“Hey, you can’t sleep here”! I awoke with a start and sat up quickly. The skinny little guy in front of me was missing most of his teeth and was in bad need of a bath and a bottle of Scope. “Get up and get out of here, you”! He yelled.

“OK, there little man, I’m going,” I said rising to my feet. How long had I been there? It was still very dark. I wiped my face trying to clean off the still wet tears and dust that clung to my cheeks. I had to get to the Sanhedrin to talk to Caiaphas the head priest.

“Who are you calling little man”? The annoying little guy yelled at me as I walked toward the gate. I just waved him off. Passing through the gates I turned up the street toward what we know as the temple mount and Herod’s Temple. The temple was an imposing structure even in the darkness. The Sanhedrin, the council of Hebrew scholars, elders and priests was housed in one of the wings of the temple. There I’d find Caiaphas the high priest. I needed to talk with him to see what they would do with Jesus.

My thesis back in the 21st century had been that Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin had Jesus killed to protect Israel from the Zealots; Hebrew radicals who resented Roman occupation and were willing to start a civil war to drive the Romans out. I believed the Sanhedrin wanted to protect Israel from the zealots and the wrath the Romans would bring upon them in the event of a revolt.
The ties between Jesus and the Zealots were important to my theory because if Jesus was a Zealot from the beginning he may have intended to sacrifice himself all along to create an armed revolt.
Over the past three years I had concluded that the Zealots saw Jesus as a figurehead to rally behind. When I left the future three years earlier I truly believed Jesus and his disciples may have been Zealots. Now, however, having spent the last three years with them I knew they were not Zealots nor were they inclined to want Zealots around them. He taught a completely different path
than they.

Early on I had believed Jesus and the disciples may have counted on the Zealots when they hatched their scheme to start a whole new religion. It was just fortune that had caused many of the Zealots to rally behind Jesus after John the Baptist had been captured then beheaded by Herod. This is what I believed when I jumped into Judas Iscariot’s body three years ago, now I had a different view. I now knew my original thesis, the one that brought me here was completely and utterly wrong.

Proof had been there all along that the Zealots and Christians weren’t connected. I just refused to see. The Jewish revolt came many years after Jesus’ death and was solely a Jewish, not Christian, revolt. The Zealots had abandoned Jesus when they realized he had no intention of taking up arms against the Romans. Once the Zealots realized this they began scheming for a way to free their captured leader Barabbas.

With that theory smashed I turned my attention to recording what the Jewish elders, the priests and scribes, thought of Jesus, what was on their minds this fateful night? Why did they want Jesus dead? Did they want him dead? So many Jews would die in the next two millennia because of their role in his death and the belief by uniformed Christians that the Jews were responsible for Jesus’ death.

I had no idea what I was going to do when it came down to betraying Jesus. I was very much hoping Abaddon would have jumped me back to my time before that decision had to be made. I’d spent the last three years theorizing why they didn’t pull me back right away after mistakenly sending me into Judas Iscariot’s body. I had some ideas but…

In the mean time I had to go through the motions of being Judas Iscariot as I knew them to try and prevent history from being changed. Then words came back to me, “It would be better that the man were never born than betray the Son of Man.” If I betray Jesus my soul will be cursed for all time. I may be in Iscariot’s body but it would be me making the decision. It may be he that history would scorn but it would be my soul that was cursed for eternity. I’d be cursed for betraying Jesus and cursed for condemning an innocent man, Judas.

I’d live with the knowledge that while man scorns Judas as the betrayer it’s really Frank Jason that sent Jesus to a Roman cross to die a horrible, lingering death. I didn’t want to think that far ahead. I’ll just take it one step at a time, I thought. It’s hard enough being this close and knowing the truth. I turned the corner and I could see the entrance to the temple and the temple guards at the entrance.

keith

I’m officially retired after over 40 years of working with the US military in one way or another. My bride of 45 years and I settled into a nice home in Fredericksburg, Texas, USA, and are enjoying the many events, organizations, and attractions the Texas Hill Country has to offer. I enjoy urban sketching, watercolor painting, dabble in writing, and do an occasional voice acting gig.

The motto of this blog is: “Just Write”. I chose that motto because it has been my observation when it comes to writing that to Just Write is the foundation for any successful writer. Advice from numerous successful writers led me to that phrase and cuts to the chase, as it were, about what one needs to do to become a successful writer.

Along the same lines I recently stumbled upon a TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, where she discusses the unseen force that gives writers and other artists the ability to reach the pinnacle of their chosen art. In a nutshell, she tells her listeners the job of a writer, or any other artist, is to Just Do the Work. By that she means a true professional will sit down at their word processor, typwriter, or legal pad each day and spend time doing the work required to write a short story, novel, or screenplay. In the course of doing the work a divine spirit, muse, or talent from within will take the writer to a state which produces works worthy of the writer. Read the rest of this entry

KeithShafer

According to an article I read recently I wasn’t born to be writer. The article was written by a teacher, more specifically a  college professor, who taught creative writing and literature to young minds seeking a master’s degree in the “fine arts”.

According to this learned individual my chances of success in becoming a writer is quite bleak since I didn’t aspire to become a writer at a young age; nor did I follow the hallowed path of college and a liberal arts education immediately after high school. In his humble opinion there is little to no chance of me, or my kind ever becoming “real” writers. Read the rest of this entry

KeithShafer

Chances are if you’re a writer you’re familiar with the story behind the successful book The Christmas Box. Richard Paul Evans, the author is said to have authored his book for his children. Originally self-published, the book became a local hit in Utah.

Needless to say, major publishing house caught wind of the book and Evans eventually received several million dollars in publishing rights. What began as a way for one writer to entertain his children became a successful writing career with over 20 million books in print. Read the rest of this entry

KeithShafer