7S

7S

Yeshua said, "Then  I  must  try a  different  way. Instead  of allowing Mattiyahu to be arrested with  me I'll send him to warn my other  followers. And  I'll send you  upstream a  little ways again to find  out how it plays out." Miriam bowed and left the garden so Mattiyahu did not witness her disappearance.

Yeshua switched to  Aramaic and  said to  Mattiyahu, "The  time has  come when  I  should  fall into  the  hands  of the  temple authorities.  Go and  warn  my  brothers to  stay  off the  city streets lest you be captured as well."

But Mattiyahu said, "Nay, Lord, I will stay here at your side!"

Yeshua's rebuke was sharp. 'Mattiyahu! Is this what form your obedience takes? Time is very short. Do as I have bid you."

Reluctantly, his disciple moved  away into  the night. Even as Mattiyahu departed shouts  began to  be heard  in the  grove of olive trees called Gad-smane. One of the running figures skidded to a halt when he caught sight of Yeshua  standing there alone. He pointed at him and said, "Seize that man!"

A voice in the dark asked about the other disciples.

"What of them?" shrugged Yudah. "Let them run loose."

Yeshua thought he recognized  the voice  but didn't  imagine it could truly  be his own disciple,  Yudah of Kerioth, one  of the Twelve, until he saw  his face in  the flickering  light. Yudah reached out a hand to grab a fistful of Yeshua's beard, a deadly insult that would have triggered a hot fistfight had Yeshua been any other man. With his master held this way Yudah  kissed him full on the lips. He said, "Do you know why I did it, Rabbi?"

Yeshua said, "I cannot know your thoughts but I  imagine it was because I broke with Yohanan's vision and you never did."

Yudah shook his head. "I believed you were moshiach, but all you are is a persuasive magician with a few simple tricks."

Yeshua said, "Yet you have made my true errand possible. I would thank you but as you have heard me say before to those who love and obtain perishable things: you already have your reward."

Yudah saw that Yeshua had sabotaged  even the small joy  he had expected to glean from this night. He drew back and said, "Truly it is my hope that God will now be you now. But somehow I do not think he will." Then he watched the strongmen take him away.