a dream in the night

Ima, I can’t sleep. Yeshua stood in the doorway, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Come here my child. There are a few figs left from the garden that will soothe your heart. » The little boy came and snuggled into his mother’s arms. Myriam was sitting outside, in the inner courtyard, near the fire that Yosef lit every evening. Spring nights could be cool in the hills of Galilee.

“Have you been having dreams again?” Myriam asked, stroking her child’s hair.

– Yes, replied Yeshua, biting into a fig. This time there was a large crowd milling about. And women coming out of houses and running around crying. It scared me. Then a donkey arrived. He came closer to me and said: “Come, get on my back. We have to save ourselves.” Then I saw a big river. I approached the edge and, among the reeds, I saw a baby in a basket, looking at me and holding out his arms. »

Myriam remained in silence, tenderly hugging the child against her. In the corner of the courtyard, Yosef was tidying up his workshop. He blew out the last oil lamps, lowered the wooden bar which closed the entrance door to the courtyard for the night, then came to find his people near the fire. He took some pancakes that Myriam handed him and dipped them in a porridge of beans and onions. Yeshua had regained his calm.

“Soon,” said Myriam gently, “we will remember your birth once again. It was already six years ago, but in my heart, it feels like it was yesterday. »

Yosef smiled, squeezing his son’s small hand in his. Yeshua recognized his father’s hand among all others. The right in particular, with his finger missing, a memory of a board sawed too quickly. A firm hand, which reassured him.

“It is time that we tell you about your birth, so that you too can share our joy and thus soothe your dreams,” Myriam continued without taking her eyes off Yosef. Pointing to the old donkey dozing along the wall, she continued:

” Look at. This donkey who calls you in your dream, maybe it’s him…”

Yeshua stared at the animal, amazed. His old playmate, the one who now struggled to carry the water jugs and the firewood, would he be the hero of his dreams?

“Remember Balaam’s donkey in the scriptures, who sees the angel of the Lord and begins to speak to protect her master from coming danger?* Yosef asked. Well, our donkey is undoubtedly his descendants. Because he also saved us from a catastrophe. »

Miriam continued:

“I have already told you how, when the time of your birth had come, we went, your abba and I, to Bethlehem. The Romans had ordered that families gather in their towns of origin, to count the population of the entire Empire.

“And also to better organize tax collection,” Yosef added, laughing. It was thanks to our donkey that we were able to go up the Jordan Valley and cross the Judean Mountains in a few days, without your mother having to suffer too much from the journey. But we still arrived too late. The count was finished. This is why your name does not appear on any tablet in Rome. »

Yeshua got up to stroke the old animal’s head.

“And it was in the shelter that we found for him, upon finally arriving in Bethlehem, that you were born,” recounted Myriam. Your abba placed you very close to me, in the manger. While eating his hay, the donkey warmed you with his breath. I will always remember the gentle look he had on you. And also shepherds who came to see what kind of lamb had just been born. »

-But tell me, Ima. Who then are the women who cry in my dream? »

Myriam remained in silence. It was Yosef who explained:

“Three days after your birth, we were finally able to be accommodated at the travelers’ inn in Bethlehem. We planned to stay there long enough for your mother to get out of her diapers and do the purification rituals. But on our way back from the Temple on the eighth day, we received an unexpected visit. Men from the land of our father Abraham and from further afield have arrived to pay homage to you. They knew the secrets of the stars and they told us that they had seen a new star appear in the celestial spheres. It was to our little house that their quest had led them. They warned us about Herod, the king of Judea, who had left a very bad impression on them. They even advised us to leave as quickly as possible.

– The next morning, Myriam explained, our donkey kept moving, as if in great worry. Your abba was not at peace either, because he too had had disturbing dreams during the night. So we decided to leave Bethlehem immediately. A caravan of merchants was just setting out to head south. Without them, we would never have dared to take this road which crosses the desert of Judea and Sinai. »

Half awake, the old donkey suddenly began to bray, perhaps in response to the barking of dogs in the distance, when night had set in in earnest.

“Three days later,” Myriam continued, “two Ethiopian emissaries joined our caravan for the night. They told us what had happened, just a few hours after we left. On the orders of the tyrant of the Holy City, his elite troops had committed an unspeakable crime in the city of David, in Bethlehem: all the newborns had been killed before the eyes of their mothers. »

Yeshua snuggled up against Miriam, who was crying. The dream began to become clearer.

“And we came to Egypt. You know ? This is where my ancestor, Patriarch Yoseph, lived a long time ago. He had been sold by his brothers. But he knew how to interpret dreams so well that he became an advisor to Pharaoh. Later, he welcomed his father and brothers who were fleeing famine. And the people of Israel settled in this land. During our trip, this story often came back to my mind…”

Miriam continued:

“We finally found refuge in a small village in the delta of the great river. An exiled family, originally from Samaria, took pity on us: they offered us hospitality for several months. One day, we were told that it was there, on the shores of this village, that Moishe had been discovered in a wicker basket. Do you remember, Yeshua, what the name Moses means?

“The one who was saved from the waters,” replied the child.

As he said it, his mind finally understood. He too was one of those innocent people whom the powerful of this world have been threatening for centuries. Yosef, who sensed his son’s trouble, approached him and whispered:

“The Lord is the God of the living and not of the dead. » Then he put a little wood back into the fire which was glowing red in the night.

“Come on, that’s enough for these dreams,” he continued. We must sleep now and gain strength for our approaching journey. In a few days, we will celebrate the exodus from Egypt in the Temple of Solomon, in the Holy City. »

Myriam looked thoughtfully at the ember fire burning in front of them and still warming them. We were far from the splendor of the burning bush from which the Lord had spoken to Moses in the mountain. She looked at her son sleeping against her, and understood that there was a much greater mystery there. A little bush of life that kept burning up before his eyes. She remembered what the angel had whispered to her on the first day, and hummed softly: “You will call your son Yeshua, which means…

“God save,” murmured Yosef, who had come closer.

Without waking him, he took his child in his arms and placed him on his bed. Then he came back and sat down next to her. Every evening, Yosef and Miriam remembered the words of this old man whom they had met many years ago, at the Temple, when they came to present their firstborn: “Blessed are you, Sovereign Master, now you can let your servant sleep in peace. For my eyes have seen the salvation that you are preparing for the face of the peoples. »

It had also become their prayer.

*Books of Numbers, chapter 22.

The first and last names are offered here in their Hebrew version: Yeshoua (Jesus), Myriam (Mary), Yosef. “Mom” and “dad” say “ima” and “abba” to each other.