The Rabbi: Forty-Four Days in the Life of the Rabbi That Changed the Course of History Forever

Copyright © 2014 Geoff Turner.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-3584-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3583-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3585-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014907915

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/28/2014

Contents

Introduction

1     Eating Out

2     The Menu

3     The Meal

4     Feet

5     Chef’s Special

6     Are You Talking to Me?

7     Table Talk

8     Love

9     The Rabbi Sings a Song

10   Sleeping Beauties

11   Betrayal

12   The Arrest

13   The Evidence

14   The Trial

15   It’s All in the Name

16   Shoes and Spit

17   The Execution

18   Seven Cries

19   The Burial

20   Hades

21   Two Plus One Equals Six

22   The Return

23   Is It for Real?

24   Just Friends

25   Farewell

26   Just Now

To Pixie,

the other love of my life,

whose encouragement and love for The Rabbi

are a constant inspiration to me.

Introduction

From the early days of his short public life, his days were numbered. Death stared him in the face at every turn. He said things and did things that upset the traditions and thinking of the ruling religious establishment. In their eyes, this was heresy. And for this He should die.

He performed miracles of major magnitude and so attracted a vast following of the population of the land. To say He was the people’s choice would be an understatement—and it was a position viewed with jealousy and envy by those at the top.

He conducted free health clinics, even over the weekends. He improved the condition and well-being of the people. Surely this would be in the interest of any ruling party that wants a peaceful nation to oversee. Having its people free of sickness and pain should be welcomed by any ruling authority. If something like that were to happen in a modern society, the health departments would have a field day. Absenteeism at the workplace would be reduced, and the cost of providing health care—with all its hospitals, clinics, and staff—would be well under budget.

Yes, under different circumstances, this free health service would have been accepted. Unfortunately some of the healings were carried out on Saturdays, and this irked the local men of the cloth. That was the seventh day of the week—the Sabbath. They said there were six days in which healings and miracles should take place (Sundays included, of course). Not so, The Rabbi replied. There are seven days. And He stood His ground. Now this, surely, should be no big deal. But it was.

He was a popular figure, this healer of the people who were looking for a messiah to lead them out of the bondage of Roman rulership. His popularity irked the religious leaders, who were hanging on to their positions of power for dear life.

He did other things too. Like going into their head office and upsetting the retail and banking institutions of the day. He actually got physical, destroying the tellers’ booths, throwing their daily takings on the floor, and releasing all the livestock from the temple farmyard. He said it was really His Father’s business, and those in control of proceedings were no more than crooks. He said He was there to set things right. Now, that’s not the sort of thing you do to win friends and influence people.

He also expressed His feelings and thoughts about the religious leaders with a public tongue-lashing, labeling them vipers and hypocrites. The people loved Him. The leaders didn’t.

Just who was this man, who dared to eyeball the authorities with such audacity and disdain? Well, He was known by many different names—some nice, some not so nice. A friendly member of the ruling cabinet called Him Rabbi, and because of His lifestyle and movements around the country, it was the name by which most of the population came to know Him.

He was so different that some thought He was an incarnation of Elijah or Jeremiah, who were prophets of days gone by, and so they referred to Him as Prophet. Others knew him as Teacher or Master. He even asked His own management team who they thought He was, and He was surprised to hear one of them refer to Him as the Messiah, the Son of Yahweh God. His mother and family called Him Yeshua, and He is commonly known today as Jesus of Nazareth. He was known to many different people by many different names, so in the following chapters, I might refer to Him by any one of them.

Now, there were other rabbis who traversed the countryside of Canaan with their own personal band of followers, but this man was different.

He was The Rabbi.

1

Eating Out

Appetizer

Eating out is such a chore for me. Deciding where to go, deciding what to eat, deciding what to wear … decisions, decisions. Will it be formal or will smart and casual be the order of the day? Is the restaurant far away? Do I have to drive there? What time can I expect to get home? Do I have to shave? I’m already in a bad mood. I much prefer to stay home and enjoy a cheese-and-tomato sandwich—with fresh rye bread, of course. Add a well-balanced cappuccino, and my meal is complete.

If, however, I just happen to be salivating for a taste of the culinary arts, the woman God gave me is in league with the best of chefs. The taste of Thai—she’s up to it. Sweet and sour Chinese—complete with chopsticks. American pumpkin pie—the real deal. Yorkshire pudding—makes me so homesick. And if our offspring turns up with his tribe, the grill is always ready. And all this at home, where I can wear what I like, sit where I like, and enjoy at any hour of the day or night. Tell me now, why should I eat out?

No doubt about it. Eating out for me is a chore.

Main Course

Now, the followers of The Rabbi were no doubt hungry. It had been a long day. It was heading toward sundown, and they wanted to know where and when they were going to eat. Most of their meals were shared by the roadside during their travels with The Rabbi. But tonight was Passover, and they needed to share their meal indoors as a family.

They didn’t have to worry about the menu, for tonight it was the same for everyone. They were in Jerusalem, and the place was crowded at that time of the year—the Feast of Passover. Actually crowded may be an understatement. People were frantic to find accommodations of any sort. The latecomers, weary from their travels, wouldn’t have an easy time. The disciples of The Rabbi were part of this crowd, and they realized that finding a place to sit down to a meal any time soon would be a tall order.

The inner core of these followers consisted of twelve men who’d been hand chosen by The Rabbi himself. Rabbis of the day usually chose their disciples from young applicants who were knowledgeable in their memorization and understanding of the Scriptures. But the chosen ones of The Rabbi appeared to be a motley bunch. Four of them were fishermen, and one was a tax collector. The occupations of the others—that is, if they were gainfully employed—are unknown.

Andrew and Simon, sons of Jona, were brothers from the Bethsaida district and fishermen by profession, heading up their family business. The Rabbi gave Simon the nickname Peter and used it interchangeably when talking to him.

James and John were also brothers from the same area, working in their father’s fishing business. The Rabbi referred to these two as the sons of thunder, perhaps because of their attitude at times toward those on the outside who didn’t conform to their way of thinking. Matthew, sometimes referred to as Levi, was a tax collector, and as such was despised by the community.

Two others, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, came from hard-core groups that wanted to overthrow the Roman government and replace it with a Jewish king and Jewish courts that understood and appreciated the Jewish religion and its laws. One of these two would eventually turn in The Rabbi to the authorities because He didn’t fulfill those wishes.

Thomas was also called Didymus, which means twin, perhaps because he had a twin or because he had a close resemblance to someone known to the group. Phillip was also from Bethsaida, the home area of the fishermen.

Nathaniel was also known as Bartholomew, and Jude was also referred to as Labbaeus and Thaddeus. The other James in the group was known as the son of Alpheus, which distinguished him from the fisherman.

They were twelve ordinary men—nothing special about any of them. Strange though it may seem, these twelve formed the core, the inner circle of those who followed The Rabbi.

These followers were a streetwise and shrewd lot, so they decided to hand the problem of where to eat over to their learned leader. They went to The Rabbi and asked Him where He would like to eat so that they could prepare everything for Him. In other words, they were trying to tell Him that it was His interests they had at heart. They were sneaky. They were hungry. They wanted to eat, and they were in a hurry.

But The Rabbi, as usual, was light-years ahead of them. He knew exactly where they would eat. It had all been planned beforehand and only needed to be set in motion. That was the beginning, the first act in the forty-four days, and the disciples were unaware of the significance of what was taking place.

The Rabbi’s instructions were precise, to the point, and had to be followed to the letter. He chose Peter and John to carry out the first task. The other disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Look for a man carrying a pitcher of water. Was He serious? This was Jerusalem at Passover, and the streets were crowded. Surely all twelve of them should go into the city to find this man quickly. They were thinking only about their hunger, and The Rabbi seemed to be drawing the issue out far longer than He ought.

The Rabbi had been very clear regarding what Peter and John had to say. After they found and followed the water carrier to his house, they were to seek an audience with the owner. The Rabbi had called him the goodman of the house. First they had to make clear that they were messengers of