Thread by @ShelfNerds

#MicroTreks

Twin logs glow orange in the heart of a fire which warms the skin of Spock’s face.

His eyes, closed.

The edges of his cheeks, soft.

Tree leaves soothe the night with their companion: the wind.

“Spock,” a voice calls.

Spock’s eyes open. “It is you.”
1/17

The man smiles and sits across from Spock. The heat distorts the air between them, playfully warping the reality of the other.

“You expected me?” the man asks.

“I accepted your eventual arrival as,” Spock says. “A possibility.”

The man’s brow raises.
2/17

“I’m not often surprised,” the man says.

“You are most welcome,” Spock says. “To what can I attribute this visit, Jesus of Nazareth?”

Jesus smiles. “I heard we kind of do similar work, so I just wanted to stop by and say, ‘Well done.’”

Spock raises a brow.
3/17

“Fascinating,” Spock says.

“Though you did not believe in my absolute humanity and absolute godhood, you recreated the image of humanity that my Father intended: one of selfless, servant-leadership,” Jesus says.

“What I did was merely logical,” Spock says.
4/17

“You must remember, I was there,” Jesus says. “I always am. I recall you expressing sentiments of—deep friendship.”

“That is true,” Spock says. “But that friendship did not motivate my solution to our dire situation. As a Vulcan, I was in complete control of my emotions.”
5/17

“I see,” Jesus says. “One of my apostles wrote that humanity must take every thought captive to realize the life my Father intends for them.”

“Yes,” Spock says. “The mental discipline suggested by Paul is admirable.”
6/17

“I have found—refuge—in his description of the contradictory natures grappling within humanity,” Spock says.

Jesus nods. “To paraphrase him, humanity often does not do what it wants to do; instead, it does what it despises.”

“Vulcans were far worse,” Spock says.
7/17

“Logic. Discipline. Ceremony,” Spock says. “These provide the guardrails for fuller, constructive lives.”

“A blessing, to be sure,” Jesus says.

“In fact, ancient Jewish disciplines have always fascinated me,” Spock says.

“Please,” Jesus says. “Explain.”
8/17

“The Shema prayer, the wisdom of the sabbath,” Spock says. “Their ceremonial customs and periods of rest—they seem to—”

“Return something to the participant,” Jesus says.

“Yes,” Spock replies, nodding.

“Their original humanity,” Jesus says. “Just for a moment.”
9/17

Spock raises a brow.

“Humanity chose to believe that they could define what is true, what is right, apart from their Creator—the Law gave but a dim insight into who you all could be,” Jesus says.

“May I assume you are referring to the Ten Commandments?” Spock asks.
10/17

Jesus nods. “And more. To murder is wrong—that is clear. Yet, to even harbor thoughts of murder—or hate—is a crime equal in my Father’s eyes.”

“To take each thought captive, it would seem,” Spock says. “Is a matter of life or death.”

“Indeed, my friend,” Jesus says.
11/17

“For the loving Father desires nothing more than to exist in relationship with his children, but,” Jesus says. “He exists as a perfect being.”

“And to maintain the continuity of his existence—beings riddled with imperfect thoughts cannot be in union with him,” Spock says.
12/17

Jesus nods. “And so, you have your Enterprise engine room; I have my cross.”

“I offered my life to repair the engine so that my crew could escape destruction,” Spock says.

“And I took the consequence of humanity’s evils—eternal separation from God,” Jesus says. “Death.”
13/17

“An elegant solution,” Spock says. “But because you claim divinity, you could die as humanity’s consequence yet live again. A certain friend of mine might call that—cheating.”

Jesus laughs. “Perhaps, but then that meld with your friend might be considered a cheat, too.”
14/17

Spock grins.

“I have devoted much of my life to the study of material reality—to understanding that which can be measured and reasoned,” Spock says.

He looks up through the tree limbs to the stars. “And yet—”

“You—yearn still,” Jesus adds.

Spock nods.
15/17

“I have often considered this insatiable hunger for—more—to be a flaw of my humanity,” Spock says.

“The human body desires to return to homeostasis, correct?” Jesus asks.

Spock nods.

“So too does the human soul,” Jesus says.
16/17

“Before humanity decided to reject God’s truth—” Jesus says.

“Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden,” Spock says.

Jesus nods. “They were in perfect relationship with themselves, with the world, with God.”

“And so,” Spock whispers, looking into the flames. “We yearn.”
17/17

More #MicroTreks in this series can be found at the link below.

https://twitter.com/shelfnerds/status/1628181475815313409