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Some of my scouts had come to see me in Capernaum, and they did not bring good news. I gave them some rations to take back out in the field, and told them to set diversionary tactics in motion so we would have time to beat a retreat out of town.
I went to find my brother. As was often the case these days, he was standing on a prominent rise in the middle of an open area, preaching to a large circle of men.
“Every one of you has the power to speak to the Father directly. You do not need me to do this for you,” he was saying. I had heard him say this many times, but the people didn’t care for that message. They wanted him to speak on their behalf.
I caught his eye and jerked my head to the left, signaling I needed to speak to him. He held up his hands to the crowd, saying he would be back.
I kept it short. “We need to get out quickly. Herod’s men are on their way into town.”
“That old fox,” he laughed. I wondered whether he took the threat seriously. But, to my relief, he signaled to the men that he had to attend to other business.
We set off to Simon Peter’s house. His boats had already returned to the harbor, so I hoped he might be able to spirit Jesus away. My scouts had only told me of soldiers on the roads from the south and southeast, but I had no report whether it was safe to the north. Fleeing across the water might be safest.
Jesus lay back in the boat, dead tired. Back in Capernaum, people had mobbed him, trying to touch him, all trying to get him to listen to their individual stories. But he was only one man and had limits like all other men. By the time we got him onboard and set sail, the stress had clearly taken its toll. He closed his eyes as we left the shore.
Later, as Peter drew the boat up on the eastern shore, it jolted against the hard sand and Jesus shook himself awake. Men had already pulled the other two boats up onto the beach, and several were gathering deadwood for a fire. “How long did I sleep?” he asked no one in particular.
“Ah, look who’s returned from the dead,” I remarked loudly. “No amount of noise or rocking of the boat would disturb you. We’ve heard nothing but snoring from you since we set sail.”
“I do not snore,” Jesus said indignantly.
“You most certainly do, and you have ever since we were boys. Fortunately, we weren’t trying to catch our dinner, because you would have scared the fish away. But speaking of dinner, Andrew has gone ahead into the village to see what we can get.”
“Good. I’m starving,” Jesus muttered as he pressed one hand against his stomach and heard it growl in response. “Where are we, anyway?”
“The Gadarenes on the eastern shore. This is Philip’s land, so Antipas won’t follow.”
A short time later, smoke began to rise from the pit where the men started a fire. I looked up and saw Simon Peter walking toward me, a worried expression on his face. “What is the news?” I called out.
“Bad and worse,” came the reply. He dropped to one knee and lowered his voice. “There’s almost no extra food in town, and the villagers themselves are going hungry. But the worse news is this. The reason there’s no food is that a legion of Roman soldiers is traveling through this country and they’ve ‘requisitioned’ all the spare grain in the villages. Part of the legion has camped in the hills further inland about 10 leagues from here. The Romans are even keeping a herd of swine to feed themselves, and the villagers here are horrified that they have all become unclean forever because of the pigs.”
Jesus looked deep in thought. “They feel unclean because of something the Romans have done?”
“One man said he felt like a leper, that he should cry out ‘Unclean!’ so we would know not to approach him. But I was careful not to identify anyone in our party, because at least one Roman has been asking around about a certain rebel king named Jesus of Nazareth. Apparently, they received word from Herod’s men to keep an eye out for you.”
Jesus grinned. “They called me a rebel king? Why, I’ve never carried a sword in my life, and I haven’t once told the people they should rise up against the Romans. If they consider me a threat, then their army could waste a lot of time hunting through the hills for me.”
Andrew lowered his voice even more so that Jesus had to lean in close to hear him. “Actually, they may be hunting through the hills for you soon anyway. I sent a few men to see how the swine are being herded. If the pigs are not well guarded, our people will drive them off to the east.”
“They won’t try to fight the Romans, will they? That’s not my purpose here. All I wanted was to divert Herod’s attention away from Capernaum.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll just make a bit of mischief.” Andrew’s tone changed. “And you will definitely have diverted Herod’s attention to the eastern side of the Galilee. But we can’t stay on this side of the lake for long. As soon as they hear that someone has been disrupting their food supply, the Romans will start combing the hills, just as you said.”
Though he was smiling broadly, Jesus held up both hands as if asking, Why me?
“Where should we go?” I asked.
“You know,” Jesus said, “all this talk of diverting Herod’s attention here and there has given me an idea. Let’s go talk to some of the men in his precious new capital, the city he dedicated to the emperor. Let’s sail to Tiberius.”
I clutched my brother’s forearms and tried to shake some sense into him. “That’s suicidal! They’d seize you immediately.”
Jesus raised his index finger to make a point. “I don’t think so. They looked for me in Capernaum, they probably heard we were in Bethsaida, and we have to keep them away from Bethsaida so they don’t discover the money. Now they will think I’ve moved to the Gadarenes. The last place they will look for me is under their own noses in Tiberius.”
I wagged my head from side to side in resignation. “I don’t know where you are going with this.”
“Neither do I. But that’s for Abba to work out, not us.” He stood and stretched. “But before we leave, take me to the people you spoke to in town. I need to tell them they are not unclean.”