Short
Stories |
He is the Man The day had started out all wrong, and things only got worse as the day went on. Anger and hurt was nothing new to Marcus, but when evening came and nothing had changed, he decided to retreat to the quiet place he always went to when life felt unbearable. He sat under the tree and pondered what he had said, she had said, trying to make sense out of the constant hurt. He could still hear her say to him in her sweet voice, but now with an edge of betrayal, “Marcus, we live in two different worlds. Not worlds of economy, or even geographic, but spiritual. So no matter how close our minds and bodies may become, if our spirits are not in union, we are still worlds apart.” Now Marcus knew that they did not see eye to eye on this one issue in particular, but they were so much in agreement on many other matters and he felt this was enough to build a marriage on. But Priscilla was of a different mind, and nothing would change it. In the back of his mind he knew it all started when the Teacher began to teach in their town and Priscilla, after hearing all he had to say decided to follow him and that was that. Marcus pleaded with her not to give up the religion of her Father and Mother but she said no, that she finally learned the truth and nothing would change her mind and direction, not even her deep love for him. She found the One who not only loved, but was love Himself. She did tell Marcus she still loved him, but that life with him had to be perfect love and that was to be spiritually in tune with God and each other. She added that she knew that he loved God, but that he needed to know and love His Son Jesus also, as she did now. Marcus began to hear rustling leaves and voices, and suddenly realized that he was not alone. He heard a man say that he needed to be alone and would the three men wait for him. He separated himself and much to Marcus’s surprise began to moan and weep and spoke to someone as though he was entreating, but Marcus saw no one else. He would have left, being embarrassed to be hearing someone speak so personal to another, but he would have had to go past him, and did not wish to embarrass the fine young man that he saw before him. The greatest astonishment to his eyes was when the man’s groaning became so profuse that he actually sweat blood. Macus became frightened and hid his face, fearing what he saw, which now caused him to tremble. He felt sad for the man, for he never seen anyone in such agony before, now fearing for this man’s life. Marcus could not know this was a prophetic revelation, for to him it was just a keen sense of fear, and he was relieved to hear others coming. He watched as the others came, saw him kissed by one, shackled by others and submissively taken by them to a place he did not know. Marcus forgot himself in all the confusion he had witnessed and he quickly rushed home and jumped in bed. After a few hours, being stirred by his own emotions and what he saw, he decided to take a walk. He happened to see a throng of people and went over to witness for himself what all the noise was about. He was surprised to see the young man who he had seen a few hours earlier in the garden, being shoved and taunted and now carrying a cross, much too heavy for even his well developed frame. With sympathy he felt compelled to help, but was roughly pushed aside. The crowd seemed to get meaner the closer to the place of the crucifixion and Marcus by now was feeling more kind hearted toward him although he still could not understand why. All he knew was that his hurts now seemed to be insignificant in comparsion. He though much about Priscilla, and why she felt the way she did, and suddenly realized she spoke of love and having found what she had searched for so long. Certainly he now wanted to embrace this love that he saw coming from the man that was being mistreated so unjustly. Seeing this gentle man put on the cross, hanging between two that did deserve the judgement of men, made Marcus break into a sweat, and caused him much inner turmoil. He wildly looked through the mass of people, hoping to see Priscilla, and just when he had despaired of finding her, he saw her standing by the cross, her arms around a woman, who was weeping bitterly. He approached them, slowly at first, not wanting to intrude upon someone’s grief but wanting to tell Priscilla that he now understood what she had been trying to tell him about love and this man. He stayed with them until the body was claimed my Joseph of Armathea, and was quietly but tenderly put in the grave. When all the crowds had dispersed and John, one of his disciples, had take Jesus’ Mother to his own home to care for her as his friend Jesus had requested, Marcus then felt it appropriate that he should tell Priscilla what he knew. He began by telling her that he knew that is was indeed the one that they had searched for and her heart burst with joy when Marcus was able to say to her “This is the Man, the Son of God, the one we will follow and will teach our children and their children about, all the days of our lives.’ Marcus was to tell others, many times during his liefe time how a merciful God was to allow him to be in the Garden of Gethsemane during the time that their Lord had spent there with His Father. He spoke of the power of the Spirit that can change a rebellious heart into a living one by being in His presence and how much it meant to him to have been allowed to come to know Him personally this way. Yes, Marcus never tired of speaking of the one he called “The Man” knowing in his heart that when he did perhaps he could introduce one more to Him who deserved to be revealed and known by those that He died to save.
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