“The baptism? John was proclaiming that everyone should repent, change their ways, and cleanse their mind and soul and body in order to make themselves ready for the Kingdom of Heaven that was close at hand. To prepare for that day when the anointed one would come to judge all mankind, each of the faithful who came to John on the banks of the Jordan was immersed in its water as a symbol of his willingness to receive the … the …”

“The Jewish Messiah? He who would bring universal peace and under whom all nations would serve in a dominion that was from sea to sea?”

James appeared shocked by my words. “How is it that a Roman is acquainted with words from an ancient psalm of the Jews?”

Behind James I saw Joseph’s look of concern. “To write the history of your people,” I replied, “without studying your psalms and their meanings would be an insult to all Jews.”

James appeared satisfied. “Then you must know, Matthias, that the words you repeated were sung in tribute to our great King Solomon, who ruled this land nearly a thousand years ago.”

“And those words from that psalm of old had no special significance to the crowds who flocked to hear John announce, day after day, that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand—a kingdom that would certainly need a king?”

He knew how to handle himself. Instead of taking offense at my obvious sarcasm he merely shrugged those broad shoulders and replied, “Who can ever know what is in the hearts and minds of an oppressed people?”

“Finally Jesus returned home from his wanderings?”

“Yes, after more than forty days had passed. His appearance was so frightening that none of us had any heart to chastise him for remaining away so long without so much as a word. His clothes were covered with thistles and half torn from his body, his hair was a mass of snarls, his face and hands were burned nearly black from the sun, his eyes were little more than two glowing cinders, and his body was so thin we scarcely knew him.”

“Did he explain the cause of his condition and long absence?”

“He told us that for two days he had listened to John preach on the banks of the Jordan before coming forth to be baptized. Afterward, almost as if he had been given leave of his senses, he found himself wandering in the desert and wilderness beyond the river. There he remained for weeks, with no food and little water, drunk not with wine but the words of John that echoed as loud as thunder, over and over inside his head: ‘Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.… I baptize you people in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose, and he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire!’ ”