Getting Ready To See Christ

I was listening to a sermon recently on such parables as the Ten Virgins and the assortment of parables, with variations, about the master away on a trip and his servants managing his wealth till he gets back. The preacher was a young man, probably still in his thirties. As usual, a key interpretation/application was, to put it as a question, are you getting ready for Jesus' return? Which is fine, of course. Always a worthy question to pose. Yet as I sat there listening the thought came to me, "This is a young man's sermon. To older people the actually vivid and immediate question is how ready we are, not for Jesus' return, but for our departure. Which then makes the point moot." 

Yes, we must be ready for the Lord's return at any moment. But if you are willing to accord statistical probabilities even a bit of weight, then going by the fact that, so far, 100% of Christians who have died in all history since the Lord's resurrection have in fact died in advance of His return, the odds are somewhat slanted in favor of your going to see Him before He comes here to see you. At which point, of course, eschatology--at least of the speculative sort--is no longer a meaningful endeavor. Eternity is soooooo much more mind-blowing and awesome than eschatology. And so much...closer.

A good friend wrote me in response to the reflections above: "There is the question, Are we ready for the Lord's return, and there's the question, Are we ready to depart? Is the key question, Are we ready?"

I replied: "Yes! I think for many young people that question is enfolded in a big 'IF', as in 'If the Lord returns soon.' For us older people the 'if' becomes less and less relevant, because, regardless, we sense vividly that our Appointment with Him is around the corner, anyway."

So what I would say further, here, is, all of the scriptural inducements to preparedness, in the light of Christ's sure return, even his "soon" return, are inducements to a vital sense of urgency which is itself independent of, and on a higher plane than, any speculative eschatology and even, necessarily, the "likelihood" of His imminent coming. I say "necessarily", why? I'm simply being logical. If the whole raison d'etre of urgent preparedness were the fact of Jesus' soon return--yes, even before you had time to die--it would mean that every case of faithful, obedient, urgent preparedness (holiness, love, devotion) in the history of the Church up to now that ended in physical death was...mistaken, misguided. Because they got ready for something that didn't happen. If that's all that "getting ready" for Jesus' coming meant. But of course, I don't accept that. That sense of urgent preparedness, its value, its substance, transcends the temporal eschatological contingencies. At the same time it cannot be understood in strict isolation from them, either, because the great Eschaton, the Consummation in His Parousia, is, by our union and identification with Him, ours too. We appear together with Him in the clouds. In a manner of speaking it is the next moment following upon our deaths. No matter how much "time" or in what mode of being we experience it in between, the fact remains that His Parousia is our next big step and it won't take any Bible study or prophecy conferences in Heaven for us to gear up for it...if you see what I mean.

And that's how I read the parables on preparedness. To me it makes for, far from a diminished significance, an immeasurably deeper one.

Rejecting the Fact

 A fastidious grammarian's peeve...though this is less grammar than logic: when people use the word "fact" to indicate something they don't believe is true.

Both stylistically and logically the use of "fact" as a synonym for "idea, proposition, claim, notion, view, argument, position, opinion" etc., or even as semantically meaningless dead weight in front of the word "that," is simply horrid.

"I completely reject the fact that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself."

Well then, you don't think it's a fact, do you? So what are you saying? That it's not a fact? Then why did you call it a fact? Or are you actually saying that you DO believe the man killed himself and you just can't reconcile yourself to the terrible fact? Maybe you feel he was too young to die..."Jeffrey we hardly knew ye"? (Of course, that's not what anybody would mean by such a sentence but, logically speaking, it's the far more precise way to understand it.)

So why would "I don't believe Jeffrey Epstein killed himself" be, in any way, a weaker sentence than "I completely reject the fact that..."? It isn't, of course. It's tons crisper, neater, stronger. Or if you are really driven to use "reject," then how about "I completely reject the claim that..."?

I think people throw the word "fact" in for two or three reasons: 1) it is the quickest, intellectually least demanding "go-to," 2) people sense SOMETHING has to be there (in fact, it often doesn't), and, 3) a convoluted sort of semantical-syntactical mental gymnastic lends the usage a bogus cachet of authority, as if the person, by saying "I reject the fact that..." has actually established the factual refutation of the thing. No. Actually the person has proposed the existence of a fact to which he cannot reconcile himself. Precisely the opposite of what he wants to say.

Stopping to think about it for a moment, what does it really mean to "reject a fact"? It means the thing is there, a fait accompli (literally), something that has happened and can't be "un-happened." Like, for instance, September 11th. Nobody--no, not even using the phrase in the popular illogical way--"rejects the fact" that September 11th happened. Not even whacko conspiracy theorists who deny there were real airplanes involved argue that the Twin Towers are still there. Whatever one might think about HOW or WHY it happened, everybody knows the thing, in the broadest sense, happened. It's a fact. So what would it mean to "reject" that fact? Anything at all? Perhaps in a ridiculously strained, stretched way, as if to say, "I refuse to admit that awful reality into my consciousness." But, still, it's a rather silly way to say it.

You can find, however, plenty of people out there, in the "threads," continuing to "reject the fact" that Islamist terrorist-murderers flew the planes into the WTC, the Pentagon and the field in PA. Of course when they "reject the fact," they think they're saying they reject the idea, dispute the view, deny the claim, dismiss the theory.... In reality they are doing literally what they say: rejecting the fact. Which says it all, doesn't it? That and $2.50 will get you a latte.

Besides the logically short-circuiting way of using "fact" to mean anything BUT a fact, there is also the outright dead-weight way of using it, i.e., when it is a synonym of nothing at all.

"What do you think about the fact of Harry and Meghan leaving the royal family?" (I'm quoting popularese, here; no need to point out to me that Harry is still Charles' son and William's brother; if there's anything I can't stand, it's a stickler.)

"The fact of" is 100% semantic-stylistic dead weight in that sentence. It isn't even a synonym, as above, for "view, opinion, theory, position," etc. No, here it is just NOTHING. It's about the deadest of dead weights, semantically, that I can conceive of. Take the phrase out and the sentence is: ONLY. BETTER.

It seems to me people resort to this dead-weight brand of "fact" in order to, again, lend their sentence a cachet of gravitas, but the cachet is perfectly "faux." Like a Rolex you can pick up for a neat $45 off a sheet on a Manhattan sidewalk.

A Winter Play (English Version)

 

Narrator: The events to which we will now be transported took place in the town of Bethlehem, 70 years after the birth of Jesus Christ. On this evening, a small group of Christians has gathered at their prayer house, after hearing the wrenching news that Nero has executed the apostles Peter and Paul. The believers are heartbroken and in turmoil over the rapidly growing persecution coming ever closer to Bethlehem. They gathered this evening to comfort and strengthen each other, and to pray. Their meeting has ended, some have already gone home, a few small circles have lingered, talking quietly among themselves.

 

Look. Over here, in this corner of the room, near the window, we see Rachel, who was the cousin of Joseph the carpenter. Rachel was living in the house of Joseph’s relatives when Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem so many years ago. And with Rachel are her grandchildren, Mariam and Dan. With them, too, is Teman Bar Shem, one of this church’s elders. On that holy night when Christ was born, Teman was a very young boy spending the night, for the first time, out in the fields with his father, a shepherd, when the angels of God appeared to them….

 

Rachel : It is all happening just as the Lord Jesus said: "If the world hated me, it will hate you, also, because of my name." 

 

Teman : And yet, sister Rachel, was not Paul one of those who hated Him, before the  great power of the resurrected Messiah conquered him?

 

Rachel : You're right, brother Teman. The power of Jesus is conquering many....

 

Teman : The glory of Messiah’s kingdom will finally cover and subdue the whole earth. Just as it overwhelmed us out there in those dark fields not far from here, that night so many years ago when the Lord was born. 

 

Rachel : Look, we can almost see those fields from the window, in the moonlight. 

 

Dan : You were there that night, Teman Bar Shem ? 

 

Mariam : You saw the heavenly vision with your own eyes? 

Teman : With my own eyes. I was then a boy, spending the night with my father in the fields, when the angels suddenly materialized before our eyes, exultantly announcing Messiah’s birth 

Mariam : You must have been terrified!  

Teman : We were, until the angel spoke to us. His voice was calming, like the sound of leaves in a tree, rustled by a gentle breeze.  

 

Dan : Grandmother, you didn’t hear the angels, did you?

 

Rachel : No, not at all. I was at the house, where I lived with the family of our cousin Joseph, in the very house where you and I live now. They were deeply gracious to take me in when I was left an orphan. I could never have imagined that I'd been received into the household of the King of kings! No, I didn't see the angels, but I did see the shepherds, yes, including a little boy named Teman, when they came to our house to see the newborn king!

 

Mariam : That means we too are relatives of Jesus, doesn’t it?

 

(Rachel nods gravely) 

 

Teman : But now, at the price of His holy blood, by the power of His resurrection, by the grace of divine adoption, we have all become His family, His household—

 

Rachel : “Whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.” 

 

Dan : But if we are the actual relatives of the Lord, doesn't that give us greater honor? 

 

Teman : You mean, to sit at his right and left side in the Kingdom? Like the sons of Zebedee wanted, when the Lord told them they didn't understand what they were asking?  

 

Rachel : Brother, don't be too hard on him, he's still a boy. Besides, remember - it wasn’t the sons of Zebedee who asked, but their mother! 

 

Teman : Well, you are right on both points, sister Rachel. I apologize, Dan. But, dear boy, watch, and take care. Pride is a ruthless enemy; it does not spare youth but capitalizes on it.

 

Mariam : It seems to me that our kinship to the Lord brings us no honor in the world, only greater suspicion, threats and danger. 

 

(Rachel and Teman exchange glances)

 

Dan :  Is that why Mama and Papa have gone to Alexandria?

 

Teman : Yes, Dan. The Empire, full of worldly power and glory, nevertheless fears us, the weak and the powerless—

 

Rachel : "—whom God has chosen, to shame the things that are strong….” 

 

Teman : Exactly as our beloved brother Paul said: God chose the base and despised things of the world, even the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one might boast before Him.

 

Mariam :  Are they really afraid of  us? 

 

Teman : They fear what they cannot comprehend—

 

Rachel : The darkness cannot comprehend the Light.

 

Teman : And see, now they have killed Peter and Paul, because fear and darkness have seized them—

 

Rachel : And in their ignorance they are now pursuing with a mad rage whoeover belongs to the household of Joseph and Mary—

 

Teman : Or even to the house of David.  

 

Dan : So we must escape from Bethlehem?

 

Rachel : Yes, grandson. Your parents are making arrangements in Alexandria and will return soon to bring all of us there. Perhaps in Alexandria the threat will be less…at least for a while.  

 

Mariam : It will break my heart to leave Bethlehem!

 

Teman : All God’s children must leave Bethlehem sooner or later, Mariam. The Lord Himself left Bethlehem, to follow the Father’s will.

 

Dan : Will we ever come back? 

 

Rachel : Of course. Bethlehem is ours forever. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

 

Teman : We will all return to Bethlehem and Bethlehem will return to us, my dear children, when the angels again announce the arrival of God’s Son, Emmanuel!

 

Narrator: Let’s turn our gaze now to another part of the room. There, in that corner, we see Hadassah, sister of the disciple Matthias who was chosen to take the place of Judas Iscariot. With Hadassah are Benjamin, her grandson, and Benjamin’s best friend Levi who has come to faith in the Lord only in recent days. Let’s listen and hear what they are discussing.

 

Benjamin:  Grandmother, do sit down, you look so tired. 

 

Hadassah: Peter, executed... Paul, executed.... "All day long we are being led like sheep to the slaughter." And my brother Matthias? What has become of him? Has he already paid, with his life, for the Lord’s sacred calling? 

 

Benjamin : (To Levi) My grandmother’s brother Matthias is the one the apostles chose to take the place of Judas, the disciple who betrayed the Lord. 

 

Hadassah: No, Benjamin, not the apostles but the Lord chose my brother. They prayed to the Risen Jesus to show them who should replace the betrayer. And so Matthias became the twelfth apostle. 

 

Benjamin:  (continues to explain to Levi) There were few possibilities to replace Judas, Levi, because whoever took that holy place had to have walked with Jesus since the earliest days, from the days of John the Baptist.  

 

Hadassah: Yes, just as Peter said that day, so long ago, in Jerusalem, but (with a gentle laugh) the Lord’s measuring rod was stricter than Peter knew. For my brother knew the Lord earlier yet, even from his very birth here in Bethlehem!  My family and the household of Joseph have been close for generations! And Matthias wanted—oh, I always knew he wanted—to be counted among the Twelve. Yet never could my brother have begun to imagine how, finally, his desire would come true.

 

Benjamin : And I am sure, Grandmother, that he would gladly have surrendered his desire, if only Judas could have been saved.  

 

(Hadassah nods in agreement)

 

Levi : I have heard of him, of course, though I have only just turned to the Lord. The 12th apostle, Matthias of Bethlehem. Even the nonbelievers of our town know about Matthias who abandoned his inheritance in Bethlehem to follow Jesus the Nazarene. They say he went with the Gospel, finally, to the north, beyond the empire, into the land of Ararat, the kingdom of Armenia. 

 

Hadassah : Yes .... That was almost 30 years ago now. 

 

Levi : Grandmother, have you heard no news from your brother since then?  

 

Hadassah : For some years, maybe five or six, we’d receive word from him…from time to time. But then…nothing more. It is so painful not to know: is Matthias proclaiming the Gospel to this day, somewhere in the world? Or has he already paid the full price of devotion to the Lord Jesus, as Paul and Peter now have?

 

Levi : However it may be, Grandmother Hadassah, your brother has gained an inheritance immeasurably greater than the houses and lands he left in Bethlehem. Whether he proclaims the Word to this day or is exulting in the Lord's presence, just think what eternal treasure his soul possesses! I too yearn to be rich, like that—rich in the Lord. I am ready to give up everything for the sake of Jesus’ name!

 

Benjamin : Levi, though I’m the one who led you to the threshold of the kingdom, to the foot of Messiah’s cross, only days ago, your zeal for the Savior puts me to shame for my complacency.  

 

Levi : No, Benjamin, no! What are talking about? If you were so complacent, you could never have led me to Him. For which I will always love you. 

 

Hadassah : I watched you as boys growing up together, playing together….

 

Benjamin : Fighting with each other!

 

Hadassah : Yes, and fighting, too, like all children. And how I prayed, and with how many tears, that finally you two would be not just friends, but brothers in the faith and Spirit of Messiah! Friends in the flesh come and go but when the power of the Almighty overshadows you, uniting your hearts in the love of Messiah Jesus, then you are bound forever, no matter where His will may send you.

 

Benjamin : Does the death of the holy apostles mean the Lord’s return is very near?

 

Hadassah : Perhaps ... though something within whispers to me that there will be yet many generations before His glory appears in the sky.  

 

Levi : And didn't the Lord say that the Gospel must be preached to the ends of the earth?

 

Benjamin : And both Peter and Paul foretold a terribly falling away in the last days—

 

Hadassah : When people will mock: "Where is the promise of His coming?" 

 

Benjamin : Those days have not yet come.  

 

Levi : "I will build my Church," said Jesus.  Can it be, then, that His holy people is not to increase, and grow, to cover the face of the earth beyond our imagining, before the day of His return? Must not His Church gather in souls from every tribe and nation, in countless numbers?

 

Haddasah : My children, I hear how the Lord’s voice is whispering—gently, yet irresistibly: you will both escape from Bethlehem, not to save your own lives (for who saves a life if not the Lord?), but to serve Him as blazing torches of eternal life in the world. The net is closing quickly around us here in Bethlehem; all the signs are, the Empire is intent on obliterating the testimony of Jesus in the place of His birth.

 

Benjamin : But what about you, Grandmother?  

 

Levi : You will come with us, surely!

 

Hadassah :  No. When the enemies of our Lord come to Bethlehem, hunting out the testimony of Jesus, it must indeed be here, to be found by them, even if in their madness they think to destroy it. They are coming to find Jesus. They will find Him, in us whom He bought with His blood. If the testimony of Jesus must for a time be extinguished in Bethlehem, let it be at the cost of my blood. I am ready. But let whoever seeks Jesus find Him.

 

Levi : Then we will also stay, and die for Him!  

 

Benjamin :  Of course , Grandmother! Let no one ever say we were afraid!  

 

Hadassah : No. (Benjamin and Levi begin to protest) Listen to me, my beloved sons: No. You will go, bearing the treasure of the Gospel, as if in your own arms the precious Infant of Bethlehem. Carry Him in your hearts, my dear ones, and proclaim everywhere the King born in Bethlehem!

 

Narrator: Here in the back of the room, this little group of believers huddled together, we see Abigail, a wealthy widow, and with her Malkiya Bar Ezer. Malkiya used to be a slave in Abigail’s household. But after he became a Christian he led Abigail herself to the faith. With Abigail and Malkiya is Elizabeth, a servant in the house of Abigail's father-in-law.

 

Abigail: You know, my father-in-law has been considerate, even generous, to us, though he is not a believer—

 

Elizabeth: Your father-in-law, my master, even helped us to construct this house for our church.

 

Abigail: Yes, Elizabeth, he has been kind up to now, though he considers our faith a superstition—

 

Elizabeth: "A harmless superstition," he said to me, "as long as you do not threaten public order." 

 

Abigail: He certainly considered it very close to a violation of public order when I gave you your freedom, Malkiya Bar Ezer. It was daring of me to do so, but you were the servant of my husband, not of my father-in-law.

 

Malkiya: I never asked for my freedom, Sister Abigail . But you remember how our beloved brother Paul advised slaves to get their freedom if possible, and if not— 

 

Elizabeth: Then to serve as to the Lord.  

 

Malkiya: Yes! Even had you not freed me, Sister Abigail, the Lord Jesus had already set my soul free, with a freedom this world could never give.  

 

Elizabeth: Truly you speak of the same freedom I exult in now… (to Abigail) even if I am still a bondservant in your father-in-law’s house.

 

Abigail: (To Malkiya) I couldn’t possibly allow you to remain a slave, my brother, after you led me to the Light of the world.    

 

Malkiya: When I saw how deep and dark your despair was after my master your husband died, God’s love compelled me to declare the good news of Jesus to you.  

 

Abigail: His risen life burst in upon my soul so clearly, to refuse Him would have been the worst lie, and sin, against God and against myself! It was as if I had no choice at all...yet receiving the Lord Jesus was the freest act of my whole life! 

 

Elizabeth: So it was for me, as well, the day I heard Christians announcing the resurrection and salvation of Messiah in the central square. I was doing the daily errands, buying produce for the house, when the sound of the Gospel invaded my heart, drowning out everything else. Jesus was standing before me, inviting me in. 

 

Abigail: Into the Kingdom!

 

Malkiya: We are all citizens, and free, in the Kingdom of Jesus!

 

Abigail : But now, after the Emperor Nero has executed the apostles of the Lord -

 

Elizabeth: Your faith is not weakening? 

 

Abigail : Oh no! That isn't what I meant. But I fear my father-in-law will now consider our faith something worse than "harmless superstition." He worries about his position in society. 

 

Malkiya: By putting Paul and Peter to death, the emperor has surely declared all Christians enemies of the state. 

 

(Elizabeth sighs )

 

Abigail: What is it, Elizabeth? 

 

Elizabeth: My master was so quiet and distant today, and when I inquired about his needs, he didn't answer. He only stared… as if distrusting me.

 

Abigail: Oh, Elizabeth!  

 

Elizabeth: He never behaved that way to me before.  

 

Malkiya: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you to test you", our dear Peter wrote—

 

Elizabeth: "To those who reside as aliens" in the world.  

 

Abigail: To the "scattered" throughout the world. …In my spirit there is a dreadful certainty, as if the Lord Himself is preparing me, urging me to be strong. I believe we will soon be outcasts. There is a limit to the kindness of my father-in-law. He fears most of all for his safety and prestige. 

 

Elizabeth: (pensively,recollecting) "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" ... 

 

Abigail: We are nobody in this world.

 

Elizabeth: Yet we are the living stones of God’s house, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood.” 

 

Malkiya: "Our citizenship is in heaven." 

 

Elizabeth: Your father-in-law is merciful enough to send us away rather than betray us to the authorities. Of that, at least, I am sure.

 

Abigail: If so, then where will we go?  

 

Malkiya: Wherever the will of God leads us. We will follow the “Shepherd and Guardian of our souls” from Bethlehem to the end of the earth, if He so desires.  

 

Abigail: To the end of the earth .... And if the earth is round?

 

Elizabeth: Then we will follow Him all the way… from Bethlehem… to Bethlehem!  

 

Narrator: And finally, over there near the front door, speaking softly yet urgently together, are Reuben Bar Eliud, an elder of the church, whose memory preserves the events of those distant days when the babies of Bethlehem were killed by order of Herod, and Sarah, a native of Bethlehem, born within just weeks of the Lord Himself, and born not alone but with a twin brother…. Standing a slight distance away are Sarah’s grandnieces Ora and Hava.

 

Reuben: Welcome back, Sister Sarah. We have all been praying for your safe return from Rome.

 

Sarah: Blessed be the Lord, it was a difficult, long journey but your prayers were answered. 

 

Reuben: When did you arrive?

 

Sarah: Two days ago.

 

Reuben: And... you did not return alone? 

 

Sarah: No, they are here with me. I will introduce you to them now, but, brother, I want to remind you, the older girl, Ora, has been nearly blind since birth.

 

Reuben: Blind… as was your dear mother.

 

Sarah: Yes, this "thorn in the flesh" spared our family for two generations, but afflicted the third again.  

 

Reuben: Which made your travel back to Bethlehem harder...

 

Sarah: Not so much, no! Ora sees at least a bit, but more than that her little sister Hava is so devoted to her and watches out for her, I can only watch in amazement. I will even say that without these dear girls my return journey, alone, would have been much harder, brother. They refresh my spirit!

 

Reuben: Well! Then in that case I must get acquainted with these angels immediately! My spirit could use some refreshing. 

 

Sarah: Girls, come here, I want to introduce you. (Ora and Hava come over to Sarah and Reuben) Ora, Hava, this is Reuben Bar Eliud, one of our elders here in the church. Brother Reuben, these are the granddaughters of my sister Shiphrah. 

 

Reuben: Welcome to Bethlehem, children. I remember your grandmother well.

 

Hava: And our great-grandmother too?

 

Reuben: Oh yes, and even your great-great-grandparents!

 

Hava: (in wonderment) Why, are you a hundred years old? 

 

Sarah: Tch! Hava!

 

Reuben: (laughing) I’m not far from it, Hava, not far at all. (To Sarah) My spirit is being refreshed already! But come, let’s all of us sit down together over here….

 

(As they are moving to some seats, Hava helping Ora)

 

Ora: My sister has the gift of saying whatever she thinks!

 

Sarah: That “gift” got us through some anxious moments on the journey from Rome, Ora, when people might otherwise have ignored an old woman and two young girls in difficulty.

 

Ora: I know, of course, Aunt Sarah. Hava has a capacity for capturing everyone’s attention, and then letting them know exactly what to do, and when, and how, and why!

 

Hava: It’s not that I’m bossy, but really: if you don’t speak up, how can you make people hear you? And if you don’t tell them what to do, how will they know?

 

Reuben: (greatly amused) Perfectly true, Hava, perfectly true! Oh, if only I were younger, with a strong voice again, the brothers and sisters in this church would sit up straight and listen to what their pastor tells them! 

 

Sarah: (with mock indignation) Now really, Reuben, I beg you. You know perfectly well the whole church respects you deeply, and listens to you!

 

Reuben: Even if I am a hundred years old? Eh, Hava?

 

(They laugh)

 

Ora: However painful it was to leave Rome, our birthplace, to finally come here, to you, is the fulfillment of a dream. All our life we have listened to the testimonies and witnesses from the city of Jesus’ miraculous birth. Finally to see Bethlehem ourselves, it is almost like stepping into Heaven. And, yes, I can see, if poorly. I have seen, and touched, the house where the holy family lived—

 

Hava: And we have gone out into the field, to the place where the shepherds saw the angels!

 

Ora : And coming here, to the church, my weak eyes could catch the glow of the candle in the window. It seemed to me that Jesus, the Light of the world, was holding open His arms to welcome me to His own house!  

 

(Reuben puts his face in his hands, moved)

 

Sarah: Are you well, brother? 

 

Reuben: (recovering himself) Yes, yes, I’m alright, but, children, do you understand that you’ve come to a city of both marvel and mourning, a place of both joy and deepest suffering?

 

Hava: Yes. We understand, Reuben Bar Eliud. 

 

Ora: We’ve been told of the grief that afflicted our family.

 

Reuben: I myself saw the radiance of heavenly glory break out over our city and come to rest over the house where the holy Child lived. He was two years old then. I was ten. How old are you, Hava?

 

Hava: Ten.

 

Reuben: I was your age when the Magi from the East appeared on our streets, the first of countless Gentiles streaming to worship the King of kings! But after that….

 

Sarah: After that, the horror….

 

Ora: We know, Aunt Sarah.

 

Sarah: I was two years old. I was a twin. I had a brother, Eliasaf. I remember him. I remember that terrible day! (Covers her face in grief; Hava comes close and embraces her)

 

Reuben: Our brothers Paul and Peter are far from the first martyrs for the Lord Jesus. No, not even the blessed Stephen was the first. The first were the Innocents of Bethlehem, among them Eliasaf, brother of your grandmother and your great-aunt Sarah.

 

Ora: Grandmother Shiphrah told us everything...

 

(Hava goes from Sarah to Ora and embraces her, too, remaining by her side)

 

Reuben: Your parents sent you here to us to save you from the growing persecutions in Rome, but I fear, my children, that this place will not long be a refuge.

 

Ora: It's enough for us that we have seen Bethlehem once.

 

Hava: But we must wait here, for Grandmother and Father and Mother to arrive, before we go on!

 

(Reuben and Sarah exchange glances)

 

Reuben: There may not be time to wait for them.

 

Sarah: But what can we do?

 

Reuben: Sarah, you must go with them. There is refuge, for now, in Egypt, in Alexandria. We have people there who will take you in. (Looking at the girls) You can wait for your grandmother and your parents there. You will be safe. I will see that word reaches them in time, not to seek you here but to go on to Alexandria.

 

Sarah: But I… I always thought… I even made a vow to the Lord… that I would die here, here in Bethlehem where my brother lies—

 

Reuben: No, Sarah. You must get Ora and Hava out of here as quickly as you can.  You promised your sister to protect them, didn’t you? (Sarah nods) You must keep your word. 

 

Sarah: But my promise to God? What of that promise, Reuben?

 

Reuben: That promise, He never asked of you. But (indicating the girls) this promise He demands of you.  You could do nothing to save your brother from Herod—for which you are not guilty; you were a two-year-old child, Sarah!—but now the Lord has entrusted these...innocents into your hands. Now you can do something. The Lord has given you that.  

 

Sarah: (struggling and conquering) Yes, the Lord has given me that. (looking at the girls) Of course. (to the girls) Children, we must leave for Egypt, within the week. (reflectively) Everything is changing now. Just when it seemed to me that my life was settled.

 

Reuben: Everything changes, always. As the Lord ceaselessly pursues His magnificent design, nothing stays in place. Heaven and earth are swept away when He utters His Word. But...the candle that you saw, Ora—it will remain, here, as a witness to the end…the very…end. I speak of the Resurrection flame, children, the flame that…they will find…when they come…burning in the hearts of…of “two or three gathered in the Name”…. 

 

(Ora begins humming a song. Hava joins her, starting to articulate the words. The song used in the original production was the Welsh Christmas hymn, “Come to Bethlehem Town,” translated into Russian. The girls sing the first couple of lines.)

 

Sarah: I know that song.

 

Hava: We always sing it in Rome; it is about Bethlehem.

 

Reuben: Yes, we used to sing it here, too, long ago; for some reason we stopped...

 

(Reuben begins to sing the song in full voice. Sarah, Hava and Ora join in. Then the rest of the people in the room, one by one, join in until they are all singing with gusto. [The narrator of course is not singing.] On the second round of the song, somewhere in the middle, everybody begins filing out, as if they are leaving the church house to go home, continuing to sing, departing the stage to the right and left. All leave except for Reuben and Hadassah.)

 

Narrator: The old song continues resounding in the hearts of the Bethlehem saints as they leave the prayer house for their homes, heartily fortifying one another with words of hope, love and faith. Reuben stays to make sure everything’s in order and lock the doors. He notices to his surprise that Hadassah likewise has lingered behind, even though her grandson and his friend have left.

 

Reuben: What, sister Hadassah , did the boys forget you? Shouldn't they have walked you home?

 

Hadassah: I told them to go on ahead. I’ll get home very well myself, Reuben. It won’t be the first time.  But they should have these moments together. Who knows how many are left….

 

Reuben: (after a pause) Then I'll walk you home.

 

Hadassah: Not at all, brother. I can manage quite fine. You’re not so sure on your feet anymore, either, you know! 

 

Reuben: I’ll walk you home. I insist. (in dry humor) If you fall into a ditch, I’ll pull you out.

 

Hadassah: (with a smirk and chuckle) And if you fall into a ditch, I’ll pull you out.

 

(Hadassah topped him so of course he has to come up with one better.)

 

Reuben: And if we both fall into a ditch?

 

Hadassah: Then let's hope the Archangel Gabriel comes to our rescue.

 

Reuben: (suddenly stilled) Gabriel.... I think it would not be his first appearance in Bethlehem…. (pause)  So… Hadassah… you are staying?

 

Hadassah: I'm staying.

 

Reuben: I am, too. Someone must see that the candle is lit.

 

Hadassah: The Light of the World must be found… here, by our…our…

 

Reuben: Our… “friends”….

 

Hadassah: "If God is for us, who is against us?"

 

Reuben: Amen. Amen! Well then, shall we go? …Only be careful not to push me into a ditch.

 

Hadassah: (laughs as the two of them exit the prayer house and Reuben locks up, then…) How I love the song we were singing. Why did we ever stop singing it here in Bethlehem?

 

Reuben: I don’t know. But I am glad the song came back to us…in time. 

 

(Reuben softly begins singing the song again, as Hadassah joins along, taking his arm as they head offstage. Their voices fade out as they disappear from view.)

 

Narrator: What happened to these souls in the following days? Did they escape their persecutors? Did they find their loved ones in Alexandria? Or preach the Gospel in distant countries? Did they stand to the end for their faith in Bethlehem? Perhaps some were arrested and dragged away to Rome? Were they strong to the very end, paying with their lives for their faith?

I leave it to you to write the rest of their stories on the pages of your own imagination. Yet of this we may be certain: in those days when Rome ruled the world and some elderly saints still could remember the very sound of Jesus' voice, even the day of His birth, among the lives of countless believers the answers to all these questions was 'Yes'. Some escaped, some were taken by the authorities, some preached in distant lands, some witnessed before Caesar himself at the cost of their lives, some were allowed to live out long lives and see their children and grandchildren embrace the salvation of Christ. God's people of those days lived with no promise of earthly security but pressed forward in the assurance of a kingdom not built with human hands, with their gaze fixed on the Jerusalem that is above, with their hearts full of the glory born to us in Bethlehem. Let us so live now, pressing forward to our exultant meeting with the Holy Son of Bethlehem, the Son of David, the Son of God!