shepherd collapsed. His mother thought he was dead. Ziggy ran for water and splashed it over his face. After what seemed an eternity to his mother, Judas revived.

Judas thought … the priests looked … superior ... How could they look like that when they saw the Lord everyday in His Own Dwelling Place? Some of them were good men, Judas supposed. But he went away without saying a word of what was in his heart.

Once in the desert, two harvests previously, Judas had seen the Prince of Galilee riding in state along the camel trail to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks. A troop of horsemen and a host of runners preceded his ornate gold and ebony carriage. Clouds of dust. The faces of his courtiers were smeared with cream, lest the sun spoil their complexions.

Sheba started growling when the Prince’s mounted bodyguard, the Invincibles in their yellow and black uniforms, faces masked in black against the dust, rode past the grazing flock Then she raced across, barking madly, darting past the black horses, jumping up and scratching at the royal carriage. Judas did not know what possessed her. Sheba had never behaved so madly in her life.

Prince Herod Antipas put his head out between the curtains: What, in all the wonder of virgin-born Dusares, is going on?

Some shepherd’s mongrel, Your Highness. Shall I kill it? a sallow-faced man, riding on a black horse with black and yellow trappings, drew his sword.

With the speed of thought!

Judas panicked. He waved at Sheba with his staff, put his fingers to his lips and gave the piercing whistle, which meant "Come here now!"

Sheba raced back to her master. The sallow-faced man galloped after her, his upraised sword flashing in the sun.

Leave it, Malchus! Do not drink the cup of delay, or you will swallow the dregs of remorse! Prince Herod Antipas called out. Sleek virgins from Shunem and full-bosomed women are waiting like Bathsheba to unroll the carpet of delight in the City of David, King of Seducers. The Prince laughed. It was not a laugh. Judas shuddered. Herod Antipas looked like a ram in the breeding season. The shepherd had imagined that the face