The Making of the Lamb by Robert Bear

conduct commerce, but they do it secretly through an intermediary.” Daniel pulled out a blanket that needed folding.
    Jesus started to get up to help his cousin, but the attending slave beat him to it. “Septurius is putting a great deal of trust in your father.”
    “That’s how Papa makes his fortune. Everyone he deals with knows he can be trusted. That’s why they made him a citizen and then a noblis decurio ,” said Daniel. “I was watching you earlier. You act as if you have been a Roman accustomed to this luxury all your life. Aren’t you impressed at all with the marvels the Romans created?”
    “All I see are the graven images of false gods and the fruits of oppression.”
    Daniel signaled to Jesus to mind his tongue. He had no idea what the slave might report to his master if he understood their Aramaic. He judged the youth to be about three years his senior.
    Jesus suddenly commanded the slave in Latin to draw the bath water in the room next door. The two of them were now truly alone for a few minutes.
    “You seem to be born to this life, Jesus,” Daniel said. “You commanded that slave as if you were born true Roman.”
    “Hardly. I just wanted to get rid of him and get in the bath. Don’t forget that our hosts are the Romans who rule our lands and use us, Daniel. Proud as they are, we should learn their weaknesses so that one day we can free our people. Look over there. Instead of painting a picture, framing it and hanging it on a wall, they painted the frame on the wall and then painted the picture inside. They seem to be afraid a guest might steal a real framed painting off the wall.”
    “Actually, I think they do it that way so that the host is not embarrassed into giving paintings away when their guests praise them.”
    Jesus laughed. “Don’t you see, cousin? These people are weak. Yes, they have great wealth and they have their legions, but they have no strength of character. Septurius cannot stand up and say that he needs to conduct an honest trade, so he does it in secret. They cannot be seen to appear ungenerous to their guests, so they actually paint their pictures on the wall to make sure that making a gift of them is not an option. There is no great Roman civic virtue. Everything is only about maintaining appearances.”
    Daniel looked at his young cousin, a thin waif undressing for the bath. I cannot believe how perceptive he is, and only thirteen. Jesus hardly looked the part of the military leader who was destined to smash the legions of Rome, but then Daniel thought of the heavenly light he saw within Jesus back in Nazareth. He lowered his voice. “Are you the Messiah who will free our people?”
    “I don’t really know what work God has for me. I am just a boy,” Jesus replied. “I pray for guidance every day. The only thing I know for sure is what my mother told me of how I was miraculously conceived. I do hear and feel things that I cannot begin to explain. Certainly, I want to save the nation of Israel and free our people, and…” his voice quavered. “I always see myself in the prophecies of the savior. It is a vision that stays in my head. I wish I understood more. I feel in my heart that God has chosen me as his instrument, but sometimes I feel struck by madness. I just pray that God will give me the wisdom to know his will and strength to do it; I must not fail him.”
    “But there is nothing God cannot accomplish through you,” Daniel responded earnestly. “Think of how he used David as a child to slay the mighty Goliath with a single slingshot.”
    Jesus paused before he spoke again. “I feel more connected with you right now, Daniel, than I have ever felt with anyone. Some of what I confided in you I haven’t even told my mother. I don’t think I have ever put my feelings into words quite like this, even in my own head.”
    They looked at each other in silence. As if in a trance, Daniel recalled the vision he had seen back in Nazareth, of Jesus with the