Chapter Text
I do not own these characters. I love "The Chosen." I hope the episodes released in theaters do very well and I can see all of them. I was just a bit disappointed to see Gaius left behind and not show up in the promotional material. I thought he could have an engaging role to play in the Holy Week events. This is me, writing that out. Please enjoy for free.
Gaius and Marcus strolled through the Capernaum marketplace. A few years ago, Gaius had seen Marcus struggling to separate two men fighting here. He himself had come up behind one and hit him in the back of the head with the butt of his sword before threatening to cut off the other's nose. Then he'd told Marcus only force worked in keeping the peace between these people. Now, Gaius knew many of the soldiers stationed here believed he'd gone soft or insane. Thus, had Jesus of Nazareth changed him.
Gaius glanced around the strangely empty market of Capernaum. There were shoppers, mostly women as always, but now the majority skewed older rather than younger. The occasional smooth feminine face was there too. Some grandmothers held infants while the babe's mother haggled with a stall owner. Other times, the oldsters haggled while the mother kept eyes or hands on very young children. Gentiles outnumbered the Jewish ladies today. Even for Capernaum, the heavy gentile and light Jewish presence was startling. Such was the effect of Passover week. Leagues away in Jerusalem, the majority of the Jewish citizenry of Capernaum celebrated under Pilate's eyes. They celebrated, and waited, and hoped making Gaius' superiors nervous. Here, Gaius feared his soldiers were growing a bit lax.
The new Praetor noticed one of these soldiers eyeing a woman standing with an elderly man who might be her "'great' grandfather." The Jewish pair studied a bit of meat hanging before them. They hadn't noticed the roman's gaze. Gaius set his own upon his soldier. The man saw him and started. The guard then swept his gaze over the entirety of the marketplace as he should. Gaius huffed to himself. Marcus snorted. Gaius and he exchanged a glance of solidarity. They both knew vigilance was still needed. The majority of those they usually feared, young, strong, religious Jews were gone leaving Capernaum older and more feminine. These very conditions could cause thieves to think it a prime time to enter the city and rob Jewish households. As keepers of the "Pax Romana," their job was to prevent such lawlessness. Too bad, as Praetor, he also had to make sure his own men didn't take advantage of the situation.
Gaius had to admit to himself, though, this wasn't the only reason he'd stayed behind in Capernaum. True, being Praetor of Capernaum "Was" his responsibility. Even if he were ordered to Jerusalem by Caesar himself, though, he'd go reluctantly. If he could do Jesus and his followers no good being there, at least he could also do them no harm here. Matthew had shown him there was more to life than safety and power by leaving both to follow Jesus years ago. At first, he'd thought his old charge crazy. Now, he almost wished he was also an errant Jew who could reconnect with his religious roots and understand the miracle worker and teacher better.
Long after Matthew left his tax booth, he'd grown closer than he thought possible to Simon the former fisherman, also current disciple of Jesus. They'd even slapped hands in celebration as they fixed a cistern both their peoples needed together. Then, right before leading him to his rabbi to request his son's healing, Simon, then Peter, had given him a brief embrace. The words he'd said about his rabbi right before that, though, chilled Gaius. "You 'do' know a lot of people think his purpose is to overthrow Rome?"
Jesus of Nazareth had healed his son, praised his faith as greater than that of anyone in all of Israel, and less than an hour later, clung to him like a raft in a storm while sobbing. Could this same "more than a man" order masses of Jewish pilgrims to slay other Roman soldiers? Would the strange rabbi become the most hated, feared, and wanted man in the empire? Had he already and the news had just not reached Capernaum? As a Roman soldier, officer, and overseer of this city, would he be called upon to do everything in his power to bring Jesus, Simon Peter, and Matthew to Roman justice? Despite overhearing Jews and gentiles speculating on what Jesus was doing in Jerusalem before they noticed him and Marcus, Gaius had a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea.
Years ago, Jesus had let him arrest him and take him to the then Praetor of Capernaum, Quintus. Jesus had even disarmed and reassured his disciples before being marched by him personally over leagues to be questioned by the then roman ruler. The old Praetor had let Jesus go soon after he arrived. Soon after, Quintus lost his sense of humor about Jesus' strangeness. Then, he'd grown livid over the problem pilgrims following Jesus caused in his city. Finally, he'd run a lovely lady follower Jesus through with his sword. Quintus had then been demoted. Gaius had been promoted to his place. Jesus and his disciples had taken the Jewess' body back to her father. When they'd returned, they said nothing about "bloodthirsty Romans."
Gaius had heard rumors one disciple had drawn a knife and launched himself at Quintus right after he'd stabbed the woman. He'd heard the same whisperers speak of how another follower of Jesus had held him back. If his wife had been stabbed by a fellow soldier, Gaius admitted to himself he might have done the same as the first disciple. He knew the woman had been engaged to one of Jesus' followers. He had never questioned Matthew or "Peter" about it. It saddened him to realize the young Jewess' death had been the catalyst for his rise. All he could do to attempt to make up for their loss was to try to protect all the survivors among Jesus' followers and him here in Capernaum.
He and Marcus entered the Roman Quarter. Gaius' body tightened. He'd become strangely uncomfortable around the idol worship within lately. None of these deities had brought health to his son, nor "Shalom Shalom" to his heart and mind like Jesus had. He knew well how the Jews felt about idols. Only the fear of their and their loved ones' blood being shed, and perhaps a willful ignorance of their laws being so blatantly ignored, kept angry Jews from climbing over their walls to topple the statues. Of course, with most of those zealous, strong Jews in Jerusalem, their idols were especially safe till the Jewish Holy Week was complete. Then the young, healthy, and zealous Jews would come back.
Gaius felt a twinge of guilt. He, a now believer in the Jewish God, was not himself in Jerusalem to worship Him. He had decided to try to quietly celebrate the Jewish festival to the best of his ability here. Before the man left, he'd questioned Jairus, another father whose child had been healed by Jesus and an expert on Jewish practices on how to do so.
He might not go there, but he'd already been praying to the God of Jesus while facing the temple in Jerusalem at least once a day. He'd pray for his wife to continue to forgive him for the affair with their slave that resulted in one of his sons. He prayed she could show that boy almost as much care and affection as their own. He prayed, if … "when" he told his sons the truth it would only strengthen not weaken the bond they'd formed. They already treated each other as brothers. He just … wasn't ready to have that conversation with them yet.
Telling his wife, he wanted her forgiveness for his unfaithfulness after first listening to Jesus preach had been ... more than either of them expected honestly. She'd been stunned at his request. Then, she'd become cold and angry. Days later, she'd admitted "him" admitting his unfaithfulness was wrong had unleashed hurt she'd refused to feel for years. However, she didn't think another Roman husband would so humble himself as to ask for a woman's, even his wife's, forgiveness. She'd tried to not only say, but show she'd forgiven him since. This seemed to come easier for her since he'd begun sharing Jesus' words with her. Things ... had been better between them than he could ever recall them being, especially after the healing of his son by another woman. Perhaps it was because the boy's mother, whom he'd gone to instead of his wife when he should not have, was dead and no longer competition. Perhaps her own son's anxiousness for the boy and his relief his friend, brother, was now miraculously well had softened her exceptionally. Perhaps it was just Jesus' influence even from afar. Whatever it was, they were both grateful. They both now prayed to the Jewish God daily, for the safety of Jesus and his followers in Jerusalem. He prayed particularly for Matthew and Peter. He also prayed, somehow, Jesus' purpose would not wreck the fragile peace of Galilee and Judea. His people were trying to preserve it, if violently at times.
Whenever he'd spoken to citizens of Capernaum as their Praetor, he'd tried to stress his soldiers were there to protect them and their property. They should feel not only safe but motivated to share anything suspicious they saw. Theft, even violent theft, was still common. Despite him not receiving the same hateful glares and getting an occasional smile from those in the city as he passed them these days, he'd also gotten skeptical stares in reply to these instructions. He had to admit his soldiers obeyed his orders, but many grumbled about the new friendly tactics. None of them seemed to share his newfound love for Jews.
His thoughts and steps stopped. He stared ahead of him as cold fear dripped down his spine. A horse, a messenger horse of the Roman military, was tied up outside his door … Visions of Jesus, Peter, and Matthew on the ground bleeding out or hanging from crosses flashed through his mind. Contrary ones followed of those same men walking through Pilate's home with the blood of the governor, his wife, and hosts of soldiers staining their sandals. In this case, he'd be summoned to try along with every other Roman in the area to dislodge them and avenge the governor. This would mean he'd have to defy Rome, die by the sword of a Jew following Jesus, or kill those following him, perhaps Jesus himself. None of these possibilities were painless.
Gaius forced his feet to walk again. He entered his own doorway with a silent stiff gait. Julius, another of his soldiers, stood in the large room meant to welcome guests. His wife stood near a wall a modest distance from him. His sons were nowhere in sight. A less familiar face in garb of a Roman messenger also stood in the room. He turned his gaze to him. The man held out a scroll and said, "Message from Governor Pilate himself."
He stifled a sigh of relief. So, Pilate was still alive, or had been, when he sent this. Gaius reached out and took the scroll. Then he unrolled it like an adder would drop out. Once reading, Gaius' brows flew up. His eyes bugged out. There was no direct reference to Jesus, but he was ordered to leave his position as Praeter of Capernaum in a suitably competent underling's charge and come with all haste to Jerusalem to serve at Governor Pilate's discretion.
What do you think?
God bless
ScribeofHeroes