7G

7G

Herod Antipas sent forth lackeys, the same who went to the river two weeks before to  confront Yohanan. Armed with clubs, they were ordered to seize Yohanan and mistreat any of his disciples who would attempt to thwart the arrest. Shimon, the brother of Andreia, moved to stand close to  Yohanan, as he was a large and formidable man and zealous to prove himself as  a new disciple, but he was waved off. Yohanan had made his point. The ones who claimed to be blameless under the law supported an adulterer.

Yohanan's four original disciples thought God would strike down the men  who  took  him captive. They watched  until  Yohanan disappeared from view. Philippos then turned to Yeshua to ask, "Will you heal the Teacher after Antipas has chastised him?"

Yeshua said, "Of  all  the  prophets sent  to  Israel, none  is greater than  Yohanan. But of a  truth I say to  you, Philippos, that you shall not see your master again until the second life."

Something about Yeshua's words  conveyed a deep  sincerity that immediately convinced the disciples. Barthulumaus sobbed. Yudah pulled at his  hair. Andreia said  to his  brother, "Shall  we return to the nets and take up fishing again to buy our way?"

Yeshua said to  Andreia and  his  brother, "Stay  close to  me, rather, and  I will make you  fishers of men." He turned toward the other discipes  of Yohanan,  and also  to his  own brothers Shimon and Yosy. "Your teacher baptized you  with water  but I will baptize you with the spirit of God."

Philippos held on to the hope  that his master would  simply be beaten and  released. But when it grew dark he asked  of Yeshua dolefully, "Where shall we go now?"

"I have silver," Yeshua told  him. "We will dine and  lodge in Tiberias  tonight, and  when  it  is light  we  will go  south." Indeed, in the days and weeks to follow Yeshua always seemed to have  silver, though  not even  Shimon  and Yosy  knew where  he obtained it. Yeshua knew that all the  people around  him, the very culture of the Roman world, was obsessed with scarcity. On a planet of inexhaustible riches humans beings faced bitter lack everywhere they  turned, and  they  imagined  God himself,  the almighty, could only dole out blessings to a limited few.

The broken trust between people over needless scarcity was made manifest when Yeshua led his disciples through rocky fields and over fences of stones rather than walking the roads. When Yudah asked why, Yeshua replied, "For the simple reason that eight men walking on a road with no women look like bandits."