“For that great honor I am indebted to my only son, Gorion. He came to me one evening, filled with sadness. It seems that he had gone to the Temple that day, with his friend from rabbinical school, John Mark, to hear a man from Galilee named Jesus who in only a short time had attracted much attention from the people through his words and his healing of the sick. Mark’s uncle, Peter, was one of a small company of men who had already forsaken their former lives in order to follow this young man from Nazareth. Gorion, when he heard Jesus speak to the crowd, was so impressed with the man’s promises that the Kingdom of God was close at hand that he went to him, with Peter’s permission, and asked what good things he should do that he might share in the eternal life. Jesus advised him to keep the commandments, and my son asked him which one and was told not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to bear false witness, to honor his father and mother, and to love his neighbor as himself.”

“Good advice.”

“Yes,” Nicodemus agreed, “but not good enough for my brash son. He assured Jesus that he had always obeyed those commandments and wanted to know what else was necessary. Jesus told him that if he wanted to be perfect, if he wanted to have his treasure in heaven, he must go and sell what he had and give the money to the poor. ‘And after you do,’ said Jesus, ‘come and follow me.’ ”

“And Gorion came to you for advice after his meeting with Jesus?”

“Not for advice, for consolation. He said he wanted to see the Kingdom of God but he could not bring himself to sell the Arabian horses I had bought for him, through the years, and he was grief-stricken for he truly believed what Jesus had told him. Always being accustomed to having his way, he hoped I could supply him with a solution so that he might have his stable and the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately I could give him neither advice nor consolation, having devoted too much of my own wasted life to the acquisition of gold and silver with little thought for others. Still, even though my party, the Pharisees, had already denounced Jesus as a troublemaker, I promised Gorion that I would go to him that very night, to learn if there were other ways by which a man might enter the Kingdom of God. Of course, I wished to learn for my own benefit, as well as my son’s.”

“That I cannot understand, Nicodemus. Why would a man of your great wealth, power, and education bother to visit an uneducated Galilean for any reason? What could he possibly have to say that would benefit you, a learned councilor, a doctor of the law, and a member of the supreme judicial body of the land?”