Caught In The Act

Good morning. This is Hannah Batyoel from Inside Jerusalem, reporting on a breaking story that began late yesterday afternoon when two Galileans were arrested for creating a disturbance in the temple precincts. But first, a backgrounder from our religion correspondent, Shlomo Yehudi.

Good morning, Hannah. Temple guards have been doubly alert ever since the near riot on the feast of Sukkoth two weeks ago. At that time some of the followers of the Galilean rabbi Yeshua bar Joseph, who as you recall was crucified for treason at Passover, stirred up a crowd of pilgrims by claiming that Yeshua had risen from the dead, and that the Day of the Lord spoken of by the prophet Joel had come. It was the first anyone had heard of the group since the execution; officials had assumed that they had disappeared on their leader’s death. The crowd was dispersed without any violence or bloodshed, however, although some amazing rumors have been circulating among those who were present.

Opponents of the priestly regime say that the man Simon bar Jonah, also called Peter, proclaimed the crucified Yeshua to be the Messiah and accused the authorities of murdering him. When asked why the men were not arrested for blasphemy or sedition, highly placed sources insist that there is no credibility to the reports, as witnesses claim to have heard these Galileans speak in every known language from Latin to Egyptian, and it is widely known that aside from a few words of Greek they speak only Aramaic. Temple spokesmen also maintain that they are not concerned about a resurgence of the movement.

The high priest, Caiaphas, declined to be interviewed for this program. However, I did manage to get a few words from one of the Galileans, Thomas Didymus, on the way to temple prayers yesterday morning. He confirmed that they do indeed believe that Yeshua is the promised one, that he appeared alive to his followers several times after the crucifixion, and that it is only a matter of time before the Day of Judgment. When pressed for more detail, he told me that I should repent, be baptized, and come join their group! Thomas claims that there are already thou-sands of believers, although he was vague about where one could find them, and wasn’t any more forthcoming with details of their plans and organization.

And that, Hannah, is where we were yesterday at the 9th hour, when the Yeshuites’ leader Peter and another man, John, arrived at evening prayers only to be stopped at the Beautiful Gate by old Shmuli Zimyu. Now Shmuli, as you probably know, has been lame from birth, but he makes a pretty good living off of the generosity of worshipers. So he made his usual pitch. But instead of tossing him a mina or two, Peter stopped and spoke to him. Here is an eyewitness account from Nathan ben Zachar who was just behind them on the stairs. Tell us what happened, Nathan.

“I can still hardly believe it, I’ve never seen such a thing! Peter looked straight at Shmuli and said, 'Look at us!' And when he did, expecting to get a nice donation, Peter went on to say 'I have no coin, but what I do have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.' [Acts 3:6] And he took Shmuli by the hand and raised him up and Shmuli walked! I saw it with my own eyes! And then Shmuli jumped into the air and cried out with a loud voice, 'Praise God! I can walk! Praise God!' and he turned around, grabbed Peter and John by the hands, and practically danced into the temple, singing hallelujahs the whole time. I lost sight of them then, because all the people who had seen what I had seen were milling around, grabbing each other and marveling at what we’d seen. What? Can there be any doubt? Are you kidding? Shmuli’s been there practically since Herod finished building the temple. He can’t even stand up - I mean, he couldn’t even stand up. He had these little twisted twigs for legs and feet and now there just as whole as yours or mine. I tell you, I saw it with my own eyes!”

Hannah, everyone tells the same story. Not one of the people who were there expressed any doubt that they had seen a real miracle, on the same order of the ones reported to have been done by Yeshua himself. And when Peter came out of the temple, he spoke to the crowds, telling them that it was the name of Yeshua who had healed Shmuli, and repeated his indictment of the temple authorities for having murdered a prophet of God. What’s that? Hannah, I stand corrected. Nathan says that Peter did not call Yeshua a prophet, but said that he was the one about whom the prophets spoke, the Holy and Righteous One, the Prince of Life, the Messiah.