When I enter the temple courtyard again I am flooded by a mass of people crowding in. "He is here! He is here!" shouts a man near the front. "Don't leave!"
I hold my breath and again step up on the ledge, where I can better see the huge crowd of people flowing into the temple. I glance inside again and my breath catches in my throat. There, in the corner alone, with his face lifted towards heaven, is Jesus.
I get down from the ledge and run towards him, but soon the crowd overtakes me until the entire temple is filled with people.
"Jesus!" they shout. "We found you!"
He looks toward the crowd, his mouth remaining closed and his eyes filling with sadness not unlike Simeon's.
Then, he nods, holds up his hands, and gets to his feet.
I am waiting for a speech, for him to address the crowd, but instead, he cries out in a loud voice:
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:37-38).
Then he closes his mouth and fixes the crowd with a long stare. After that, he kneels down again and continues to pray, but this time his face is to the ground.
To my great surprise, no one touches him. The crowds simply stand, murmuring. "He is the Messiah," says someone nearby. "Surely he is."
"No, he is just from Galilee. The Messiah comes from Bethlehem, from David."
Suddenly, a heaviness fills my heart, not for myself, but for this man. I long to reach out and touch him, but the crowds are pressing against me, and I cannot.
The people stay a little while longer, but Jesus says nothing. He just continues to pray, and they keep gawking at him like an animal in captivity.
After a few minutes, the crowd begins to disperse, but I remain. I am transfixed by him. But the sun glints through the far window and I can tell it is after noon. Simeon will come soon, but for the first time, his pull feels less strong, almost like a cheap distraction.
Then I hear someone clearing their throat, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch Eli arguing with three guards. My breath catches in my throat and I turn and quickly leave the temple. When I get out into the sunshine again, the spell is broken, and my body again longs for Simeon. I rush home.
YOU ARE READING
I Am Not an Adulteress Anymore
Historical FictionHanna has been married off to a man of the rival Samaritan tribe, forsaking her people and her God. But when he strikes her and she loses her child, things change forever.
