“He loves them most of all, I imagine.”
Tom smiled. “He would, wouldn’t he? I miss him.”
“Me too,” David said.
“Let’s get this over with. I just want to say goodbye to Peter and Matthew and go home,” Tom said, as he headed for the door. He had proven Jesus to be a fake, but had also realized that the teachings and life of Jesus had an impact on the world that was greater than any other man in history. Jesus wasn’t God, but he had earned Tom’s respect.
It took Tom, David and Sally three days to walk the distance between the home of Lazarus and the home where the disciples had been staying since the death of Jesus. Normally the trek might have taken only a day, but between Tom’s still healing injuries and Sally’s soft feet, the trip lingered on.
They had only a quarter mile left and had entered a grove of red grapes that twisted and stretched its vines toward a white brick home.
Sally looked at the home. “Please tell me that’s where we’re stopping. My feet are swollen.”
“Be glad you’re still wearing sneakers,” Tom said. “It was an entire year before I got used to these sandals. I don’t think my feet will ever become smooth again, even after we get back to our own time.”
“Tom, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” David said.
“About what?”
“Going home.”
“What about it?”
“Are you sure you want to?”
“Of course. What do you mean?”
“Well, there’s Mary.”
“She’s coming with me.”
“What about Lazarus, Martha, her family? She has more reasons to stay than you do to go…” David flashed his watch to Tom. “And I can always come to visit.”
“I…I just don’t belong here… I don’t fit in. What good is a quantum physicist in 30 A.D.?”
“Maybe you have more to offer than your science…”
“Like what?”
“Didymus! David!” Matthew’s voice boomed through the air as he barreled toward them.
“Matthew!” Tom shouted with a smile.
Matthew gave Tom a crushing hug, lifting him off the ground. “Where have you been? I have so much to tell you! You’re not going to believe it!”
Tom’s face was turning red as the air was squeezed out of his injured chest. “Okay! Okay! Just put me down, you big ape.”
Matthew put Tom down and noticed Tom holding his chest. “You’re injured? What happened to you? Was it the Romans? Or those wretches in Jerusalem?”
“It’s a long story, my friend,” Tom said, as he stretched out his chest, realigning his ribs.
“Is it them?” Peter yelled from the doorway of the home.
Matthew cupped his hands around his mouth, “Indeed it is!”
“Have you told them yet?” Peter returned.
“No!”
“Told us what?” Tom asked.
Matthew turned to Tom, looking him straight in the eyes with a large smile. “Jesus…he’s back.”
David clapped his hands together and started laughing. Sally looked at him, confused. “David, what’s going on? What did he just say?” Sally asked in English.
David took Sally by the shoulders. “Before you came, Tom and I were traveling with Jesus. Actually, Tom was one of his disciples.” David felt his mind about to go into a tangent of detail that was unnecessary. He blinked hard and focused his thoughts. “Before you came back for us, we saw Jesus die on the cross.”
Sally squinted one eye. “Jesus, as in Jesus Christ, Jesus?”
“Yes,” David said with a grin, “That Jesus. What Matthew just told Tom is that Jesus is alive again, that he has risen from the grave.”
Sally squinted the other eye, “That’s not possible.”
“I know! That’s what makes it so great!” David was giddy with excitement. The moment he believed would come, the scene that every child in Sunday school learns about was here.
“I’m not laughing, Matthew,” Tom said angrily.
“But I’m not joking,” Matthew said, as his smile faded.
Tom was losing patience. “Matthew…”
“Come inside. Ask the others!”
Tom stared into Matthew’s eyes. He knew Matthew was a jokester, but his sparkling eyes usually gave away any secrets. Tom couldn’t see that sparkle, that glimmer of humor, ready to deliver a punch line. Tom could see that Matthew was serious, and that just meant he was crazy.
Tom walked around Matthew and headed to the home. Matthew let him go and turned to David. “David!” Matthew looked David over. “You don’t have any injuries, do you?”
“No, just tired from walking.”
“Good!” Matthew said, as he picked David up and bear-hugged him.
The air was squeezed from David’s lungs as Matthew held him in the air. After David had coughed and laughed sufficiently enough, Matthew put him back on the ground. Matthew’s attention then shifted to Sally. He looked at her sneakers, and then back to David. “Who is your friend?”
“I’ll introduce you later,” David said. “Right now, I don’t want to miss what’s about to happen.”
David headed for the house with Sally. Matthew watched them walk by.
“What’s about to happen?” Matthew asked, as he began lumbering after David.
TWENTY FOUR
Believe
30 A.D.
Israel
Tom entered the house and found himself surrounded by excited disciples. Peter was the most excited of all. “Tom, have you seen him?”
“You’re not a part of this too, Peter?”
“Part of what?”
“Matthew’s joke about Jesus being alive.”
“Joke? Why would Matthew joke about something like this? Why would I? Do you not believe that if Jesus were still in the grave that we would still be mourning him, just as you still are?”
“Peter, people…human beings don’t just come back to life.”
“That’s the grand part,” said Matthew, as he entered through the home’s front door with David and Sally in tow. “Jesus has proven to us by living again that he is not just flesh and blood.”
“Let me guess. He’s God, right?”
“Indeed,” Matthew said, smiling.
“If Jesus was God why did he allow himself to be killed by men? Couldn’t he have stopped it from happening?
