The Brotherhood Of The Holy Shroud

6

Josar followed Jesus wheresoever he went. Jesus' companions had become accustomed to Josar's presence and would often invite him to share a moment of quiet brotherhood with them. It was through these companions that Josar learned that Jesus knew he was to die. He also learned that, despite their counsel that the Nazarene should flee, Jesus insisted that he would remain, to do as his Father had bidden him.

It was difficult to comprehend why the Father would wish the Son to die, but Jesus would speak of it with such serenity that it seemed thus was it indeed meant to be.

Whenever Jesus saw Josar, he would make some gesture of friendship toward him. One day, addressing him, he had said:

"Josar, I must do as I am bidden to do. That is why I have been sent here by my Father. And in just that way, you, Josar, also have a mission you must fulfill. That is why you are here-you shall speak of what I am, of what you have seen, and I shall be near you when I am no longer among you."

Josar had been puzzled by these words, but he had not had the courage to ask for explanation or to contradict the master.

In recent days, the rumors had grown more persistent. The priests wanted the Romans to solve the problem of Jesus of Nazareth, while Pilate, the governor, was attempting in turn to incite the Jews to judge the man who was one of them. It was only a matter of time before one or the other acted.

Jesus had gone off into the desert, as he was wont to do. On this occasion he had fasted, preparing himself, he said, to carry out the will of his Father.

One morning Josar was awakened by the owner of the house in which he was lodging.

"The Nazarene has been arrested."

Josar leapt up from his bed and wiped the sleep from his eyes. Seizing a jug of water from a corner of his chamber, he splashed his face. Then he took up his cloak and hurried to the temple. There he found one of the companions of Jesus standing among the multitude gathered there, listening in fear.

"What has happened, Judas?"

Judas began to weep, and he drew harshly away from Josar, but Josar caught him and held him, his hand upon his shoulder.

"What has happened? Tell me. Why do you flee me?"

Judas, his eyes bathed in tears, tried again to free himself from Josar's grasp, but he could not, and at last he answered him:

"He has been taken. The Romans have taken him away, they are to crucify him, and I…"

Tears coursed down his cheeks, as though he were a child. But Josar, strangely, was unmoved by his grief, and he continued to hold Judas tight so that he might not escape him.

"I… Josar, I have betrayed him. I have betrayed the best of men. For thirty pieces of silver I have delivered him up to the Romans."

Wrathfully, Josar pushed him away and began to run blindly, unsure where to go. At last, in the courtyard before the temple, he came upon a man he had seen from time to time listening to Jesus preach.

"Where is he?" Josar asked, his voice faint.

"The Nazarene? He is to be crucified. Pilate will do as the priests have asked."

"But what is he accused of?"

"Of blasphemy, they say, for he has called himself the Messiah."

"But Jesus has never blasphemed, has never spoken of himself as the Messiah. He is the best of men."

"Take care, my friend, for you are one of those who have followed him, and someone might still denounce you."

"You followed him as well."

"Indeed, and that is why I give you this counsel. No man or woman who has followed the Nazarene is safe."

"Tell me, at least, where I may find him, where he has been taken."

"They have him. You cannot reach him. He is to die on Friday, before the sun has set."

On the face of Jesus was the agony of torture. Upon his head they had placed a crown of thorns, and it cut into his flesh. Blood flowed down his face, and his beard was wet with it.

Josar had counted each lash as the Roman soldiers scourged Jesus. One hundred twenty.

Now, as he bore on his torn back the heavy wooden cross on which he was to be crucified, its weight drove him to his knees on the stones of the road, as it had over and over again along that endless way.

Josar took a step forward to support him, to catch him, but a soldier shoved him back. Jesus looked at him in silent gratitude.

He followed Jesus to the top of the hill where he was to be crucified with two thieves. Tears blinded Josar's eyes when he saw a soldier lay Jesus on the cross and take his right hand by the wrist and nail him to the wood. Then he did the same with the left hand, but the nail did not penetrate the wrist at first, as it had the right. The soldier tried twice more before the nail found the wood.

He nailed the two feet together, with a single nail, left foot crossed over the right.

Time seemed eternal, and Josar prayed to God that Jesus might die soon. He watched him suffer, struggling for breath.

John, the most beloved of the disciples, wept in silence at his master's torment. Nor could Josar contain his tears.

As the spring day gave way to evening, and black storm clouds filled the sky, a soldier stepped forward. He thrust his spear into Jesus' side, and from the wound came forth blood and water.

Jesus had died, and Josar gave thanks to God for that.

By the time Jesus' body was taken down from the cross, there was little time to prepare it as the Jewish laws required. Josar knew that all labors, even the clothing of a body in the death shroud, must be halted at sunset.

And because they were in the time of Passover, the body had to be buried that same day.

Josar, his eyes blurred by tears, watched motion-lessly as the body was prepared and Joseph of Arimathea lay Jesus' body upon the fine linen grave cloth.

Josar did not sleep that night, nor did he find rest the day following. The pain in his heart was terrible indeed.

On the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus, Josar made his way to the place where the body had been laid. There he found Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, and other followers of Jesus, and all were exclaiming that the master's body had disappeared. In the tomb, upon the stone where the body had been laid, was the shroud that Joseph of Arimathea had laid it in, though none of those present dared touch it. Jewish law forbade contact with unclean objects, and a dead man's shroud was unclean.

Josar took it in his hands. He was not a Jew, nor was he bound by the Jews' laws. He held the cloth tight against his breast, and he felt himself filled with peace. He felt the master; embracing that simple piece of cloth was like embracing Jesus himself. At that moment he realized what he was to do. He would return to Edessa and present the shroud of Jesus to his king, Abgar, and the shroud would cure him. Now he understood what the master had said.

He went out of the tomb and breathed the cool air, and then, with the shroud folded under his arm, he sought out the road to the inn. He would leave Jerusalem as soon as he was able.

In Edessa, the midday heat drove the inhabitants into their houses until the cool of evening. In the palace, the queen laid moist cloths on the fevered forehead of Abgar, and she calmed him by assuring him that the sickness had not yet begun to eat away his skin.

Ania, the dancing girl, filled with desolation, had been banished to a place outside the city. But Abgar had not wanted her left to her own fate, and so he sent victuals to the cave where she had taken refuge. That morning one of his men, while leaving a sack of grain and a goatskin of fresh water near the cave, had seen her. He told the king that Ania's once beautiful visage was now a hideous, misshapen thing, its flesh dropping away. Abgar would hear no more and had taken refuge in his chambers, where, seized with horror, he was overcome by a fever and delirium.

The queen herself cared for him and would let no one else approach him. Some of the king's enemies had begun to conspire to overthrow him, and the tension increased as the days passed. The worst thing was that no news had come of Josar, who had remained with the Nazarene. Abgar was fearful that Josar had abandoned him, but the queen struggled to keep the king's hope alive, urging him not to allow his faith to falter. Just then, however, her own faith was weak.

"My lady! My lady! Josar is here!"

A slave girl had run into the chamber where Abgar, fanned by the queen, was lying drowsily upon his bed.

"Josar! Where?"

The queen rushed out of the king's chamber and ran quickly through the palace, to the astonishment of the palace soldiers and courtiers, until she found Josar. The faithful friend, still covered by the dust of the road, stretched out his hands to her.

"Josar, have you brought him? Where is the Nazarene?"

"My lady, the king shall be healed."

"But where is he, Josar? Tell me where the Jew is."

The queen's voice betrayed the desperation she had so long contained.

"Take me to Abgar, my lady."

Josar's voice was firm and resolute, and all who looked upon the scene were struck by his strength. Without a word more, the queen turned and led him to the chamber in which the king lay.

The king's eyes were fixed on the door, and when he saw Josar he breathed deep with relief.

"You have returned, my dear friend."

"Yes, my lord, and now you will be healed."

At the door of the chamber, the king's guard stood in the way of curious courtiers pushing forward to witness the reunion of the king and his best friend.

Josar helped Abgar sit up and he laid in his hands the cloth, which the king held tightly to his breast, though he knew not what it was.

"This is Jesus, and if you believe, you shall be healed. He told me that you would be made whole again, and he has sent me to you with this shroud."

The firmness of Josar's words, his deep conviction, gave hope to Abgar, who held the cloth yet more tightly against his body.

"I do believe," said the king.

And his heart was true. And then the miracle happened. Color returned to the king's face, and the traces of the disease faded. Abgar felt the strength returning to his blood and a sense of peace invading his spirit.

The queen wept silently, overcome by the miracle, while the soldiers and courtiers knew not how to explain the king's sudden recovery.

'Abgar, Jesus has healed you, as he promised. This is the shroud in which his body was laid, for you must know, my lord, that Pilate, with the complicity of the Jewish priests, ordered that Jesus be tortured and crucified. But be not of heavy heart, for he has returned to his Father, and from his place on high he shall help us and help all mankind until the end of time."

News of the miracle of the king's healing spread quickly through the city and throughout the surrounding countryside. Abgar asked Josar to speak of Jesus, to continue the teachings of the Nazarene. He and the queen and all their subjects, he pledged, would take the religion of Jesus, and he ordered that the temples to the old gods be pulled down and that Josar preach to him and his people and make them followers of the Christ.

"What shall we do with the shroud, Josar?" Abgar asked his friend one day.

"My king, you must find a safe place for it. Jesus sent it to you that it might heal you, and we must preserve it from all harm. Many of your subjects have asked me to let them touch the cloth, and I tell you, it has worked yet further miracles."

"I shall have a temple built, Josar."

"Yes, my lord."

Each day, as the sun rose in the east, Josar rose and began to write. His intention was to leave a written testament of the wonders done by Jesus, both those he had witnessed and those recounted to him by the companions of the master while he had lived in Jerusalem. That done, Josar would go to the palace and speak with Abgar, the queen, and many others of what he had learned of the teachings of the Nazarene.

He would see the wonder in their faces when he preached that one should not hate one's neighbors or wish one's enemies ill. Jesus had taught his followers to turn the other cheek.

Josar was supported in his desire to plant the seed of the teachings of Jesus not just by the king but also by the queen. And in a short time, Edessa was a Christian city, and Josar sent epistles to some of the companions of Jesus, those who, like him, took the good news to other towns and peoples.

When Josar had completed his history of the Nazarene, Abgar ordered his scribes to make copies, so that men might never forget the life and teachings of the extraordinary Jew who, even after his death, had healed a king.