Excerpts from
Mary's Child - the Boy
By Cecil Bødker
”Mother,
yesterday he went into the sanctuary and chased everybody out who was buying
and selling.”
“What did
he do?”
“It was
terrible,” said the girl, her eyes wide with terror, “but it was wonderful too.
You should have seen it. He kicked the moneylenders’ tables so they toppled
over and fell to the floor, and the boxes of coins flew all around, and he
smashed the cages of the dove-sellers and turned ovre their benches, so the
doves fluttered around near the ceiling. He went from one to the other,
destroying everything, as he shouted loudly, scolding and quoting from the
sciptures.
“I think
they all thought he had lost his mind and was going to kill them. People were
running all over the place, crowding to get out of there. At last it was almost
completely empty inside.”
Mary put
her hands to her face in fear.
“What did
he do that for?” she practically whispered.
“He didn’t
want them to trade inside. He shouted that they were turning his house into a
den of thieves with their buying and selling. It was supposed to be a house of
prayer, and after he had knocked down everything that he could, he took som of
their things and hurled them after the people until everyone had been driven
out. They weren’t even allowed to gather up the coins that were spread all over
the floor.”
“Yes, but
why did he do it?” repeated Mary. “Why weren’t they allowed to be there?”
“I think he
was very brave,” replied her daughter. “One against so many.”
“Yes, but
he had to have a reason, didn’t her?”
“He didn’t
want them to be doing business inside the temple.”
“He can’t
just make that decision. We’ve always been able to purchase our sacrificial
animals within the confines of the Temple.” Mary didn’t understand why it had
always been that way.
“The other
people didn’t understand either,” said her daughter.
“And do
you?”
“The Temple
is for praying in,” said the girl somberly.
Translated by Tiina Nunnally
|
|
