There
were a lot of people who came to Jerusalem for Passover that first
Easter, But there were a lot of animals that lived in and around the
city all of the time. They got a first hand view of the events of
Palm Sunday, through to Easter Sunday. One of them was a curious
little squirrel named Kalanit.
From
the time she was a baby Kalanit had been curious about those
two-legged beings that made so much noise. Her mother always told her
that those were dangerous creatures and she should run away when they
came but she just had to know what they were doing. Besides,
occasionally one of them would drop a tasty snack for her to eat.
That is why she spent so much time in the trees along the road to
Jerusalem.
One day
Kalanit was scurrying along the roadside looking for food when she
saw something strange. There were always people walking along the
road but today they were standing alongside it. This intrigued
Kalanit so she climbed one of the trees and slid out on a branch for
a closer look. She could see someone coming along riding a donkey.
Suddenly the branch she was on shook terribly, as if someone was
trying it tear it off the tree. Quickly she jumped up higher to a
safer place.
Kalanit
looked with amazement as people tore branches off the trees and laid
them on the road. The man on the donkey rode over the branches as the
people yelled “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord!” She wished she understood what these
sounds meant. The two legged creatures seemed so happy, so excited.
Obviously something important was happening.
As
Kalanit watched she looked at the donkey. It looked so calm, so
peaceful, so happy. Then she looked up at the rider. There was
something about him. Just watching him go by she felt like everything
was right with the world, like it would all be alright somehow. The
the donkey went around the bend in the road, the crowd followed him
and the road grew quiet again. Kalanit stood and watched after them
for a long time, pondering the strange rider, before she resumed
scrounging for food.
A few
days later Kalanit was in a garden outside the city. She had returned
to her nest high up in one of the larger trees for the night.
Suddenly a small group of the two-legged creatures appeared.
Irritated at this interruption to her sleep Kalanit started to
chatter loudly, then she saw that one of the men was the rider from
the roadway. Once again when she looked at him she had that sense of
power, a sense that with him all would be well eventually. But
something was wrong.
The man
went off by himself. He fell to his knees Tears were streaming down
his face. She heard the sounds “Lord take this cup away from me!
But let your will, not mine, be done”. Again she wished she
understood the language these creatures used but she could tell the
man was terribly upset. Then suddenly there was a great noise.
A large
crowd appeared. Kalanit could see the fire they carried, could see it
shining on metal weapons. They sounded angry. She ran high up the
tree just to be safe. The crowd took the man away. His friends stayed
behind, they looked afraid. Kalanit wanted to follow the man. She
liked being near him. He looked like a safe two-legged creature, one
who would like squirrels. But they were going into the city. That was
not a safe place for squirrels, even one as curious as Kalanit. So
she found a tree near the city gate and waited.
The
next morning Kalanit woke to another crowd coming out of the city.
The man was there. But he looked terrible. He was bleeding. He looked
defeated. There was a sadness about him. Kalanit jumped from tree to
tree following the crowd. She just had
to learn more about his man. She knew there was something special
about him, something about him that made her think of old stories.
When
Kalanit was young her mother told her about the Great Creator. The
Great Creator, her mother had said, gave life to all the trees, and
the squirrels, and the other creatures. You could know the Great
Creator personally and
you could tell when the Creator was present. You could feel the love
of the Great Creator and know that things would be alright. When
Kalanit looked at the man, even battered and bloody as he was,
she felt the presence of the Great Creator. She had to follow him and
learn more.
The
crowd led her to a hill. There were no trees on the hill. It was not
safe for a squirrel up in the open like that. But now Kalanit did not
care, she had to
get
closer. So she skittered up
among the crowd of feet until she was right near the front. There
were two-legged creatures from far away up there. They had harsh
voices and different colouring.
They wore coverings that
reflected
the sunlight.
Kalanit had noticed that the
strangers made the people from around the city nervous.
The
men with strange voices were taking the man, the special man, the one
who reminded Kalanit of the Great Creator, and
putting him on something. Then they raised up a strange looking tree.
It was tall and straight with only two branches on it. The man’s
arms were attached to the branches. Most
of the two-legged creatures standing around the tree were laughing.
But there were a few women
off to one side who were not. They looked up at the man and Kalanit
saw tears streaming down their faces. She
went to stand with them. Something about them told her they were
friends of the man on the tree.
Kalanit
stayed there all day. She watched as the man on the tree died. She
saw the men with the shiny coverings take him off the tree and give
him to a small group of people. She followed those people into a
garden, watched them place the man in a hole in the rock, and then
leave him there. Kalanit could not believe it. How could that special
man, the one who gave her that sense that all would be alright, the
one who reminded her of the Great Creator, be dead? Kalanit rummaged
around on the ground for some food, then climbed up a nearby tree to
sleep for the night.
Early
the next morning Kalanit was woken up by the sounds of tears. The
three women with who she had stood on the hill beside that strange
tree were in the garden
again. Looking over where the man had been put Kalanit saw that the
hole was open again. The women went over
to the hole. A strange being came out. It looked like a male
two-legged creature but different somehow. It shone. Kalanit had a
sense of power, a sense of the Great Creator as he spoke. To her
surprise she understood the words. Was he speaking the language of
squirrels? Surely not, the women seemed to understand him too. Maybe
he spoke a language that every creature could understand?
The
man said that Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t there anymore, that he was
raised. The women ran away, their faces a mixture of joy and fear and
amazement. After they were gone Kalanit slipped
down to the hole in the rock. She went in. It was empty. She came out
and the strange shining being was there again. He sat down on the
ground and let Kalanit climb onto his legs. They sat there for hours
and the being told Kalanit all about this man named Jesus and about
the Great Creator. The being told Kalanit about the importance of
loving everything made by the Great Creator. Jesus, the being said,
was raised by the Great Creator and because of that life would always
be stronger than death.
After
that day Kalanit was different. She was still a curious squirrel,
always trying to learn new things. But she also had a new sense of
how the Great Creator was with her all the time. She told the other
animals about the man, Jesus. Some of them listened. Some of them
laughed at her. Some of them thought she was strange. Kalanit didn’t
care. She was happy. The Great Creator was with her. Life was good.
