The Shepherd Chapter 8

Chapter 8

          After gathering up about twenty lambs, Mr. Isaac set off for Jerusalem. Mr. Isaac could tell that I was melancholy. After all, it was to be our last trip together. I would never forget him, but after today, our relationship would be changed forever. We would no longer be boss to employee; we would be friend to friend. We stopped at the usual spots to rest and water the lambs. We spoke very little, but were deep in our own thoughts. We arrived at the Temple and looked for old Zacharias, our contact. But he was nowhere to be found. The Temple proper was usually buzzing with activity, but only strangers and pilgrims were about. No one was sacrificing. The place was almost deserted. Mr. Isaac found a Levite who took charge of the lambs.

          “Where is everyone?” Mr. Isaac asked.

          “Most of them are at Solomon’s porch with that little boy.

          Mr. Isaac was puzzled. “What little boy?”

          The Levite replied, “Oh, the one from Nazareth. He has been here all day talking with the men.”

          Mr. Isaac was even more puzzled. He asked, “A little boy talking with the priests? Those men usually never have anything to say to little boys, but now you say they’re talking with him?”

          The Levite replied, “Oh, you’ve never heard a boy talk like this one. He knows more than all the priests put together. First they ask him a question, which he easily answers, and then he asks them a question, which they can’t seem to answer. It is really quite entertaining … for us that are watching, that is. The priests aren’t laughing at all. The boy’s questions and his innocence are wonderful to behold!”

          Mr. Isaac walked around the Temple courtyard and on the other side, there he was. A young boy about twelve years old was right in the center of thirty or forty priests as if he were the one in charge. He was relaxed and curious. He didn’t seem a bit nervous. The boy didn’t seem to realize that he was on the hot spot. The men were stroking their beards and nervously whispering to each other. But the boy was just taking to them in easy conversation as if he were with equals.

          Mr. Isaac found old Zacharias, slipped up behind him, and whispered, “Hey, what’s going on?”

          The old, gray-haired priest kept his eyes ahead and whispered out of the side of his mouth. “The little boy is Jesus of Nazareth. He is amazing! He knows the Scripture like the back of his hand.

          Mr. Isaac and I both blurted out together, “Who?”

          “Shush!” Old Zacharias shushed us and turned back around.

          Mr. Isaac whispered, “You said Jesus of Nazareth?!”

          The priest replied, “That’s right. He is actually my nephew and, if I don’t mind to say so myself, quite an interesting boy!”

          Mr. Isaac shook his head and agreed, “You’re right about that!”

          The priest turned around with a puzzled look and asked, “So you know this boy from Nazareth?”

          Mr. Isaac replied, “Oh I know him - but I didn’t know that he was from Nazareth. The last time I saw him he was a little baby. His family came to Bethlehem for the taxation about twelve years ago and decided to stay. That is for about a year. They left quite suddenly, just before Herod’s wicked executions of the infants. I never heard of them since that time.”

          “Well, it was miraculous the way Joseph escaped Herod’s scourge,” Old Zacharias went on. “Joseph claimed that God warned him through an angel to flee.”

          Mr. Isaac was puzzled, “So is Joseph the boy’s father?”

          Zacharias grimaced, struggling for words. He finally said, “Some would say that what I am going to tell you is blasphemous, but it is true. I know it to be true. Mary, my sister-in-law, says that the boy is actually the Son of God. Joseph is just his earthly father - his step-father you might say.” Old Zacharias waited to judge the reaction this information had on Mr. Isaac, but it was his turn to be surprised.

          Mr. Isaac confidently said, “I knew twelve years ago that he was a special boy. I saw him the very night of his birth.” Mr. Isaac paused a moment to let the weight of his statement to have its effect.

          He went on, “That night, we were lying in the fields keeping watch over our flocks. The angel of the Lord came upon us and the glory of the Lord shone round about us. We were terribly afraid.”

          Zacharias gave a knowing nod.

          Mr. Isaac went on, “But the angel said to us, ‘Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

          Zacharias’ smile was growing as he nodded with each statement that Mr. Isaac made. He broke in, “Oh, yes. I saw that very same angel. I couldn’t speak for nine months until my little son was born. What an encounter! What an announcement!”

          A priest with a forefinger over his lips shushed Mr. Isaac and Old Zacharias with, “Shush!” Both men got quiet, glancing at each other with a curious twinkle in their eyes.

          Mr. Isaac nodded as they both looked at the little boy in the middle of all of those old men giving his astounding answers. The priests and the scribes were amazed at Jesus. They were amazed at his wisdom and understanding. They couldn’t explain him.

          But Zacharias and Mr. Isaac knew. They knew exactly who he was. He was the Son of God and would one day be the Savior of the world.