Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Joshua had left the house at dawn and they hadn’t seen him since. I wandered around the village most of the morning, looking for Joshua and hoping to run into Maggie. The square was alive with talk of the walking dead woman, but neither of my friends was to be found. At noon my mother recruited me to watch my little brothers while she went to work with the other women in the vineyard. She returned at dusk, smelling of sweat and sweet wine, her feet purple from walking in the winepress. Cut loose, I ran all over the hilltop, checking in our favorite places to play, and finally found Joshua on his knees in an olive grove, rocking back and forth as he prayed. He was soaked in sweat and I was afraid he might have a fever. Strange, I never felt that sort of concern for my own brothers, but from the beginning, Joshua filled me with divinely inspired worry.
    I watched, and waited, and when he stopped his rocking and sat back to rest, I faked a cough to let him know I was coming.
    “Maybe you should stick with lizards for a while longer.”
    “I failed. I have disappointed my father.”
    “Did he tell you that, or do you just know it?”
    He thought for a moment, made as if to brush his hair away from his face, then remembered that he no longer wore his hair long and dropped his hands in his lap. “I ask for guidance, but I get no answer. I can feel that I am supposed to do things, but I don’t know what. And I don’t know how.”
    “I don’t know, I think the priest was surprised. I certainly was. Maggie was. People will be talking about it for months.”
    “But I wanted the woman to live again. To walk among us. To tell of the miracle.”
    “Well, it is written, two out of three ain’t bad.”
    “Where is that written?”
    “Dalmatians 9:7, I think—doesn’t matter, no one else could have done what you did.”
    Joshua nodded. “What are people saying?”
    “They think that it was something the women used to prepare the corpse. They are still going through purification for two more days, so no one can ask them.”
    “So they don’t know that it was me?”
    “I hope not. Joshua, don’t you understand that you can’t do that sort of thing in front of people? They aren’t ready for it.”
    “But most of them want it. They talk about the Messiah coming to deliver us all the time. Don’t I have to show them that he has come?”
    What do you say to that? He was right, since I could remember there was always talk of the coming of the Messiah, of the coming of the kingdom of God, of the liberation of our people from the Romans—the hills were full of different factions of Zealots who skirmished with the Romans in hope that they could bring about the change. We were the chosen of God, blessed and punished like no other on earth. When the Jews spoke, God listened, now it was God’s turn to speak. Evidently, my best friend was supposed to be the mouthpiece. But at that moment, I just didn’t believe it. Despite what I’d seen, Joshua was my pal, not the Messiah.
    I said, “I’m pretty sure the Messiah is supposed to have a beard.”
    “So, it’s not time yet, is that what you’re saying?”
    “Right, Josh, I’m going to know when you don’t. God sent a messenger to me and he said, ‘By the way, tell Joshua to wait until he can shave before he leads my people out of bondage.’”
    “It could happen.”
    “Don’t ask me, ask God.”
    “That’s what I’ve been doing. He’s not answering.”
    It had been getting darker by the minute in the olive grove, and I could barely see the shine in Josh’s eyes, but suddenly the area around us was lit up like daylight. We looked up to see the dreaded Raziel descending on us from above the treetops. Of course I didn’t know he was the dreaded Raziel at the time, I was just terrified. The angel shone like a star above us, his features so perfect that even my beloved Maggie’s beauty paled by comparison. Joshua hid his face and huddled against the trunk of an olive tree. I guess he was more easily surprised by the supernatural than I was. I just stood there staring with my mouth open, drooling like the village idiot.
    “Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all men. For on this day, in the city of David, is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Then he hovered for a second, waiting for his message to sink in.
    Joshua uncovered his face and risked a glance at the angel.
    “Well?” the angel said.
    It took me