Mary of Nazareth Read Online Free PDF Page B

my husband is, what will you do then? Go and see him on his cross? I certainly wouldn’t. Why should I go and see Joachim being eaten by birds when he should be here taking care of us?”
    A few voices were raised in protest, but only halfheartedly, since no one knew what was the best thing to do anymore.
    â€œIf I don’t go, someone else will have to,” Lysanias muttered. “We must find out where they’re taking him.”
    After some discussion, two young shepherds were chosen. They left immediately, avoiding the Sepphoris road and cutting through the forest.
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    T HE day brought no comfort. On the contrary, it divided Nazareth like a broken vase.
    All day, the synagogue was full of men and women, praying endlessly, talking, and above all listening to the rabbi’s exhortations.
    God had decided on Joachim’s fate, he asserted. It was wrong to kill a man, even if that man was one of Herod’s mercenaries. We had to accept our path, for only the Almighty knew and could lead us to the coming of the Messiah.
    They should not be too indulgent toward Joachim. Apart from putting his own life in danger, his actions had condemned the whole village in the eyes of Romans and the Sanhedrin. There would be many who would demand punishment. And the one thought of Herod’s mercenaries, pagans fearing neither God nor man, would be of revenge.
    There would be dark days ahead, the rabbi warned them. The wisest course was to accept Joachim’s punishment, as well as praying long and hard for the Lord to forgive him.
    These words of the rabbi’s merely increased the villagers’ confusion. Some found them full of good sense. Others recalled that the day before the coming of the tax collectors, they had been prepared to rebel. Joachim had simply taken them at their word. Now they no longer knew if they should follow his example and take action. Most were disoriented by what they had heard in the synagogue. How were they to distinguish good from evil?
    Lysanias lost his temper and declared out loud that when you got down to it, he was glad he was a Samaritan rather than a Galilean.
    â€œYou’re fine specimens,” he cried to those supporting the rabbi. “You can’t even sympathize with a man who defended an old woman against the tax collectors.”
    And, sure now that there was nothing to stop him, he went to live with old Houlda, who was confined to her bed with a pain in her hip.
    Miriam kept silent. She had to admit that there was a degree of truth in what the rabbi said. But she could not accept it. Not only did it justify whatever Herod’s mercenaries did to her father, but it also implied that the Almighty no longer showed justice toward the just. How could that be?
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    T HE shepherds returned before sunset, out of breath. The column had only stopped in Sepphoris long enough to tend the tax collector’s wound.
    â€œDid you see my father?” Miriam asked.
    â€œWe couldn’t. We had to keep out of sight. Those mercenaries were evil. What’s certain is that he stayed in the cart. The sun was beating down, so he must have been very thirsty. The people of Sepphoris couldn’t approach him, either. There was no way to pass him a gourd.”
    Hannah moaned and whispered Joachim’s name several times. The others bowed their heads.
    â€œAfter that, they put the wounded tax collector in another cart and left the town. In the direction of Cana, according to the shepherds.”
    â€œThey’re going to Tarichea!” one of the neighbors exclaimed. “If they’d been going to Jerusalem, they would have taken the Tabor road.”
    Everyone knew that.
    A heavy silence settled over them.
    They all recalled Hannah’s words. Yes, what good did it do them to know that Joachim was on his way to the fortress of Tarichea?
    â€œAt least,” a woman neighbor sighed, as if