TUESDAY, DECEMBER, 14, 2021 Christmas Stories - continued

TUESDAY, DECEMBER, 14, 2021 Christmas Stories - continued

This week I’m writing fiction relating to the first Christmas.  Today and tomorrow will be about Jehu, a wheat farmer in Nazareth.  

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Hi, I’m Jehu, son of Marcus, son of Hopkin, son of Nahram - of the tribe of Dan.  I live in Nazareth with my wife, Rante, and my daughter Ruth.  

I am a farmer. In particular, I raise grain crops on my farm - wheat, oats, and barley.  I am a very conservative and observant Jew. I also have some acreage where I raise cattle.

Nazareth is a reasonably sized town.  Not as large as Jerusalem or Jericho, but there are most services available in the area.  

I title my grain- at least 10% - and I give 10% of my beef to the Levites for sacrifices.  I observe the Sabbath completely, from sundown to sundown I do no work.  My wife also does no work on that day.  I put out enough food for my animals before the Sabbath starts.  We walk to the Nazareth synagogue, where I sit on the main floor with the men, and my wife and daughter are in the upper balcony area - where women should be.  Women are strictly forbidden to speak in the synagogue.  If they have religious questions, they can ask me at home.  My wife is strictly ceremonially unclean when she is having her period and she (though me) makes the necessary sacrifices and gifts to be purified when her time is over.  Like most Jews, I strictly obey the dietary laws.  There are no hog farms in the Nazareth area, but I do understand there are some by some of the other towns in Galilee.  

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Yes, I know Joachim - and he is totally out of line.  I know of his wife, Anne, and his daughter Mary, although I have nothing to do with them.  

I understand Joachim’s daughter Mary left town for about four months and just recently has returned - and she is pregnant - and unmarried.  That is an abomination before God.  

First, Mary should be stoned to death.  She had sexual relations while not married, therefore she is a harlot, a prostitute, and must be cleaned out of town.  A little leaven affects the whole loaf and this Mary must be cleansed!!  Our people were sent in exile to Persia because we allowed foreign gods, foreign ideas, sin, and promiscuity to flourish.  

Second, Joachim must confess his sins as well to the elders of the community.  He, obviously, has been an unfit father to allow his daughter to run with the wrong crowd.  

Third, Joachim has been an honored rabbi in our synagogue.  He must immediately step away from that position.  

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The next Sabbath, I stood up in the synagogue and accused Joachim of these things face to face in the assembly.  I demanded the men of this community take action.  The synagogue was unsure about what actions to take and was wishy-washy about the whole thing.  It is crystal clear that sin has snuck into our community and we must get rid of it.

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Since the men of this community didn’t have the backbone to do what had to be done, I gathered five of my friends and we agreed we had to stone Mary.  Her sin is a grave sin - sex before marriage, unwed pregnancy - we must take a stand.

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(Narrator)

Jehu gathered his five friends and headed to Joachim and Anne’s house, we had a rope to tie up this miscreant Mary, and take her outside the city gates where there were many excellent rocks to stone her.

But, as they neared the house, they were stopped.  There seemed to be an invisible wall there.  They regrouped and tried another way to the house, and were stopped again.

Jehu kicked at the invisible wall and stubbed his toe.  (it was broad daylight and yet they couldn’t see the wall.  Meanwhile, others were able to walk up and down the street without interference.  Joachim came home for lunch from his carpenter shop and was surprised to see us and said ‘Shalom” to us, but went right on home.  Marcus tried to follow Joachim but ran into this wall again.  

Jehu grabbed a small rock and threw it at the invisible wall and it went sailing through, then he grabbed a bigger stone and threw it - and it bounced back like hitting a wall and just missed one of his companions.  

Joachim came out of his house after the small rock bounced off his house.  

Joachim demanded “What are you doing Jehu? Don’t you have grain to harvest or cattle to feed?  Stop throwing stones at my house!’ 

That made Jehu even madder and he grabbed the big stone to throw at Joachim - but it too just bounced off like hitting a wall.  He ran full speed into the wall and fell down.  He felt a foot (or something) on top of him.  He laid there for maybe twenty minutes - trying to get up.  The other men came to help him up and they were pushed down and pushed away.  

Finally, the foot (or whatever had held him down), let him get up, but he couldn’t get any closer to Joachim’s house.  What sort of evil magic had Satan used to keep him from doing God’s work.  

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Jehu continued, “I fasted and prayed for the next two days.  I read and reread Moses’ laws and commands about sex outside of marriage.  On the third day, I went by myself to confront the evil in our community.  My friends didn’t want any part of it after being held down.  

Christmas Stories - continued

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To be concluded tomorrow - Jehu sees the light!!!

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LOVE WINS!!!

Karen