Joshua

MY KID BROTHER
JOSHUA

How

Jesus

Became

The

Messiah

Of
God

In Peril On The Sea

         Under the benevolent rule of King Antipas through the next several years, Joseph added two more construction crew to his teams, keeping the men busy on projects as far away as Judea and Syria. Because of the need for more timber and stone, a second transport group was organized and the teams turned over to Jonathan and David. Both of the twin boys had grown up as competent youngsters, strong and intelligent, obviously the broad faced sons of Joseph. Joshua traveled more than ever before, absorbing more knowledge about the people of his homeland, with their fears and hopes and joys and sorrows. He was appalled at the gap between the poor people who lived from hand to mouth and the extremely wealthy who made up the merchant and the ruling classes. He came to appreciate the generosity of Mary and Joseph to the needy Samaritans outcasts who lived in enclaves to the southeast of Nazareth. Joshua continued to study the scrolls of ancient wisdom but more often reading the writings of the ancient Greeks and Persians now. Sometimes, he traveled with David and sometimes with Jonathan, although the younger twins bonded more closely to one another than with himself or James. There was little or no friction but they simply were not as close to their older brothers as to each other. Joshua understood that because they were twins who had shared everything, even the same visages when they peered into a polished silver mirror. When the crews needed more building materials for their growing number of projects, Joshua discovered he had to travel further and further from home to purchase enough sound timber and specialized stone for their projects. He soon recommended to Joseph that the family buy its own forest land and a stone quarry for their projects and sell their surplus at wholesale prices to regional builders. James thought the idea premature. Joseph compromised:

         “Let’s make do as we have done for another year or so -- and consider carefully all the aspects of your idea. It does have merit: I see where you are going with it, but let’s learn how long this building boom shall last before we bite off such a huge chunk. We could buy land but we can also consider leases of timber and stone sites. That would cost more but it wouldn’t tie up so much of our capital.”

 

         Joshua continued to travel in search of the best materials, but he had settled comfortably into the routines of life as he lived as an adult male with most of his needs met by the house staff. The voice came to him less often -- even as Mary begin dropping hints that she would like to see him married and rearing a family of his own. She wanted him to fulfill his calling by the Lord God. But as he worked harder and became more involved in running the enterprise, he heard the voice less often than before although he was still active in the Greek Synagogue and continued studying the parchments when traveling behind the plodding oxen. It wasn’t so much that he had shut the Lord God out of his life, just that he had had become content with his lot in life. He simply didn’t know what God had called him to do that was more important than helping families build homes in which to rear their families. Had he been the son of a large landowner, he would have felt much the same way about producing wagon loads of wheat and barley in order to feed the hungry men and women of the large cities.

          “Mama,” he said when Mary once again asked what his life mission would be, “you see how busy I am. Papa has me going at a trot for weeks at a time. Sometimes for months, during the building season. What kind of husband and father would a schedule like that make of me? Away from home so much of the time. My children would forget who I was -- would wonder who the strange man is that comes in to sleep with their mother once in a while!” He grinned when she made a wry face at him. “You know what I mean -- and you must admit that building good homes at a fair price is an honorable endeavor. Like now, here I am packed and ready to leave for Antioch for more timber for Papa and James. I must do my part in our efforts to make a living for the entire family and to serve others for a fair return on our knowledge and labor. I don‘t even know how to make money -- I can only offer people a service and a product for which they, of their own volition, trade money for what I offer them.” Mary didn‘t agree with him but she had never been a nag. Joshua found himself working harder and having less time to study the scrolls and to discuss them with the rabbis from Greece.

         

The increased need for good timber was why some time later, Joshua found himself pinned to the railing of a storm-tossed cargo ship, feeling like a drowned rat, halfway between Antioch and Caesarea Maritima. He was responsible for the ten cedar logs -- whole tree trunks actually from Lebanon,  that were intended for the family’s saw pit in Nazareth.  They were sliding back and forth as the ship rolled in heavy seas and should they break loose, the ship could be lost in a stygian black night illuminated only by flashes of brilliance, follow by the rumbling crash of thunder.

        

 

           The summer day had begun fair enough in Antioch, although there was a stiff breeze sending more and more broken clouds scudding north over The Great Sea. The small Egyptian ship with stubby masts fore and aft, driven by triangular lateen sails on long yardarms, was cast off from the dockside bollards and drifted toward the breakwater at dawn, swept along by the ebbing morning tide. When it drifted aimlessly in the channel, moving slowly because of the south wind against her bow, the pilot boat with half a dozen oarsmen, threw a line to the forty ells long Osiris and towed her into the open sea. She sat still except for rocking slowly on the incoming waves. Captain Sakkara ordered the tow line cast off, the sails raised and set his first tack away from the coast. He would run toward the southwest for two hours or so, steering away from the dangerous coastal rocks and shoals that killed more ships than he cared to think about. He had, he explained to Joshua and several other passengers the night before, as the tree trunks were being loaded as deck cargo by the light of pine knots in iron baskets, that he normally allowed two days and a night for the run to Caesarea on the southern shore of the Great Sea.

          “I don’t know, with this stiff wind almost on my bow, though. We shall probably be forced to tack all the way to Maritima. Will your wagons be waiting for us?  If they are late, the Roman port captain charges late fees for each day your cargo clutters his dock space.”

          “With the Lord’s help -- and with my diligent brother, they shall be there when we arrive.”

          The captain had hauled cargo for enough Jews not to ask which god this red headed Hebrew was calling on. Jews were all touchy about worshipping the only true god. Personally, he liked having a few extra deities on which he could call when in trouble.

         Joshua went on, “They will be at the port on time -- my brothers are responsible men.” 

         “Ah! You keep it in the family. A wise choice -- providing your sisters don’t marry landlubbers as mine did. They wrecked two family coastal boats before we threw them out of the business.”

         The wind picked up still more by noon and while it did slow the ship by forcing Captain Sakkars to reduce the pressure on his masts by furling some of the sails, the crew continued to make headway by tacking a zigzag course at two hour intervals, averaging along the southern coast at three or four knots. They were not sure, for the water was too rough to toss the log and count the knots on the log rope as they slipped through a seaman’s hands. The waves increased in size and frequency, striking the boat on the diagonal during the tacks, lifting her bow and twisting it sideways as it slipped over the crest, before dropping abruptly into the troughs below. Each impact threw a sheet of spray into the wind, which caught it and whipped it aft along the deck and the cedar cargo. The small ship rode out the buffeting all afternoon for she was stout and stiff enough to forge ahead despite the rough seas. And while Joshua enjoyed sailing for pleasure and understood the technique of sailing into the wind, this pitching of an entire ship was something new to him. He became seasick and emptied his stomach over the side. He continued vomiting until there was nothing more to lose and still he wretched painfully with the dry heaves. Joshua decided that it wasn’t the pitching motion that bothered him so but the nasty twist the Osiris took when plunging her bow into the trough of each wave. It was that final wrench that his stomach couldn’t handle. He spend more time below, clutching a bunk and praying, than he’d planned -- but around midnight, the captain, with a lantern in his hand, aroused him and the other passengers.

         “I need everyone on deck. The cargo lashings are soaked from the rain and the spray and are stretching so your logs are shifting in their moorings. We must tighten the ropes or roll your cargo overboard to keep them from working free and smashing through the sides.”

         “Are we in danger of sinking?”

         “Not yet, but we will be in trouble if we cannot tighten up those damned lashings. Your logs could batter us to pieces.”

         “Will lashing them end the sliding?“

         “Aye -- and but the work is dangerous, because the longs are slippery from the spray they‘ve been getting all day. And now the rain is ankle deep on the deck and running down into the hold. I already have several men taking turns on the pumps.”

         The wind was shrieking through the rigging and the spars. The crew and the passengers worked for several hours, as if galley slaves, dodging the incoming waves crashing over the bow. The men were soaked to the bone within minutes after coming topside, clutching tree trunks in summer sandals, and soaked robes while levering them high enough to lash more ropes under and around them and binding them to bronze cargo cleats. Ever so often one of the ten tree trunks would get free and half a dozen men had to throw themselves against it to protect the gunnels from being smashed and knocked into the sea. They looped ropes around belaying pins along the railing and frantically caught the log butts with lassos made of braided rawhide. The man doing this had to place himself between the log’s butt and the railing and leap out of danger at the last moment to cast the loop, for as soon as the deck pitched from the next wave, the log would slide or roll erratically. Joshua, the youngest and most agile of the group, took over one of the lassos to snare six of the ten logs and then, with the sixth secured, the seventh took an unexpected twist and rammed him in the buttocks at the end of its slide. The blow stunned him and he was falling over the rail toward the foaming sea, when Captain Sakkara, an Egyptian with a pale yellow skin and slanted eyes, snatched Joshua back before he vanished into the darkness.

        The ship continued to roll and pitch as a Syrian seaman took over from Joshua and secured the last few logs. Captain Sakkars was everywhere, lifting and cajoling and praying to several strange Egyptian gods, leading the men to spend themselves recklessly, often in the darkness as the wind kept blowing the lanterns out. Then, they worked by light of the vivid lightning flashes from horizon to horizon that left the ship’s rigging glowing eerily with the static electricity that would eventually be called St. Elmo’s fire. By dawn, one seaman had broken an arm, a passenger had a slash on his bicep and Joshua sported a large purple bruise above one buttock. He found sitting down excruciatingly painful and standing up in the rolling and rocking ship quite difficult. Everyone was exhausted -- but they had saved the ship and its cargo and not incidentally, their own lives.

        The battered Osiris with a dozen or so bruised and weary passengers and crew men limped past the circular breakwater at Caesarea Maritima a day late, with tattered rigging and ripped sails from the un-seasonal storm that had swallowed several ships. To the north, between Tyre and Siddon, people were burying drowned sailors washed up along the coast. After Jonathan had greeted Joshua warmly and hoisted the logs onto his timber wagons and was waiting his brother to join him on the trip home, the older brother found Captain Sakkars and pressed an extra gold piece into his palm.

        “What’s this for, Joshua?”

        “A well deserved reward, Captain -- for doing an impossible job with much grace under pressure. We really need that cedar you saved. And my life also when I fell over the rail.”

        “Well -- thanks.” He grinned. “But it was my old arse too! And you worked like a demented Spartan all night. Oh, how is your purple butt?”

        “It’s not too bad -- it only hurts when I sit or stand -- I‘m not looking forward to the ride home, looking at the western end of a pair of east bound oxen! Perhaps I can find a shop that sells pillows. And yes, it was your life also but you could have dumped my logs over the side and saved yourself a lot of trouble. You do have insurance on the ship and cargo?”

        “Of course, but poor service is not our style.”

        “Well -- I thank you, Captain, and we shall use your services and your good stiff ship again! Cedar has become a very popular timber for summer homes.”

Roselaen Comes

        Mary’s flowers were blooming early in the warm sunshine and soft showers of a Galilean spring and a group of her friends had gathered to admire her handiwork. Several building seasons had passed as the younger boys continued to grow more responsible and productive in the business. Jonathan and David still captained the two transportation teams while James and Joshua were recognized across Galilee as superb master carpenters. James took over more of the management from Joseph -- who had always enjoyed most using his creativity and boldness in designing projects. Joshua was handling the negotiations with customers and the coordination of supplies although the forest land and the stone quarry the family had leased made his work easier and brought in more income from sales to other builders. Joshua explained to his boisterous younger brothers;

         “Just remember, Jon and Dave, you cannot make off with all the benefits of a transaction. Both you and the supplier must be satisfied with the results or the deal cannot be closed. Be prepared to surrender something rather than make rigid demands in a negotiation. Show a customer the advantages he shall win by dealing with us -- but be prepared to accept less than the ideal payment. Winning half a cheese is better than losing the entire thing. Then, be prepared to make the very best use of our time and supplies, in order to win our profit. Waste not -- want not. Just remember to learn as much as you can -- Papa isn’t going to be with us forever so we must prepare ourselves to manage everything. I’ve decided that to marry and settle into our work here is as fine a way to serve our Lord God as going out field preaching. Building homes for the people is a worthy task, and we must expand it enough so we can make good livings with our skills as Papa has for us. And while neither you nor Ruth and Judith are thinking about marriage yet, neither was James when he was your age. And look at him now -- married to Mariam and already a father with a healthy two year old son. Actually, our children will be the generation to follow up and take over after we retire. Little Jacob has already arrived on the scene! I calculate that each of us, when we become adult, has about thirty years to do something good for ourselves, for God and for humanity. And that includes marriage and adding children to our clan as we each find a mission that is pleasing to our Lord God.”

         Jonathan nodded, although he sometimes thought Josh too serious. “But -- when are you going to marry -- and to whom? I never see you with any one special girl.”

         “That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about them -- I’ve yet to find the right one but I shall. I plan on marrying someone as charming, as pleasant and as gifted an artist as Mama.”

         “So shall I, Josh,” David added. “But not just yet.”

         “Not just yet!” Joshua agreed as he reached for the scroll he was writing.

         Mary had organized their educations so her daughters, Judith and Ruth, mastered the domestic activities that would serve them well when they were responsible for families of their own. And while she and Joseph had kept their eyes open for possible matches for their children, they knew they would be able to do well for them. With the business profitable and the girls attractive, intelligent and healthy, suitors would be available when the girls were ready for marriage. Some of the neighboring boys regularly dropped by -- ostensibly to visit Jonathan or David and then spent their time with Mary’s articulate and talented daughters. When she couldn’t persuade the traditionally minded Rabbi Ezra to accept the girls as special students in the Greek Synagogue School, she tutored them to read and write the three common tongues, to play both flutes and lyres, to weave rugs and tapestries and to paint with oils and pastels. It simply wouldn’t do, their grandmother Judith told Mary, for their homes to remain bereft of light and music or of tapestries and other works of art when they were rearing their own families. On the Sabbath and at evening prayers. Mary had them share the reading of the sacred scrolls along with the boys.

         David was right, of course. Joshua had always spent some of his free time with the friends of his sisters and their cousins. He liked girls and found them interesting but he enjoyed them more as companions and friends when going birding or herb hunting rather than as potential mates. He joined in the social activities the mothers of the congregation sponsored for the boys and girls to become more comfortable with one another in the synagogue. However, he never chose one special girl, although there were enough opportunities set before him by ambitious mothers who wanted their daughters to marry well.

          Then, when Joshua was well into his twenties and Roselaen was nineteen, his relationship with women, with her at least, swept his plutonic relationships away. He and the Capernaum Rose as her family called her, was swept off her feet for the first time in her life in Mary’s flower garden. Roselaen, who was visiting her cousin Mariam and her mother, Aunt Sarah to Rose, had been invited to explore Mary’s flower garden by Ruth and Judith. By coincidence, Mary’s sister Sharon had come for a week or two of visiting from Bethlehem. Roselaen, her mother and Mariam had walked to Mary’s home from the cottage, James and Joshua had built for the young couple. The women led Jacob, the young couple’s rambunctious little boy in his terrible twos who had already learned to defy his parents in three different languages. Little Yako, named after his great grandfather, had found the blooms so beautiful and so sweet scented that he, to everyone’s amusement, was determined to taste them. Roselaen, with the women gathered that morning was deeply appreciative of the garden Mary had labored for years to bring to perfection. When, early in their marriage Joseph suggested Mary relegate the work to a gardener, she’d refused -- opining that while a farm girl could be moved off the land, a love of good soil and greening plants could never be taken from her heart and soul. She adored her multi-colored flower beds and spent many happy hours toiling away in them -- almost intoxicated by their sweet scents and gorgeous blooms, first working with James and then Joshua and later with her younger sons and daughters.

          The medium sized, raven-haired Roselaen was kneeling a dozen paces from the older women. She’d impulsively run ahead and dropped to the earth to exclaim over a bed of snow white Lilies of the Valley whose sweet scent had attracted her. Roselaen, bowed as if in prayer, was the first thing Joshua saw when he came around a corner of the house looking for Mary. He’d recently returned home from a buying trip and wanted to ask his mother about a misplaced basket of scrolls he intended to take on his next journey. He pulled up short -- when he caught sight of the golden hued girl caressing an especially beautiful lily. She was talking animatedly, sending soft cries of pleasure over her shoulder as Mary beamed her appreciation.

          Roselaen’s face glowed in the mid-morning sunshine. She continued talking as she caressed the lily, her face a balance of tenderness and determination. She looked stunning to Joshua with two long black braids bound with a green headband and a girl’s short yellow robe bound around her slender waist. Joshua froze, the scrolls forgotten, convinced instantly she was the most fascinating woman he’d ever seen. Mariam said something that amused the kneeling girl and she laughed, the ringing of fine crystal struck by a silver spoon, Joshua thought. Her lips parted in delight and her ebony eyes danced merrily. She shifted to smile at Mariam, settling back with her legs curled under her in a feminine manner, before turning again to the flowers, as if paying homage at the altar of their beauty.

          Joshua remained frozen, too enchanted with her profile and figure with curves in all the right places to move, seeing nothing but this portrait of beauty framed by the roses. He was perfectly quiet, admiring Roselaen, drinking in her laughter and smiling at her charming banter -- the casual conversation among women when free from the presence of inhibiting men, discussed her love of beautiful things. He realized instantly that he was seeing the girl as she really was -- completely vulnerable, without any pretension in her posture or her conversation.

          She hurried on, swiftly speaking Aramaic with a smattering of Hebrew and Greek thrown in for emphasis -- making sense of her topic as she discussed the advantages of certain flowers in a well designed flower garden. She remained seated in the middle of Mary’s floral masterpiece, discussing flower gardens, emboldened by Mariam and Sarah, with whom she could lay aside the burden of her beauty and the wariness she suffered when men pursued her. She put a hand against the earth to keep her balance and caught a glimpse of Joshua from the corner of her eye. She twisted to see him and was caught like a bird in a snare -- all her defenses down, her soul tender and accepting from her love of flowers. His brilliant blue eyes seemed to be peering into her very soul -- seeing through her youthful yearnings. Their eyes remained locked with neither able to break the connection. Six, eight, ten heartbeats -- a dozen heartbeats passed in complete silence and then, Roselaen wrenched her gaze toward Mary, abruptly chattering nervously about something in the garden. But even as she spoke, her gaze flickered back and forth between Joshua and his mother.

          Joshua remained mute, off balance mentally and spiritually. He feared this dark haired vision of loveliness would think him rude for staring so intently -- might even flee his boldness -- but he was unable to tear his eyes away, to offer a polite greeting, or turn toward his mother. Roselaen scrambled to her feet, absently brushing the loose earth from her robe, more subdued now that she had been caught off guard by yet another admirer. It seemed to her that men often materialized out of nowhere, as if by black magic, interfering with her gardening and spinning, trying to talk to her when she wanted to play kick the ball with her sisters. Her desire for marriage had already been shaken by the tension and anxiety she felt when her parents quarreled. She gave her suitors little encouragement and it became annoying at times. Then, to her amazement, she turned inexorably, completely around to face him, moving forward without realizing that her fascination was carrying her toward this man, drawn by the charismatic ability to reach her that seemed to emanate from him. She felt weak in her knees and her breath became erratic.

          Although they’d never met, she knew instantly who he was -- had already formed a mental image of him through Mariam’s descriptions of her red headed brother in law. She immediately recognized the inadequacy of her cousin’s praise as she’d spoken of this man, even though Mariam had said he was the kindest person she’d ever known. A man of honor and grace that some whispered came straight and true in King David’s line on both sides of his family. She made a final lingering appraisal, waved a weak gesture for help from Mariam, before scurrying away to seek protection among the women. She couldn’t help herself; she shuddered as if an earth tremor had shifted the core of her soul, leaving her weakened in fear -- not of him but from the powerful emotions sweeping through her.

          Joshua felt giddy, something momentous was occurring -- a connection had been forged -- as it had after he’d been awakened by God when he was a boy -- or when he understood in Herod’s Temple that he was called to serve lost and lonely souls who were like sheep lost without a shepherd. Time stopped it’s relentless flow around him -- the very Cosmos was watching and waiting breathlessly for him to act. All of the meaningful aspects of life were coming together -- some great episode with the Lord God was unfolding here and now. The divine voice that had been silent for months once more whispered in his mind -- the still, small voice, that came often in his youth, that spoke to him less frequently now, came once more.

This is my choice for you, my only begotten son -- this is your beloved bride for time and eternity, a helpmeet and a joy for your fruitful years.

          Joshua felt high and lifted up, at the shining center of the Cosmos, at the summit of God’s grace, where the physical, emotional and spiritual elements of life come together, when the woven strands of faith, hope and love lift one into the spirit realm of the Almighty. He’d walked and talked with God and now knew that so long as he was faithful to the Lord and this priceless princess, his life would never become banal and meaningless. He would remain empowered so long as he loved and served the master builder of the Cosmos and shared that love with her.

          Joshua came out of his revere and found himself standing before the women, although he didn’t remember moving toward them. He had eyes only for Roselaen.

“I’m Joshua, son of Mary and Joseph.” He didn’t even hesitate. “When shall we marry?” 

          Every woman in the flower garden, except for the glowing girl, was speechless. This was she knew as he spoke, the only possible conclusion to their meeting. She lowered her eyes modestly and stepped forward to lay a gentle palm against his cheek. She then looked directly into those love-filled eyes, as if they had been betrothed since childhood. “Joshua!” She spoke his name almost reverently. “A name worthy of a prince of the House of Israel. I have been waiting for you all my life. Of course I shall be your bride - whenever we can arrange to wed.”

          He said, when his mind stopped reeling, “we must do this well -- must honor our Lord God with our love.” Then Joshua stopped in confusion, all his boldness spent, before stammering. “I - I - I don’t even know your name!”

          “I am called Roselaen -- from Capernaum.  My family calls me The Capernaum Rose and my friends call me Rosie.”           “I have never heard so appropriate a name,” he said softly.
          She blushed modestly, took his hand and kissed him softly on the lips. “My beloved -- Joshua!”
          He embraced her and gently touched her raven black hair.