Bethlehem's Brothers by Ronald Hera

Author:Ronald Hera [Hera, Ronald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781463431006
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2011-09-22T04:00:00+00:00

The next morning, Marcus began his review with four other officers. Jason, a centurion himself, attended earlier training with Marcus and was a good friend. The other three younger officers seemed to have less interest in the work and were mostly interested in drinking.

“Marcus,” Jason began, “I heard that you were coming, and I am pleased you are here.”

“Jason! It is good to see you, my friend. How are the wife and children?”

“Great,” replied Jason, happy to see his friend after many years.

“During the briefing you mentioned a fear of further discontent here in Jerusalem. What, exactly, makes you feel that way?” asked Marcus.

“The land is always full of Jewish self-proclaimed prophets, and there is one who preaches repentance and who the people adore. It is never good when this happens, because there is always violence that follows. His name is John, and he lives in the wilderness, eating honey, locusts, and other wild things. He avoids the towns.”

“Where, exactly, does he operate?”

“He preaches along the Jordan between the north shore of the Dead Sea and Bethabara. This year about half of the farmers will let the farmland rest, and they are now available to listen to him. He insults Herod Antipas, which you know is very dangerous.”

“Sounds like he shares the opinion of most of the farmers and city dwellers alike,” chided Marcus.

“The problem is that he seems to know the activities of Herod and his family and protests their behavior. Of course, he is right to complain, but this goes further than that. He says that the wrath of God will be upon them, and he stirs up the people against Herod. I fear some sort of rebellion.”

“Jason, we can’t stomp on every idiot who complains. How big is his following?”

“It is small, perhaps a hundred people at most. It is just that I don’t like this sort of thing, and it seems so strange to me. What, on earth, could he possibly accomplish except to stir up the people?”

“Well, probably nothing more than just that. If Herod is angry enough, he will probably take care of it himself. In fact, he may just call on you, Jason, to take care of it. You have that area. At any rate, keep me informed. My assignment is Jerusalem. If he heads this way, let me know. I haven’t received orders from Pilate yet.”

There was a long pause before Marcus continued. “Send a messenger if you have need of some support. I do not believe anybody is going to give you much trouble around here after what we just did in Galilee. They ought to be particularly respectful. If you need to speak to this John, do so.”

“I wouldn’t dare talk to this man. It would just turn him against Rome. We have enough of that now. I will let headquarters know if we need help, but I think we can handle it. I just wanted you to know.”

“Thanks, Jason. You are a good man and a good Roman. I am sure you will do whatever is right.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.