Tears Of Jesus

  ¹One day, soldiers came to Nahum and, on orders from Rome, commandeered several buildings that had housed local families for a long while.  There were few other places in which to stay in Nahum at that time.  The ouster of those families from their homes came without warning and, with little preparation and meager resources, those displaced families left on a long journey to a place where the believed that they would be welcome and could stay, find work and begin over.  ²One family had not been known to show interest or concern for others in the village.  They, therefore, had no one to whom they could turn to take care of their three domesticated cats.  Cats were often relied upon to control the rodents that might otherwise consume vital foodstuffs such as grain.  Cats also had a tendency to become beloved by their families. ³The family that had the three cats were neither able to feed the cats from their food stock nor be sure that they could contain the cats safely during the course of the journey to the distant village.  They let the cats out, free to roam, and left on their journey. The cats soon attached themselves to other families and performed their tasks of rounding up the local rodents.   ⁴One of the cats came to Jesus.  Cats have a way of ingratiating themselves with people.  They love to be petted and purr loudly when they feel that just the right amount of attention has been paid to them.  As Jesus found out, cats like to be held safely in the arms of someone who treats them with gentleness.  ⁵In a hostile world, the purring of a cat can be soothing and beneficial.  Jesus developed a strong attachment to this one particular cat, to whom he had given the name of "Angel".  When, on any particular day, he had had a difficult time getting his message across, he would come home and pet that cat, and its purring was like a balm.  At times, he would come home from a meeting with his twelve closest friends and be very stressed out that they didn't seem to be understanding what it was that he was saying.  ⁶It was then that the cat, Angel, would jump onto his lap and, having received some pets, would begin to purr loudly and then fall fast asleep on his lap.  For Jesus, the purring of the cat made everything all right with the world.  There were times when the stress of the day, explaining to people about the Good News, talking to them about charity and about accepting others who were different, would takes its toll on Jesus.  And, when he came home, the needs of the cat to be petted and the giving of the cat of affection, was what made it possible to face the next day.  ⁷However, one day, the patriarch of the family that had owned the cats, including the one that Jesus had named Angel, returned.  They had been able to settle in a distant village and had done well, however, their children missed the cats very much and were sad because the cats were, for them, a stability in their lives ... something familiar amidst all of the turmoil.  ⁸To placate the children, the father had made the journey back to Nahum in hopes of retrieving at least one or two of the three cats.  The villagers had told them that Angel was with Jesus.  ⁹The father entered the Temple where Jesus was teaching, and demanded the return of Angel.  He offered no gratitude for the care that Jesus had rendered unto Angel.  He showed no understanding that a cat can be a part of an attachment to those who take care of it.  As far as this representative of the family was concerned, it was all Rome's fault.  ¹⁰Upon parting, with the beloved cat Angel in a cage, he turned and said, "I have been told that you are a healer.  One of my family has taken ill.  It is my understanding that you are able to miraculously cure the sick.  It is my dear sister, who has been taken ill with a disease of the blood.  Can you cure her?"  ¹¹Jesus said, "you must have me confused with someone else."  I could see that Jesus was trying very hard to not show his tears.