Sacred Scrolls; Chapter 5

 

Sacred Scrolls; Chapter 5

© 2021 by Amber Wright

ASK FOR LIFE

When Junia looked up, she found the traveler she had met the week before staring back at her. He stepped out from the shadows and his sudden frown made her heartbeat skip a beat. Dear me, what have I done to upset him?

“Good day. We’ve met before?” His voice was abrupt, almost cold.

“Good day.” Junia nodded. His face was washed and shaved but still he did not reek with fragrance, she noted with relief. “Yes, we met exactly a week ago.”

“You have a perfect memory.” He paused. “Was that John you were speaking to, the man who came from Judea?”

“Yes.” Junia felt her eyes widen, worry filling her mind with anxious thoughts. “It was Elder John. Why? What do you want of him?”

The traveler quickly smiled. “Do not worry. I only want to meet him. I wish him no harm.”

Junia began to relax.

“I’m here in this city for a matter of personal…” His words halted dead still.

Junia frowned, wondering what he was going to add but did not dare ask. His smile-turned-stormy expression spoke harshness that she would not provoke. She would rather tread the thin ice on the Cayster River than to ask him one question too many.

The traveler cast his eyes to the street. “Where does he preach, this John?”

“In the room above the weaver shop.” She took a deep breath to slow her rapid heartbeat. “This Sabbath you will hear him if you come.”

“Thank you.” He bowed once, crisply, then raised one eyebrow at her fiercely. “Memory is a good thing…or a bad thing.” He turned to go, glancing back with half-narrowed eyes. “Don’t live off of memory, girl. It is a curse.”

The traveler stalked down the street in a whirl of tan robe. A curse? Junia felt her insides jar. What does he mean? She pushed back another memory and hurried down the street in the direction of her house, hoping her honey cake had not burnt. Harsh but handsome, she dared to smile now that he had gone.

~

On Sabbath, Junia sat beside her mother on the hard wooden bench and watched as Elder John stepped up to the front of the room to speak.

“My little children,” Elder John began. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Junia felt her heart warm with the sweetness of God’s Presence as It began to fill the room where the word of truth was being preached. She listened carefully to all of Elder John’s words for she knew they were life to her. They could touch her, mend her broken heart, fill her troubled soul and take away her fears.

“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give life for them…”

Please God, I ask for life for Andronika.

“All unrighteousness is sin, my beloved.” Elder John spoke in direct yet gentle tones. “Think not that God does not see you.”

Junia blinked. She would have to remember.

“Sometimes the littlest sin becomes so weighty that you feel you are out of reach with God. Remember, my children, little sins grow to be big sins.” Elder John paused, taking a long look around the entire room. “Let us not speak evil of one another—as does the world who abides in darkness—but let us walk uprightly, speaking good of all men, as children of the light…”

Junia soaked in all of Elder John’s instructing words. They gave her comfort, strength and joy. Right then, it was as if her prayer the day before was being answered. God was filling her waterpot of faith—for the long road ahead when that faith would be tested. When that faith would be tried.

“My little children,” Elder John looked around the room, slowly this time. “If our heart condemns us not, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”

Junia followed Elder John’s searching look around the room, and her heart nearly jumped out of her throat. There he sat on the opposite side of the room, the traveler she had met yesterday and the week before. When Elder John’s searching look paused on him, the traveler’s eyes blinked wildly.

“This is his commandment,” Elder John spoke as if to him, the traveler, “that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.”

Junia watched the young man gulp. But at least he’s still looking as if he’s listening. His almost wounded expression made her keep glancing at him, and then she silently said a little prayer for him. Great Pah’tehr, please fill that traveler with Your love and peace. Then she turned her attention back to Elder John’s sermon.

Elder John ended with, “Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God,” and he prayed the closing prayer.

Outside the weaver shop, in the garden opening into the street, Junia met Judith and Tiria. She gave them both hugs and a warm smile each.

Tiria gave her a giddy smile in return. “We had a visitor,” the girl faked a shocked expression. “Did you see him?”

Junia nodded.

“I should say you did. His eyes filled up the whole room!”

“Tiria!” Judith sounded shocked. ”Don’t say such a thing. That’s very unkind of you.”

But that’s Tiria—always speaking her mind, Junia thought. “I didn’t think his eyes were too large,” she shrugged. “Myself, I rather like large eyes.”

“I figured as much.” Tiria seemed unmoved by Judith’s scolding and spoke in an accusing voice, “I saw you staring at him all through the service, Junia. What do you say for yourself?”

Junia took a deep breath. She must not get into an argument on the church grounds—for sake of reverence. “I looked at him a couple of times, I do admit, and I enjoyed the service—whether you did or not.”

Briskly, Tiria turned to Judith and began talking about Judith and Rufus’ upcoming wedding. Junia listened a few minutes, and then took an idle glance around. If her parents had left, she would leave. She felt a hunger growl in her stomach, and felt left out of the conversation. Now was the time to leave—for Nicolas was walking towards them, and Tiria would be doubly occupied. She saw the traveler talking to Elder John and her father. Between she and them, she saw Deacon Demas eyeing the traveler with narrowed eyes. She caught a gasp. Had the traveler gone to Deacon Demas’ house already? Had the deacon been friendly—or hostile? Deacon Demas certainly looked unfriendly…for some reason.

Junia had known Deacon Demas for years. Even though he was a deacon of a Christian church, the man had still not outgrown his harsh moods that came and went like the wind. Then recently, she had learned from his son that the deacon had a past—one he did not wish to discuss, even to his family. Was the traveler who Deacon Demas eyed hostilely somehow be connected to his past?

“Junia?”

Junia felt a tug on her sleeve. “Yes, Meh’tehr?”

“We must go now,” Eunice told her. “We have to hurry and prepare dinner. We’re having company.”

“Elder John?” Inside, her heart danced. Having Elder John in the house was always such a blessing. The words he spoke made her feel so blessed and renewed in spirit.

“Yes,” Eunice smiled at her enthusiasm, “and the young man who came today. Come, the food will not cook itself.”

Ever since she could first remember, Elder John had become a regular visitor to their house. He lived in the big city of Ephesus, only a day’s journey away. There he had a large school of students hand-printing the Sacred Scrolls which they distributed to all the Christians everywhere. If only she could help with the great work, she could at last travel…

Junia heard her mother speaking to Tiria and Judith so she stopped her daydreaming and listened.

“God bless you and we’ll speak later. Shalom.”

“Shalom.” Junia waved her fingers in a light-hearted goodbye, shooting them a grin. Then, she raced along to keep up with her mother’s quick steps.

~

Tiria stared at the retreating woman and girl. The young man is going over to Junia’s house—no fair! After all, he is quite nice-looking. I wish… She did not finish. Instead, she raised one eyebrow. “So, our Junia has a suitor at long last.”

Nicolas had just stepped beside them. “What?”

Tiria ignored his tone of wounded surprise. “I smell romance—whether the two of you do or not!”

After all, hurting Nicolas’ feelings would be a minor thing for her to do considering all the times he had wounded her precious feelings. She heard Judith gasp.

“Surely not!”

“Surely so,” was her smiling retort. Tiria felt a glow of triumph as she watched the back of Junia’s white-veiled head disappear from sight.

A Few Greek Words:

Fil'os: friend

Meh'tehr: mother

Pah'tehr: father

Adher'fi: sister

Adher'fos: brother