Sacred Scrolls; Chapter 38

 

Sacred Scrolls; Chapter 38

© 2021 by Amber Wright

LIVE FOR TODAY

Julia bit onto her lip to minimize the pain from her aching feet. They had walked all morning through the dusky forest without stopping. But they were that much closer there, she consoled herself. She would not complain. Her life had been preserved. Their lives had been preserved. Yes, I am thankful—very thankful. She let out a little, satisfied sigh.

“Are we almost there?” Eli’s voice broke her thoughts.

Julia glanced over at the little boy as he stretched on his toes, trying to see what was on the rising horizon. There’s nothing, she wanted to assure him. She wanted to believe there were no Romans lurking in the shadows of the forest but she could never be sure. Raised as a slave in the emperor’s own house, she had thought she was safe. That nothing bad would or could happen to them. But nothing could prepare her for the disaster of that fatal night when Elder John had arrived. When she had died.

That night, I was preserved, Julia felt her heart tremble at the thought and she took a long, unsteady breath. God had been there even when she had not known that He cared. He loved even her, the pagan Roman who had offered sacrifices unto the Sun. Now her only sacrifices would be to the Son, the Righteous One.

“Are you tired?” Lucius wore a worried frown.

“Oh,” Julia blinked. “I’m quite alright.” She glanced at the other tired faces and quickly added, “That is, if everyone—” Her words drifted and she folded her hands awkwardly. “You all decide.”

“I want a drink,” Eli promptly started off towards the gushing spring that sparkled in the streak of sunlight.

“Marcia?” Her father, Erastus, raised his eyebrows.

“A rest sounds nice,” her mother agreed, flexing her back in her tan robe.

Hearing a jangle of horsemen electrified Julia and her feet flew over the ground. She grabbed Eli’s hand and dragged him towards the others who were running towards a small cave beside a mangle of brush. Lucius pushed her and Eli into the little cave where her parents were, stepping inside himself and silently arranging the brush back into place. The horsemen came into view and the horses snorted into a stop. Her heart pounded as she huddled inside the damp-smelling cave, and she felt her parents’ breath against the back of her head…and Eli’s little hand trembling in hers. She stretched herself to her fullest height and looked over Lucius’ shoulder. Through a tiny opening in the brush, she could see the Romans drinking from the stream—the same stream they had been going to drink from. Her breath caught, Almost caught!

Julia was glad her heart beat silently. If not, her heart would have rang from the hollowness of the cave like that of a brass drum in parade. Fixing her eyes into the coin-sized hole in the branches, she watched a red-cloaked Roman turn his head and began to stare in their direction. No God! Keep us hidden…please? When the Romans rode away in a rustle of armor and leather, she felt the air rush into her lungs.

Lucius waited a few minutes before pulling back the brush to let them out. “Let’s go.”

~

Birds chirping in her ears from the vaulted ceiling of the cave, Junia watched Tiria stir the cake dough carefully. It doesn’t break, she wanted to tease but kept her mouth shut. Tiria was making progress even if her dough still had little lumps in it. “Doing good,” she ventured to say.

Tiria then stirred with a vengeance and little clots of flour plumed out with each stroke, her cheeks flushed from effort and embarrassment. The lumps of flour would not dissolve.

“Tiria?” Junia kept her voice quiet, not wanting to draw attention to Tiria’s cooking misadventure.

The stirring stopped and Tiria jerked her eyes up with a snap. “Yes?”

Junia cringed but bravely smiled, “Try squashing the lumps against the sides of the bowl with your spoon.”

Tiria jerked a nod in reply. Afterwards, the lumps glided smoothly into pure dough and her frown turned to a smile, “Thank you.”

Junia's thoughts drifted elsewhere…away from the damp-smelling cave and Tiria’s smooth mealy cake batter. Making bread is hard, she had been sitting on a reed-woven chair on their patio that day. But bread is the heart of a meal. Yes, she had been listening and now she remembered that lesson. It’s the hard things in life that makes us what we are. How many more hard things did she have to go through to become what she was meant to be? She gulped down the fear of the future. What lay ahead? Did she have the strength to go through more hard times? The hardest moment in her life had been when Deacon Demas had been cast out of church because she had told on him and his lies. Six months had passed since then.

But now, more hard times had come. The Romans had killed part of them and destroyed their entire living. How much more of this could they endure? Her heart fluttered anxiously yet deep inside she felt so dead. Was Demetrius dead? What became of Elder John? Of Marcus? Lucius? The others from the city? Were they all dead? A bitter choke threatened to strangle her breath from her as she felt terror set in as to what may have happened to them all. At the point of despair, a Voice whispered inside her gently, Don't be afraid, Junia. Wait. I have a perfect Plan for you. I will restore. Her quivering eyelashes halted, a calm settling through her like a healing balm. She would wait. She would be restored. There was a plan amidst this pain.

“Here I go!” Tiria scooped a ladle full of cake batter and poured it onto the hot flat rock. It sizzled.

“Good job!” Junia bristled herself up as she went about helping to prepare the midday meal. After all, she was hungry and so were the rest.

Live for today, she told herself briskly as she laid out the glazed clay dishes onto the long plank table under the dome of the cavern. Tomorrow may never come. But if it does, embrace it. Love it. Celebrate every moment and make the world a better place for having lived. She smiled, imagining her words bouncing off the cave walls and echoing. For having lived, I have helped others. There’s Demetrius, Andronika…and Alexander. She placed a finely chiseled spoon beside the plate, bowl and cup. And there’s Marcus. She looked up, hearing a commotion.

“Demetrius?” Junia tried to strangle her gasp that indeed bounced off the cave walls and echoed, ending almost into a wail.

~

“The Lord is good,” Elder John’s smile reached his eyes, squinting in the bright sunlight. “Tonight a guard will take me to speak to those poor people.”

Marcus nodded under his thickening black stubble. “That’s good news.”

“As I have said,” the dimples deepened in Elder John’s smile, “God has placed us here for some reason, for His glory. Today is proof.”

“We have the papyrus and some ink.”

“And I have several quills.”

“More proof,” Marcus felt a sigh of relief escape him. He had thought it would all be a failure, trouble, but God had walked before them and was preparing the way for them.

Elder John smiled in farewell, then walked back to the building where he worked as scribe to traffic the comings and deaths of the prisoners of Patmos.

Marcus pounded his hammer against the rock wall again, a trickle of black rock pouring onto his sandaled feet and its sharpness tingled against his skin. Ouch! Before too long I’m going to be a man standing on toe-less feet. The thought was both horrific and struck him funny. No time to think of that, Marcus. Tonight your first session as secret scribe is waiting you, hand-printing the Sacred Scrolls. He actually felt happy for once on this island, wondering what would happen tomorrow. Anything could happen, he was that hopeful. In Ephesus, he had thought his life would end in Patmos. But now he knew. God had other plans for him—like tonight. Soon, the Sacred Scrolls would be beginning another journey. The Gospel would be preached to the ends of the earth, like Jesus had commissioned, and he, Marcus, would be a part of that commission.

~

“You startled me,” Junia blinked back her disappointment and weakly smiled. “It’s good to see you again, Lucius. Welcome back.”

“May I introduce you to Julia,” Lucius pointed to the blonde with the blue eyes and dark circles under them.

“Good afternoon,” Julia smiled shyly.

Before Junia could respond, Lucius was introducing a little boy. “And this is—”

“I'm Eli,” the little boy interrupted with a huge smile and gave her a hug, “and I’m so hungry I could eat you! But I won’t.”

“Thank you,” Junia chuckled and found herself loving this little boy called Eli. She looked up with a bright smile for the Roman family. “My pleasure to meet you all, welcome.”

“I’m Paul,” Paul smiled up importantly at Eli.

“Are you her baby?” Eli pointed to her.

“I’m not a baby!” Paul furrowed his brows until they creased tightly. “I’m three years old.”

“No, Eli.” Junia held in a laugh. “My sister Rhoda is Paul’s mother. Paul, be sweet.”

“Do you want to see the sheep?” Paul asked Eli brightly, back to his charming self.

Eli raced after Paul towards the other end of the massive cavern that housed their huts, cook fires, long table, washing racks and sheep pens alike. The boys’ heads bobbed up and down as they ran.

Junia turned to Lucius, a question filling her with dread. “Did you find him?”

“Elder John?”

She nodded.

“Yes,” Lucius’ voice was low. He took a deep breath, blew out his breath. “How do I begin?”

~

So Elder John was still alive. A Roman prisoner but still alive, Junia could be thankful for that. Nika gurgled in her arms, sucking on her thumb and turning her inquisitive black eyes towards the women and girls washing clothes at a desolate entrance of the cavern in a stream. Deep inside, Junia sighed. So here I am again, holding Nika while the others are cleaning. Only this time Demetrius is not here, maybe not even alive… She let her thoughts trail. There was no need to think about what she did not know for certain. Even if he was dead, she should not let her heart die. The others needed her. Yes, they needed her just as much as she needed them to survive. If they were to succeed—to win, be the victor—she had to at least maintain her joy in the Lord. To light a fire, she must first be a living fire herself—daily, hourly, every moment counted. Courage would see them through.

Junia felt her worry-strained eyes relax as soft sunlight filled her vision with warmth, security and inner peace. Her mind flashed back to her thoughts. No, she would not succumb to depression. The others needed her to stand strong. There was also Julia, the girl who Elder John had raised from the dead in Emperor Domitian’s palace. That girl needed a friend. Junia weighed her thoughts carefully now, planning for the future as cool breezes drifted into her veil and onto her face. She watched the women and girls scrubbed away at the clothes. Judith waved from the stream and Nika flailed her arms out wildly, gurgling and making all sorts of other noises.

“Judith!” Junia hailed her over.

“Hello, girls.” Judith cocked her head and made some silly noise to Nika. “How’s aunt doing?”

“Fine, I suppose.” Junia handed Nika over to Judith. “But it’s time for you to practice holding a baby.”

“Yes.” Judith took Nika and smiled. “Before we know it, ours will be here.”

“Yours.” Junia made a crooked face. “If you happen to look me closely in the face, I’m Junia—not Rufus.”

They shared a giggle and Junia pulled off her sandals. “Off to wade now. Enjoy your sweet little backache.” She grinned.

Her voice sounded so cheerful, she wondered at herself. But the water did feel wonderfully good—after she had grown accustomed to its coldness. And time to practice cleaning and household duties, Junia—for when you get married. Her merry smile turned into a thoughtful frown. Maybe there would be no wedding at all—as Tiria had taunted her last year—if Demetrius was… Stay positive. Tomorrow is a new day, full of promise. God said so. She took a deep breath but suddenly the waters swimming around her toes felt icy cold again. Her fears were so cold. Would she ever find a hope so bright to keep her heart and soul warm?

A Few Greek Words:

Fil'os: friend

Meh'tehr: mother

Pah'tehr: father

Adher'fi: sister

Adher'fos: brother