The Lenten Adventure Forum

(Claudia thinks for a while, focusing on Jesus, who He is, what He has said. She takes a deep breath and replies to Antonius who is no less confused than she is.)

Antonius, I know next to nothing of Jewish prophecies, except what our friends here have shared with us so I do not know even where to begin with explaining this prophecy of which you speak. What I do know is only of here and now, the past several days we have spent together, talking, hearing the stories of Jesus and finally meeting Him face to face. Did He not say that we are to turn the other cheek? How does that fit with him destroying and killing anyone, including our countrymen? Certainly, we have been unkind, oppressive and violent and were we treated that way we would seek some retribution. But Jesus seems to seek none. He brings a message of peace and healing. He has healed me and I am a Roman. He has healed you. Both of these things are in direct contradiction to the Jewish prophecy then, are they not? The only logical conclusions I can devise, if I remember my lessons clearly are these:

1. The prophecy is wrong; or
2. The prophecy is speaking of some other oppressors we will be freed from.

I can tell you that I did not feel oppressed by any man, even though my husband is hard and often unkind, it was not the oppression the Jews have suffered. No, Antonius, what Jesus set me free from was an emptiness, an awareness that He revealed to me, of my sin and the need to be set free from its power. I did not feel oppressed before Jesus but now, miraculously, I feel more free than I ever have in my life and I have always been a privileged, free woman of Rome.

When Jesus returns from his much-needed rest, we must ask Him of this, for it distresses our Jewish companions much more than you or I.


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