Yuyajoe’s Weblog

Ari Loves Sal

A glimpse into the lives of Jesus and Mary Magdelene

Excerpted from an early draft of Ari Loves Salome, The Story of the Jesus Coin

By Yuya Joseph

The First Part

Not long after arrival at the home and gardens of Antonia, the Agrippa family palace, Herod Joseph noticed that young Aristobulus was not to be seen among his extended kin. He enquired around the house, as there were several apartments where kids and their families were playing, in addition to the main quarters, and at first nobody knew of his son’s whereabouts, and deep concern began to show on Joe’s face. His wife Mariamne and others also noticed that their son Ari Jesh was not among the revelers, and different people had begun enquiring about his presence.

A disappointed and upset though still radiantly beautiful young Salome turned to a family member at the gathering and enquired, “I thought that cousin Aristobulus was going to be here; he is the only reason I wanted to come to this place today. Where is he?”

She was the daughter of Herodias and had just turned fourteen years of age, and cousin Ari no longer seemed like a young boy to her, he was now sophisticated and insightful. Her uncle, Herod Joseph of Chalcis, had been raising him since he was a toddler, and loving him and teaching him as if he were his very soul. He wasn’t even a teenager yet, but he was already her best friend ever, and it bothered her that he was not here where she expected him to be.

Salome was to remember this day for all of her life, and though Jesh thought of it fondly, Sal considered it the beginning of a downward trend that kept her away from Ari Jesh for long periods of time. She felt it marked the beginning of something she would have to heal from and overcome, that feeling of being so freaking alone that you imagine that everything you have ever done has been wrong. Her heart told her things would be okay, but her mind raced with despair at all the news of the troubles.

During her unhappy first marriage, she thought of this day and how she would someday marry the boy prophet, for very few had ever said Jahn Philip was the Messiah or the Anointed One, and even those were mostly unreliable, excepting the Mandeans whose devotion has in time been proven farsighted, essentially solidifying the role of Baptism in the emerging faith. James also had his followers but when people referred to Jeshua as the Messiah or the Anointed, nobody ever seemed to say a word against him, and everyone proclaimed his goodness and worthiness. Was She also not the Holy Princess of Judea, deserving of a Righteous King and all of Israel? Surely her destiny was not to be designated a half portion and an old man that only extremists still openly supported. Her mother Herodias would soon marry Herod Antipas, changing the course of history, but all this would come later.

Mariamne believed, as did many others, that her son Ari Jeshu’s purpose on earth was to be a Saviour of the Judaic People, the long-awaited Anointed One. When he grew into the premier Teacher in the country and people told her that he could even bring peace to all nations, that he was a Messiah to many Greeks, and Egyptians and Syrians also, she was not the type to limit his aspirations and range. Their reported later disputes in Galilee only reflected her concerns for his safety.

Although there was one particularly rough patch during Ari’s late teens, Mariamne IV was not the first queen (nor the last) to have major problems with the royal men in her life. The sometimes heartless, sometimes shoddy treatment of his mother, the Woman by the Well, was likely a factor in Ari Jesh’s own fervent commitment to the sanctity of marriage, and also to his overwhelming devotion to Salome and their children. He knew of the sacrifices women had to make in their lives, and his mom and his wife were each examples, for Salome had been forced to marry while still young, for the “good of the people,” and his mom had been divorced against her wishes, more than once. He believed deeply in the equality of all human beings, and the strong men and women who formed him in his childhood and adolescence became the builders of a great and growing nation.

Salome was also exceedingly popular, for everyone who knew her loved her, and when some called her Salome Mariamne, it wasn’t always just a reference to her own heritage, for the holy mantle came from her mother-in-law also. They were both ladies of the highest stature, Carriers of the Covenant, and the Virgin Mother Maryam role was later for Salome of the Tower to shoulder almost entirely on her own, and the Beloved One would prove to do a miraculous job.

These were the most difficult years in Jeshua’s life. In his early to mid-teens, the separation from his mother and younger siblings was excruciatingly painful, while in his later teens the expectations of some in Galilee and Jerusalem were hugely unreachable. People were anticipating Jesh would unite all Jews and overthrow the Romans, but he was more concerned with uniting Jews and Romans, and indeed all humanity. Purists questioned his pedigree, radicals challenged his passion, his family was concerned about some of the company he was keeping, and authorities were always quick to enquire what the large gatherings were about. Couple this social pressure with his deep disappointment in Salome’s betrothal to Philip Jahn, and you can see how the emotions would build.

Full short story continues at: Ari Loves Sal; The Story of Jesus and Mary Magdelene

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