Christ the Lord - Anne Rice [55]
“ ‘Our kinsman, John bar Zechariah, has come out of the wilderness and to the Jordan and makes his way northward towards the Sea of Galilee. He is baptizing all those who are coming out to him. He is wearing only a coat of camel skin and a leather girdle, and he's lived in the wilderness on nothing but the meat of locusts and wild honey. Now he is saying to all, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.” And “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” And all are coming to him, coming from Jerusalem and Jericho and the towns northward and down from the sea. And these he baptizes as they confess their sins. And this is what John has said to those Pharisees who've come forward to question him. “No, I am not the Christ. Nor am I the prophet. I baptize with water; but after me comes One mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry for Him; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire. He is among you, but you do not know who He is.” ’ ” The Rabbi paused, then read on. “ ‘This I've seen with my own eyes, and I ask you, my kindred, again to convey these words to Yeshua bar Joseph, as I return now to the Jordan, John bar Zebedee.’ ”
The Rabbi lowered the stiff parchment and looked at me and at Joseph, and at Jason.
“They're going to him by the hundreds,” said Jason. “From all the towns up and down the river, from the Holy City and back. The Priests and the Pharisees have gone out to him.”
“But what does it mean,” my uncle Cleopas asked, “that he baptizes for the forgiveness of sins? When has anyone done such a thing? Does he do this as a Priest, as was his father?”
“No,” said the Rabbi. “I do not think that he does do it as a Priest.” He gave the letter back to James.
“Listen to this,” said Jason. “This is what he's said to the Pharisees and the Sadducees who went out from Jerusalem to question him.” He read from his letter, “ ‘ “You are a generation of vipers, and who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruits of repentance before you come to me. And don't think to say to yourselves or each other, We have Abraham for our father. For I say to you that God is able to take these stones here and raise up from them sons of Abraham.” ’ ”
Jason stopped and looked at me. He looked at Joseph and then back to the Rabbi.
My brother Joses spoke up. “But what can it mean? Is he declaring with the Essenes that the Temple is impure, that the sin offerings there don't matter?”
“He's moving now north into Perea,” said Jason. “I'm going there. I want to see this new thing for myself.”
“And will you be baptized? Will you do this rite for the forgiveness of sins?” asked the Rabbi softly. “Will you do this?”
“I will do it if it seems right to do it,” Jason declared.
“But what can it mean, one man baptizing another, or a woman for that matter?” asked my aunt Esther. “What does it mean? Are we not all Jews? Are we not purified when we come out of the baths and enter the Temple Courts? Not even the proselytes are bathed for the forgiveness of sins, are they? Is he saying to us all that we must be proselytes?”
I stood up.
“I'm going,” I said.
“We're all going with you,” said Joseph. Immediately my mother said the same. All my brothers nodded.
My mother handed me the letter she had from my sister, Little Salome. My eyes fell on the words “from Bethsaida, from Capernaum.”
Old Bruria spoke up. “I want to make this journey. We'll take this child with us,” she said, putting her arm around Avigail.
“We will all make this journey,” said James. “All of you, immediately as soon as it's light, we pack up and we go, and we take provisions as we would for the festival. We all go.”
“Yes,” said the Rabbi, “it's as if we were going to the Temple, going for a festival, and we will all go. Yes. I'll go with you. Now, come with me, Jason, I must talk to the elders.”
“I can hear voices out there,” said Menachim. “Listen. Everybody's talking about it.”
He rushed out into the darkness, letting