Jesus passed the wine skin to Judas, who took a long drink before speaking. “Why not just settle down, get married, and have a family? This is not hard, Jesus. Men in love do it every day.” Pleased with his own eloquence, Judas slapped his friend on the back and laughed, a big grin taking over his wide face. Jesus retrieved the wine before answering.

     The two men sat on a high grassy hill east of Nazareth, looking out through the haze toward the Sea of Galilee. A soft breeze from the distant Mediterranean was at their backs.

     “Judas, don’t you see, I can’t love her.” The sea breeze wrapped his long black hair around his eyes, and he pushed it back with his right hand.

     “But you do, and why can’t you? Is it your all-encompassing holy calling?” While Judas believed in his friend’s mission and followed him, he always maintained that Jesus needed some balance in his life, that God expected a man to be a man.

     “You know it is. I’m on a mission from God. I have to put the people back on the path.”  Jesus was becoming agitated, shaking his hands toward the sky, his long, narrow face looking almost pained.

     Judas was implacable. The burly man sat like a stone statue. “How long have I known you?  Forever, it seems. You, me, Mary. I should have gone after her. Magdalene is a good woman; she loves you, and she’d make a good mother. A married man can still preach.”

     “Judas, we’ve been through this. I’ve been called. I can feel it in my heart, my soul. There is only room for God’s work. Everything else is temptation to be struggled against.” He looked up through the hazy sky as if trying to catch God’s eye.