Chapter 28
Ruth
"Father Joseph is dead," Maria said, clinching her jaws to rein in turbulent emotions.
So far only three quarters of those who had attended the ordination had made it to the Bethany home.
"No," Ruth murmured. Her father couldn't be dead. Not her father. He had been the stable element in her life. The one who was always there. The one who made her believe everything would be all right. Nothing was all right. John's folks were dead. John and her brother, Daniel, were dead. Now her father. Her father.
"It can't be," Ruth said. Loss, dark and depressive, overset her. She had been ready to let go of her heartaches like her parents said she must. With this newest source they were born anew.
"I'm afraid it is," Matthew said. He had been paired with Mary Be and made sure the sweet woman had made it home safely. Her sister, Martha, glared at them both. He didn't like the woman. She disapproved of everything everyone did, no matter what it was.
"He wasn't even fighting them," Maria said, tears in her voice. "He and Yeshua walked with the soldiers to the door. All at once someone hollered, 'Joseph of Nazareth.' Everyone looked to see who it was."
"That's when Yeshua bolted into the crowd. They just swallowed him up," Matthew said.
"A soldier took his sword and ran it through Father Joseph," Maria said. She could not block the horror. It was the kind of image that would always be with her, like the day her own father had been attacked by slaves on the dock, though he had none of his own.
Steeling herself against more bad news, Ruth said, "What about Mother?"
"They must have taken her, too," Mary Be said, in a quiet, frightened voice. Tears slid in rivulets down her cheeks. "I can't believe they attacked us. We weren't doing anything that would hurt anybody."
"Mother Mary is with your brother, James," Judas Iscariot said. "He snatched her up over his shoulder and took off with her."
Uncle David and Mariam were making over Melanie, grateful she was safe.
"What about the others? "Simon asked. His mind clicked and whirled with each new bit of information.
"Who's to say? I do hope they make it back before dawn. The soldiers will be stopping everyone," John ben Zebedee said, shaking his head. "Once you're accused of something, they stick you in jail, and you almost never get out. Do you ever think there was a time when it wasn't like this? I'm tired of it, all the corruption, the brutality, everything."
James, his brother, said, "You don't even have to be guilty of anything for them to lock you up."
"If we're going to find Yeshua and the others, we need to move on it now," Judas Iscariot said.
His anger building, Simon said, "You're right, Judas. Can anyone think where they might go? Ruth, you know a lot of Yeshua's favorite places."
"Well," Ruth said, "there is one place. It's in an olive garden, next to an abandoned press. He likes it because there's an open spring."
"I know the one," Maria said. "He's taken me there several times. I can show you."
"It's not safe for women out there, Maria," Mary Be said. "You'd better stay here."
"It's not safe for men either," Maria said. She felt like crying, screaming, running out into the night and stopping everyone she met to find out what they knew.
"Is it that place next to the big stone ring tucked into the earth, the place they say the angel Gabriel showed himself?" Judas Iscariot said
"That's the one," Maria said.
"Can you think of any other place?" Matthew said. "They're crucifying everybody that anyone says could be the messiah. Last week I saw two men strung up just because they'd been accused. It's a way to get rid of anyone they think might cause trouble."
"Yeshua wouldn't cause trouble," Ruth said.
"That doesn't matter to them," Matthew said.
In recent weeks Ruth had seen the bodies of the crucified strung along every road she traveled. Sick to her stomach with worry, the picture of her father, with a sword stuck through his chest, pierced her mind.
He was dead. Dead.
The group discussed potential hiding places, places some of them had holed up during other crackdowns. They devised a strategy.
"Okay, let's get going," Simon said.
"I'm going with you," Maria said.
"No, you can't do that," Martha said. "If they learn you're his wife, they'll use you to draw him out."
"I can't do nothing," said Maria. Her usual calm had evaporated. What remained was facade.
"We will find him," Judas Iscariot said, "I promise. I know some men who can help. They organized to help get John out of prison. Since then, they've helped a number of others escape."
The men headed into the darkness.
"Let's sit in a circle and meditate, the way Yeshua brought back from the East," Mary Be said, "and focus on making the Circle of the White Rose complete."
Mary Be was mostly timid. But something within her was changed. They had taken her lord, the one she loved more than herself, the one she dreamed of marrying. She lived with the sadness that Maria had stolen him. Irritation and hurt rose again. There was no place for it now. She slipped her arm around Maria's shoulder. In that moment she discovered forgiveness.
Those remaining sat cross-legged in a circle.
No one spoke. Quiet stole across the room as each focused on the rose.
After a time Ruth roused herself. The others were sprawled around the room, asleep. She walked over to a window. Dawn washed away the night. Several men were coming up the road. The first was Simon.
"We led them to him. I can't believe we led them to him," Simon said. "He was in the olive garden like you said."
"No," Ruth said. "Then it's my fault. I shouldn't have told you."
Matthew came up beside them. "It was Judas. They followed Judas, like it was planned."
"Judas wouldn't do that," Simon said. "He refused the money."
"They threw it at him," Thaddeus said, looking confused.
"To make him look guilty. To divide us," Simon said. "That's the way people like that work."
"Where's Yeshua now?" Ruth said.
"The soldiers took him," Thaddeus said.
"What about Judas and the others?" Ruth asked.
"Everybody scattered." Simon sat down on the edge of the stone veranda and lowered his head into his hands. "I should have fought for him. I should have stood with him. Instead I ran. I can't believe I ran."
Ruth sat beside him. Thaddeus and Matthew stood sentinel, one on the steps that led to the front door. The other leaned against a pillar.
"Where is everyone?" Matthew said. He was eager to see Mary Be.
"Asleep, last I looked," Ruth said.
In the distance at the gate to the estate, others from the group trickled through.
Someone yelled, "It's Mother Mary and James. It's Mother Mary and James."
Jolted alert, Ruth ran toward them. As their faces became clear, tears slid from her eyes.
"Oh, Mother," Ruth whispered. "Mother."
Her mother was bedraggled, defeated, afraid.
James gazed into Ruth's eyes. The look penetrated her soul.
"Take care of her, Sis," he said. He headed back toward the gate.
"Where you going?" Ruth hollered after him.
"To get him out," James said. "I should have done that with John. I should have listened to you. I swore if it ever happened again...."
Simon and Thaddeus followed him. James was a leader, the one with the military mind. If anyone could make it happen, he could. They all knew it.
Ruth slipped an arm around her mother and guided her into the house. She was met by Mary Be and Martha.
Martha said, "Let's get her to my room."
Mother Mary was just a few years older than Martha. Martha loved her, felt her pain. Joseph had been a friend. She cherished his wisdom. Now he was gone. The loss cut as a spike in the hear
t.
There was a blankness in Mother Mary's eyes, like her soul was gone. She swallowed the potion Ruth gave her and huddled on the matt. When she appeared to be asleep Ruth wandered back to the porch. The others had stirred. Groups of them left for home. Finally only Ruth, Mother Mary, Mariam, Melanie and Maria remained with Martha and her sister.
Melanie joined her mentor who was watching the gate. A breeze lifted leaves on nearby trees. There was a bareness about the day, a waiting for the impossible to happen. It tortured the mind as well as the heart.
"What do you think is going to happen?" Melanie asked.
Ruth swallowed with difficulty. "I've seen it. It isn't good."
"You mean the visions?"
"Yes. I hoped I was wrong. I hoped all the love we've been teaching and sending out would keep things from getting this bad."
"Do you think they'll kill him?"
"Yes." It was the first time Ruth had been so direct with the girl. "Unless we do something."
"Like what?"
"Implement Yeshua's idea. Come, you can help."
Chapter 29