Jesus was busy delivering finished products to customers of the carpenter shop. Daniel was not needed, so he went in search of company. He had located Abraham and Joshua, and now they were sitting at the nearby watering hole. He had been told previously that the watering hole was filled as needed by an aqueduct.
Taking in what was going on there—camels and sheep quenching their thirst—Daniel asked his companions, “Why is it that camels are not ridden and used mainly to carry stuff?”
Joshua told him, “They are very hard to sit on. Their gait is bumpy, and it makes it uncomfortable to sit astride the animal.”
Daniel digested that with a headshake and then said, “Hey, you guys, what do you think of our buddy Jesus?”
Many days ago, Daniel had explained the word “buddy” to them.
“What about him?” asked Abraham.
“Doesn’t he seem to know a lot of stuff? Where did he learn all of it? You should have heard him in the Temple! Sure, maybe those old dudes weren’t really paying attention to what he was saying, but it sounded righteous to me. Man! Like he is only twelve, you know? Where does he get all that stuff?” said Daniel.
Abraham looked over at Joshua. Joshua shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, and said, “I understand what you are saying. Yes, Jesus seems to be somewhat different, but I would not want to stop being his friend.”
“What do you think?” Joshua turned and put the question to Abraham.
Abraham was a few months older than Joshua and Jesus, maybe older than Daniel also. He looked off in the distance and then slowly turned to Joshua and Daniel. “Yes. Yes, surely, Jesus is different. I have a very strong feeling that he wants to be a teacher—perhaps to teach us all how to live and let live, and to not harm one another in anyway.”
“Hey, hey, guys, that is exactly what he was spouting off to the old dudes in the Temple. And you know what?” Daniel continued. “He told them that later the Temple would come to be known by a different name. A place where people would go to worship God. You know, I may not be able to remember much about where I came from, but I remember God and who he is. He is the father of us all! You know what else? You guys have heard Jesus when refers to his father and he always says ‘My father, Joseph!”
“Yeah, yeah,” both Abraham and Joshua said in unison.
“So,” Abraham said, “he is counting both. His father here on Earth and his father up in heaven.”
“Yes,” Joshua said. “He is the father of us all.”
Daniel spoke up then. “Father to us all, huh? Animals too?”
Joshua and Abraham both said yes with their heads.
“OK,” Daneil blurted out. “Why the heck do you suppose he made camels that spit at you and make a loud terrible bleat sound?”
Abraham said, “Maybe so that we humans, in the dark of night, would know that it was a camel we heard. Just like we know a sheep, an ass, a wolf, or any other animal when not seen from the sound it makes with its mouth.”
Daniel and Joshua looked at each other. Daniel shot a slinky eye at Abraham and said, “Abe, you’ve been hanging out with Jesus way too much. You are starting to sound like him. Now, let me tell you what has been up with me the last couple of days. You know I don’t remember much about where I’m from, and I don’t remember anything about my family: father, mother, brothers, and sisters. During the past nights—two or three—I have had thoughts about what might have been my life before I came here. Not anything solid, just fading images and shadows. One time it was a lot of things moving down what I thought could be a trail. All separate things—some moving one way and others the other way.
“Then one time I was looking up at the sky because there was a loud strange sound up there. The shadow I saw made me think of a big, big bird because it looked like it had wings. What kind of bird could be that big and make very loud strange sounds? Then another time—I guess all of this was in dreams, because I don’t think I was awake—I was in something that was moving. I guess it was going someplace and taking me with it. I was sitting inside of whatever it was, and in front of me, there were shapes of people who were also sitting there as we were being taken to I don’t know where. I woke up before we got there.”
Abraham and Joshua both looked skeptical and were tight jawed—unable to speak readily.
Finally, Joshua spoke up. “A big, big bird making loud strange sounds?
And another thing with people in it? Daniel, it had to have been a dream—or dreams. If I were you, I really would watch what I eat, and how much, at night.”
Abraham chimed in with a toothy smile and a couple of affirmative headshakes.
After the evening meal, Jesus and Daniel went out and again reclined against a wall. They sat quietly, savoring a lovely serene evening.
After a short while, James and Salome joined them against the wall.
Daniel was the first to break the silence. He said, “Jesus, you told me that you will return to Jerusalem to speak with the, um, elders. That is what they are, right?”
“Yes, Daniel, that is right. They are certainly elders.”
“So you will return to Jerusalem for Passover but will stay out of the Temple till you are thirty?” said Daniel.
“I said that, Daniel, yes,” Jesus agreed and nodded.
“Do you think they will listen to you then?”
“One can only hope,” Jesus said. “If they truly want happy and fulfilled lives, they must learn to accept one another as they are and to extend help to those in need.”
Daniel was silent. James and Salome had not yet spoken.
Daniel turned to Jesus and asked, “Are you sure you’re twelve?”
All remained silent for a time and then Daniel blurted out, “So besides being a carpenter, what will you be till you are thirty?”
“I will continue to learn, and I will go on walkabouts and pass on to all who will listen how we can please and be closer to God. Walkabouts. Is that correct, Daniel?”
“Yes, just so, Jesus. Just so. God? Who is he, Jesus? I seem to know him—about him—but like all else in my life before I woke up here in Nazareth, I just don’t remember. Sure, I remember somethings like baseball, but most is a haze.”
“Daniel, God is the father of us all. He is our heavenly father.”
“Is that why you always say ‘My father, Joseph?’ So that all will know you are not referring to the heavenly father?” Daniel asked.
“I was not aware that I did so until you asked me why I do that,” Jesus said. “I do not think that it is a bad thing, and both my fathers would understand.”
“Why are you so smart, man?” Daniel asked. “How do you know all that you know? Who teaches you? When? Where? It seems that ever since I got here, we have been together. So how do you learn all that stuff that is in your head and in your heart? All the goodness that you want us to practice and live by?”
“I do not have a ready answer for you, Dan. For now, I will have to say I am that I am in Gods will.”