My Name Was Judas by C. K. Stead

Author:C. K. Stead
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781407093376
Publisher: Random House

CHAPTER 12

THE ANGER ABATED, I was forgiven, and the even-tempered Jesus, the advocate of peace and harmony, the defender of the poor, the downtrodden and unfortunate, returned. I’d had a glimpse of another Jesus, but some time would pass before I saw it again.

There were at that time two influences on him from outside the chosen twelve, both women, both called Mary. One was known as Mary Magdalene because her family came from Magdala on the shores of Galilee. The other was the Mary who lived at Bethany with her sister Martha and her brother Lazarus. They were as different one from the other as both were from his first Mary, the mother he couldn’t abide.

Jesus had first befriended Mary Magdalene, and had very probably saved her life, while I was still a married man waiting for the birth of my child. He had a way of striking up conversations with strangers in public squares and at wells and fountains, even sometimes with women if they would listen – a practice that was found scandalous by some of his more conservative followers. He had met Mary Magdalene in this way and found her straight-talking and responsive to his message. Later, in entirely different circumstances, he encountered her again.

She was this time accused of having been unfaithful to her husband, and Jesus had come on the scene (that chance itself a miracle, Mary would later say) in a little town square outside the synagogue where he had preached only the night before, urging the forgiveness of sins. Mary was standing, head bowed, her accusers, husband and brother-in-law, on either side, grasping her by the arms. While the rabbis hearing the case were discussing what the punishment should be, the senior of the three noticed the ‘would-be prophet’ of the night before who had argued that God had more reason to give His love to a sinner than to a virtuous person, because the virtuous person was already saved.

It’s possible they were having difficulty arriving at a decision. There were witnesses to the crime, but uncertainty whether they were honest, or merely bribed by a husband who wanted to be rid of an inconvenient wife. In any case an amusing idea occurred to the senior rabbi, who liked to set traps for itinerant preachers. He would trick this one into either contradicting himself, or contradicting the prophet Moses.

‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ he called. ‘There are witnesses to this woman’s sin. The law of Moses decrees the punishment, that she be stoned to death. Must the law be applied?’

Jesus was standing in the shade of some trees at the edge of the square and, instead of replying, he crouched and wrote something in the dust with his finger. The three rabbis crowded around him, craning to see what he had written, but it seemed to be in a foreign script, one they couldn’t read.

There was a moment of hesitation and confusion before the senior rabbi put the question again. ‘Well then, do you have

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