Sister of Jesus

Chapter Five: A Story From the Past

The three kings visited with Mary and Jesus at great length. Anna sat close, sewing and listening to the conversations. The kings told Mary all that conspired since they last departed so many years ago. Apparently, God came to them in a vision and told them not to return to King Harod and so they took a different route home. Mary told them that an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told them to flee to Egypt because King Harod was seeking Jesus to kill him.

"Then we are pleased to have followed God's command for if we had not then Christ would not be among us right now." Aariz commented. The other two kings nodded in agreement.

"Let us rest. It has been a long day of travelling." Shanawar suggested. Mary offered them her bed. The kings kindly thanked the family and went to sleep. Mary, Elizabeth, and Zachariah stayed up, talking amongst themselves. Anna decided to retire for the night and took her younger siblings to bed.

Anna awoke earlier than usual the next day. She barely slept at all. The wonder of these three Kings. She rolled onto her side and faced her mother. She slept peacefully and all sorrow seemed to be erased from her face.

Quietly, so as to not disturb anyone, Anna tip-toed to the roof. The cool night air hit her warm face. The change in season was almost upon them. Stars twinkled above brightly. No moon was present. She looked to her right and nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise.

"I am sorry for frightening you." Aariz apologized.

"It is all right. I was just surprised. I did not expect to see you up here." Anna admitted, "Forgive me, but what are you doing up so early?" Aariz chuckled, warmly.

"I am studying the stars."

"Why?"

"The stars can tell us a lot." Aariz explained.

"I do not understand."

"Let me tell you a story.

"A long time ago, we were studying the stars late into the night and one particular star shone brighter than the others. We had never seen the star before. I sent Haalim to fetch the scrolls of the prophecy from the great prophets."

"Who were the great prophets."

"The prophets Baalam, Daniel and Isaiah. Their prophecies concerning the King of the Jews have been sacredly preserved by my people. We studied the scroll and found it to be the same star that appeared in the sky. We knew the One True King was born. We gathered our things and gifts for Jesus and travelled, using the star as our guide.

The star guided us to Jerusalem and disappeared. We could not see the star in the sky. Naturally, we assumed we had arrived and decided to seek King Herod's counsel. If the One True King was born, he had to be born in the palace. When we inquired to King Herod about the child, he knew not what we were talking about. He sent for his chief priest and scribes to locate the child, King of the Jews. They went and searched the scrolls of the prophets. We waited all day and by dusk they came and told us that the Christ child was to be born in Bethlehem. 

Before we left, King Herod called us to speak to him privately. He asked us lots of questions about our quest, what we know, and what time the star first appeared."

"When did it first appear?" Anna asked. 

"Right when your brother, Jesus was born." Aariz eyes twinkled.

"Did you travel the Spice Roads."

"Indeed we did. All the way from Persia. When we told King Herod all that we knew, He asked that when we find the Christ child to come back and inform him so that he could go and worship him as well. Little did we know of his true intentions. But God knew and warned us in a vision. That was after we saw your brother. He was only a few months old when we first saw him. We knew we have found the Son of God and we bowed on our knees before him."

"My mother told me that you presented gifts."

"Yes we did. It is our custom to present kings with gifts but we felt that the King of the Jews deserved not just ordinary gifts. We gave him the most expensive of Frankincense and Myrrh and the purest of gold." 

"Do you really think my brother will save us?" Anna asked without reserve. She felt comfortable with Aariz.

"Indeed, I do but He will not save in a way that you think." Anna mediated and kept in her heart all that Aariz had said. They remained silent as they both gazed at the stars. Every now and then, he would teach her the constellations and where to find certain stars to use to navigate. Slowly but surely, the sun arose and the stars disappeared in the blue of the sky.