What Promises is All About

Promises is about the promises we make to ourselves and others; but it is also about relationships. The friendship between Onnua and Eunice is important to both of them. The first problem is that Amos, Eunice’s husband, does not like Onnua. That dislike turns to hate when Onnua marries the man who collects taxes for Rome. So his hate keeps them apart even though their hearts still long for the easy friendship and love the two women shared while they grew up together and were both companions and confidants.

Why is their friendship so important? In the beginning it is easy to see they enjoy being together. Later we see that their marriages have put them in different boxes. And they long for that “woman time” together. Eunice, on the surface, has the perfect marriage. She is married to a rich and successful man and has three beautiful children. Onnua, from Jericho’s view, is married to the hated tax collector. This alone leaves her few friendship options.

But Eunice’s husband is a hard man and her father-in-law even more so. She and her children are to be seen and not heard. Her husband has also cut her off from her own family.

Next door, Onnua is loved and respected by this tax collector. Her circumstances deny her respect in the village but her servants are kind and her husband Zaccheus makes sure she can visit her family whenever she wishes.

Promises shows us that Jesus visiting this man “who is a sinner” changes everyone’s perspective a little. The books that follow show what the friendship meant to the women and what they would do for one another.

Do You Choose Your Family, or Does it Choose You?

It is said that you can pick your friends but you are stuck with your family. I think that as we go through life we also have the opportunity to choose family. Years ago I was involved with a camping experience called Connections. I believe that each year by the end of the week the campers and staff were family. I have directed and acted in many plays over the years and during rehearsals and the run of a show we become family. What makes these eclectic groups of people family? In both cases: love, trust, common goals.

Within the novel Promises there are several family units: Zaccheus’ family, Amos, the Pharisee’s family, their extended families and even the family created by Jesus when He called His disciples. Each of these family units has their own understanding of love, trust and common goals. The grandfather that does not want grandchildren at the dinner table is still head of the family. The servant that sleeps on the floor at the foot of the bed to help her ailing mistress is also family.

Where the Story Comes From and the Role of Jesus

Promises is a very personal book. It came from the monologue “Onnua, wife of Zaccheus.” All my monologues on Biblical women come both from the scriptures and from deep within myself as a woman. Granted, Zaccheus’ wife is not mentioned in the scriptures but we know a few things about the times that give us the ability to make up characters. First, all men were encouraged/expected to marry and all men had mothers. So even if there are not huge numbers of women to write about, we can add women to the men we meet in the Bible.

Where the Story Comes From

When writing the monologue and later the book, I drew on my feelings about being too tall in a shorter world, and how it would be to be married to man who was first shorter and secondly not well liked in his village. (Remember that Zaccheus was a tax collector.) I also made choices about his character that adds to why Onnua loves him. In the world of the village, he is an exacting tax collector for Rome. In his home he cares deeply about his wife, his mother and even his cat and the servants. He is a man who takes a decision and a promise very seriously. Zaccheus is based loosely on my first husband who passed away many years ago. He was a farmer and both a good man and a good neighbor.

The Story of Onnua and Zaccheus

I was in seminary in 1975. For a class project, I wrote and performed my first Biblical monologue. Later, a Chancel play was written around the character. In the years that followed, I studied more of the women in the Bible and wrote many monologues that were performed as part of special programs and worship services. As the years progressed, I found woman who suited my age at the time. In the early years, I wrote and performed a pregnant Mary asking god to show her who the child she carried would become. In the later years, I wrote of the Mary at the cross.

Of all the monologues I wrote and performed, my husband’s favorite was always Onnua (long ‘u’ and a short ‘a’). I had named Zaccheus’ wife (he’s the wee little man in Luke who climbs the sycamore tree) Onnua. He often said that he would love to know the rest of her story. He wanted to know how they married, if they had children, and what happened next.