He Was There

He Was There

Chaim ben Yitzchak could hardly contain his excitement; traveling with his father to deliver lambs for the Passover celebration in the city was a new adventure. Though he wouldn’t reach thirteen for another year, his willingness to work hard, proved he was reliable enough in his father’s eyes.

Looking over the quartet of lambs in the cart he was proud that his family was able to furnish such fine animals for the Passover celebration. These are most excellent specimens for sacrifice, he thought.

“Do you think the rabbi will be pleased, Father?” he asked, not for the first time. Over the long journey from their small farm, Chaim had been full of questions, as well as so obviously bursting with pride.

“Be careful to not allow prideful thoughts to defile the offering, my son.” His father, Isaac, warned. “God, not the rabbi, will judge these lambs. It is not for any man to decide what is, or is not, worthy in the eyes of God.”

As the little cart rounded a bend in the road, Chaim spotted his father’s friend Abraham walking ahead carrying a large bundle. “Look Father, there is Abraham he must be going to the city too.”

The walking man, hearing the cart’s approach, turned and raised his hand in greeting. “Good afternoon old friend,” he said to Isaac. “Would you be going to Jerusalem today?”

“I would,” answered Isaac with a smile. “Would you care to rest your feet and back and ride with us?”

“That I would, indeed,” Abraham replied. “The road didn’t look quite as long this morning and my back was surely younger.”

After hefting the huge basket of grain into the cart, Abraham climbed up to join them, nearly smothering Chaim between the two large men.

In no time, though he was excited to be on such a trip, Chaim drifted off to sleep to the rocking of the cart and the low murmur of the men’s gentle talk.

Chaim awoke as the cart stopped on a small rise just outside of town. Rubbing his eyes and peering around, he noticed the large group of people standing before three large wooden crosses on the hillside.

“What is going on, Father?” he asked. Has the celebration begun already?”

Just as the words came, a dark cloud covered the sun and Chaim heard a shout from someone in the crowd. “He is dead!” followed by an anguished wail from several of the onlookers, another part raised a ragged cheer.

“What is it, Father? Chaim asked again.

“It is nothing, my son,” answered his father with a grim shake of his head. “Turn away, this is what some foolish people call justice, it doesn’t concern us.”

As the cart continued on, Chaim looked back at the strange tableau, though the image took a long time to fade from his mind neither he, his Father, or any of the people there, had any idea how much the world was about to change.