THE STORY OF
GABRIELA
“Oh, Keturah, I came just as soon as I heard. I am so sorry. What can I do?”
“I don’t know. I’m just in shock. What will happen now? How long will it take? Why Simon?”
“I know you have many questions. I don’t know the answers. Leprosy is a terrible, terrible thing.
“Let me take the three older children and entertain them today. We’ll go to the river or somewhere for them to play and let you rest. I would offer to take the twins, but they still need their mother. And it may help you to sit and nurse them. You won’t feel so lonely.”
Miss Martha gathered up the three older children. The two boys were six and eight years old and they understood a little more about what was happening, but Gabriela was only four and didn’t understand why her Abba couldn’t hug her and why he had moved out of the house.
Miss Martha walked with them to the small river that ran behind her house. The boys quickly began collecting rocks to skip across the water. But Gabriela just wanted to sit in Miss Martha’s lap.
Miss Martha tried to explain to her what was happening and that her Abba loved her very much. Because Gabriela’s Abba had become sick with leprosy, which was very contagious, he had to move out of his house. He would not be allowed to see his family except from a distance. That would be extremely hard for a little girl who loved her Abba dearly.
But that day was the beginning of a very special friendship between Gabriela and Miss Martha, who had never married. By the time Miss Martha took the children home, along with a meal for the family, she and Gabriela had become forever friends.
“Abba, Abba!” Gabriela called as she saw her father coming toward the front courtyard where she was playing. Usually he visited on the Sabbath and stayed far away. But this time, he opened the courtyard gate and came running to Gabriela. Tears rolled down both of their cheeks as he picked her up and held her close for the first time in three years.
Keturah and the two younger boys came running out to see what the commotion was about. “What happened?” she demanded. “Is it safe?”
“Yes, my love, it’s safe. I’m safe. I’m well. I met a man named Jesus and he made me well. I went to the priest and he told me I was free of the leprosy and look — my hands are back. Jesus not only stopped the leprosy, but he gave me back my fingers and toes. I’m good as new.” Everyone was crowded around Abba and wanted to hear over and over how Jesus had made him well.
Seven-year-old Gabriela was torn between wanting to never leave her Abba’s arms and wanting to run and tell Miss Martha and her sister Miss Mary the great news.
Mid-afternoon, she asked permission to go and tell them. Abba was busy greeting his two older boys who were just returning from Hebrew school. So, it was a good time to leave without being missed.
“Miss Martha, Miss Martha!” Gabriela called as she arrived breathlessly at Martha’s home.
“Goodness child, where’s the fire?” exclaimed Miss Martha.
“Miss Martha, Mr. Jesus has healed my Abba! He’s home! He’s well! And all his fingers and toes are back just like new!”
“Oh, Gabriela, that is wonderful news. Mary, Lazarus, did you hear? Jesus has healed Simon, Gabriela’s Abba.” Everyone clustered around Gabriela and had her tell it again.
Gabriela had been coming over most afternoons so that Miss Martha could teach her embroidery. Gabriela wanted to learn to make beautiful things like Miss Martha, but her mother just didn’t have time to teach her. Miss Martha loved teaching Gabriela, and was always patient as she learned to let the thread relax and not pull it too tightly. Over and over, they would undo the stitches and start again.
Today, she didn’t have time for a lesson. She wanted to get back to her Abba and spend time with him. Miss Martha agreed, but made her wait until she could package up a basket of honey bread for her family to help with the celebration. Miss Martha was just like that — always caring for people.
Mother put Gabriela to work slicing the vegetables and everything seemed so different. They were preparing dinner for Abba and there was a joy that had been missing in this kitchen.
The next day, Abba went to check on his store. His managers had kept it running while he was away, but he was eager to see for himself how it was doing. The older boys were in Hebrew school, so Mother and Gabriela began cleaning things that had been neglected in their sadness. They wanted everything to be clean and shining for Abba. Both were humming as they worked, and the little boys caught the good mood and played happily.
In the afternoon Gabriela went to Miss Martha’s for a sewing lesson and let Mother rest with the boys.
“Miss Martha, do you know Mr. Jesus? How did he heal my Abba?” asked Gabriela once they had gotten started on her project.
“Yes, I do know Jesus. I consider him a good friend. But he’s more than that, Gabriela. I believe that he is the Messiah. Do you know what that means?”
“I know that the Messiah is the One we are waiting for to free us from Rome,” answered Gabriela.
“The Messiah was promised to Abraham over 1700 years ago. God said that he himself would come and visit us.”
“Wow! So, he’s God?”
“I believe he is. You see we have over 300 prophecies about the Messiah, and so far Jesus has fulfilled many, many of them. He has healed your Abba — and he didn’t do it halfway. He re-created his hands and feet. That’s something only God could do. He has made blind people see and deaf people hear. He’s healed broken backs and crippled legs and arms and all kinds of diseases. Those are all prophesies, or promises, that God gave to Abraham and to all the prophets since then. Every major prophet has told us about the Messiah so that we would recognize him when he arrived.”
“That is so cool. So now that the Messiah is here, what happens next?” asked Gabriela.
“I’m not totally sure, but I know that he came to heal our relationship to God and teach us to trust him. And I know that my life has been different ever since I met him,” shared Miss Martha.
“How, Miss Martha? How has your life been different?”
Miss Martha smiled and got a faraway look in her eyes. She said, “Let me tell you about the first time I met him. Lazarus, my brother, had started going to hear Jesus teach anytime he was around here. I think he first heard him teaching at the temple in Jerusalem about two years ago. He told Jesus that he and his group of disciples were always welcome to stop by for dinner, and that I loved to cook.
“One morning, a disciple of Jesus stopped by and asked if it would be convenient for Jesus and his group of disciples to come to dinner that night since he was teaching in Jerusalem that day. I asked how many people to prepare for and he said, ‘Oh, there’s usually about 100 to 120.’ I thought I would faint, but then he added that many of them had family in Jerusalem, so there would only be about 30. I was so relieved to not be cooking for 120, I told him it would be fine.
“After he left, I started wondering how in the world I would feed 33 of us with only a few hours’ notice. The courtyard would seat 20, but I knew that Lazarus could borrow some tables and couches from your mother — so I put him in charge of that. Mary and I went to the market and started shopping. There was so much to do, so much to prepare. Mary and I worked nonstop all day, and we had a wonderful meal prepared.
“All we really lacked was moving all that food to the courtyard. But when Jesus walked in, Mary forgot all about serving our guests. She just plopped down at Jesus’ feet and listened to all he had to say. And I got mad. Instead of kindly asking for help from some of the guests or even asking Mary for her help to get all the kitchen stuff out to the courtyard, I opened my big mouth and said,
.... “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”1
Miss Martha put out her bottom lip like she was pouting, and Gabriela laughed. She could imagine Miss Martha doing just that.
“What did Mr. Jesus do? Did he make her get up and help?”
“No. He told me to leave Mary alone. He said that I was focused on the wrong thing and Mary was focused on the right thing. He was absolutely right.”
“But it wasn’t fair for you to do all the work!” exclaimed Gabriela.
“Maybe not — but it was what I had chosen to do, and I needed to let Mary do what she chose to do.”
“So, if Mr. Jesus wants us to sit and listen to him, then who is going to do the cooking?” Gabriela demanded.
“Jesus changed my heart that day. I realized that the reason I love to cook and care for people is not to earn God’s love, but because I want to show him how much I love him. Now, I can relax and enjoy showing my love to God and to people without getting in a tizzy!”
Gabriela giggled as she thought of Miss Martha in a tizzy. She always seemed calm and relaxed to her.
“Look how smoothly your threads are lining up today. You relaxed and sewed without pulling them so tightly. Maybe I should tell you more stories!”
“Thank you, Miss Martha. I hope I can meet Mr. Jesus some day and thank him for healing my Abba.”
“Well, he usually stops in every time he comes to Jerusalem, so I’ll be sure and invite you to come and meet him next time.”
It was about a year later when Mother said, “Gabriela, stay here and watch your brothers. I’m going to Martha and Mary’s house. Their brother Lazarus is sick, and they don’t know what to do. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
When Mother returned, she told Gabriela that Lazarus was very sick.
I wish Mr. Jesus was here,” said Gabriela.
“Yes, they sent a messenger to his house in Capernaum, but no one knows where he might be. I’m sure he could heal Lazarus.”
But Jesus didn’t come, and Lazarus died.
Everyone loved Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus, so there were family and friends everywhere. Gabriela wished she could stop her ears from hearing the wailing and dirges (sad music) coming from the mourners at Miss Martha’s home.
Gabriela had been allowed to spend a little time with Miss Martha, but mostly she stayed at home and kept her little brothers entertained and out of the way so her mother could be with the sisters and try to help.
Gabriela decided to take her brothers to the little river that ran behind Miss Martha’s house. She knew that they were welcome to play there anytime, and she didn’t think about having to walk right past the family tomb.
She assumed everyone would be at the house, and she was right. But she got a creepy feeling walking past the big stone tomb where she knew that Lazarus’ dead body had been put. She was glad her little brothers didn’t pay any attention to it.
Once they were past the tomb, she relaxed and enjoyed playing with her brothers along the river. It was very shallow there and they could wade in the water along the edge. The smooth stones were slippery, though, so they had to be careful. The boys tried to catch minnows with their hands — but, of course, were not successful.
Gabriela sat down in the grass along the edge and kept a good eye on her brothers as they splashed and played. She was thinking that they should start home soon so she could start dinner, when she realized that they were trapped.
For some reason, the mourners had all moved to the tomb and there seemed to be quite a crowd. From where she sat, she could see Miss Martha and Miss Mary talking with some man. There seemed to be hundreds of mourners gathered around them.
Gabriela called her brothers to come and sit beside her. She didn’t want them playing in the water without supervision — and she wanted to watch and see what was happening at the tomb. The three of them watched as some men opened the tomb.
“What are they doing?” asked her brothers.
“I don’t know. Let’s just watch and see.” The boys obediently watched and were rewarded with a very funny sight. A man came out of the tomb all wrapped up in cloth like a mummy. He had strips of cloth all over him so that he could barely walk, and he had cloth all over his face, so he couldn’t see where he was going. The boys giggled and even Gabriela thought it looked funny.
Then the men who had opened the tomb began to unwrap the man and take the cloths off. Gabriela couldn’t believe her eyes. The man looked like Lazarus. But it couldn’t be. He was dead, and this man was alive and moving around and hugging Miss Martha and Miss Mary and the man that was with them.
Gabriela’s mind was filled with questions and confusion. What just happened?
As she watched, the crowd began to move back toward the house, but the mourning music had stopped, and the crowd was celebrating. Gabriela took her brothers home where she got them all dried off and presentable. She thought she would start dinner, but she couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on.
“Promise to be on your best behavior, and we’ll go to Miss Martha’s and see what has happened.”
Both boys promised to be good, and she took them each by hand and walked over to Miss Martha’s house.
Everyone was celebrating, and the crowd was getting larger and larger. They were saying that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. It was too crowded to safely hold onto the two boys, so she took them back home to wait for her mother to come.
When Mother arrived, she was very excited about what she had seen. She described it to Gabriela and the boys. Gabriela asked if she could please go to see Mr. Jesus, but her mother said that he was already gone. He had left immediately after he had told the men to unwrap Lazarus. Gabriela was so disappointed that she had missed meeting Jesus. Her mother hugged her and promised her that next time Mr. Jesus came, she would make sure Gabriela got to meet him.
Then Gabriela and the boys told Mother what they had seen. At least they had seen the miracle happen — even though it was from a distance.
After Lazarus was raised from the dead, the Pharisees were really upset. Many people were believing that Jesus was the Messiah. The Pharisees put out word that anyone who saw Jesus should report it to them immediately.
Early one morning, Miss Martha came over. “Keturah, I have a big favor to ask,” said Miss Martha.
“Anything! You know that. How can I help you?” replied Keturah, Gabriela’s mother.
“This morning, a disciple of Jesus came and asked if they could meet with us for the Sabbath meal. But they want to meet somewhere besides our house, since the Pharisees are watching us so closely. I was wondering if you would mind hosting Jesus and about 20 of his disciples, and of course us, for the Sabbath? I could help you with all the cooking and preparation.”
“Oh, Martha, that would be an honor and privilege. Gabriela has still not been able to meet him personally and thank him for healing Simon. I’ll have to ask Simon, but I know the answer is yes. Gabriela, go to Abba’s store and ask him if it’s okay — but keep it a secret — don’t let anyone else know.”
“And Gabriela, remind your Abba to keep it a secret, too. Otherwise, he might invite the whole town!” said Miss Martha.
So, Gabriela ran to Abba’s store and talked with him privately. He, too, was thrilled to be able to do something for Jesus and promised to keep it secret.
On Friday night, Jesus and his disciples arrived at Gabriela’s house, and she was finally able to meet him. She felt all tongue-tied and stayed busy helping Mother and Miss Martha in the kitchen. It surprised her that everyone seemed so serious and quiet — not at all the way Miss Martha had described Mr. Jesus.
Jesus reclined with Abba and Lazarus and four of his disciples. The other disciples and the women and children reclined at the other tables. Miss Martha, Mother and Gabriela were busy serving the tables, but Miss Mary had disappeared.
Just as the meal was ending, Miss Mary returned with a beautiful alabaster (white glass) bottle. She went to Jesus’ couch and broke open the bottle. Immediately the room was filled with an amazing fragrance.
Spikenard was only used by royalty for special occasions — like a coronation or a wedding. And it was used to anoint a body for burial. Miss Mary had been given this bottle as a gift and had not even used it at her brother’s death. It was very, very expensive perfume, and her most precious possession.
Now, she anointed Jesus’s hair with the perfume and then poured it on his feet and wiped it with her own hair. She was worshiping him and singing softly to him.
Gabriela was amazed at the beauty of the moment. How she wished that she had a gift for Mr. Jesus that would please him like Miss Mary’s gift.
But then some of the disciples began to fuss about Miss Mary’s wasting such a precious gift.
.... “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”2
But Jesus quieted them and told them:
“Leave her alone.... Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ....She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.”3
And the room grew quiet again.
Gabriela didn’t understand what was going on, but she knew that something important was about to happen. The disciples were getting ready to go and Gabriela felt that she had to speak to Mr. Jesus.
She went to his couch and knelt before him. She thought it would be hard to talk with him, but it wasn’t at all. She said, “Thank you for healing my Abba. I believe that you are the Messiah. And I love you.”
“Little one,” Jesus said, “that is the most precious gift you can give me.” He placed his hand on her head and then he left with his disciples.
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