Robert Haldane, Jr.
I wrote this Story to give people an unusual glimpse of the person Jesus. Much has been written about him, but, it seems to me, most views of Jesus, including the “historical Jesus” are through a prism of Creedal concepts (divinity/atonement) which obscure the person behind them. I have tried to give a picture of the life of Jesus without that theological emphasis. Of course his life and ministry are full of religious meaning, but I have made the story “neutral” enough to make the person, Jesus, central. Once having encountered the life of this person, I expect each reader will add such interpretation, Creed, and theology as his/her faith calls for. I believe it will be richer for having encountered the “one like a person” or the “Son of Man” as he chose to call himself
Robert Haldane, Jr. was born April 12, 1928 in Rumford, ME, the son of Rev. & Mrs. Robert Haldane (thereafter, Sr.). He attended grammar school in Ashland, graduated from Madison High School, the University of Maine, and Bangor Theological Seminary. He served Churches in Maine as Student-Pastor in Milbridge and North Anson, where he was ordained as a Congregational Christian minister. He then served Churches in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, Jackson, MI, and Los Angeles, CA. He received the Doctor of Divinity degree from Piedmont College in Demarest, GA. After serving in the Civil Air Patrol (USAF Aux) for 28 years, 18 as a Chaplain, he retired in grade of Lt. Col. He has been active in Masonic organizations, was Founder of Michigan Interfaith Marriage Encounter, and served on Boards and committees of Church, Inter-faith, and community civic organizations. He and his wife currently reside in The Davenport Memorial Home, 70 Salem Street, Malden, MA.
His books are: Room for the Indians (Grandmemories, 1999) which is included in: FROM THE HEART, A Memoir (Grandmemories, 2003).
CHAPTER I A Baby Is Born
This story is about a baby whose life changed the calendar which the whole world uses! Many who became his followers began to count time and to record events by numbering the years before his birth and the years following his arrival in history, BC (before Christ) and AD (anno domini: “year of the Lord”). Since the calendar is now used by the whole world and not only by his followers, the scholars do not use BC and AD, although it is the same event that divides history. The secular calendar is BCE (before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era).
Our story begins about 5 CE, because the baby Jesus was born a few years later than the Calendar people thought he was!
About the year 5 CE a very good teen-age girl from Nazareth was chosen by a religious and honest carpenter, whose wife had died, to become his new wife. Believing that their love was a special blessing (Mitzvot) from God, Joseph and Miriam (whom we know as Mary) went to their Rabbi and had a ceremony of Betrothal, a first step in marriage. Plans in those days, just as now, often were interrupted or delayed by unforeseen circumstances. So before a wedding ceremony could be arranged with all the traditional activities and other delays, King Herod had called for a Census to be taken for tax purposes. Joseph was from the family line of David, so he had to go to the City of David, Bethlehem, to be enrolled. By then, Mary was expecting their first child. Both Mary and Joseph had been told by angels, appearing as in a dream, that this baby boy entrusted to them, was special to God.
What a long journey it was, some 60 miles, which Joseph had to walk, while Mary rode on a little donkey. The roads were just paths, with rocks and steep places. It was hard going, and much of it through wild country where robbers and other bad people made travel dangerous. Since it was almost time for Mary to have her baby, they had to stop and rest often, and make their travel days shorter than they would have liked. Joseph’s son, James, was a big help and they got to Bethlehem in the land of Judah in less than ten days. (They did not travel on the Sabbath.)
