Friday, April 01, 2016
Vincent de Paul
33 AD
3 Days after crucifiction,
3 Days after crucifiction,
“I want those
soldiers’ heads on a pike,” Pontius Pilate roared.
“Dominus,”
Legion Legate Prescennius acknowledged.
There was commotion
at the entrance. The doors flung open and the Praetorian Guard sprang to
attention and parted their hastati.
“To what do I
owe this pleasure, Caiaphas,” Pontius Pilate said.
“A
court-martial?” the High Priest boomed.
“Those
soldiers’ dereliction of duty is glaring,” the Governor of Judea said.
“It will spark
mutiny from the legions…” Caiaphas countered.
“The legions
know the punishment for such acts. I doubt one of them would dare.”
The High Priest
stood before the man who had ruled Judea with an iron fist. “Dominus, all what
those soldiers did was obey orders.”
“Orders? Who
ordered them to sleep on duty?”
“They did not
derelict duty, Dominus.”
Caiaphas
doubted he would convince Pontius Pilate. “The resurrection of Yeshua of
Galilee is to your advantage. It will earn you another term in office…”
Pontius Pilate
raised his head.
“The one called
Yeshua was not the anointed one. The people wanted salvation from the Roman
rule. They wanted us to intercede to God to save them. They wanted the
prophecies fulfilled. They were not patient enough. Thus, we had to give them
hope… Yeshua was born.
“But he became
delusional, drank with ‘divinity’. He differed with us, became heretical. We
had to kill him, but he had already convinced his followers that he was Christ,
the Anointed One. If he failed to resurrect, there would be civil unrest…”
Pontius Pilate
shifted in his seat.
“We have his
body…” Caiaphas said. “It will never be found. The people will support your
re-election, they will believe you if you say Yeshua resurrected…”
***
Meanwhile at the Castra
“Centurion,”
the prosecuting officer, Praefectus Castrorum Vibius
Helvius said. “You know the punishment is Fustuarium for
you and the soldiers who derelictly performed their duty under your command
will be put in a sack of snakes and thrown into river…”
“But I received
an edict with the seal of the governor directing…”
The Consul raised his head and asked, “Are you insinuating His Majesty, the Dominus
Praefectus of Judea directed you to derelict duty?”
“Apologies,
Consul,” the centurion said. “I beg for leniency. If you allow me, I would
spell out what the edict directed…”
“There was no
edict. Tell this court how the dead escaped as the living stood guard…”
“Praefectus
Castrorum!” the Consul gavelled.
The Centurion
continued. “I was the Tesserariu,
and I stationed a Quarternion outside the tomb as I was ordered. A messenger from the governor came and
handed me an edict directing I remove the body from the tomb I was guarding and
hand it over to the High Priest. I went to the Temple and met Caiaphas the High
Priest.
“When I
returned, I found the harlot from Magdala, Maria, consorting with the guards,
drunk. Two of them were asleep, only one at guard. There was an empty bottle of
Blue Lotus.
“I confronted
her, but then the followers of the dead man emerged from the bushes around and
seized me, beat me up and left…
“I woke up in
the morning when I heard the Cornicen sounding reveille. There were two priests in dazzling white clothes standing at
the entrance of the tomb. They told me to go to the Temple and tell Caiaphas
that it was over.
“At the Temple
I found Maria Magdalena, the harlot, with Caiaphas. Caiaphas said to her, ‘Take
a jar of alabaster oil. Go with Mary from Bethany and Mary sister of James with
you so they will bear witness that truly Christ is risen’…
“When she left,
Caiaphas told me that he will talk to the governor so we won’t be punished for
dereliction of duty. That we were heroes. The man claiming to be the messiah
was one of the heretic temple priests, and that getting rid of his body was for
the republic…”
“And where is
the body of Yeshua?” the Consul asked.
“Caiaphas knows,
and the followers of Yeshua,” the centurion said. “I overheard Caiaphas in the
temple’s inner sanctum telling someone I did not see that Peter the fisherman
was waiting for them, Peter knew what to do. They would sail north and never
return to Judea…”
Glossary:
Posted in 
Hmmmm reads like a Dan Brown's story. I like the twist in the story, as regards the resurrection of the Christian's Jesus. Though there are lots of unfamiliar terminologies used in the story which made it quite difficult for me to flow easily with the story's diction. The glosssary at the end helped to some extent. More ink to your pen Vin.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment--- "as regards the resurrection of the Christians' Jesus"... I have received lots of flagellation for it, others thinking it's true (I read weird Bibles) and well... I like reader-writers like you... at least you see the story.
Delete