ALIVE: Chapter 171 The Precipice

His mother Mary woke up the next morning with a very heavy heart and she didn’t know why. Yes, her Son had enemies and He told her that they would prevail, temporarily, but a sense of the reality of it hadn’t reached the core of her until that morning. She wanted more than anything to shake off the grief, but that was impossible. It was real and ugly. The truth was like a demon with yellow eyes and warts, pointed nose and gray teeth,  fingernails long and sharp coated in spots with dried human blood. The grief was tormenting her and haunting her out of her natural optimism.  Her trust in the Lord and awe of all the beauty He created was overwhelmed by a spiritual storm cloud over her head. Mary Magdalene was sleeping on the divan. She opened her eyes to see Mary sitting in her chair with her head in her hands. Mary said, “Are you okay? Can I help you?” Mary looked up at her friend and answered, “I had a horrible sleep last night, I don’t feel well. Something is wrong. I am afraid.” Mary said, “Let’s pray together.” “Yes, that is all we can do. Let’s pray for strength to endure what is coming.” Mary said, “What is coming?” Mary replied, “I can’t even give it words. Let’s just pray.” The ladies fell to their knees beside each other, faced East and prayed and chanted for as long as it took for the Lord to calm their hearts enough to trust Him that evil will only appear to devastate, and even that, as long as it lasts, will still find its end. Evil is nothing more than a parasite that will ultimately destroy even itself.

…

Jesus’s men also woke up with heavy hearts that morning. All was quieter than usual as they set about with their morning routine while waiting for Jesus to return from His time with His Father.

“Ah, there you are Master. Do you want some bread and fish before we go?”

“Thank you Phillip, not now. We had better be going.”

The troupe walked in silence to the temple that morning. When they arrived, the place was already crowded with pilgrims from all over Judea and Galilee. The disciples could not even stay together but were consumed by the crowd looking for a place to stand. The situation gave Judas Iscariot an opportunity to wander into the back room where the chief priest was. He had been thinking about his conversation the day before with the thin gaunt elder who invited him to meet with Caiaphas. Fortunately for Judas, no disciple saw him wind his way through the Passover pilgrims to the back room.

Meanwhile, Satan was winding its way into Judas’s mind who was unaware, so insensitive was he. Judas eventually found the door to the room and without thought or hesitation knocked as loud as he could to be heard over the canter and chatter.

A midget adorned in a blue satin robe opened the door a crack and asked, “What do you want?”

“My name is Judas, I am a disciple of Jesus, the man whom you seek. Tell Ciaphas that Reuben sent me.”

The door closed in his face; Judas waited. Moments later a tall Pharisee opened the door wide. “Come in! Come in!”

Judas looked around at the splendor of the room and spotted the gaunt elder, Reuben who invited him, smiling broadly and approaching him. “Welcome, welcome. I think these men will make this visit worth your while. I want to introduce you to Ciaphas. Do you know him?”

Judas replied, “Of course I know him, but I doubt that he knows me.”

“He does know of you, I told him yesterday. Soon we will all know you in gratitude for helping us.”

“What can I do for you?”

“We simply ask you to let us know where He will be. We will go there, and to be sure it is he, we want you to point Him out to us. Simple enough.”

“And what will you do for me?” replied Judas without another thought in his mind.

Ciaphas replied, “I am willing to give you 30 pieces of silver. Is that satisfactory?”

Trying not to lick his chops like a wolf about to pounce on a fox in front of the elders and Pharisees Judas, feigning nonchalance replied,”That will do. Give it to me now.”

Ciaphas nodded to his treasurer who went to fetch the coins, and said, “When can you deliver? We must get this over with before the first day of Passover. There mustn’t be a crowd around. It must just be Jesus alone if at all possible, or with a few disciples.”

“That won’t be easy, but I’ll let you know.”

The treasurer walked over to Ciaphas with the money.”

Ciaphas said to him, “Just give it to him.” The treasurer went over to Judas and without any expression counted the thirty pieces of silver in front of him.

“Thank you.” said Judas. “I’ll be going now. I know that tomorrow Jesus plans to have supper with just us before the Passover. I don’t know where it will be, but perhaps after that supper. I’ll let you know as soon as possible when you can meet Him.

“And where!”

Judas nodded. “Of course.”

Listening to the exchange, the rest of the Pharisees and elders were thrilled. This was what they had been hoping for, for months. They were anxious to get this whole Jesus thing behind them, so they could get back to normal and celebrate the Passover in peace and victory. Many of them held out their hands to shake Judas’ hand and thank him for his service to God. They tried to make Judas feel elevated to their stature.

Judas went back into the temple where the crowds were listening to teachings. There was still a lot of private chatter going on at the same time. He looked around for his brothers and Jesus. Finally, he spotted John and saw Jesus nearby, so he headed in that direction with the coins jingling in the leather bag tied to his belt.

When the service ended, Jesus went out of the synagogue and one by one His men spotted Him and followed. Outside, when they were all together again He said to Peter and John, “Go and make ready for us to share the Passover meal.”

John said, “Where are we going to do that?”

Jesus replied, “When you go into the city you will see a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he goes.” Then Jesus turned to Peter and continued, “Look for the master of the house; when you find him tell him that the Teacher asks where the guest chamber is where He should eat the Passover with His disciples.” Jesus pivoted back to Peter and said, “Follow him. He will lead you to a large furnished upper room. When you get there, start setting up for our supper.”

Peter and John agreed in unison, and then said, “But where will we find you to let you know it’s ready?”

Jesus replied, “We will go back to Olivet, come and tell us when you’re ready.”

Peter and John nodded and set off to go deeper into the city center.

“Um… Peter, how are we going to find this man? It’s a big city.” said John.

Peter replied, “Mostly women carry pitchers of water, so it will be fairly easy to spot a man carrying one. You look on your side and I’ll look on mine. Pay attention.”

The duo strolled through the city scanning merchants, children playing, old women hanging laundry, and street sweepers, left and right.

“Look! There he is!” exclaimed John.

Peter looked over to where John pointed just in time to see the man go through the door holding the pitcher with one strong arm, while pushing the door open with the other. Peter and John rushed over to that door, which was just as quickly shut.

When they reached the door, Peter gently opened it with John at his heels. Peter confidently called out, “Hello! Peace be upon this home.”

The man who had been carrying the pitcher appeared and said, “May I help you?”

Peter said, “We have been sent to speak to the master of the house. Please tell him that Jesus sent us.

The man bowed and without saying a word turned to fetch his master. Peter and John waited patiently.

Several minutes transpired in silence as they waited before the master appeared. Peter said, “The Teacher asks where the guest chamber is where He should eat the Passover with His disciples. I am Simon Peter, and this is John.

“Yes, I have been waiting for you. Follow me.” Peter and John stepped back to allow the master to lead them out the door and into the busy streets of Jerusalem. He walked so fast  that Peter and John double-timed their steps to keep up. They went up stone stairs, around corners and down long alleys to a garden surrounded by buildings. Finally they approach a large building and were lead through the door to another set of stairs. They walked up. It was a large room indeed with columns topped by reliefs of pelicans.

The pelican mother will pull her own flesh out to feed her hungry young. John learned that from his grandmother and gazed at the pelicans around the room.

“You may have the room for two days. Please clean up behind yourselves. Pesach, chag, sameach.” And without waiting for their reply, the busy man turned and left abruptly.

Peter called out as the master walked down the stairs, “Pesach, chag, sameach.”

Peter and John sat down to rest for a bit and looked around the room. “Now let’s start setting up. We should go to pick out the lamb and have it cooked with the herbs for tomorrow’s Passover Seder.  Then to the market. Dishes, wine, bread. We will have supper tonight, and then we can have the Passover Seder tomorrow night. It was very generous of the master to give us two nights in this beautiful and, best of all, private room. When have we had such luxury before? Okay, let’s go get ready for tonight’s supper and also Passover.” said Peter.

Time seemed to move more slowly that day. Both Peter and John noticed but didn’t mention anything to each other. They managed to accomplish so much. Before the sun set on the horizon behind the buildings of this ever growing city, Peter sent John to Mt.  Olivet.

“Okay. Do you need anything else?”

“No, we are fine, hurry before it gets too dark.”

“I’m down the road already!” said John as he rushed out the door, and realized that he needed to study the winding path to be able to find the room again. Not an easy task, he had to really concentrate and remember landmarks.

Meanwhile, Peter finished preparing, then rested and prayed. The logistics of the supper and the following Passover Seder taken care of, thoughts of the intensity of the situation fell heavy on Peter’s heart afresh. He realized that this would be their last Passover together. Tears welled up in his heart. He hoped Jesus was wrong about being crucified, how he prayed that Jesus was wrong. What would they do without Him? He figured he had no choice but to return to Capernaum, his wife, her mother, and the fishing boats.  He asked the Lord to give him strength and wisdom to get through what was coming. While praying, Peter fell into a light sleep and dreamt that an army of flying bats with human faces was about to descend upon them headlong. He was afraid and didn’t know what to do as he looked up at the red sunset sky. Then, before the bat-people could swoop down and grab them with their webbed feet and sharp nails, angels with swords lead by Archangel Michael, arrived just in time. A great battle ensued in the red sky. Peter woke up to the sound of the disciples and Jesus coming in. He didn’t even have time to think about his dream.