The hero of our story is one Daniel, who grew up in the town of Galilee during the reign of the Emperor Nero.
Daniel was a good Jewish boy and loved nothing better than to sit in the synagogue and listen to the rabbi read stories from the holy book. His favourite was the story of his namesake in the lion's den. He wondered if he would be able to be so brave in a dangerous situation. He hoped that he would, and he liked to imagine the heroic things he might do when he grew up.
As I have said, Daniel was a Jew. At least, he was a Jew up to the age of eighteen. It was when he was at this tricky age that a couple of men in very neat robes knocked on the door of his parents house while they were both out. The men asked Daniel if they could make a presentation on the life of their saviour. Daniel didn't know what this meant but it didn't sound dangerous, so he invited them in and offered them a chair each and sat down himself to hear what they wanted to tell him.
They did not spend much time sitting in their chairs. They were very enthusiastic story-tellers, standing up and sweeping their arms around, and emphasising their points by thumping the palms of their hands with their fists, as they recounted a story which he found even more exciting than that of the other Daniel in the lion's den.
It was the story of a man who had healed the sick and fed the hungry, who had walked on water and brought the dead back from the grave. He had done all this by the strength of his faith. He had championed the poor and downtrodden and called the high and mighty judges "vipers". All of this was tremendously exciting to Daniel who had not yet lost his youthful idealism.
When the men reached the end of the story and Daniel heard how the "Son of God", as they described the miracle worker, had been nailed to a cross and left to die, he was heart-broken. How could such a thing have happened. But the men encouraged him not to lose heart. What was important was not the flesh which had carried the message they said, but the message itself. The message about the coming Kingdom of Heaven on Earth which the miracle worker had delivered was now spreading throughout the Roman Empire and, most exciting of all, Daniel was needed to be a messenger. Given that the Emperor Nero perceived the growth of Christianity as a threat however, it was a most dangerous task to take on, they warned him. This was all he needed to hear. At last he would get to try himself in the face of danger.
When his parents came home and found him gazing blankly into the distance and babbling something about forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, they immediately hired a cult deprogrammer. At a time when religious zealots and self-proclaimed prophets hung out on every street corner, deprogrammers were doing a roaring trade. But, with Daniel, it was no use. The die was cast, and, rather than argue with his parents all the time, Daniel moved out of home and went to live with some of his new Christian friends.
