I saw the look of condescension in their eyes, and I was not going to stand for it. "I tell you, I saw him. He's still alive."

The men didn't say anything, but they all exchanged looks silently among themselves, as if to say I was crazy. Even Judas, my own husband, treated me as if I'd been hit on the head with a large object and was babbling groggily. It made me so mad that I wanted to scream. What right did they have to doubt?

"Look, while the rest of you ran and hid, I stood there and watched when they beat your brother Jesus with whips. I followed along as they made him carry a beam of wood out to the hill among the olive trees across the Kidron Valley. I stood there with Mother Miriam and we watched as they strung him up on the cross. As he hung there gasping for breath, he called me his beloved disciple and entrusted his own mother to my care." 

I turned and glared at each of them in turn, daring them to deny it. "I watched him die. I watched them take his body down and put it in a cave nearby. I'm the one who held Mother Miriam in my arms while she wailed. Where were you? And where were you? And you?" I asked, pointing at each of them. "I tell you, when Lazarus and I returned to the cave this morning, my brother went inside and brought Jesus out. He was alive."

My beloved husband seemed almost too embarrassed to speak. "That's just it, Dear." Ooh! He called me Dear! If I'd been close enough, I'd have hit him in the head with something that would make him groggy! "You witnessed the tragedy, and it's shaken you up quite a bit. Maybe, just maybe, you were seeing things this morning that you wish were true but weren't really there?"

Miriam had stayed behind in Bethany while I came into the city this morning, so I did not have her here to back me up. When I married her son Judas, she taught me how to hold my own against men. Look them straight in the eye and never waver, she had told me. No matter what they say or how loudly they yell, never lower your eyes. I know Judas and the men in the family all called it the Stare, and they felt helpless against it.

I had not yet attained Mother Miriam’s level of skill. Nevertheless, I locked my eyes onto Judas’s, squared myself in front of him, and slowly rested the knuckles of my cocked fists on my hips. I said nothing, and neither did he. In the space of time it would take to gasp for breath twelve times, the small muscles around his eyes began to quiver. He opened his mouth once, then shut it, and then opened it again to speak in a pleading voice. "We all heard the Father's voice a moment ago." 

I wouldn’t release him, not yet. “Yes, we all heard his voice. And yet you still don’t believe me?” I held his eyes for a moment longer, and then turned to his brothers James and Simon. James had been sheltered here at the Temple away from his mother Miriam, so he crumpled under my Stare almost instantly. Simon, the seasoned militia leader, immediately recognized a superior force and surrendered without resistance.

“Okay, okay, so he’s alive,” Judas muttered. “What do you want us to do?” 

“Don’t do anything yet,” I said evenly. “We’re hiding Jesus in a tent outside the city walls until he can recover, so we must not say a word outside this house. Simon, before your men flee the city for the road to Galilee, wait for word from me. James, you stay here and send word to the Temple that you’re staying in seclusion. Ask the priests to keep secret that Jesus is your brother, or else the Romans may arrest you. 

“Judas,” I said over my shoulder as I started toward the stairs, “stay here with James and concoct some stories that will divert the Romans away from the family. Jesus survived the cross, but I don’t want to take a chance on you three having to do the same.”

I was just starting down the stairs when Judas blurted out, “But wait — where are you going?”

I turned my gaze back on the three of them and held them for a moment before speaking. “Many lives are at stake here, so I’m going to need people with common sense. I’m going to talk to the women.”

I found Rachel in the kitchen, fussing over a large cake of bread she had just pulled out of the oven. She poked a small knife into the middle and examined inside to see if the dough was cooked all the way through. Apparently satisfied with what she found, she set the knife down and turned to me.

“I was sorry to hear of your family’s loss,” she said with a slight bow of her head. “The Rabbi Gamaliel was so sad when he told me. I’m sure the Rabbi James must be grievin’ terribly, it bein’ his brother and all.”

I clutched her forearms in greeting the way the men did, and locked eyes with her. “Rachel, he’s alive. I saw him this morning. I need you to gather some women that you can trust to help me take care of him.”

Rachel’s eyes widened in a mixture of shock, disbelief and wild joy. “Alive? But we heard the Romans killed him. They said the King is dead.”

“No, they failed to kill him, or at least they can’t keep him dead. But we have to hide him and care for him or else he may die. He’s badly wounded. And then we have to smuggle him away.”

She looked off vacantly for a moment as if consulting a list that hung in the air before her, then snapped back into focus. “I know some people who can help. We’ll go to them.” Then she looked at my belly. “You look like your baby’s gonna pop out any minute. Why don’t you rest here while I go take care o’ things?”

I tilted my head as if I were looking at a teenager who had just uttered a mouthful of nonsense. “Rachel, we are women. Who do you think actually gets things done in this world — the men?”

She ducked her head in momentary shame. “You’re right, no offense intended, my lady. Speakin’ o’ which, just let me tell the Rabbi James and his brothers upstairs that their bread is baked. If I leave the house without tellin’ him where to find it, he’ll starve.”

I laughed and hugged her. I went upstairs with her and had a brief shouting match with Judas that yes, I damn well was strong enough to go out, and that he’d better stay where he was to avoid capture by the soldiers. James saw the glare in Rachel’s eye and apparently knew well enough to keep his mouth shut. Simon stayed out of it too. I agreed that I would accompany Judas to Bethlehem where I could safely give birth, but not until we had found a safe place for Jesus to rest and heal. Stay out of it, I warned all three of them. The women will handle it.

“I need to ask one favor,” Judas interjected. “For our safety, please call me Thomas from now on. Even if Jesus is still alive, Judas will be a hunted man.”

Good idea, I thought to myself as I went down the stairs. That showed some foresight. There’s hope for him yet.