Strange Story: The Birth of Jesus Part 14 The Caravan

There had been no visitors for some time now, and no new ones were expected. Everyone in the town of “The House of Bread” who wanted to see the baby had already come. The child was napping in his newly-made bed with low sideboards; it was crude but sturdy. The lattices of the windows were fully open so that she could hear him if he cried. “Reb” was at her cooking fire outside under the overhang.

Then something caught her attention. She looked up and saw an approaching caravan made up of several men on foot, and several camels, some bearing men of grandeur, and some loaded with supplies. All the members of the caravan kept looking up at the sky every few seconds.

The caravan stopped in front of the cave-house. One of the rich men on a camel spoke to her and asked if her husband was nearby. She said her husband was a builder and had to go to the big city every day for work.

The man on the first camel said, “We have come to see a recently born child who will one day be the king of the Jews. And this is the right house?” He asked the question as a question, but also as a statement, and while he said it, he was looking straight up into the sky. It was very strange.

She was confused. It would be difficult to answer that this was the right child while in a house that was still more of a cave than a house. Instead she decided to tell them the truth. So she said to their leader, “I will let you decide if this is the right place and the right child. I will simply tell you our story. But it is a long story, so please come inside and sit down while I tell it.”

The wealthy men stepped inside the coolness of the cave, took a silent look at the sleeping child, and then seated themselves on rocks carved into chairs. Then she told them of her angelic visitor, of her visit to see her cousin, of “Up’s” decision about her fate, and his own angelic visitor, of their journey here, and the rejection they experienced in both locations. She told them of the shepherds who had also heard from angels, and the stir those shepherds caused in the town after coming to see the baby. She ended by saying, “So you must decide whether to listen to the voices of these humble circumstances or my story of these angelic visitors.”

Their leader responded, “We believe, for we have also been convinced by a supernatural message.”

Then he told her their story.

To navigate to Part 15 of this story click on The Birth of Jesus Part 15 Two Stars.