Journey of the Pearl. A. E. Smith

      Journey of the Pearl

      Copyright © 2018 A. E. Smith. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Resource Publications

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-6557-8

      hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-6558-5

      ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-6559-2

      Manufactured in the U.S.A. 11/20/18

      For Betty, Louie, and Ken.

      They always put the needs of our family first.

      My heartfelt gratitude goes to my editor, Sandra Woolsey,

      who has the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon.

      Preface

      Longinus (Lown-GEE-nus) is the reported name of the centurion who executed Jesus. When he announced, “This man must have been the Son of God!” he sealed his place in history. The rich young ruler asked Jesus how he could have eternal life. The answer was not well received, but perhaps later events helped him to embrace it. Zacchaeus, a once dishonest tax collector, made amends. Jesus was nearly arrested by Malchus, but Simon Peter cut off his ear. Then Jesus healed him. Did Malchus become a believer? Cornelius and his household were the first Gentiles baptized into the faith. How did that dedication change their lives? A Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his dying servant. How were their lives changed? Jesus forgave a woman caught in adultery. Did she squander her second chance or did she become a better person? Demas, one of the thieves crucified with Jesus became a believer while he was dying. Perhaps it was not the first time Demas and Jesus had met. Theophilus, for whom Luke wrote The Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles, was a high-ranking Roman. Did it change his life? Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, sentenced sixteen soldiers (four squads) to death for “allowing” Simon Peter to escape. Could there be other reasons these men were put to death? The time Christ spent in this world leaves us with many unknown accounts. What happened to the people who encountered Jesus, and either accepted him as The Christ, or rejected him? Where history leaves off, the storyteller may carry on.

      Pearls in ancient times were valued as highly as diamonds are today. A perfectly spherical pearl with an unusual color would have the same value as the fifty-nine carat Pink Star Diamond which was sold in 2017 for $71,000,000.

      Words of emphasis, Latin, Hebrew, and direct Biblical quotes are in italics.

      Chapter 1

      God stretched out his hand and took hold of the sun. He shrouded the blazing star with an impossible darkness. The beauty of the world faded. The colors of nature withdrew into shades of gray. Death kept watch, waiting to hear the words, “It is finished.”

      A young man named Jamin was awake all night, dreading the coming day, but he finally fell asleep just before sunrise. His mind was blank when he first awoke, but with gut-wrenching agony he remembered his younger brother was to be crucified along with Yeshua, the Nazarene. Jamin’s lean face was lined with grief and regret.

      The young Hebrew looked from the rooftop of his employer’s house in Jerusalem where he slept. He thought Cleopas and his wife, Mary, must be gone since no one had awakened him. Out of habit, he shielded his eyes to determine the position of the sun. It was overhead, noonday, but something was terribly wrong. The sun was darkened like a black cloth draped over a lantern. Sick with anxiety, he lowered the ladder and hurried down.

      Jamin entered the house and grabbed his knapsack, a wineskin, and a stick. He left the house and tried to hurry through the twisting dirt roads crowded with visitors, donkey carts, street merchants, and beggars. His progress was slow. About a million people were in Jerusalem for Passover, even though the city was home to only twenty-five thousand. He pushed his hair back and peered at the sky. He didn’t bother to shield his eyes. Jamin knew the darkness could not be an eclipse. From boyhood lessons, he knew a solar eclipse could only occur with a new moon and it never lasted more than a few minutes. Passover was celebrated during a full moon.

      He bought a loaf of bread in case the soldiers let him give some to his brother. “Sir, how long has the sun been black?” he asked the street vendor.

      “For hours!” The merchant gestured at the sky. “It started at the 6th hour and now it is past the 8th hour. This was foretold in The Book of Psalms. It is the end of the world!”

      Jamin thrust the bread into his knapsack as he scurried across another intersection. The absence of a breeze gave the air an oppressive weight. He choked on dust and tripped over a street beggar. The man cursed, but Jamin didn’t bother to respond. Blocked by a throng of people staring at the sun, he shoved his way forward. Expressions of fear rippled from person to person.

      Jamin fingered his robe. No matter how closely he held the cloth to his eye, the red and yellow stripes appeared to be dark and light gray. He scanned the sky in all directions. The intense blue of the Jerusalem sky was the color of ash. He caught a blur of motion just in time to avoid a Roman soldier struggling to control his frothing horse. Jamin wished he could steal the man’s horse, but stealing was why his brother, Demas, had been sentenced to death.

      The circumstances surrounding the execution of his brother were highly unusual. Jamin was horrified when Demas told him of his plan to surrender and confess his crimes. Jamin tried to talk him out of it. When Demas explained how Yeshua convinced him to confess, Jamin was furious. Demas explained that it was the right thing to do, but Jamin could not understand why he would willingly forfeit his life. The rest of his family was dead. Jamin would be alone.

      Many people believed Yeshua was the promised Messiah, but now that he was being executed, they knew it was false hope. Surely, the real Messiah would free his people from the Romans, and reinstate the Kingdom of David, not die like a lowly criminal. This overthrow of the Romans seemed imminent only a few days before when Yeshua arrived in Jerusalem. The people shouted praises to him and placed palm fronds before him.

      Yeshua said, “He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” But the same man who promised eternal life was about to die. Jamin hated himself for believing the outrageous statement. He thought when Yeshua established his kingdom, he and Demas would have places of honor. Jamin wondered how he could be so naive.

      Jamin recalled the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of His burning anger.”

      When his father made him memorize this passage, Jamin thought it was merely symbolic. Could it be possible the centuries-old prophecy had a literal meaning? Jamin reached a shortcut and slipped out of the crowds. He prayed he would get to his brother in time to drive away the carrion birds. He would need to collect rocks to throw. The limestone blocks of the city wall behind the crosses were chipped by thousands of rocks thrown for this purpose.

      Jamin passed through the east gate of the main city wall. He could see the low hill of Golgotha pockmarked with stipes, the wooden beams permanently installed to form crucifixion crosses as near to the main road as Jewish law allowed. If the Romans had their way, the entire road would be lined with stipes. Leaving the beams was not only for convenience, but to be a constant reminder of Roman authority. Anyone standing in