Destiny

FORTY-FIVE

Two Israeli soldiers entered Cafez, stepped to the bar and ordered coffee and scones. Bahir’s grandson took their orders. The men waited, eyes scanning the coffee shop. They made small talk, paid their tab and left.

Marcus lowered his voice and looked straight at Bahir. “After deciphering the information or data I entered, the decoded passages read, ‘That which has been sealed, the return of the lamb, shall be opened when the pears of the saint using oil returns to a divine heart. A clean force released deliverance from the heart of our Lord and left an open door upon the wounded hearts of man. As the ground shook, the blood fell from above to that which is below…water in the dust, the alpha and omega lies hidden as it is buried in the hearts of man. From the plot of those using oil from pressed olives, from the five crosses, to the head of the garden, one eye weeps for man, one sees revelation in the direction of the temple measured by Solomon. A rose without thorns blooms under a new sun. The truth is found fewer than two hundred shadows of the moon, for the shadow is to the seeker as the seeker is to the shadow.”

Marcus pushed back in his chair. “My head’s spinning. The deciphered information seems more convoluted than the integrated passages. What does it mean? One eye weeps for man — one sees revelation in the direction of the temple measured by Solomon? What the hell is this? ”

Bahir grunted. “I do not know. I do know you get oil from pressed olives. It is said that five crosses represent the five holy wounds on Christ before he died. The two nails in his hands, one nail in his feet, the crown of thorns on his head, and the wound caused by the spear thrust near his heart.”

Marcus touched his T-shirt. He felt the raised scar beneath the cloth. He said nothing. His eyes burned into the screen, his mind rushing. “What is the significance of ‘a rose without thorns blooms under a new sun? And the truth is found fewer than two hundred shadows of the moon, for the shadow is to the seeker as the seeker is to the shadow.’ What truth?”

Bahir was quiet for a few seconds. “Some scholars have called the second coming of Christ as a new sun. The shadows of the moon might mean a reference to days and time of measurement. Perhaps you, Paul Marcus, are the seeker. If so, where is the shadow of the moon?”

“It’s all riddles. You mentioned heart…the word heart is on the screen…divine heart. Before that it reads pears of the saint using oil…the saint using oil, not a saint. Who is the saint…a specific person?”

“I do not know.”

Marcus continued staring at the words. “And you said one of the five crosses is a wound caused by the spear. The word pears on the screen can be formed to s-p-e-a-r.”

“Yes,” Bahir leaned closer, watching the light from the screen in Marcus’s eyes.

“The saint using oil…” Marcus paused for a few seconds. “The words using oil can spell a name — a name I’ve never heard. L-o-n-g-i-n-u-s…Longinus. Was there a Saint Longinus?”

Bahir’s eyebrows arched. “Oh, yes! Longinus was the Roman soldier who prevented Jesus’ legs from being broken. To hasten death, the soldiers, men who grew tired waiting for the crucified to die, would break the bones in the legs. That meant those hanging on the cross couldn’t use their legs to push up. Longinus thrust the spear into Christ to prove he had already died. This man, Longinus, was an old soldier, half blind. When the blood spilled from the wound in Christ’s side, it is said a tiny bit fell into Longinus’s eyes. The old man could see well for the first time in years. Not only could he see things more clearly around him, he looked up and saw that even in death, Christ had opened Longinus’s eyes to what is and what can be. He devoted the rest of his life to spread that word. He would die rather than renounce his new faith.”

Marcus was quiet. He didn’t blink listening to Bahir. Then he looked down at the words on the screen again. His voice was just above a whisper. “…a clean force released deliverance from the heart of our Lord…” His mind quickly rearranged each word. “…a clean force…clean can spell l-a-n-c-e. A lance force released deliverance from the heart of our Lord…” he paused, his eyes lifting back to Bahir. “How did you know where in this jumble of words to direct me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know damn well what I mean. Every reference you made had something to do with a veiled meaning…a coding within a code. This disorder of text on the screen was what I decoded from interwoven passages out of the Bible against what I uncovered from Newton.” Marcus heart hammered. “Corinthians…Isaiah…John…Matthew Daniel…Revelation, seemingly unrelated verses from the Bible, but by using a decryption formula I worked out from Isaac Newton, it reveals this…” Marcus moistened his lips. “And then you point me subtly in a direction to pick up key words. Why?”

“I don’t know all the things your computer speaks. Maybe it understands how to sing in harmony with the Song of Songs. Ah, what a lovely song that would be! Music that rocks the cradle of man with a sweetness of verse that is from the heart. It tells us we are not swallowed up in the emptiness of infinity, and in nature our worth is measured and returned by the love we have for others.”

Marcus shook his head, pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed back in the chair. “Understanding you is like cracking some damn code. It’s frustrating.”

Bahir’s eyes drifted away.

Marcus said, “Why don’t you just go on and spell out the rest? And while you’re at it, see if you can find out the name of the man who killed my family.”

“I wish I knew that, Paul, but I do not.”

“You seem to know a lot…more than you’re telling me.”

Bahir said nothing.

Marcus used the palms of his hands to rub the fatigue from his eyes. “What does it mean when it reads that ‘from the plot of those using oil from pressed olives, from the five crosses, to the head of the garden, one eye weeps for man, one sees revelation in the direction of the temple measured by Solomon…a rose without thorns blooms under a new sun. The truth is found fewer than two hundred shadows of the moon, for the shadow is to the seeker as the seeker is to the shadow.”

“I can only guess.”

“What’s your guess?”

“Gethsemane.”

“What?”

“It could be the garden near the base of the Mount of Olives. The word Gethsemane, in the Syriac language, means oil press or a place olives are pressed for oil. Gethsemane is where Christ was taken prisoner the night before he was crucified.”

Marcus concentrated on the words displayed on screen. “It reads…‘plot of those using oil from pressed olives…’ Is it referring to plot of land or a plot as in to conspire?”

“Some refer to a garden as a plot of land.”

“The word Longinus…it can spell out guns n oil. But what does that mean? It concludes with. ‘The truth is found fewer than two hundred shadows of the moon, for the shadow is to the seeker as the seeker is to the shadow…from the five crosses, to the head of the garden.’ ”

Marcus closed his eyes for a moment, his thoughts focusing. “Maybe there’s something at the head of the Gethsemane garden that’s weeping, pointing toward a nonexistent Solomon’s Temple.”

Bahir nodded. “Perchance it is another temple with the dimensions laid out by Solomon.”

“What temple? Where on earth would that exist?”

“I do not know. Something at the head of a garden may point the way.”