A Voice in the Wind

Decimus and Phoebe summon Hadassah to their chambers. They ask her if she is a Christian, the affirmation of which could be a death sentence, but Phoebe assures her they are only curious about her god. She tells them about Jesus of Nazareth, the Christian messiah, and Marcus, having just entered, says that Jesus “’was a rebel crucified on a cross in Judea’” (424). He was a mere mortal, Marcus claims, who defied both the Roman and Judean authorities and paid the ultimate price. Hadassah tells of Jesus’s resurrection, but Marcus cites the testimony of one of the tomb’s guards who claims Jesus’s body was “stolen” to propagate a hoax. When Decimus questions the guard’s story, however, Marcus says he did not witness the theft firsthand, but “that was the only logical explanation” (424). Hadassah counters by describing the over 500 witnesses who claim Jesus appeared to them after his death, and the many followers who refused to deny the Messiah in the face of execution. She and Marcus argue, neither one giving ground, when Hadassah tells them of Jesus raising her own father from the dead.