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diff --git a/old/67486-0.txt b/old/67486-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cfa958c..0000000 --- a/old/67486-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16998 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life of Christ, by Giovanni Papini - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Life of Christ - -Author: Giovanni Papini - -Translator: Dorothy Canfield Fisher - -Release Date: February 24, 2022 [eBook #67486] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, David King, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHRIST *** - - - - - - LIFE OF CHRIST - - - - - LIFE OF CHRIST - - _by_ - - GIOVANNI PAPINI - - - Freely translated from the Italian - - _by_ - - DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER - - NEW YORK - HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY - HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC. - - PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY - THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY - RAHWAY, N. J. - - - - - TRANSLATOR’S NOTE - - -The King James English version has been followed in the Bible quotations -of this translation, except in a few cases where an alteration in the -Revised Version was evidently the result of a better understanding of -the original Greek or Hebrew text. - -For the form of proper names, the spelling of the Century Dictionary has -been used as a rule; for names not given in the Century, the form -current in the usual standard works. Since this book is intended to be -popular rather than either scholarly or archæological, it was thought -best to use the name-forms best known to most readers. - -It will be noted that a number of the quotations are mosaics made up of -phrases taken from different parts of the Bible and put together to make -one passage. This not being the English usage in such matters, it seems -desirable to call the reader’s attention to the character of such -quotations. - -The only other explanation which may be necessary is in connection with -the omission of occasional sentences, paragraphs and of one or two -chapters. In the case of individual sentences or phrases, they were -usually omitted because they contained an allusion sure to be obscure to -non-Italian readers. A characteristic example of such omissions is in -the scene of the crucifixion where Christ is described as being nailed -to the cross with outstretched arms like an owl nailed with outstretched -wings to a barn-door. This revolting country-side custom being unknown -to American readers, a reference to it could only cloud the passage. - -Since translators into English who omit passages are usually accused of -suppressing valuable material which might displease too-narrow -Anglo-Saxon readers, it is perhaps as well to explain that the excision -of paragraphs here and there, and of a few chapters, is in no sense an -expurgation, because this _Life of Christ_ is very much of the same -quality throughout. It simply seemed to me that such occasional -lightening of the text would make it more acceptable to English-speaking -readers, so much less tolerant of long descriptions and minute -discussions than Italians. - -I quite realize that this may seem a slight and arbitrary basis for -making actual excisions in an author’s work, and I understand that the -translator is not at all responsible for the matter which he translates, -but only for the truthfulness with which he presents the text given him -to set into another language. I was moved first by the fact that the -passages omitted are of no more importance than any other passages in -the book; and secondly by the author’s wish expressly stated in his -Introduction, to have this a readable book which will hold those who -pick it up, rather than to have it a book of exact learning or great -literature. This translation was made with the purpose of allowing the -general American reading-public to form an opinion on a book which has -aroused a great deal of discussion in modern Italy; and to carry out -this purpose, the occasional omissions mentioned and a certain freedom -in the rendering of the Italian seemed to me justifiable. - -Dorothy Canfield Fisher. - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - - 1 - - -For five hundred years those who call themselves free spirits because -they prefer prison life to army service have been trying desperately to -kill Jesus a second time—to kill Him in the hearts of men. - -The army of His enemies assembled to bury Him as soon as they thought -they heard the death-rattle of Christ’s second death. Presumptuous -donkeys mistaking libraries for their stables, top-heavy brains -pretending to explore the highest heavens in philosophy’s drifting -balloon, professors poisoned by the fatal strong drink of philology and -metaphysics, armed themselves. Paraphrasing the rallying-cry of Peter -the Hermit to the crusaders, they shouted “Man wills it!” as they set -out on their crusade against the Cross. Certain of them drew on their -boundless imaginations to evolve what they considered proof positive of -a fantastic theory that the story of the Gospel is no more than a legend -from which we can reconstruct the natural life of Jesus as a man, -one-third prophet, one-third necromancer, one-third demagogue, a man who -wrought no miracles except the hypnotic cure of some obsessed devotees, -who did not die on the cross, but came to Himself in the chill of the -sepulcher and reappeared with mysterious airs to delude men into -believing that He had risen from the dead. - -Others demonstrated as certainly as two and two make four that Jesus was -a myth developed in the time of Augustus and of Tiberius, and that all -the Gospels can be reduced to a clumsy mosaic of prophetic texts. Others -conceived of Jesus as a good, well-meaning man, but too high-flown and -fantastic, who went to school to the Greeks, the Buddhists, and the -Essenes and patched together His plagiarisms as best He could to support -His claim to be the Messiah of Israel. Others made Him out to be an -unbalanced humanitarian, precursor of Rousseau and of divine democracy; -an excellent man for his time but who to-day would be put under the care -of an alienist. Others to get rid of the subject once for all took up -the idea of the myth again, and by dint of puzzlings and comparisons -concluded that Jesus never was born anywhere in any spot on the globe. - -But who could have taken the place of the man they were trying to -dispose of? The grave they dug was deeper every day, and still they -could not bury Him from sight. - -Then began the manufacture of religions for the irreligious. During the -whole of the nineteenth century they were turned out in couples and half -dozens at a time: the religion of Truth, of the Spirit, of the -Proletariat, of the Hero, of Humanity, of Nationalism, of Imperialism, -of Reason, of Beauty, of Peace, of Sorrow, of Pity, of the Ego, of the -Future and so on. Some were only new arrangements of Christianity, -uncrowned, spineless Christianity, Christianity without God; most of -them were political, or philosophic, trying to make themselves out -mystics. But faithful followers of these religions were few and their -ardor faint. Such frozen abstractions, although sometimes helped along -by social interest or literary passions, did not fill the hearts which -had renounced Jesus. - -Then attempts were made to throw together facsimiles of religion which -would make a better job of offering what men looked for in religion. -Free-Masons, Spiritualists, Theosophists, Occultists, Scientists, -professed to have found the infallible substitute for Christianity. But -such mixtures of moldy superstition and worm-eaten necromancy, such a -hash of musty rationalism and science gone bad, of simian symbolism and -humanitarianism turned sour, such unskillful rearrangements of Buddhism, -manufactured-for-export, and of betrayed Christianity, contented some -thousands of leisure-class women, of condensers of the void ... and went -no further. - -In the meantime, partly in a German parsonage and partly in a -professor’s chair in Switzerland, the last Anti-Christ was making ready. -“Jesus,” he said, coming down from the Alps in the sunshine, “Jesus -mortified mankind; sin is beautiful, violence is beautiful. Everything -that says ‘yes’ to Life is beautiful.” And Zarathushtra, after having -thrown into the Mediterranean the Greek texts of Leipzig and the works -of Machiavelli, began to gambol at the feet of the statue of Dionysius -with the grace that might be expected of a German, born of a Lutheran -minister, who had just stepped down from a chair in a Swiss University. -But, although his songs were sweet to the ear, he never succeeded in -explaining exactly what he meant when he spoke of this adorable “Life” -to which men should sacrifice such a living part of themselves as their -need to repress their own animal instincts: nor could he ever say in -what way Christ, the true Christ of the Gospels, opposed Himself to -life, He who wanted to make life higher and happy. And the poor -syphilitic Anti-Christ, when insanity was close upon him, signed his -last letter, “The Crucified One.” - - - 2 - - -And still Christ is not yet expelled from the earth either by the -ravages of time or by the efforts of men. His memory is everywhere: on -the walls of the churches and the schools, on the tops of bell-towers -and of mountains, in street-shrines, at the heads of beds and over -tombs, thousands of crosses bring to mind the death of the Crucified -One. Take away the frescoes from the churches, carry off the pictures -from the altars and from the houses, and the life of Christ fills -museums and picture-galleries. Throw away breviaries and missals, and -you find His name and His words in all the books of literature. Even -oaths are an involuntary remembrance of His presence. - -When all is said and done, Christ is an end and a beginning, an abyss of -divine mystery between two divisions of human history. Paganism and -Christianity can never be welded together. Before Christ and After -Christ! Our era, our civilization, our life, begins with the birth of -Christ. We can seek out what comes before Christ, we can acquire -information about it, but it is no longer ours, it is signed with other -signs, limited by other systems, no longer moves our passions; it may be -beautiful, but it is dead. Cæsar was more talked about in his time than -Jesus, and Plato taught more science than Christ. People still discuss -the Roman ruler and the Greek philosopher, but who nowadays is hotly for -Cæsar or against him; and where now are the Platonists and the -anti-Platonists? - -Christ, on the contrary, is still living among us. There are still -people who love Him and who hate Him. There is a passion for the love of -Christ and a passion for His destruction. The fury of so many against -Him is a proof that He is not dead. The very people who devote -themselves to denying His ideas and His existence pass their lives in -bringing His name to memory. - -We live in the Christian era, and it is not yet finished. If we are to -understand the world, our life, ourselves, we must refer to Christ. -Every age must re-write its own Gospel. More than any other, our own age -has so re-written its own Gospel, and therefore the author ought perhaps -to justify himself for having written this book. But the justification, -if there is need of such, will be plain to those who read it. - -There never was a time more cut off from Christ than ours, nor one which -needed Him more. But to find Him, the old books are not enough. No life -of Christ, even if it were written by an author of greater genius than -any who has ever lived, could be more beautiful and perfect than the -Gospels. The candid sobriety of the first four stories can never be -improved upon by any miracle of style and poetry. And we can add very -little to the information they give us. - -But who reads the Gospels nowadays? And who could read them, even if he -set himself at it. Glosses of philologists, comments of the exegetical -experts, varying readings of erudite marginal editors, emendations of -letters, such things can provide entertainment for patient brains. But -the heart needs something more than this. - -Every generation has its preoccupations and its thoughts, and its own -insanities. The old Gospels must be re-translated for the help of the -lost. If Christ is to remain alive in the life of men, eternally present -with us, it is absolutely necessary to resuscitate Him from time to -time; not to color Him with the dyes of the present day, but to -represent with new words, with references to things now happening, His -eternal truth and His never-changing story. - -The world is full of such bookish resuscitations of Christ, learned or -literary: but it seems to the author of this one that many are -forgotten, and others are not suitable. To write the history of the -stories of Christ would take another book and one even longer than this -one. But it is easy to divide into two great divisions those which are -best known and most read: (1) Those written by orthodox authors for the -use of the orthodox; (2) and those written by scientists for the use of -non-believers. Neither the first nor the second can satisfy those who -are seeking in such lives for Life. - - - 3 - - -The lives of Jesus written for pious readers exhale, almost all of them, -a sort of withered mustiness, the very first page of which repels -readers used to more delicate and substantial fare. There is an odor of -burnt-out lamp-wick, a smell of stale incense and of rancid oil that -sticks in the throat. You cannot draw a long, free breath. The reader -acquainted with the biographies of great men written with greatness, and -possessing some notions of his own about the art of writing and of -poetry, who incautiously picks up one of these pious books, feels his -heart fail him as he advances into this flabby prose, torpid, tangled, -patched up with commonplaces that were alive a thousand years ago, but -which are now dead and petrified. It is even worse when these worn-out -old hacks try to break into the lyric gallop or the trot of eloquence. -Their faded graces, their ornamentations of countrified purisms, of -“fine writing” fit for provincial academies, their artificial warmth -cooled down to tepidity by unctuous dignity, discourage the endurance of -the boldest reader. And when they are not engulfed in the thorny -mysteries of scholasticism, they fall into the roaring eloquence of the -Sunday sermon. In short, these are books written for readers who believe -in Jesus, that is, for those who could, in a way, get along without -them. But ordinary people, indifferent people, irreverent people, -artists, those accustomed to the greatness of Antiquity and to the -novelty of Modernity, never look at even the best of such volumes; or if -they pick them up, let them fall at once. And yet these are the very -people whom such a book should win because they are those whom Christ -has lost, they are those who to-day form public opinion and count in the -world. - -Another sort of books, those written by the learned men for the -neutrals, succeed even less in turning towards Christ the souls that -have not learned the way to Christianity. In the first place they almost -never have any intention of doing this, and in the second place they -themselves, almost all of them, are among those who ought to be brought -back to the true and living Christ. Furthermore, their method which is, -as they say, historical, scientific, critical, leads them to pause over -texts and external facts, to establish them or to eliminate them, rather -than to consider the meaning and the value and the light which, if they -would, they could find in those texts and those facts. Most of them try -to find the man in the God, the actual external facts of the miracles, -the legend in the tradition and, above all, they are on the look-out for -interpolations, for falsifications and apocrypha in the first part of -Christian literature. Those who do not go so far as to deny that Jesus -ever lived, take away from the testimony about Him everything they can, -and by dint of “ifs” and “buts” and doubts and hypotheses, so far from -writing any definite story themselves, succeed in spoiling the story -contained in the Gospels. In short, such historians with all their -confusion of fret-work and bunglings, with all the resources of textual -criticism, of mythology, of paleography, of archeology, of Greek and -Hebrew philology, only triturate and liquefy the simple life of Christ. -The most logical conclusion to draw from their rambling incoherent talk -is that Jesus never did appear on the earth, or if by chance He really -did appear, that we know nothing certain about His life. Christianity -still exists, of course, in spite of such conclusions, and Christianity -is a fact not easily disregarded. To offset this fact the best these -enemies of Christ can do is to search through the Orient and Occident -for the origins, as they say, of Christianity, their intention being -quite openly to parcel it out among its predecessors, Jewish, Greek, for -that matter Hindu and Chinese, as if to say: “You see, your Jesus at -bottom was not only a man, but a poor specimen of a man, since he said -nothing that the human race did not know by heart before his day.” - -One might ask these deniers of miracles how they explain the miracle of -a syncretism of old traditions which has grown about the memory of an -obscure plagiarist, an immense movement of men, of thoughts, of -institutions, so strong, overwhelmingly strong, as to change the face of -the earth for centuries. But this question, and many others, we will not -put to them, at least for the present. - -In short, when in looking for light we pass from the bad taste of the -devotional compilers to the writers who monopolize “historic truth” we -fall from pietistic boredom into sterile confusion. The pious writers -are unable to lead men to Christ, and the “historians” lose Him in -controversy. And neither one nor the other tempt men to read. They may -differ from each other in matters of faith, but they resemble each other -in the uncouthness of their style. And unctuous rhetoric is as -distasteful to cultivated minds, even superficially acquainted with the -divine idyll and divine tragedy of the Gospels, as is the -cold-heartedness of learned writers. So true is all this that even -to-day, after the passage of so many years, after so many changes of -taste and opinion, the only life of Jesus which is read by many lay -readers is that of the apostate priest, Renan, a book which all true -Christians dislike for its dilettante attitude, insulting even in -praise, and which every real historian distrusts because of its -compromises and its insufficient scholarship. But although this book of -Renan’s seems written by a skeptical romancer, wedded to philology, or -by a Semitic scholar suffering from literary nostalgia, it has the -merits of being really “written,” that is, of getting itself read, even -by those who are neither believers nor specialists. - -To make itself readily read is not the only value nor the greatest which -a book can have, and the writer who contents himself with that alone and -who thinks of nothing else shows that vanity rather than ardor is his -motive-power. But let us admit that to be readable is a merit and not a -small merit for a book, especially when it is not intended as a tool for -study, but when it aims at the mark called, “moving the emotions,” or to -give it its real name, when its aim is to “transform human beings.” - -The author of the present book finds—and if he is mistaken he will be -very glad to be convinced by any one who sees more clearly than he—that -in the thousands of books which tell the story of Jesus, there is not -one which seeks, instead of dogmatic proofs and learned discussions, to -give food fit for the soul, for the needs of men of our time. - -The book we need is a living book, to make Christ more living, to set -Christ the Ever-Living with loving vividness before the eyes of living -men, to make us feel Him as actually and eternally present in our lives. -We need a book which would show Him in all His living and present -greatness—perennial and yet belonging intimately to us moderns—to those -who have scorned and refused Him, to those who do not love Him because -they have never seen His true face; which would show how much there is -of supernatural and symbolic in the human, obscure, simple and humble -beginning of His life, and how much familiar humanity, how much -simple-hearted plainness shines out when He becomes a Heavenly Deliverer -at the end of His life, when He becomes a martyr and rises again -divinely from the dead. We need a book which would show in that tragic -epic, written by both Heaven and earth, the many teachings suited to us, -suited to our time and to our life, which can be found there, not only -in what Christ said, but in the very succession of events which begin in -the stable at Bethlehem and end in the cloud over Bethany. A book -written by a layman for the laymen who are not Christians or who are -only superficially Christians, a book without the affectations of -professional piety and without the insipidity of scientific literature, -called “scientific” only because it perpetually fears to make the -slightest affirmation. A book, in short, written by a modern writer who -respects and understands his art, and knows how to hold the attention -even of the hostile. - - - 4 - - -The author of this book does not pretend to have written such a book; -but at least he has tried as far as his capacities can take him, to draw -near to that ideal. - -Let him state at once with sincere humility that he has not written a -“scientific history.” In the first place because he could not; in any -case because he would not, even if he had possessed all the necessary -learning. He warns the reader, among other things, that this book was -written (almost all of it) in the country, in a distant and sparsely -settled countryside with very few books at hand, with no advice from -friends or revision from masters. It will, therefore, never be cited by -higher criticism or by those who scrutinize original sources with a -microscope; but that is of little importance compared to the possibility -of its doing a little good to a few souls, even to one alone. For as he -has explained, the author wishes this book to be another coming of -Christ and not another burial. - -The author bases his book on the Gospels; as much, let it be understood, -on the synoptic Gospels as on the fourth. He confesses that he has no -interest in the endless dissertations and disputes over the authority of -the four Gospels, over their dates and interpolations, over their mutual -relationship, and over their probabilities and sources. We have no older -nor no other documents, contemporaneous, Jewish or Pagan, which would -permit us to correct them or to deny them. He who goes into all this -minute investigation can destroy many doctrines, but he cannot advance -the true knowledge of Christ by a single step. Christ is in the Gospels, -in the apostolic tradition, and in the Church. Outside of that is -darkness and silence. He who accepts the four Gospels must accept them -wholly, entire, syllable by syllable,—or else reject them from the first -to the last and say, “We know nothing.” To attempt in these texts to -differentiate what is sure from what is probable, what is historic from -what is legendary, what is original from what has been added, the -primitive from the dogmatic is a hopeless undertaking, which almost -always ends in defeat, in the despair of the readers, who in the midst -of this hubbub of contradictory systems, changing from one decade to -another, end by understanding nothing and by letting it all drop. The -most famous New Testament authorities agree on only one thing, that the -Church was able to select in the great mass of primitive literature the -oldest Gospels thought up to that time to be the most reliable. No more -need be asked. - -In addition to the Gospels, the author of this book has had before his -eyes “the Logia and the Agrapha,” which seemed to have the most -evangelical flavor, and also some apocryphal texts used with judgment. -And finally nine or ten modern books which he had at hand. - -It seems to him as well as he can judge, that he has departed sometimes -from ordinary ideas and that he has painted a Christ who has not always -the perfunctory features of the ordinary holy picture, but he is not -sure of this nor does he value any new thing which may be in this book, -written more in the hope of having it a good book than of having it a -beautiful book. It is rather more likely that he has repeated things -already said by others, of which he in his ignorance has never heard. In -these matters, the subject, which is truth, is unchangeable and there -can be nothing new except the manner of presenting it in a form more -efficacious because it may be more easily grasped. - -Just as he has tried to avoid the thorns of erudite criticism on the one -hand, he has no pretensions, on the other, of going too deeply into the -mysteries of theology. He has approached Jesus with the -simple-heartedness of longing and of love, just as during His life-time -He was approached by the fishermen of Capernaum, who were, fortunately -for them, even more ignorant than the author. Holding loyally to the -words of the orthodox Gospels and to the dogmas of the Catholic Church, -he has tried to represent those dogmas and those words in unusual ways, -in a style violent with contrasts and with foreshortening, colored with -crude and vividly felt words, to see if he could startle modern souls -used to highly colored error, into seeing the truth. - -The author claims the right to take to himself the words of St. Paul: -“To them that are without law, I became as without law that I might gain -them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak that I might -gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all -means save some. And this I do for the Gospel’s sake.” - -The author has tried to present not only the Hebrew world, but the world -of antiquity, hoping to show how new and how great Christ was compared -to those who preceded Him. He has not always followed the chronological -order of events, because it better suited his aims, which are not (as he -has said) entirely historical, to gather together certain groups of -thoughts and facts and to throw a stronger light on them instead of -leaving them to be scattered here and there in the course of the -narrative. - -In order not to give a pedantic look to the book he has suppressed all -references to quotations and has used no foot-notes. He did not wish to -seem what he is not, a learned bibliographer, and he did not wish to -have his work smell, however faintly, of the oil of the lamp of -erudition. Those who understand these things will recognize the un-named -authorities, and the solutions which the author has chosen when -confronted with certain problems of concordance. The others, those who -are only trying to see how Christ appeared to one of them, would be -wearied by the apparatus of textual learning and by dissertations at the -bottom of the pages. One word only must be said here in connection with -the sinning woman weeping at Jesus’ feet: although it is generally -understood from the Gospel story that there were two different scenes -and two different women, the author for artistic purposes has allowed -himself to treat them as one, and he asks a pardon for this which he -hopes will be easily granted since there is no question of dogma -involved. - -He must warn the reader that he refrained from developing the episodes -where the Virgin Mother appears, in order not to lengthen too greatly a -book already long, and especially because of the difficulty of showing -by passing allusions all the rich wealth of religious beauty which is in -the figure of Mary. Another volume would be necessary for that, and the -writer is tempted to try if God grants him life and sight to “say of her -what was never said of any woman.” - -Those who are experienced in reading the Gospels will realize that other -things of lesser importance have been shortened and some others, on the -contrary, lengthened more than is customary. Some have seemed to the -writer more appropriate than the others for his purpose, which is, to -use an expression now out of date and distasteful to sophisticated -people, the purpose of edification. - - - 5 - - -This book is meant to be a book—the author knows how he will be jeered -at—of edification. Not in the meaning of mechanical bigotry, but in the -human and manly meaning of the “refashioning” of souls. - -To build, or as the old word expressed it, to edify a house, is a great -and holy action; to make a shelter against winter and the night. But to -build up or edify a soul, to construct it with stones of truth! When -there is talk of edification you see in it only an abstract word worn -out with use. To edify in the original meaning was to construct walls. -Who of you has ever thought of all that goes into the making of a house, -a house firm on the earth, and honestly built, with well-plumbed walls, -with a good sheltering roof? Think of all that is needed to build a -house: well-squared stones, well-baked bricks, sound beams, -freshly-burned lime, fine, clean sand, cement that has not lost its -strength through age! And then patient, expert workmen to put each thing -in its place, to join the stones perfectly one by one, not to put too -much water or too much sand in the mortar, to keep the walls damp, to -know how to fill in the chinks, to smooth the rough-cast plaster! All -this so that a house may go up day by day towards heaven, a man’s house, -the house where he will bring his wife, the house where his children -will be born, where he can invite his friends. - -But most people think that to make a book it is enough to have an idea -and then to take so many words and put them together. Not so. A kiln of -tiles, a pile of rocks, are not a house. To build up a house, to build -up a book, to build up a soul, are undertakings which require all of a -man’s power. The aim of this book is to build up Christian souls because -that seems to the writer at this time in this country an urgent need. He -who has written it cannot now say whether he will succeed or not. But -readers will recognize, he hopes, that it is a real book and not a -collection of scraps, not an assemblage of little pieces, a book that -may be mediocre and mistaken, but which is constructed: a work built up -as well as edifying or building up; a book with its own plan and its own -architecture, a real house with its atrium and its architraves, with its -divisions and its vaultings—and also with some openings towards heaven -and over the fields. - -The author of this book is, or would fain be, an artist, and in writing -it he could not forget his own character. But he declares here that he -has not wished to create a work of Belles Lettres, or as they say now, -of “pure poetry,” because at least for this time truth is dearer to him -than beauty. But if his powers as a writer, however feeble they may be, -as a writer loving his art, are sufficient to persuade one more soul, he -will be more thankful than ever in his life for the gifts which he has -received. His inclination towards poetry has perhaps been of use to him -in rendering fresher and more vivid the picture of those things which -seem petrified in the usual hieratic consecrated wording. - -The man of imagination sees everything as though it were new: every -great star, wheeling in the night, might lead you to the house hiding -the Son of God; every stable has a manger which, filled with dry hay and -clean straw, might become a cradle; every bare mountain top flaming with -light in the golden mornings above the still somber valley, might be -Sinai or Mt. Tabor: in the fires in the stubble, or in the charcoal -kilns shining on the evening hills you can see the flame lighted by God -to guide you in the desert; and the column of smoke rising from the poor -man’s hearth shows the road from afar to the returning laborer. The ass -who carries the shepherdess just come from her milking is the one ridden -towards the tents of Israel, or the one which went down towards -Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. The dove cooing on the edge of -the slate roof is the same that announced the end of the great -punishment to the Patriarch, or the same that descended on the waters of -the Jordan. For the poet everything is of equal value and omnipresent, -and all history is sacred history. - -The author begs the pardon of his austere contemporaries if rather more -than is fitting he lets himself go to what is nowadays disdainfully -dubbed eloquence, illegitimate issue of pompous rhetoric and -illegitimate mother of overemphasis and other dropsical growths of -elocution. - -He knows very well that eloquence displeases moderns as bright red cloth -displeases the fine city lady, as the organ in a church displeases -minuet dancers, but he has not always succeeded in dispensing with it. -When it is not borrowed declamation, eloquence is the ardent expression -of faith, and in an era which has no faith there is no place for -eloquence. And yet the life of Jesus is such a drama and such a poem -that in place of the words, worn thread-bare, which have at our -disposition, we should use only those “torn and sentient” words of which -Passavanti speaks. Bossuet, who knew something about eloquence, once -wrote: “Plût à Dieu que nous puissions détacher de notre parole tout se -qui delecte l’esprit, tout ce qui surprend l’imagination, pour ne -laisser que la verité toute simple, la seule force et l’efficace toute -pure du Saint Esprit, nulle pensée que pour convertir.” - -Very true, but difficult to achieve. - -At times the author of this book would have liked to possess an -eloquence vivid and powerful enough to shake all hearts, an imagination -rich enough to transport the soul by enchantment into a world of light, -of gold and of fire. Yet at other times he almost regretted that he was -too much the artist, too much the man of letters, too much given to -inlaying and chiseling, and that he did not know how to leave things in -their powerful nudity. - -Only when he has finished a book does an author know how he ought to -have written it. When he has set down the last word, he ought to turn -back, begin at the beginning, and do it all over again with the -experience acquired in the work. But who has, I do not say the energy to -do this, but even the conception that it ought to be done. - -If on some of its pages this book sounds like a sermon, there is no -great harm done. In these days when for the most part only women, and an -occasional old man, go to listen to the preaching in churches, where -mediocre things are often said in a mediocre manner, but where more -often still, truths are repeated which ought not to be forgotten, we -must think of the others, of the scholarly men, of “intellectuals,” of -the sophisticated, of those who never enter a church, but sometimes step -into a book-shop. For nothing in the world would they listen to a -friar’s sermon, but they condescend to read it when it is printed in a -book. And let it be said once and for all, this book is specially -written for those who are outside the Church of Christ; the others, -those who have remained within, united to the heirs of the Apostles, do -not need my words. - -The author excuses himself for having written a book with so many, with -too many pages, on only one theme. Now that most books—even his own -books—are only bundles of pages taken out of journals, or short-winded -little stories, or short notes taken from note-books, and generally do -not go beyond two or three hundred pages, to have written more than four -hundred pages on one theme will seem a tremendous presumption. The book -certainly will seem long to modern readers used to light wafers rather -than to substantial home-made loaves. But books, like days, are long or -short, according to what you put into them. And the author is not so -cured of his pride as to think that this book will remain unread on -account of its length, and he flatters himself that it may be read with -less tedium than other books that are shorter. So difficult it is to -cure oneself of conceit—even for those whose wish it is to cure others. - - - 6 - - -Some years ago the author of this book wrote another to describe the -melancholy life of a man who wished for a moment to become God. Now in -the maturity of his years and of his consciousness he has tried to write -the life of a God who made Himself man. - -This same writer in those days let his mad and voluble humor run wild -along all the roads of paradox, holding that a consequence of the -negation of everything transcendental was the need to despoil oneself of -any bigotry, even profane and worldly, to arrive at integral and perfect -atheism; and he was logical as the “black cherubim” of Dante, because -there is only one choice allowed man, the choice between God and -nothingness. When man turns from God there is no valid reason to uphold -the idols of the tribe or any other of the old fetiches of reason or of -passion. In those proud and feverish days he who writes affronted Christ -as few men before him have ever done. And yet scarcely six years -afterwards (but six years of great travail and devastation without and -within his heart), after long months of agitated meditations, he -suddenly interrupted another work begun many years ago, and almost as if -urged and forced by a power stronger than himself, he began to write -this book about Christ which seems to him insufficient expiation for his -guilt. It has happened often to Christ that He has been more tenaciously -loved by the very men who hated Him at first. Hate is sometimes only -imperfect and unconscious love: and in any case it is a better -foundation for love than indifference. - -How the writer came to discover Christ again, by himself, treading many -roads, which all brought him to the foot of the Mount of the Gospel, -would be too long and too hard a story to tell. But there is a -significance not perhaps wholly personal and private in the example of a -man who always from his childhood felt a repulsion for all recognized -forms of religious faith, and for all churches, and for all forms of -spiritual vassalage and who passed, with disappointments as deep as the -enthusiasms had been vivid, through many experiences, the most varied -and the most unhackneyed which he could find, who had consumed in -himself the ambitions of an epoch unstable and restless as few have -been, and who after so many wanderings, ravings and dreamings, drew near -to Christ. - -He did not turn back to Christ out of weariness, because his return to -Christ made life become more difficult and responsibilities heavier to -bear; not through the fears of old age, for he can still call himself a -young man; and not through desire for worldly fame, because as things go -nowadays he would receive more commendation if he continued in his old -ideas. But this man, turning back to Christ, saw that Christ is -betrayed, and, worse than any affront to Him, that He is being -forgotten. And he felt the impulse to bring Him to mind and to defend -Him. - -For not only His enemies have left Him, and despoiled Him; the very ones -who were His disciples when He was alive only half understood Him, and -deserted Him at the end; and many of those who were born in His church -disobey His commands, care more for His painted pictures than for His -living example, and when they have worn out their lips and knees in -materialistic piety, think they are quits with Him, and that they have -done what He asked of man,—what He still is asking, what He has been -asking desperately and always in vain for nineteen hundred years. - -A story of Christ written to-day is an answer, a necessary reply, an -inevitable conclusion. The balance of modern public opinion is against -Christ. A book about Christ’s life is therefore a weight thrown into the -scales, in order that from the eternal war between love and hate there -may result at least the equilibrium of justice. And if the author is -called a reactionary, that is nothing to him. The man who is thought to -be behind the times often is a man born too soon. The setting sun is the -same which at that very moment colors the early morning of a distant -country. Christianity is not a piece of antiquity now assimilated, in as -far as it had anything good, by the wonderful and not-to-be-improved -modern consciousness; but it is for very many something so new that it -has not even yet begun. The world to-day seeks for peace rather than for -liberty, and the only certain peace is found under the yoke of Christ. - -They say that Christ is the prophet of the weak, and on the contrary He -came to give strength to the languishing, and to raise up those trodden -under foot to be higher than kings. They say that His is the religion of -the sick and of the dying, and yet He heals the sick and brings the -sleeping to life. They say that He is against life, and yet He conquers -death; that He is the God of sadness, and yet He exhorts His followers -to be joyful and promises an everlasting banquet of joy to His friends. -They say that He introduced sadness and mortification into the world, -and on the contrary when He was alive He ate and drank, and let His feet -and hair be perfumed, and detested hypocritical fasts, and the -penitential mummeries of vanity. Many have left Him because they never -knew Him. This book is especially for such readers. - -This book is written, if you will pardon the mention, by a Florentine, a -son of the only nation which ever chose Christ for its King. Savonarola -first had the idea in 1495, but could not carry it through. In spite of -a threatening siege, it was taken up in 1527 and approved by a great -majority. Over the door of the Palazzo Vecchio, between Michael Angelo’s -David and Bandinelli’s Hercules, a marble tablet was built into the -wall, with these words: - - JESUS CHRISTUS REX FLORENTINI - POPULI P. DECRETO ELECTUS. - -Although changed by Cosimo, this inscription is still there; the decree -was never formally abrogated and denied, and even to-day after four -hundred years of usurpations, the writer of this book is proud to call -himself a subject and soldier of Christ the King. - - - - - LIFE OF CHRIST - - -Jesus was born in a stable, a real stable, not the bright, airy portico -which Christian painters have created for the Son of David, as if -ashamed that their God should have lain down in poverty and dirt. And -not the modern Christmas-eve “Holy Stable” either, made of plaster of -Paris, with little candy-like statuettes, the Holy Stable, clean and -prettily painted, with a neat, tidy manger, an ecstatic Ass, a contrite -Ox, and Angels fluttering their wreaths on the roof—this is not the -stable where Jesus was born. - -A real stable is the house, the prison of the animals who work for man. -The poor, old stable of Christ’s old, poor country is only four rough -walls, a dirty pavement, a roof of beams and slate. It is dark, reeking. -The only clean thing in it is the manger where the owner piles the hay -and fodder. - -Fresh in the clear morning, waving in the wind, sunny, lush, -sweet-scented, the spring meadow was mown. The green grass, the long, -slim blades were cut down by the scythe; and with the grass the -beautiful flowers in full bloom—white, red, yellow, blue. They withered -and dried and took on the one dull color of hay. Oxen dragged back to -the barn the dead plunder of May and June. And now that grass has become -dry hay and those flowers, still smelling sweet, are there in the Manger -to feed the slaves of man. The animals take it slowly with their great -black lips, and later the flowering fields, changed into moist dung, -return to light on the litter which serves as bedding. - -This is the real stable where Jesus was born. The filthiest place in the -world was the first room of the only Pure Man ever born of woman. The -Son of Man, who was to be devoured by wild beasts calling themselves -men, had as His first cradle the manger where the animals chewed the cud -of the miraculous flowers of Spring. - -It was not by chance that Christ was born in a stable. What is the world -but an immense stable where men produce filth and wallow in it? Do they -not daily change the most beautiful, the purest, the most divine things -into excrements? Then, stretching themselves at full length on the piles -of manure, they say they are “enjoying life.” Upon this earthly pig-sty, -where no decorations or perfumes can hide the odor of filth, Jesus -appeared one night, born of a stainless Virgin armed only with -innocence. - - - THE OX AND THE ASS - - -First to worship Jesus were animals, not men. Among men He sought out -the simple-hearted: among the simple-hearted He sought out children. -Simpler than children, and milder, the beasts of burden welcomed Him. - -Though humble, though servants of beings weaker and fiercer than they, -the ass and the ox had seen multitudes kneeling before them. Christ’s -own people, the people of Jehovah, the chosen people whom Jehovah had -freed from Egyptian slavery, when their leader left them alone in the -desert to go up and talk with the Eternal, did they not force Aaron to -make them a Golden Calf to worship? In Greece the ass was sacred to -Ares, to Dionysius, to Hyperborean Apollo. Balaam’s ass, wiser than the -prophet, saved him by speaking. Oxus, King of Persia, put an ass in the -temple of Ptha, and had it worshiped. And Augustus, Christ’s temporal -sovereign, had set up in the temple the brazen statue of an ass, to -commemorate the good omen of his meeting on the eve of Actium an ass -named “The Victorious.” - -Up to that time the Kings of the earth and the populace craving material -things had bowed before oxen and asses. But Jesus did not come into the -world to reign over the earth, nor to love material things. He was to -bring to an end the bowing down before beasts, the weakness of Aaron, -the superstition of Augustus. The beasts of Jerusalem will murder Him, -but in the meantime the beasts of Bethlehem warm Him with their breath. -In later years, when Jesus went up to the city of death for the Feast of -the Passover, He was mounted on an ass. But He was a greater prophet -than Balaam, coming not to save the Jews alone but all men: and He did -not turn back from His path, no, not though all the mules of Jerusalem -brayed against him. - - - THE SHEPHERDS - - -After the animals came those who care for animals. Even if the Angel had -not announced the great birth, they would have gone to the stable to see -the son of the stranger woman. Shepherds live almost always alone and -far away. They know nothing of the distant world, nor of the feast-days -of the earth. They are moved by whatever happens near to them, even if -it is but a little thing. - -But as they were watching their flocks in the long winter night, they -were shaken by the light and by the words of the Angel. “Fear not, for -behold I bring you good tidings of great joy.... Glory to God in the -highest and on earth peace to men of good will.” In the dim light of the -stable they saw a beautiful young woman gazing silently at her son. And -as they saw the baby with His eyes just open, His delicate rosy flesh, -His mouth which had not yet eaten, their hearts softened. The birth of a -new man, a soul just become incarnate taking upon itself to suffer with -other souls, is always a miracle so deep as to move to pity even the -simple-hearted who do not understand it. For the shepherds forewarned, -this new-born child was not just a baby, but He for whom their suffering -race had been waiting, for a thousand years. - -The shepherds offered what little they had, that little which is so -great when offered with love. They carried the white offerings of their -craft, milk, cheese, wool, the lamb. Even to-day in our mountains, where -one finds the last dying traces of hospitality and fraternal feeling, as -soon as a wife is delivered of a child, the sisters, wives and daughters -of the shepherds come hurrying to her; and not one of them empty-handed. -One has three or four eggs still warm from the nest, another a cup of -freshly drawn milk, another a little cheese, another a pullet to make -broth for the new mother. A new being has begun his suffering: the -neighbors hasten to carry their offerings almost as though to console -the mother. - -Themselves poor the old-time shepherds did not look down on the poor. -Simple as children they loved children. They came of a race born of the -Shepherd of Ur, saved by the Shepherd of Madian. Their first kings had -been shepherds—Saul and David—shepherds of herds before being shepherds -of tribes. But these shepherds of Bethlehem, “unknown to the hard -world,” were not proud. A poor man was born among them and they looked -on Him with affection and lovingly brought Him their poor riches. They -knew that this boy, born of poor people in poverty, born of common -people in the midst of common people, was to be the redeemer of the -humble, of those men of good will, on whom the Angel had called down -peace. - - - THE WISE MEN - - -Some days after this, three wise men came from Chaldea and knelt before -Jesus. They came perhaps from Ecbatana, perhaps from the shores of the -Caspian Sea. Mounted on their camels with their full-stuffed -saddle-bags, they had forded the Tigris and the Euphrates, crossed the -great desert of the nomad tribes, followed along the Dead Sea. They were -guided to Judea by a new star like the comet which appears every so -often in the sky to announce the birth of a prophet or the death of a -Cæsar. They had come to adore a King, and they found a nursing baby, -poorly swaddled, hidden within a stable. Almost a thousand years before -this, a Queen of the East had come on a pilgrimage to Judea, and she, -too, had carried gifts, gold, fragrant perfumes and precious stones; but -she had found on the throne the greatest king who had ever reigned in -Jerusalem and from him had learned what no one else had been able to -teach her. - -The wise men found no king. They found a new-born baby, a tiny boy, who -could neither ask nor answer questions, a boy who in His maturity was to -disdain material treasures, and the learning which is based on material -things. - -They were not kings, these wise men, but in Media and Persia they were -the masters of kings. The kings ruled over the people, but the wise men -directed the kings. They alone could communicate with Alma Mazda, the -good God. They alone knew the future, and Destiny. They killed with -their own hands the enemies of men and of the harvests, snakes, harmful -insects, birds of prey. They purified souls, they purified the fields. -Except from their hands God accepted no sacrifices. No king began a war -without consulting them. Theirs were the secrets of heaven and earth. In -the name of science and religion they held first rank in the nation. In -the midst of a people sunk in material things they represented the -Spirit. It was fitting that they should come to kneel before Jesus. -After the animals which are Nature, after the Shepherds which are the -common people, this third power which is knowledge knelt at the manger -in Bethlehem. The old priestly caste of the Orient made its act of -submission before the new Lord, who was to send His Gospel to the west. -The learned men knelt before Him who was to set above the learning of -words and numbers the new wisdom of love. - -Symbolizing the old theology bowing before the final revelation, the -wise men at Bethlehem knelt before Innocence: Wealth prostrated itself -at the feet of Poverty. - -They offered gold to Jesus: gold which He was to tread under foot. They -offered it not because Mary in her poverty might need it for the -journey, but in anticipation of the command, “Sell all that thou hast -and give it to the poor.” They offered Him frankincense, not to drown -the stench of the stable, but as a token that their own ritual was -ended; that their altars would need smoke and perfume no longer. They -offered Him myrrh knowing that this boy would die young, and His mother, -smiling now, would need spices to embalm the dead body. - -Kneeling in their pontifical robes upon the bedding of straw, they, the -mighty, the learned, the soothsayers, offered themselves as pledges of -the obedience of the world. - -Jesus now had received all His rightful investitures. The wise men had -scarcely gone when persecutions were begun by those who were to hate Him -to the day of His death. - - - OCTAVIUS AUGUSTUS - - -When Christ appeared upon the earth, criminals ruled the world -unopposed. He was born subject to two sovereigns, the stronger far away -at Rome, the weaker and wickeder close at hand in Judea. - -One lucky adventurer after wholesale slaughter had seized the empire, -another had murdered his way to the throne of David and Solomon. Each -rose to high position through trickery, through civil wars, betrayals, -cruelty, massacres. They were born to understand one another, were, as a -matter of fact, friends and accomplices, as far as was possible between -a subordinate rascal and his rascal chief. - -Son of the usurer of Velletri, Augustus showed himself cowardly in war -and vindictive in victory, false to his friends, cruel in reprisals. To -a condemned man who begged only for burial he answered, “That is the -business of the vultures.” To the Perugians begging for mercy during the -massacre he cried, “Moriendum esse!” On a mere suspicion he wanted to -tear out the eyes of the Praetor Quintus Gallius before ordering his -throat cut. Possessed of the empire, with his enemies crushed and -scattered, with the power all in his own hands, he put on a mask of -mildness and of his youthful vices kept only his lust. It was told of -him, that in his youth, he had sold his body twice, first to Cæsar, and -again in Spain to Hirtius for 300,000 sestertia. Now he amused himself -with the wives of his friends, with almost public adulteries, and with -posing as the restorer of morality. - -This filthy, sickly man was sovereign of the western world when Jesus -was born, nor did he ever know that One had been born who would bring -the dissolution of all that he had founded. The facile philosophy of the -plump little plagiarist Horace was enough for him, “To-day let us enjoy -wine and love: hopeless death awaits us: there is not a day to be lost!” -In vain Virgil, the man of the countryside, friend of woods, of quiet -flocks and golden bees, he who had gone down with Æneas to see the -sufferers in Avernus and poured his restless melancholy into the music -of poetry; in vain Virgil, the loving pious Virgil, had foretold a new -era, a new order and a new race, a kingdom of heaven less spiritual, -less brilliant than that which Jesus was to announce, but infinitely -nobler and purer than the kingdom of Hell which was then making ready. -In vain, because Augustus saw in these words only a pastoral fancy and -perhaps believed that he, the corrupt master of the corrupt, was the -proclaimed Saviour and restorer of the reign of Saturn. - -But his vassal of Judea, his great Oriental client, may have had a -presentiment of the birth of Jesus, of the true King, who was coming to -supplant the king of evil. - - - HEROD THE GREAT - - -Herod was a monster, one of the most perfidious monsters of the many -which have sprung from the burning deserts of the East. He was not a -Jew, nor a Greek, nor a Roman. He was an Idumean, a barbarian who -prostrated himself before Rome, and aped the Greeks the better to secure -his dominion over the Jews. Son of a traitor, he had usurped the kingdom -of his sovereign from the last unfortunate Hasmonæans. To legalize his -treachery he married their niece, Mariamne. Afterwards, on a baseless -suspicion, he had her killed. It was not his first crime. He had had his -brother-in-law, Aristobulus, treacherously drowned. He had condemned his -other brothers-in-law, Joseph and Hyrcanus the Second (last of the -conquered dynasty). Not content with having killed Mariamne, he put her -mother, Alexandra, to death as well, and finally, the sons of Baba, -merely because they were distant relatives of the Hasmonæans. In the -meantime he amused himself with burning alive Juda of Sarafaus and -Matthew of Margoloth with other heads of the Pharisees. Later, afraid -that the sons he had had by Mariamne would wish to avenge their mother, -he had them strangled. Himself at the point of death he gave the order -to kill a third son, Archelaus. Voluptuous, suspicious, impious, greedy -of gold and of glory, he never knew peace at home, in Judea or in his -own heart. In order that he might bury the recollection of his -assassinations he gave the Roman people a present of three hundred -talents to spend in festivals. He humiliated himself before Augustus to -make him the accomplice of his infamies and, dying, left him ten -thousand drachmas and, in addition, a ship of gold and one of silver for -Livia. - -This half-civilized Arab attempted to conciliate the Greeks and the -Jews. He succeeded in bribing the degenerate posterity of Socrates so -that in Athens they put up a statue to him, but the Jews hated him to -the day of his death. It did him no good, in their eyes, to build up -Samaria and restore the temple of Jerusalem. He was always, for them, -the heathen and the usurper. - -Apprehensive like all ageing evil-doers, and like all new-made princes, -he shivered at every fluttering leaf, every shifting shadow. -Superstitious like all Orientals, credulous of presages and soothsayers, -he readily believed the three wise men when they said, that led by a -star, they had come from the interior of Chaldea towards the country -which he had fraudulently stolen. Any pretender to the throne, even a -fantastic one, could make him tremble, and when he knew from the wise -men that a King of Judea was born, his uneasy, barbarian’s heart gave a -great leap of fear. Seeing that the astrologers did not come back to -tell him the place where the new nephew of David had appeared, he -ordered that all the boy babies of Bethlehem should be killed. - - - THE INNOCENTS - - -Nobody ever knew how many children were sacrificed to the terror of -Herod. It was not the first time in Judea that even nursing children had -been put to the sword. This same Hebrew people had punished in the olden -times cities of their enemies by the massacre of the old men, the wives, -the young men and the boys. They saved only the virgins to make them -slaves and concubines. God Himself, the jealous Jehovah, had often given -the order for the slaughter, and now the Idumean applied to the people -who had accepted him, the Mosaic law of an eye for an eye and a tooth -for a tooth. - -We do not know how many of the Innocents there were, but if we can -believe Macrobius we know that among them was a little son of Herod who -was at nurse in Bethlehem. For the old King, wife-killer and son-killer, -who knows but that this was a form of retribution: who knows but that he -suffered when they brought him news of the mistake? A short time after -this he also was to die, suffering from loathsome disease. His body -began to putrefy while still alive. Worms consumed his organs. Burnt up -with fevers, gasping, he could scarcely draw his tainted breath. -Disgusting to himself, he tried to kill himself with a knife at table, -and finally died, after having given Salome orders to have many young -prisoners killed. - -The massacre of the Innocents was the last act of the reeking, bloody -old man. There is a prophetic meaning in this immolation of the -Innocents around the cradle of an Innocent, this holocaust of blood for -a new-born child, a child destined to offer His blood for the pardon of -the guilty, this human sacrifice for One, who in His turn was to be -sacrificed. After His death thousands and thousands were to die for the -sole crime of having believed in His resurrection. He was born to die -for others and as if to expiate His birth, behold, here are thousands -born who die for Him. - -There is a tremendous mystery in this blood-offering of the pure, in the -death of so many of His contemporaries. They belonged to the generation -which was to betray and crucify Him. But those who were killed by the -soldiers of Herod that day did not see Him, did not grow up to see their -Lord killed. They saved Him with their death, and saved themselves -forever. They were innocent and they remained innocent for all eternity. -Their fathers and their surviving brothers avenged them later, but they -will be pardoned because “they know not what they do!” - - - THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT - - -A Christian poet, an Italian, sang this lullaby to the new-born Jesus: - - Sleep, baby, do not weep, - Sleep, heavenly babe. - - Over your head, the tempests shall not dare to rage! - -But the son of Mary did not make Himself man in order to sleep, and the -tempests raged, but He was not afraid. - -Better than Siddharta, He deserves the name of the Awakened one. How can -He sleep in the stable, where the donkey brays, precursor of all donkeys -who will bray against Him: where the ox lows, waiting until the other -oxen speak at His presence; where the shepherds question Him; where the -wise men give Him their blessing? How can He sleep when the shuffling -steps of Herod’s assassins draw near? How can He ever sleep up to that -last night when He will agonize under the olive trees, amid the sleeping -bodies of the Eleven? - -And Mary cannot sleep. In the evening as soon as the houses of Bethlehem -disappear in the darkness and the first lamps are lighted, the mother -steals away like a fugitive. She is snatching a life away from the King, -she is saving a hope for the people as she presses upon her breast her -man-child, her hope, her sorrow. - -She goes towards the west, she crosses the old land of Canaan and comes -by easy stages—the days are short—to the Nile, to that country of -Mizraim which had cost so many tears to her ancestors fourteen centuries -before. - -Jesus, who carried on the work of Moses and at the same time demolished -the work of Moses, goes back over the route taken by the first redeemer. -When the Jews were under the whip of the Egyptian slaves, oppressed, -mistreated, ill-used, the Shepherd of Median made himself the Shepherd -of Israel, and led his hard-headed people across the desert till they -were in sight of the Jordan and of the miraculous vineyards. The people -of Jesus left Chaldea with Abraham and came with Joseph into Egypt. -Moses led them from Egypt toward Canaan. Now the greatest of the -liberators, in danger of his life, went back to the banks of that river -where the first Saviour had been saved from the water and had saved his -brothers. - -Egypt, the rich spawning-bed of all the infamies and all the -magnificences of the first epoch, that African India, where the waves of -history broke and died, where but a few years before, Pompey and Antony -had finished the dream of Empire and of life, this prodigious country, -born of water, burned by the sun, covered with the blood of many -peoples, inhabited by many animal-gods, this country, paradoxical and -supernatural, was by contrast the predestined asylum for the fugitive. - -The wealth of Egypt was in mud, in the rich snake-breeding mud which the -Nile rolled out each year upon the desert. Death was the obsession of -Egypt. The soft, prosperous people of Egypt would not accept death, -denied death, thought they could conquer death with graven images, with -embalmings, with sculptured representation of flesh-and-blood bodies. -The rich, portly Egyptian, son of mud, adorer of the sacred bull, and -the dog-headed god, could not resign himself to dying. He manufactured -for his second life immense necropolises full of bandaged and perfumed -mummies, of images of wood and marble, and raised up pyramids over his -corpses, as if stone and mortar might save them from decay. - -When Jesus could speak, He was to pronounce the verdict against Egypt: -the Egypt which is not only on the banks of the Nile, the Egypt which -has not yet disappeared from the face of the earth along with its kings, -its sparrow-hawks and its serpents. Christ was to give the final and -eternal answer to the terror of the Egyptians. He was to condemn the -wealth which comes from mud and returns to mud, and all the fetiches of -the pot-bellied river-dwellers of the Nile, and He was to conquer death -without sculptured tombs, without mortuary kingdoms, without statues of -granite and basalt. His victory over death is won by teaching that sin -is greedier than worms and that spiritual purity is the only aromatic -which preserves from decay. - -The worshipers of mud and of animals, the servants of riches and of the -Beast, could not save themselves. Their tombs, high as mountains though -they be, decked out like queens’ palaces, white and fair to see as those -of the Pharisees, guard only ashes, dust returning again to dust, even -as the dead bodies of animals. Death cannot be conquered by copying life -in wood and stone. Stone crumbles away and turns to dust, wood rots and -turns to dust, and both of them are mud—eternal mud. - - - THE LOST FOUND - - -But the exile in Egypt was short. Jesus was brought back, held in His -mother’s arms, rocked throughout the long journey by the patient step of -the ass, to His father’s house in Nazareth, humble house and shop where -the hammer pounded and the rasp scraped until the setting of the sun. - -The canonical gospels say nothing of these years: the Apocrypha give -many details but unworthy of belief. Luke, the wise doctor, is content -to set down that the boy grew and was strong; that is, that he was not -sickly and overworked. He was a boy developed as he should be: healthy, -a bearer of health, as was fitting in one who was to restore health to -others by the mere touch of His hand. - -Every year, says Luke, the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the -feast of unleavened bread in memory of the escape from Egypt. They went -with a crowd of neighbors, friends, and acquaintances to keep each other -company on the journey. They were cheerful like people going to a -festival rather than to a service in memory of a solemn crisis: for the -Passover had become at Jerusalem a great feast day, when all the Jews -scattered about the Empire came together. - -On the twelfth Passover after the birth of Jesus, as the group from -Nazareth was returning from the holy city, Mary found that her son was -not with them. All day long she sought for Him, asking every -acquaintance, but in vain. The next morning the mother turned back, -retraced her steps over the road and went up and down the streets and -open places of Jerusalem, fixing her dark eyes on every boy she met, -asking the mothers standing in the open doors, begging her countrymen -not yet gone, to help her find her lost son. A mother who has lost her -son does not rest until she has found him; she thinks no more of -herself, she does not feel weariness, effort, hunger. She does not shake -the dust from her clothes nor arrange her hair. She cares not for the -curious glances of the passers-by. Her distracted eyes see nothing but -the image of him, who is no longer beside her. - -Finally on the third day she came to the Temple, looked about in the -courts, and saw at last in the shadow of a portico a group of old men -talking. She came up timidly, for those men with long cloaks and long -beards seemed people of importance who would pay no attention to a plain -woman from Galilee, and discovered in the center of the circle the -waving hair, the shining eyes, the tanned face, the fresh lips of her -Jesus. Those old men were talking with her son of the Law and the -Prophets. They were asking Him questions and He was answering; He put -questions to them in His turn and they marveled at Him, astonished that -a boy should know the words of the Lord so well. But He remembered the -books which He had heard read out in the little Synagogue of Nazareth: -and His memory had retained every syllable. - -Mary remained for a few moments gazing at Him, hardly believing her -eyes. Her heart, a moment before beating fast with fear, was now beating -fast with astonishment. But she could not restrain herself any more and -suddenly in a loud voice called Him by name. The old men took themselves -off and the mother snatched her son to her breast and silently clasped -Him to her, the tears which she had kept back till then raining down on -His face. - -She clutched Him, took Him away, and then, certain that she had Him with -her, that she had not lost Him, the happy mother remembered the -despairing mother, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy -father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” - -“How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my -Father’s business?” - -Weighty words, especially when said by a twelve-year-old boy to a mother -who had sought Him for three long days. - -And, the Evangelist goes on, “And they understood not the saying which -he spake unto them.” But after so many centuries of Christian experience -we can understand those words, which seemed at first sight to be hard -and proud. - -How is it that ye sought me? Do you not know that I can never be lost, -that I can never be lost by any one, even those who will bury me under -the earth? I will be everywhere where any one believes in me, even if -they do not see me with their eyes. I cannot be lost from any man, by -any man, provided that he hold me in his heart. I shall not be lost -alone in the desert nor alone on the waters of the lake, nor alone in -the garden of olives, nor alone in the tomb. - -“And who is this father of whom you speak to me? He is the legal father, -the human father, but my real Father is in heaven. He is the Father who -spoke to the patriarchs face to face, who put words into the mouths of -the prophets. I know what He told them of me, His eternal wishes, the -laws He has given to His people, the covenant which He has signed with -all men. If I am to do what He has commanded me, I must be busy about -what is truly His. What is a legal, temporal tie confronted with a -mystic, spiritual and eternal bond?” - - - THE WOODWORKER - - -But the hour for really leaving His home had not come for Jesus. The -voice of John had not yet been heard; and with His father and mother He -once more went along the road to Nazareth and returned to Joseph’s shop -to help him in his trade. - -Jesus did not go to school to the Scribes nor to the Greeks. But He did -not lack for teachers. Three teachers He had, greater than all the -learned: work, nature and the Book. - -It must never be forgotten that Jesus was a working man and the adopted -son of a working man: that He was born poor, among people who worked -with their hands; before He gave out His gospel He earned His daily -bread with the labor of His hands. Those hands which blest the -simple-hearted, which cured the lepers, which gave light to the blind, -which brought the dead to life, those hands which were pierced with -nails upon the cross, were hands which had been bathed with the sweat of -labor, hands which had known the numbness of work, hands which were -callous with work, hands which had held the tools of work, which had -driven nails into wood, the hands of a working man. - -Before being a workman of the spirit, Jesus was a man who worked with -material things. He was poor before He summoned the poor to His table, -to the festival of His Kingdom. He was not born into a wealthy family, -into the house of luxury on a bed covered with purple and fine linen. -Descendant of kings, He lived in a woodworker’s shop: Son of God He was -born in a stable. He did not belong to the caste of the great, to the -aristocracy of warriors, to the circles of the rich, to the Sanhedrim of -the priests. He was born into the lowest class of the people, the class -which has below it only the vagabonds, the beggars, the fugitives, the -slaves, the criminals, the prostitutes. When He became no longer a -manual worker, He went down lower yet in the eyes of respectable folk, -and sought His friends in that miserable huddle which is even below the -common people. But until that day when Jesus, before going down into the -Inferno of the dead, went down into the Inferno of the living, His -position was that of a poor working man and nothing more, in the -hierarchy of castes which eternally separates men. - -Jesus’ trade is one of the four oldest and most sacred of men’s -occupations. The trades of the peasant, the mason, the smith, and the -carpenter are, among the manual arts, those most impregnated with the -life of man, the most innocent and the most religious. The warrior -degenerates into a bandit, the sailor into a pirate, the merchant into -an adventurer, but the peasant, the mason, the smith, the carpenter do -not betray, cannot betray, do not become corrupt. They handle the most -familiar materials, and their task is to transform them visibly into -visible, solid, concrete creations, useful to all men. The peasant -breaks the clod and takes from it the bread eaten by the saint in his -grotto and the murderer in his prison; the mason squares the stone and -builds up the house of the poor man, the house of the king, the house of -God. The smith heats and fashions the iron to give a sword to the -soldier, a plowshare to the peasant, a hammer to the carpenter. The -carpenter saws and nails the wood to construct the door which protects -the house from the thieves, to make the bed on which thieves and -innocent people die. - -These plain things, these common, ordinary, usual things, so usual, -common and ordinary that they pass disregarded under our eyes used to -more complicated marvels, are the simplest creations of man, but more -miraculous and essential than any later inventions. - -Jesus, the carpenter, lived in His youth in the midst of these things, -made them with His hands, and for the first time by means of these -things manufactured by Him, entered into communion with the daily life -of men, with the most intimate and sacred life, home life. He made the -table around which it is so sweet to sit in the evening with one’s -friends, even if one of them is a traitor; the bed whereon man draws his -first and last breath; the chest where the country wife keeps her poor -clothes, her aprons, her handkerchiefs for festivals, and the starched -white shirts for great days. He made the kneading trough where the flour -is put, and the leaven raises it until it is ready for the oven; and the -arm-chair where the old men sit around the fire of an evening to talk of -never-returning youth. - -Often while the thin, light shavings curled up under the steel of His -plane and the sawdust rained down on the ground, Jesus must have thought -of the promises of the Father, of the prophecies of old time, of what He -was to create, not with boards and rules, but with spirit and truth. - -His trade taught Him that to live means to transform dead and useless -things into living and useful things: that the meanest material -fashioned and shaped can become precious, friendly, useful to men: that -the only way to bring salvation is to transform; and that just as a -child’s crib or a wife’s bed can be made out of a log of olive wood, -gnarled, knotty and earthy, so the filthy money-changer and the wretched -prostitute can be transformed into true citizens of the Kingdom of -Heaven. - - - FATHERHOOD - - -In nature where the sun shines on the good and on the bad, where wheat -ripens and grows golden to give bread to Jew and heathen, where the -stars shine on the shepherd’s cabin and the murderer’s prison; where -grape clusters turn purple and swell to give wine to the wedding banquet -and to the orgies of assassins; where the birds of the air freely -singing find their food without fatigue, where thieving foxes also have -their refuge and the lilies of the field are clad in more splendor than -kings, Jesus found the earthly confirmation of His eternal certainty -that God is not a Master who punishes one day of enjoyment by a thousand -years of reproach, nor a fierce war-like Jehovah who commands the -extermination of enemies, nor a kind of grand sultan who delights in -being served by satraps of high lineage and keeps close watch that his -servants execute to the last detail the rigorous ritualistic etiquette -of that Regia Curia, which is the Temple. - -As a Son, Christ knew that God is Father: Father of all mankind and not -only of the people of Abraham. The love of a husband is strong but -carnal and jealous. The love of a brother is often poisoned with envy; -that of a son stained with rebellion; that of a friend spotted with -deceit; that of a master swollen with condescending pride; only the love -of a father towards his children is perfect love, pure, disinterested -love. The father does for his son what he would do for no one else. His -son is his creation, flesh of his flesh and of his bone, grown up by his -side day by day, a completion and a complement of his own being. The old -man lives again in the young man. The past sees itself in the future. He -who has lived sacrifices himself for him who is to live. The father -lives in the son, and feels himself exalted. This child was born to him -in a moment of passion in the arms of the woman chosen from among all -other women, born through the divine anguish of this woman, cared for -and preserved by his own tears and sweat. He has seen him grow up at his -feet, he has warmed his cold little hands between his own, he has heard -his first words, eternal miracle ever new! He has seen his first -wavering footsteps on the floor of his house. Little by little, he has -seen a soul shine out in that body created by him, a new human soul, -unique treasure beyond price! Little by little on that face he has seen -his own features and those of the child’s mother, of that woman with -whom only in this common fruit is he corporeally identified. A human -couple who long to become one body through love, attain this unity only -in a child. In the presence of this new being, his creation, he feels -himself a creator, beneficent, powerful, happy. Because the son looks to -his father for everything, and in his childhood has faith only in his -father, feels safe only near his father, his father knows that he must -live for him, suffer for him, work for him. A father is a God on earth -for a son, and a son is almost a God for the father. - -In the love of a father there is no trace of a brother’s perfunctory -sense of duty, no trace of a friend’s self-interest and rivalry, of a -lover’s lustful desire, a servant’s pretense of faithfulness. - -The love of a father is pure love, the only true love, the only love -rightly to be called love. Purged of any elements foreign to its -essence, it is the happiness of sacrificing oneself for the happiness of -others. - -This idea of God as Father, which is one of the great new ideas of the -gospel of Christ, this profoundly renovating idea that God is Father and -loves us as a father loves his children, not as a king loves his slaves; -and gives daily bread to all his children and has a loving welcome even -for those who sin if only they return to lean their heads upon his -breast: this idea which closes the epoch of the old covenant and marks -the beginning of the new covenant, Jesus found in nature. As Son of God -and one with the Father, He had always been conscious of this paternity -scarcely glimpsed by the most luminous of the prophets. But now sharing -all human experience He saw it reflected and as it were revealed in the -universe and He was to use the most beautiful images of the natural -world to transmit to men the first of His joyful messages. - - - THE COUNTRY - - -Jesus, like all great souls, loved the country. The sinner craving -purification, the saint moved to prayer, the poet eager to create, take -refuge on the mountains in green shadows, by the sound of the water, in -the midst of fields which perfume heaven, or on steep desert hills -parched by the sun. Jesus took His language from the country: He hardly -ever uses learned words, abstract conceptions, drab and generalizing -terms. His talk blossoms with colors, is perfumed by odors of field and -of orchard, is peopled by the figures of familiar animals. He saw in His -Galilee the figs swelling and ripening under the great, dark leaves: He -saw the dry tendrils of the vine greened over with leaves, and from the -trellises the white and purple clusters hanging down for the joy of the -vintage; He saw from the invisible seed, the mustard raise itself up -with its rich light branches, He heard in the night the mournful rustle -of the reeds shaken by the wind along the ditches: He saw the seed of -grain buried in the earth and its resurrection in the form of a full -ear; when the air first began to be warm, He saw the beautiful red, -yellow and purple lilies in the midst of the tender green of the wheat: -He saw the fresh tufts of grass, luxuriant to-day and to-morrow dried -and cast into the oven; He saw the peaceful animals and the harmful -animals, the dove a little vain of its brilliant neck, cooing of love on -the roof, the eagle swooping down with widespread wings upon its prey; -the swallows of the air which like kings cannot fall if it is not God’s -wish: the crows tearing flesh from carrion with their beaks; the loving -mother-hen calling the chickens under her wings when the sky darkens and -thunders; the treacherous fox, after its kill, slinking back into its -dark lair; and the dogs under the table of their masters begging for -scraps that fall to the ground. He saw the serpent writhing through the -grass and the dark viper hiding among the scattered stones of the tombs. - -Born among the shepherds, He who was to become shepherd of men knew and -loved the flocks; the ewes searching for the lost lamb, the lambs -bleating weakly, and sucking, almost hidden under their mother’s woolly -bodies, the flocks sweltering on the thin hot pastures of their hills; -He loved with equal love the tiny seed which you can scarcely see on the -palm of your hand and the ancient fig tree, casting its shade over the -poor man’s house; the birds of the air which sow not neither do they -reap; the fish silvering the meshes of the nets to feed His faithful; -and raising His eyes in the sultry evenings of gathering storm, He saw -the lightning flashing out of the east and shattering the darkness of -the night, even into the west. - -But Jesus did not read only in the open many-colored book of the world. -He knew that God spoke to men through angels, patriarchs and prophets. -His words, His laws, His victories are written in the Book. Jesus knew -the magic black signs by which the dead pass on to those not yet born, -the thoughts and memories of olden times. Jesus read only the books -where His ancestors had set down the story of His people, the will of -the Lord, the vision of the Prophets, but He knew them in the letter and -spirit better than the scribes and the doctors: and that knowledge gave -Him the right to leave off being scholar and to become teacher. - - - THE OLD COVENANT - - -Among all peoples the Jew was the most happy and the most unhappy. His -story is a mystery which begins with the idyl in the Garden of Eden and -ends with the tragedy of the hill of Golgotha. His first parents were -molded by the luminous hands of God, were made masters of Paradise, the -country of eternal, fertile summer, set in the midst of rivers, where -the rich Oriental fruits hung down ready to their hand, heavy with pulp -in the shade of the new young leaves. The new-created sky, not yet -sullied by clouds, not yet riven by lightning, or harassed by winds, -watched over the first two with all its stars. - -The first couple had as their duty to love God and to love each other. -This was the First Covenant. Weariness unknown, grief unknown, unknown -death and its terror! The first disobedience brought the first exile; -the man was condemned to work, the woman to bring forth her young in -pain. Work is painful, but it brings the reward of harvests; to give -birth means suffering, but it brings the consolation of children. And -yet even these inferior and imperfect felicities passed away like leaves -devoured by worms. For the first time brother killed brother: human -blood fallen on the earth became corrupt, gave forth an exhalation of -sin: the daughters of men united themselves with demons and from them -were born giants, fierce hunters and slayers of men, who turned the -world into a bloody hell. - -Then God sent His second punishment: to purify the world in an -exterminating baptism He drowned in the waters of the flood all men and -their crimes. One only, a righteous man, was saved and with him God -signed the Second Covenant. - -With Noah there began the happy days of antiquity, the epoch of the -patriarchs, nomad shepherds, centenarians who wandered between Chaldea -and Egypt searching for grazing lands, for wells, and for peace. They -had no fixed country, no houses, no cities. They brought along in -caravans, numerous as armies, their fruitful wives, their loving sons, -their docile daughters-in-law, their innumerable descendants, obedient -man-servants and maid-servants, goring, bellowing bulls, cows with -hanging udders, playful calves, rams and strong smelling he-goats, mild -sheep laden with wool, great earth-colored camels, mares with round -cruppers, she-goats holding their heads high and stamping impatiently; -and hidden in the saddle-bags, vases of gold and silver, domestic idols -of stone and metal. - -Arrived at their destination, they spread their tents near a cistern, -and the patriarch sat out under the shade of the oaks and sycamores -contemplating the great camp from which rose up the smoke of the fires, -the sound of the bustling steps of the women and herdsmen, the mooings, -the brayings, the bleating of the animals. And the patriarch’s heart was -filled with content to see all this progeny issued from his seed, all -these, his herds, the human increase and the animal increase multiplying -year by year. - -In the evening, he raised his eyes to greet the first punctual star -which shone like white fire on the summit of the hill; and sometimes his -curled white beard shone in the white light of the moon, which for more -than a century he was wont to see in the sky at night. - -Sometimes an angel of the Lord came to visit him, and before giving the -message with which he was charged, ate at his table. Or, in the heat of -the day, the Lord Himself, in the garb of a pilgrim, came and sat down -with the old man in the shadow of the tent where they talked with each -other, face to face, like two old friends who come together to discuss -their affairs. The head of the tribe, master of the servants, became a -servant in his turn, listened to the commands and counsels and promises -and prophecies of his divine master. And between Jehovah and Abraham was -signed the Third Covenant, more solemn than the other two. - -The son of a patriarch, sold by his brothers as a slave, rises to power -in Egypt, and calls his race to him. The Jews think that they have found -a fatherland and grow great in numbers and riches. But they allow -themselves to be seduced by the gods of Egypt, and Jehovah prepares the -third punishment. The envious Egyptians reduce them to abject slavery. -That the punishment may be longer, Jehovah hardens the heart of Pharaoh, -but finally raises up the second Saviour, who leads them forth from -their sufferings and from the mud of Egypt. - -Their trials are not yet finished: for forty years they wander in the -desert. A pillar of cloud guides them by day and a pillar of fire by -night. God has assured them a Land of Promise, with rich grazing lands, -well-watered, shaded by grape-vines and olives. But in the meantime they -have neither water to drink nor bread to eat, and they yearn for the -flesh-pots of Egypt. God brings water gushing from a rock; and manna and -quails fall from heaven; but tired and uneasy, the Jews betray their -God, make a calf of gold and worship it. Moses, saddened like all -prophets, misunderstood like all saviours, followed unwillingly like all -discoverers of new lands, falls back of the restive and rebellious crowd -and begs God to let him lie down forever. But at any cost, Jehovah -desires to sign the Fourth Covenant with His people. Moses goes down -from the smoke-capped thundering mountain, with the two tables of stone -whereon the very finger of God has written the Ten Commandments. - -Moses is not to see the Promised Land, the new Paradise to be -reconquered in place of the lost Paradise. But the divine pledge is -kept: Joshua and the other heroes cross the Jordan, enter into the land -of Canaan, and conquer the people; the cities fall at the breath of -their trumpets; Deborah can sing her song of triumph. The people carry -with them the God of battles, hidden behind the tents, on a cart drawn -by oxen. But the enemies are numerous and have no mind to give way to -the newcomers. The Jews wander here and there, shepherds and brigands, -victorious when they maintain the covenants of the Law, defeated when -they forget them. - -A giant with unshorn hair kills, single-handed, thousands of Philistines -and Amalekites, but a woman betrays him; enemies blind him and set him -to turn a mill. Heroes alone are not enough. Kings are needed. A young -man of the tribe of Benjamin, tall and well-grown, while looking for his -father’s strayed asses, is met by a Prophet who anoints him with the -sacred oil, and makes him king of all the people. Saul becomes a -powerful warrior, overcomes the Ammonites and Amalekites and founds a -military kingdom, dreaded by neighboring tribes. But the same prophet -who made him king, now aroused against him, raises up a rival. David, -the boy shepherd, kills the king’s giant foe, tempers with his harp the -black rages of the king, is loved by the king’s oldest son, marries the -daughter of the king, is among the king’s captains. But Saul, suspicious -and unbalanced, wishes to kill him. David hides himself in the caves of -the mountains, becomes a robber chief. He goes into the service of the -Philistines, and when they conquer and kill Saul on the hills of Gilboa, -he becomes in his turn king of all Israel. The bold sheep-tender, great -as poet and as king, yet cruel and lustful, founds his house in -Jerusalem, and with the aid of his gibborim, or body-guard, overcomes -and subjugates the surrounding kingdoms. For the first time, the Jew is -feared: for centuries after this he was to long for the return of David, -and to hope for a descendant of David to save him from his abject -subjugation. - -David is the King of the sword and of song. Solomon is the King of gold -and of wisdom. Gold is brought to him as a tribute: he decks with gold -the first sumptuous house of Jehovah. He sends ships to faraway Ophir in -search of gold; the Queen of Sheba lays down sacks of gold at his feet. -But all the splendor of gold and the wisdom of Solomon are not enough to -save the king from impurity and his kingdom from ruin. He takes strange -women to wife and worships strange gods. The Lord pardons his old age, -in memory of his youth, but at his death the kingdom is divided and the -dark and shameful centuries of the decadence begin. Plots in the palace, -murders of kings, revolts of chiefs, wretched civil wars, periods of -idol-worship followed by passing reforms, fill the period of the -separation. Prophets appear and admonish, but the kings turn a deaf ear -or drive them away. The enemies of Israel grow more powerful. The -Phœnicians, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, one after -another, invade the two kingdoms, extort tribute and finally, about 600 -years before the birth of Jesus, Jerusalem is destroyed, the temple of -Jehovah is demolished and the Jews are led as slaves to the rivers of -Babylon. The cup of their infidelity and of their sins runs over and the -same God who liberated them from the slavery of the Egyptians gives them -over as slaves to the Babylonians. This is the fourth punishment and the -most terrible of all because it is to have no end. From that time on, -the Jews were always to be dispersed among strangers and subject to -foreigners. Some of them were to return to reconstruct Jerusalem and its -temple, but the country, invaded by the Scythians, tributary to the -Persians, conquered by the Greeks, was after the last attempt of the -Maccabeans finally given over to the hands of a dynasty of Arab -barbarians, subject to the Romans. - -This race, which for so many years lived rich and free in the desert, -and for a day was master of kingdoms and believed itself, under the -protection of its God, the first people of the earth, was now reduced in -numbers, spurned and commanded by foreigners, was the laughing-stock of -the nations, the Job among peoples. After the death of Jesus, its fate -was to be harder yet: Jerusalem destroyed for the second time: in the -devastated province only Greeks and Romans holding sway, and the last -fragments of Israel scattered over the earth like dust of the street -driven before the sirocco. - -Never were people so loved nor so dreadfully chastised by their God. -Chosen to be the first, they were the servants of the last. Aspiring to -have a victorious country of their own, they were exiles and slaves in -other men’s lands. - -Although more pastoral than warlike, they never were at peace either -with themselves or with others. They fought with their neighbors, with -their guests, with their leaders. They fought with their prophets and -with their God Himself. - -Breeding-ground of corruption, governed by men guilty of homicide, -treachery, adultery, incest, robbery, simony and idolatry, yet their -women gave birth to the most perfect saints of the Orient, upright, -admonishing, solitary prophets; and finally from this race was born the -Father of the new saints, He who had been awaited by all the Prophets. - -This people which created no metaphysics nor science, nor music, nor -sculpture, nor art, nor architecture of its own, wrote the grandest -poetry of antiquity, glowing with sublimity in the Psalms and in the -Prophets, inimitably tender in the stories of Joseph and Ruth, burning -with voluptuous passion in the Song of Songs. - -Grown up in the midst of the cults of local rustic gods, they conceived -the love of God, the one universal Father. Rich in gold and lands, they -could boast in their prophets of the first defenders of the poor, and -they conceived of the negation of riches. The same people who had cut -the throat of human victims on their altars, and massacred whole cities -of guiltless people, gave disciples to Him who preached love for our -enemies. This people, jealous of their jealous God, always betrayed Him -to run after other gods. Of their temple, three times built and three -times destroyed, nothing remains but a piece of a wall, barely enough so -that a line of mourners may lean their heads against it to hide their -tears. - -But this perplexing and contradictory people, superhuman and wretched, -the first and the last of all, the happiest and the most unhappy of all, -although it serves other nations, still dominates other nations with its -money and with its Bible. Although without a country of its own for -centuries, it is among the owners of all countries. Although it -crucified its greatest Son with His blood, it divided the history of the -world into two parts: and the progeny of those god-killers has become -the most infamous but the most sacred of all the peoples. - - - THE PROPHETS - - -Never was a people so warned as were the Jews, from the beginning of the -temporal kingdom to its dismemberment: in the great days of the -victorious Kings, in the sorrowful days of exile, in the evil days of -slavery, in the tragic days of the dispersion. - -India has its ascetics, who hide themselves in the wilderness to conquer -the body and drown the soul in the infinite. China had its familiar -sages, peaceful grandfathers who taught civic morality to working people -and emperors. Greece had her philosophers, who in their shady porticos -contrived harmonious systems and dialectic pitfalls. Rome had its -lawgivers who recorded on bronze for the peoples and the centuries the -rules of the highest justice attainable to those who command and -possess. The Middle Ages had their preachers, who wore themselves out in -the effort to arouse drowsy Christianity to a remembrance of the Passion -and the terror of Hell. The Jewish people had the Prophets. - -The Prophets did not give forth their prophecies in caves, spitting out -saliva and words together from their tripods. They spoke of the future, -but not merely of the future. They foretold things not yet happened, but -they also brought to mind the past. They possessed time in its three -phases; deciphering the past, illuminating the present and threatening -the future. - -The Jewish Prophet is a voice speaking, or a hand writing, a voice -speaking in the palace of the King or in the caves of the mountains, on -the steps of the Temple and in the precincts of the capitol. He is a -voice that prays, a prayer that threatens, a threat that breaks out into -divine hope. His heart is afflicted, his mouth is full of bitterness, -his arm is raised, pointing out punishment to come; he suffers for his -people; because he loves his people, he vituperates them: he punishes -them that they may be purified; and after massacres and flames, he -teaches the resurrection and the life, triumph and blessedness, the -reign of the new David and the Covenant not to be broken. - -The Prophet leads the idolater back to the true God, reminds the -perjurer of his oath, recalls charity to the oppressor, purity to the -corrupt, mercy to the fierce, justice to kings, obedience to rebels, -punishment to sinners, humbleness to the proud. He goes before the king -and reproaches him, he goes down among the dregs of the people and -scourges them: he greets priests with blame; presents himself to the -rich and brings them to confusion. He announces consolation to the poor, -recompense to the afflicted, health to the sick, liberation to enslaved -peoples, the coming of the conqueror to the humiliated nation. - -He is not a king, nor a prince, nor a priest, nor a scribe: he is only a -man, a poor, unarmed man, without investitures and without followers. He -is a solitary voice, a lamenting voice grieving, a puissant voice -howling and calling down shame, a voice which calls to repentance and -promises eternity. - -The Prophet is not a philosopher; it matters little to him whether the -world be made of water or of fire, if water and fire cannot purify men’s -souls. - -He is a poet, but without will or consciousness that he is, when the -fullness of his indignation and the splendor of his vision create -powerful images which rhetoricians never could invent. He is not a -priest, for he has never been anointed in the temple by the mercenary -guardians of the Book; he is not a King, for he does not command armed -men, and as sword has only the Word which comes from on high; he is not -a soldier, but he is ready to die for his God and his people. - -The prophet is a voice speaking in the name of God; a hand writing at -God’s dictation; he is a messenger sent by God to warn those wandering -from the right path, who have forgotten the Covenant. He is the -secretary, the interpreter, and the delegate of God, and thus superior -to the King who does not obey God, superior to the priest who does not -understand God, to the people who have deserted God to run after idols -of wood and stone! - -The Prophet is the man who sees with a troubled heart but with clear -eyes the evil which reigns to-day, the punishment which will come -to-morrow, and the kingdom of happiness which will follow punishment and -repentance. - -He speaks in the name of the mute, he is a hand for him who cannot -write, a defender for the people scattered and oppressed, an advocate -for the poor, an avenger for the humble who cry out under the heel of -the powerful. He is not on the side of those who tyrannize, but of those -who are trodden under foot. He does not seek out the satiated and the -greedy, but the hungry and the wretched. - -A troublesome importunate and inopportune voice, hated by the great, out -of favor with the crowd, not always understood even by his disciples. -Like a hyena scenting from far the stench of carrion, like a raven -always croaking out the same cry, like a hungry wolf howling on the -mountain top, the prophet goes up and down the streets of Israel -followed by suspicion and malediction. Only the poor and the oppressed -bless him; but the poor are weak and the oppressed can only listen in -silence. Like all loud truthtellers, who disturb the slumbering -majority, who unsettle the sordid peace of the masters, he is avoided -like a leper, persecuted like an enemy. Kings can barely tolerate him, -priests regard him as an enemy, the rich detest him. - -Elijah is forced to flee before the wrath of Jezebel, slayer of -prophets; Amos is banished beyond Israel by Amaziah, priest of Bethel; -Isaiah is killed by the order of Manesseh; Urijah cut down by King -Jehoiakim; Zacharias stoned between the temple and the altar; Jonah -thrown into the sea; the sword is prepared for the neck of John, and the -cross is ready from which Jesus will hang. The Prophet is an accuser, -but men are not willing to admit that they are guilty. He is an -intercessor, but the blind are not willing to be guided by the -enlightened. He is an announcer, but the deaf do not hear his promises. -He is a saviour, but men rotting in fatal diseases delight in their -maladies and refuse to be cured. Yet the word of the Prophets shall be -the eternal testimony in favor of this race which exterminated them but -was capable of generating them. And the death of a prophet, who is more -than all the prophets, shall suffice to expiate the crimes of all the -other peoples who grub about in the dirt of the earth. - - - HE WHO WILL COME - - -In the house at Nazareth Jesus meditates on the Commandments of the Law, -and in the fiery laments of the Prophets He recognizes His destiny. The -promises are insistent like knocking on obstinately closed doors. They -are repeated, reiterated, never denied, always confirmed. Precise, -minute with irrefutable testimony, they foretell the story. When Jesus -at the beginning of His thirtieth year presents Himself to men as the -Son of Man, He knows what awaits Him, even to the last: His life to come -is already set down day by day in pages written before His earthly -birth. - -He knows that God promised Moses a new prophet, “I will raise them up a -prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words -in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command -him.” God will make a new covenant with His people. “Not according to -the covenant that I made with their fathers ... but I will put my law in -their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.... I will forgive -their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” A covenant -inscribed upon souls and not upon stone; a covenant of forgiveness and -not of punishment! - -The Messiah will have a precursor to announce Him. “Behold, I will send -my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.” - -“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government -shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, -Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of -Peace.” But the people will be blind to Him and will not listen to Him: -“Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut -their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and -understand with their hearts, and convert, and be healed.” - -“And he shall be a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both -the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of -Jerusalem.” - -He will not magnify and flaunt Himself: He will not come in proud -triumph, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of -Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just and having -salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an -ass.” - -He will bring justice and will lift up the unhappy; “... because the -Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent -me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, -and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; ... to comfort all -that mourn.” “The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and -the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the -terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all -that watch for iniquity are cut off.” - -“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf -shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the -tongue of the dumb sing.” - -“I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness ... to open the blind -eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in -darkness from the prison-house.” - -But He will be vilified and tortured by the very people He comes to -save: “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there -is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of -men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were -our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not. - -“Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did -esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. - -“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our -iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his -stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have -turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the -iniquity of us all. - -“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he -is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her -shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth ... for he was cut off out -of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he -stricken. - -“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when -thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he -shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in -his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be -satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for -he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion -with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because -he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the -transgressors; and he bare the sins of many, and made intercession for -the transgressors.” - -He will not draw back before the vilest insults. “I gave my back to the -smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my -face from shame and spitting.” - -All will be against Him in the supreme moment. “They have spoken against -me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of -hatred; and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my -adversaries.” - -The son cries to the Father: - -“Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor: mine -adversaries are all before thee. - -“Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked -for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I -found none. - -“They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me -vinegar to drink.” - -They pierce Him with nails and divide His clothes among themselves. - -“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed -me: they pierced my hands and my feet - -“... they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and -cast lots upon my vesture.” - -Too late they will understand what they have done and will repent. - -“... and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall -mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in -bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born.” - -“Yea, all kings shall bow down before him: all nations shall serve him. - -“For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him -that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save -the souls of the needy.” - -“The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; -and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles -of thy feet.” - -“For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the -people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen -upon thee. - -“And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness -of thy rising. - -“Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves -together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy -daughters shall be nursed at thy side.” - -“Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and -commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou -knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run into thee because -of the Lord thy God.” - -These and other words are remembered by Jesus in the vigil before His -departure. He foresees it all and does not turn away from it. From now -on He knows His fate, the ingratitude of heart, the deafness of His -friends, the hatred of the powerful, the scourgings, the spittings, -insults, scoffings, obloquy, piercing of the hands and feet, tortures -and death. He knows that the Jews, carnal-minded materialists embittered -by humiliation, full of rancor and evil thoughts, are not awaiting a -poor, gentle, despised Messiah. They all, except a few of clear and -prophetic vision, are dreaming of a terrestrial Messiah, an armed King, -a second David, a warrior who will shed real blood, the red blood of -enemies, who will rebuild more splendidly than ever the palace of -Solomon and the Temple. All the kings will bring tribute to Him, not -tribute of love and reverence, but of massy gold and silver coin. This -earthly King will revenge Himself on the enemies of Israel, on those who -make Israel suffer, who hold the people of Israel in slavery. The slaves -will be masters and the masters slaves, and all the countries of the -world will have their capital at Jerusalem and crowned kings will kneel -before the throne of the new king of Israel. The fields of Israel will -be more fertile than all the others, their pastures richer, their flocks -will multiply endlessly, wheat and barley will be harvested twice a -year, the ears of wheat will be heavier than in the past, and two men -will bend under the weight of a single bunch of grapes. There will not -be enough wine-skins to contain the vintage nor enough jars to hold all -the oil, and honey will be found in the hollows of the trees and in the -hedges of the roads. The branches of the trees will break under the -weight of the fruit, and the fruit will be pulpy and sweet as it never -was before. - -This is the Messiah expected by the Jews who surround Jesus. He knows He -cannot give them what they seek, that He cannot be the victorious -warrior and the proud king towering up among subject kings. He knows -that His kingdom is not of this earth and that He will be able to offer -only a little bread, all His blood and all His love. They will not -believe in Him, will torture Him and will kill Him as a false pretender. -He knows all that. He knows it as if He had seen it with His eyes and -endured it with His body and soul. But He knows that the seed of His -word thrown into the earth among thistles and thorns, trampled under -foot by assassins, will start into life when spring comes. At first -beaten down by the wind, little by little it will grow, until finally it -becomes a tree stretching its branches up to the sky, covering the earth -with the boughs. And all men can sit round about it, remembering the -death of Him who planted it. - - - THE PROPHET OF FIRE - - -While Jesus, in the poor little work-shop at Nazareth, was handling the -ax and the square, a voice was raised in the desert towards Jordan and -the Dead Sea. Last of the Prophets, John the Baptist called the Jews to -repent, announced the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven, predicted the -coming of the Messiah, reproved the sinners who came to him, and plunged -them into the water of the river, that this outer washing might be the -beginning of an inner purification. - -In that dark age of the Herods, old Judea profaned by the Idumean -usurpers, contaminated by Greek infiltration, scorned by the Roman -soldiery; without King, without unity, without glory; already half -dispersed throughout the world; betrayed by their own priests; always -remembering the grandeur of their earthly kingdom of a thousand years -ago; always obstinately hoping for a great vengeance, for a miraculous -resurrection, for a return of victory in a triumph of its God, in the -coming of a Saviour, of a liberator, of an anointed one who should reign -in a new Jerusalem stronger and more beautiful than that of Solomon, and -from Jerusalem dominate all the peoples, overcome all other monarchs, -conquer all empires and bring happiness to its nation and to all -men,—old Judea hating its masters, robbed by the publicans, plagued by -the mercenary scribes and by the hypocritical Pharisees, old Judea -divided, humiliated, plundered and yet in spite of all its shame full of -faith for the future, willingly lent an ear to the voice of the desert, -and hastened to the banks of the Jordan. - -John’s figure was one to conquer the imagination. A child sprung by a -miracle from parents of great age, he was set apart from his birth to be -Nazir—pure. He had never cut his hair, had never tasted wine or cider, -had never touched a woman nor known any love except that for God. While -he was still young, he had left his parents’ home and buried himself in -the desert. There he lived for many years alone, without a house, -without a tent, without servants, with nothing of his own except what he -had on his back. Wrapped in his camel’s skin, his flanks girt by a -leather belt, tall, bony, baked by the sun, his chest hairy, his hair -hanging long on his shoulders, his long beard almost covering his face, -his piercing eyes flashed like lightning from under his busy eyebrows -when from his mouth hidden by his beard burst out the tremendous words -of his maledictions. - -This hypnotic wild man, solitary as a Yogi, despising pleasure like a -stoic, seemed to those whom he baptized the last hope of a despairing -people. - -Jesus heard the people talk of those “washed ones” who returned from -Jordan and took up their former lives, as in the morning a garment is -resumed which was thrown away with relief the evening before; and He -understood that His day grew near. He was now in His thirtieth year, the -right and destined age. Before he is thirty, a man is only a sketch, an -approximation, dominated by the common sentiments and common loves of -all. He does not know men well, and hence cannot love them with that -love, sweet with compassion, with which they should be loved. And -without knowing them or knowing how to love them, he cannot speak with -authority, cannot make himself heard, has not the power of saving them. - - - THE FIRST ANNUNCIATION - - -The desert sun burned John’s body and his fiery longing for the Kingdom -burned like a flame in his soul. He was the foreteller of fire. He saw -in the Messiah, soon to appear, the master of flame. The New King will -be a fierce husbandman. Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit -is hewn down and cast into the fire. He will thoroughly purge His floor -and gather His wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff with -unquenchable fire. He will be a baptizer who will baptize with fire. - -Rigid, wrathful, harsh, shaggy, quick to insult, impatient and -impetuous, John was not gentle with those who came to him. He took no -satisfaction in having drawn them to take this first step towards -repentance. When Pharisees and Sadducees, notable men, learned in the -Scriptures, esteemed by the crowd, of authority in the temple came to be -baptized, he shamed them more than the others. “O generation of vipers, -who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth -therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within -yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say unto you, that God -is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” - -You who lock yourselves up into houses of stone as vipers hide -themselves under the rocks, you Pharisees and Sadducees, are harder than -stone: your minds are petrified in the letter and the rites of the law: -your selfish hearts are stony: to the hungry who ask bread of you, you -give a stone, and you throw the stone at him who has sinned less than -you. You Pharisees and Sadducees, you are haughty statues of stone which -only fire can conquer, since water poured over you is quickly dried up. -But God, who from a handful of earth made Adam, could make from stones -from the shore, with rocks from the cliff, other men, other living -beings, other sons for Himself. He could change granite into flesh and -soul, while you have changed soul and flesh into granite. It is not -enough therefore to bathe in the Jordan. That ablution is holy and -salutary. Change your life, do the opposite of what you have done until -now, if you do not wish to be burned up by Him, who will baptize by -fire. “And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He -answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to -him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.” - -“Then came also publicans to be baptized and said unto him, Master, what -shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is -appointed you. - -“And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we -do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any -falsely; and be content with your wages.” - -Compelling, almost superhuman when he announced the terrible separation -of the good from the bad, John becomes commonplace when he descends to -particulars and falls, one might say, exactly into the Pharisean -tradition. His only advice is to give alms, to give away the -superfluous. From the publicans he asks only strict justice: let them -take what has been allotted and nothing more. To the fierce, thieving -tribe of soldiers, he recommends only discretion! “Be satisfied with -your pay and do not rob.” This is nothing more or less than the Mosaic -law. Long before him, Amos and Isaiah had gone further. - -Now is the time for the accuser of the Dead Sea to give way to the -liberator of the Sea of Tiberias. The lot of precursors is hard: they -know, but are not permitted to see; they arrive on the banks of the -Jordan, but do not enjoy the promised land; they make plain the path for -him who comes after them, but will pass beyond them. They prepare the -throne and do not seat themselves on it. They are servants of the master -whom often they do not meet face to face. Perhaps the fierceness of John -is justified by this consciousness of being an ambassador and nothing -more. A consciousness which is never envious, but which leaves a tinge -of sadness, even in his humility. They came from Jerusalem to ask him -who he was, “What then? Art thou Elias?” - -“No. I am not.” - -“Art thou that Prophet?” - -“And he answered, No.” - -“Art thou the Christ?” - -“No.... He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.... He -it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet -I am not worthy to unloose.” - -At Nazareth, in the meantime, an unknown working man was lacing up His -shoes with His own hands to go out to the wilderness, resounding with -the voice which three times had thundered, “No.” - - - THE VIGIL - - -John called sinners to wash in the river before repenting. Jesus -presented Himself to John to be baptized. Did He then acknowledge -Himself a sinner? - -The texts are explicit: the prophet preached the baptism of repentance -in remission of sins. He who went to him acknowledged himself a sinner; -he who goes to wash, feels himself polluted. - -The fact that we know nothing of the life of Jesus from His twelfth to -His thirtieth year, exactly the years of fallible adolescence, of -hot-blooded youth, has given rise to the idea that He was in that -period, or at least held Himself to have been, a sinner like other men. -The three remaining years of His life are the most brightly lighted by -the words of the four Gospels because in thinking of the dead, what we -most vividly remember are their words and deeds during the last days of -their lives. Nothing of what we know of those three years gives any -indication of this supposed existence of sin in Christ’s life between -the innocence of its beginning and the glory of its ending. - -There is not even the appearance of a conversion in Christ’s life. His -first words have the same accent as the last. The spring from which they -run is clear from the first day; there is no muddy sediment of evil. He -begins with frank absolute certainty, with the recognizable authority of -purity. You can feel that He has left nothing turbid back of Him. His -voice is clear and limpid, a melodious song not roughened by the sour -lees of voluptuous pleasure, or by the hoarseness of repentance. The -transparent serenity of His look, of His smile and of His thought is not -the calm which comes after the clouds of the tempest, or the uncertain -whiteness of the dawn which slowly conquers the malign shadow of the -night: it is the clearness of Him who was born only once, and remained a -youth even into His maturity: the limpidity, the transparency, the -tranquillity, the peace of a day which ends in night, but is not -darkened until evening: eternal day, childhood intact and untarnished -until death. - -He goes about among the impure with the natural simplicity of the poor -among sinners, with the natural strength of the sound man among the -sick, with the natural boldness of health. On the other hand, the man -who has been converted is always at the back of his mind a little -troubled. A single drop of bitterness, a light shadow of impurity, a -fleeting suggestion of temptation is enough to drive him back into -anguish. He always feels a doubt that he may not have rid himself wholly -of the old Adam, that he may not have wholly destroyed but only stunned -the Other, who lived in his body. He has paid so much for his salvation, -and it seems to him so precious but so frail, that he is always afraid -of putting it into jeopardy or of losing it. He does not shun sinners, -but he approaches them with an involuntary shudder, with a scarcely -confessed fear of fresh contagion, a dread lest the sight of the -vileness where he also took delight will renew unbearably the -recollection of his shame, will drive him to despair of his ultimate -salvation. When a servant becomes a master he is never on familiar terms -with his servants. When a poor man becomes rich he is not generous with -the poor. A converted sinner is not always a friend of sinners. That -remnant of pride which sticks fast in the hearts even of saints mingles -with his compassion. Why do sinners not do what he has done? The way is -open to all, even to the wickedest, the most hardened: the prize is -great, why do they remain down there, plunged in black Hell? - -And when the converted sinner speaks to his brothers to convert them, he -cannot refrain from dwelling on his own experience, his fall, his -liberation. It may be only that he wishes to be helpful, rather than to -vaunt himself, but in any case he is always eager to point to himself as -a living and present example of the sweetness of salvation. - -The past can be renounced, but not destroyed. It reveals itself almost -unconsciously in the very men who begin life with a second birth of -repentance. In the story of Jesus no sign of a different way of life -before conversion ever shows itself in any allusion or in any implicit -meaning, is not recognizable in the smallest of His acts, in the most -obscure of His words. His love for sinners has nothing of the feverish -obstinacy of the proselytizing penitent. It is a natural love, not a -dutiful love. It is brotherly love without any implications of reproach, -spontaneous friendly fraternity needing to make no effort to overcome -repugnance. It is the attraction towards the impure of the pure who has -no fear of being soiled and knows that He can cleanse—disinterested -love—love felt by the saints in the supreme moments of their -holiness—love beside which all other love seems vulgar—such love as no -man saw before Jesus! Love which is rarely found again, and only in -memory and in imitation of His love—love which will always be called -Christian, and by any other name—never! Divine love—Christ’s love! Love! - -Jesus came among the sinners, but He was no sinner. He came to bathe in -the water running before John, but He had no inner stain. The soul of -Jesus was that of a child, so childlike as to outdo sages in wisdom and -saints in sanctity. - -He was no rigorous Puritan. He never felt the terror of the morally -shipwrecked man barely saved from destruction. He was no overscrupulous -Pharisee. He knew what was sin and what was right and He did not lose -the spirit in the labyrinth of the letter. He knew life; He did not -refuse life which though not a good in itself is a prerequisite -condition of all good things. Eating and drinking are not wrong, nor -looking at people, nor sending a friendly look to the thief lurking in -the shade, nor to the woman who has colored her lips to hide the traces -of unasked kisses. - - - THE BAPTISM - - -And yet Jesus came in the midst of a crowd of sinners to immerse Himself -in the Jordan. The problem is not mysterious for him who sees something -beyond the most familiar meaning in the rite reinstituted by John. The -case of Jesus is unique. The baptism of Jesus is like others -superficially, but is justified in other ways. Baptism is not only a -washing of the flesh as a symbol of the will to cleanse the soul, a -remnant of the primitive analogy of water which washed away material -stains and can wash away spiritual stains. This physical metaphor is -useful to the symbolism of the crowd, is a necessary ceremony for the -carnal eye of the many who need a material help to believe in the -immaterial. But it was not made for Jesus. - -He went to John that the prophecy of the precursor might be fulfilled. -His kneeling down before the prophet of fire was a recognition of John’s -quality of true announcer, of his worth as a loyal ambassador who has -done his duty who can say now that his work is finished. Jesus -submitting Himself to this symbolical investiture really invests John -with the legitimate title of precursor. - -Jesus, about to begin a new epoch of His life, His true life, bore -witness by His immersion in water to His willingness to die, but at the -same time to His certainty that He would rise again. He did not go down -to the Jordan to cleanse Himself, but to show that His second life was -beginning and that He will not die, but only seem to die, just as He -only seemed to be purified by the waters of the Jordan. - - - THE DESERT - - -As soon as Jesus emerged from the water He went into the desert. From -the multitude to solitude! Until then He had lived among the waters and -the fields of Galilee and in the green meadows along the Jordan. Now He -went up on the rocky mountains whence no springs arise, where no seed -sprouts, where the only living creatures are snakes. Until then He had -lived among the working men of Nazareth, among John’s penitents; now He -goes up on the solitary mountains where no human face is seen, where no -human voice is heard. The New Man puts the desert between himself and -humanity. - -The person who says, “woe to the solitary!” only gives the measure of -his own cowardice. Society is a sacrifice, meritorious in proportion to -its hardness. For those rich in soul, solitude is a prize and not an -expiation, a period of sure value, a time when inner beauty is created, -a reconciliation with the absent. Only in solitude do we live with our -peers, with those solitary souls who think the great-hearted thoughts -which console us in the absence of other consolations. - -The people who cannot endure solitude are the mediocre and the mean. -They have nothing to offer, they are afraid of themselves, of their own -emptiness. They are condemned to the eternal solitude of their own -minds, a desolate inner desert where the poisonous plants of waste lands -are the only things to grow. They are restless, unquiet, dejected when -they cannot forget themselves in others, deafen themselves with the -words of others. They delude themselves with the factitious life of -others who are in their turn deluded by it. They cannot live without -mingling, a passive atom, in the streams which overflow every morning -from the sewers of the cities. - -Jesus lived among men and He was to return among men because He loved -them. But in the years to come He often hid Himself, to be alone, far -even from His disciples. To love men, you need from time to time to -depart from them: far from them, we draw near to them. The small soul -remembers only the evil they have done him. His night is restless with -bitterness and his mouth poisoned with anger. The great soul remembers -benefits alone, and thankful for a few good deeds, forgets the great -evils he has endured. Even those which were not pardoned at the moment -are blotted out from his heart, and having renewed his original love for -his brothers, he goes back to men. - -For Jesus these forty days of solitude are the last of His preparation. -For forty years the Jewish people (prophetic symbol of Christ) wandered -in the desert before entering into the kingdom promised by God. For -forty days Moses remained close to God to hear His laws; for forty days -Elijah wandered in the desert fleeing the vengeance of the wicked queen. - -So also the time allotted to the new liberator before announcing the -promised kingdom was forty days of close communion with God to receive -the supreme inspiration. But even in the desert He was not to be -entirely alone: about Him throughout the vigil will be animals and -angels; beings inferior to man and beings superior; those who pull man -down and those who lift him up; beings all matter, beings all spirit. - -Born an animal, man struggles to become an angel. He is matter changing -by slow transmutation into spirit. If the animal gets the upper hand, -man descends below the level of the beasts because he puts the remnants -of his intelligence at the service of bestiality: if the angel conquers, -man becomes the equal of angels, and instead of being a mere soldier in -the army of God, partakes of divinity itself. But the fallen angel -condemned to wear the form of a beast is the astute and tenacious enemy -of all men who wish to climb that height from which he was cast down. -Jesus is the enemy of the material world, of the bestial life of the -many. He was born into the world in order that beasts should become men, -and men become angels. He was born to change the world and to conquer -it, to fight with the king of the world, that enemy of God and of men, -the malign, the suborner, the seducer. He was born to drive Satan from -the earth as His father drove him from Heaven. - -Therefore at the end of the forty days, Satan came into the desert to -tempt his enemy. - - - THE ADVERSARY - - -Our slavery to matter is branded on our lives by the daily need of our -bodies for food, and Jesus wished to conquer our slavery to matter. -Whenever He shared human lives, He consented to eat and drink, because -His friends did, because it is right to give to the flesh that which -belongs to the flesh, and finally as a visible protest against the -hypocritical fasts of the Pharisees. The last act of His earthly mission -was a supper, but the first after His baptism was a fast. Alone where -His abstinence could not shame His simple-hearted companions, where it -could not be confused with ostentatious piety, He forgot to eat. - -But after forty days He was hungry. Satan, tenacious and invisible, was -waiting for this moment of material need, and seized on it. The -Adversary spoke: “If thou be the Son of God command this stone that it -be made bread.” - -The reproof was prompt: “It is written that man shall not live by bread -alone, but by every word of God.” - -Satan did not admit a defeat, and from the top of a mountain showed Him -all the kingdoms of the earth: “All this power will I give thee, and the -glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I -give it. If thou therefore wilt adore me, all shall be thine.” - -And Jesus answered, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written thou -shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” - -Then Satan took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the -Temple, “If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down from hence.” - -But Jesus answered quickly: “It is written; thou shalt not tempt the -Lord thy God.” - -“And when the Devil had completed every temptation,” Luke goes on, “he -departed from him for a season.” We shall see his return and his last -effort. - -This dialogue seems at first sight only a bandying about of Scriptural -texts. Satan and Jesus do not use their own words, but compete by means -of quotations from the Scriptures. We seem to be listening to a -theological dispute; but as a matter of fact it is the first Parable of -the Gospels acted out and not put into words. - -It is not surprising that Satan should have come with the absurd hope of -causing Jesus to fall. It is not surprising that Jesus since He was a -man should have undergone temptation. Satan only tempts the great and -pure. To the others he does not need even to murmur a word of -invitation. They are already his, from their childhood on. He need give -himself no trouble to win their allegiance, they are in his arms before -he summons them. And yet many of them do not know that he exists. He -never has presented himself to them because they obey him from a -distance. Thus, not having known him, they are ready to deny him. The -devil’s cohorts do not believe in the devil. It was said of old that the -devil’s shrewdest ruse was to spread abroad the rumor of his death. He -takes all forms, so beautiful sometimes that no one recognizes him. The -Greeks, for instance, marvels of intelligence and elegance, had no place -for Satan in their mythology, because all their Gods, when closely -examined, show the horns of Satan under their crowns of laurel and grape -leaves. Satanical is tyrannical and lustful Jove, adulterous Venus, -Apollo the flayer, murderous Mars, drunken Dionysius. They were so -astute, the gods of Greece, that they gave the people love-potions and -distilled perfumes to keep them from detecting the stench of the evil -that consumes the world. - -But if many do not know him and laugh at him as at a specter invented in -church for the needs of penitents, there are some who cry out upon those -who know him but do not follow him. He seduced the innocence of the -first two created beings, he suborned David the strong, corrupted -Solomon the wise, accused Job the righteous before the throne of God. -Satan tempts and always will tempt all the saints who hide themselves in -the desert, all those who love God. The more we go away from him the -closer he is; the higher we are, the more he rages to bring us low; he -can soil only that which is clean and he gives no care to the filth -which spontaneously ferments under the hot breath of animality. To be -tempted by Satan is a proof of purity, a sign of greatness, and shows a -man that he is on the upward path. He who has known Satan and has seen -him face to face, may well have hope for himself. More than any other, -Jesus merited this consecration. Satan challenged Him twice and tempted -Him once. He asked Him to transform dead matter into matter that gives -life and to cast Himself down from a height so that God by saving Him -should proclaim Him as His true son. He offered Him the possession and -the glory of earthly kingdoms on condition that instead of serving God -Jesus should promise to serve the Demon. He asks material bread and a -material miracle of Him and promises Him material power. Jesus does not -take up the challenge and refuses what is offered. - -He is not the fleshly, temporal Messiah, desired by the Jewish crowd, -the material Messiah such as the Tempter in his baseness imagines Him. -He did not come to bring food to bodies but food to souls,—truth, that -living food. When His brothers, far from home, lack bread enough for -their hunger, He will break the few loaves which His disciples bring and -all will have enough and they will fill baskets with the remnants. But -except in cases of necessity He will not be the distributor of that -bread which comes from the earth and returns to earth. If He should -change the stones of the street into bread, every one would follow Him -through love of his own body and would pretend to believe everything He -said. Even the dogs would come to His banquet. But this He does not -wish. Those who follow Him must believe in His word in spite of hunger, -grief and poverty. Thus those who wish to follow Him must leave behind -them fertile fields, they must leave behind them money which can be -changed into bread. They must go with Him without knapsack or payment, -with one garment, and live like the birds of the air, husking ears of -grain in the fields, or begging alms at house doors. One can live -without terrestrial bread: a fig left on the tree among the leaves, a -fish drawn from the lake can take the place of bread. But no man can -live without heavenly bread, if he wishes to escape eternal death, which -is the portion of those who have never tasted it. Man does not live by -bread alone, but by love, fervor, and truth. Jesus is ready to transform -the Kingdom of Earth into the Kingdom of Heaven, furious bestiality into -happy sanctity, but He does not deign to transform stones into bread, -matter into other matter. - -For similar reasons Jesus refused the other challenge. Men love the -wonderful, the visibly wonderful, the prodigy, the physical -impossibility made possible before their eyes. They hunger and thirst -after portents. They are ready to prostrate themselves before the -wonder-worker even if he is an evil man or a charlatan. From Jesus they -all asked for a Sign, meaning by that, a gigantic juggling feat; but He -always refused. He did not wish to persuade by means of the miraculous. -He consented to cure the sick—especially those sick in spirit and -sinners—but He often avoided the occasion even for these miracles, and -He begged those cured not to speak the name of their healer. And He -never used this power for His own safety, not even at Gethsemane when -Satan tempted Him to put away the cup of death from His lips, nor when -He was nailed to the cross and Satan repeated his challenge by the mouth -of the Jews. “If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross and -save thyself.” In the night of His vigil and in the high noon of His -death, He resisted Satan and had recourse to no miracle to save Himself. -Men must believe Him in spite of all contrary evidence, believe in His -divinity even when confronted with what seems His common humanity. It is -no fit deed for Jesus needlessly to throw Himself down from the Temple; -to bring an end to the pain of another with the sole purpose of -conquering men, and fascinating them with wonder and terror; to put God -to a test, to force Him as it were, to accomplish a rash and superfluous -miracle, only in order that Satan may not win the infamous wager founded -on sarcasm and on arrogance. Loving, it is to human hearts He wishes to -speak; sublime in character, He wishes to bring sublimity into human -lives; a pure spirit, He wishes to purify other spirits; deep-hearted, -to light the flame of love in others; a great spirit, to bring greatness -to little, mean, neglected souls. Instead of throwing Himself like a -vulgar magician from the precipice which is below the Temple, He will go -up from the Temple upon the Mount to give out from on high the -beatitudes of the Kingdom of Heaven. - -The offer of the Kingdoms of the Earth must have been horrible to Him, -and still more the price that Satan asked. Satan has the right to offer -what is his. The Kingdoms of the Earth are founded on force and -maintained with deceit. They are Satan’s own country, they are his -Paradise regained. Satan sleeps every night on the pillows of the -powerful. They pay material tribute to him, and give him daily offerings -in thought and deed. But Jesus could have taken away their Kingdoms from -the Kings without bending knee to the Adversary. He had only to offer -men bread without work. If like a juggling mountebank He had opened a -public theater of popular miracles, the multitude would have acclaimed -Him. Had He wished to seem the Messiah for whom the Jews had been -longing during their dreary slavery, He could have corrupted them with -plenty and with marvels, He could have made of every land a country of -grace and enchantment and He could have occupied at once every seat of -the procurators of Satan. - -But Jesus does not wish to be the restorer of the fallen kingdom, the -conqueror of hostile empires. Authority is of little importance to Him -and glory still less. The Kingdom which He announces and prepares has -nothing in common with the Kingdoms of the Earth. His Kingdom is -destined rather to bring to naught the Kingdoms of the Earth. The -Kingdom of Heaven is in us. Any day when a soul has turned to -righteousness the Kingdom of Heaven is enlarged because it has acquired -a new citizen, snatched from the Kingdom of Earth. When every one is -good and righteous, when all love their brothers as fathers love their -sons, when even enemies love one another (if there still are enemies), -when no one thinks of amassing treasure, and instead of taking away from -others, every one gives bread to the hungry and clothing to those who -are cold,—where on that day will be the Kingdom of the Earth? Where will -be the need for soldiers when no one wishes to enlarge his own land by -stealing that of his neighbor? What need will there be for Kings when -every one has his law in his conscience and when there are no armies to -command nor judges to select? What need will there be for money and for -tribute when every one is sure of his living and satisfied with it, and -there are no wages to be paid to soldiers and servants? When every one’s -soul is transformed, those so-called foundations of life which are named -Society, Country and Justice will vanish like the hallucinations of a -long night. The word of Christ needs neither money nor armies. And if it -really becomes the universal life of the conscience, everything that -binds and blinds men, necessary unjust power, the criminal glory of -battles, will fall like morning mists before sunlight and wind. The -Kingdom of Heaven within is One and it will take the place of the -Kingdoms of Earth, which are many. The liberated spirit will scarcely -remember despotic matter. Men will no longer be divided into Kings and -subjects, masters and slaves, rich and poor, the arrogantly virtuous, -the humble sinners, free and prisoners. The sun of God will shine on -all, the citizens of the Kingdom will be one family of fathers and -brothers and the gates of Paradise will be open again to the sons of -Adam become as gods. - -Jesus conquered Satan in Himself and now came out of the desert to -conquer him among men. - - - THE RETURN - - -As soon as Jesus came again among men, He learned that the Tetrarch -(second husband of Herodias) had imprisoned John in the fortress of -Machaerus. The voice crying in the wilderness was stilled and pilgrims -to the Jordan saw no more the long shadow of the wild Baptizer fall -across the water. - -He had done his work and was now to give way to a more powerful voice. -John waited in the blackness of the prison until his bloody head was -carried on a golden platter to the banquet—almost the last dish served -to that evil woman, betrayer of men. - -Now Jesus understands that His day is at hand, and crossing Samaria He -returns into Galilee to announce at once the coming of the Kingdom. He -does not go to Jerusalem, the city of the great king, the capital. Jesus -comes to destroy that Jerusalem of stone and arrogance, proud on its -three hills, hard of heart like the stones. The men whom Jesus comes to -combat are precisely those who glory in great cities, in the capitals, -in the Jerusalems of the world. - -At Jerusalem live the powerful of the world, the Romans, masters of the -world and of Judea, with their soldiers in arms. Jerusalem is ruled by -the representatives of the Cæsars; of Tiberius, the drunken assassin, -the perfidious heir of Augustus, the hypocritical voluptuary, and of -Julius the adulterous spendthrift. At Jerusalem live the High Priests, -the old custodians of the Temple, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, the -Levites and their guards, the descendants of those who pursued and -killed the prophets, the petrifiers of the Law, the bigots of the -letter, the haughty depositories of arid fanaticism. At Jerusalem are -the treasurers of God, the treasurers of Cæsar, the guardians of the -treasure, the lovers of wealth; the Publicans with their excisemen and -parasites, the rich with their servants and their concubines, the -merchants with their crowded shops; money bags clinking with shekels in -the warmth of the bosom above the heart. - -Jesus comes to combat all these. He comes to conquer the masters of the -earth—the earth which belongs to all; to confound the masters of the -word—the word which should be spoken freely wherever God wishes; to -condemn the masters of gold, base, perishable and fatal element. He -comes to overthrow the kingdom of the soldiers of Rome who oppress -bodies; the kingdom of the priests of the Temple who oppress souls; the -kingdom of the heapers-up of money who oppress the poor. He comes to -save bodies, souls, the poor; He teaches liberty, in opposition to Rome; -setting at naught the doctrines of the Temple, He teaches love; He -teaches poverty against all the ideals of the rich. - -He does not wish to begin His message in Jerusalem where His enemies, -gathered together, are the strongest. He wishes to surround the city, -take it from the outside, arrive there later with a following behind -Him, when already the Kingdom of Heaven has begun slowly to lay siege to -it. The Conquest of Jerusalem will be the last test, the supreme trial, -the great battle, the tremendous battle between the greater than the -Prophets and Jerusalem, slayer of Prophets. If He should go to Jerusalem -now (where He will enter presently as a king and whence He will be -buried as a criminal) He would be taken prisoner at once and would not -be able to sow His word on less ungrateful, less stony soil. - -Jerusalem like all capitals—great sewers to which flow the refuse, the -outcasts, the rubbish of the nations—is inhabited by a mob of frivolous, -elegant, idle, skeptical and indifferent people, by a ceremonious -patrician class who have kept only the tradition of ritual and the -sterile rancor of their decadence; by an aristocracy of property owners -and speculators who belong to the herd of Mammon, and by a rebellious, -restless, ignorant crowd, controlled only by the superstition of the -Temple and the fear of the foreigner’s sword. Jerusalem was not fit soil -for the sowing of Jesus. - -A man from the provinces,—therefore healthy and solitary—He goes back to -His province. He wishes to carry the tidings of good news to those who -were to be the first to receive Him, to the poor and the humble because -the tidings are specially for them, because they have long been waiting -for them, and because more than any others, they will rejoice. Jesus’ -coming into the world is for the poor. Therefore leaving Jerusalem, He -arrives in Galilee, enters into the Synagogue and begins to teach. - - - THE REIGN OF GOD - - -The first words of Jesus are few and simple, very much like those of -John, “The time is accomplished; the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent -and believe the Gospel.” - -Bare words, incomprehensible to moderns by their very sobriety. To -understand them and to understand the difference between the message of -John and the message of Jesus, they need to be translated into our -language, filled again with their eternally living meaning. - -“The time has come!” The time for which men have been waiting, which -they have prophesied and announced. John said that a King would come -ready to found the new Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven. The King has come -and announces that the doors of the Kingdom are open. He is the guide, -the path, the hand, before being King in all the splendor of His -celestial glory. - -When Jesus says “The time is accomplished,” he does not refer to the -exact date, to the fact that it was the fifteenth year of the reign of -Tiberius. The time of Jesus is now and always is eternity. The moment of -His appearance, the moment of His death, the moment of His return, the -moment of His perfect triumph, has not yet arrived, not even yet! And -yet, at every moment the time is accomplished, every hour is the -fullness of time, on condition that the workers are ready. Every day is -His; His era is not written down in numbers: there is no chronology in -eternity. Every time a man tries to enter into the Kingdom, confirms the -Kingdom by believing, enriches the Kingdom, consolidates, defends, -proclaims its perpetual sanctity and its perpetual rightness in -opposition to all the inferior kingdoms (inferior because they are -human, not divine, earthly not heavenly) then always the time is -accomplished. This time is called the epoch of Jesus, the Christian era, -the New Covenant. Not quite two thousand years divides us from that -time; not quite two days, because for God, and for men of understanding, -a thousand years are as a day. The time is ripe; even to-day we are in -the fullness of time. Jesus calls us even now. The second day has not -yet expired, the foundations of the Kingdom are scarcely begun. We who -live to-day, this year, in this century (and we shall not always be -alive, and we shall perhaps not see the end of this year, and certainly -we shall not see the end of this century), we, I say, the living, can -take part in this Kingdom, enter into it, live in it, enjoy it. The -Kingdom is not the worn-out fancy of a poor Jew nearly twenty centuries -ago; it is not an archaism, a dead memory, a bygone frenzy. The Kingdom -is of to-day, of to-morrow, of always; a reality of the future always -just-realized, alive, actual, ours; a work started a short time ago, a -work to which every one is free to put his hand to take it up, to carry -it on. The word seems old, the message dim with antiquity repeated by -the echoes of two thousand years, but the Kingdom—as a fact, true, -accomplished—is new, young, born yesterday, still to grow, to flower, to -prosper. Jesus threw the seed into the earth, but the seed has scarcely -germinated in two thousand years passed like a stormy winter, in the -space of sixty human generations. Is it perhaps possible that our own -time after the flood of blood is the divine and longed-for period? - -What this Kingdom is, we shall learn page by page in the words of Jesus; -but we must not imagine it as a new Paradise of Delight, as a wearisome -Arcady of beatitude, as an immense choir singing Hosannahs with their -feet on the clouds and their heads among the stars. - -Christ describes the Kingdom of God as opposed to the Kingdom of Satan, -as the antithesis of the Kingdom of Earth. The Kingdom of Satan is the -Kingdom of evil, of deceit, of cruelty, of pride, the Kingdom of -baseness. Therefore the Kingdom of God means the Kingdom of good, of -sincerity, of love, of humility, the Kingdom of the lofty. - -The Kingdom of Earth is the Kingdom of matter and of flesh, the Kingdom -of gold, hatred, avarice, sensuality, the Kingdom of all things loved by -evil and distraught men. The Kingdom of Heaven is to be the opposite of -this: the Kingdom of the spirit and of the soul, the Kingdom of -renunciation and of purity; the Kingdom of all things valued by men who -know the worthlessness of everything else in comparison. God is Father -and Goodness; Heaven is above the earth, hence it is the spirit. Heaven -is God’s home. The spirit is the dominion of goodness. All that crawls -on the earth, grubs in the earth, takes pleasure in matter—that is -bestiality; all that lives with upraised eyes, desiring Heaven, wishing -to live forever in Heaven—that is Holiness. Most men are beasts. It is -Christ’s will that these beasts become saints. This is the simple and -ever-living meaning of the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven. - -The Kingdom of God is of men and for men. The Kingdom of Heaven is in -us. Begin at once: it is our work, for our happiness in this life on -this earth. It depends on our will, on our response given or withheld. -Become perfect and the Kingdom will extend even on earth. The Kingdom of -God will be founded among men. - -It is true that Jesus added “repent,” but the old word has been -distorted from its true and magnificent meaning. The word of -Mark—μετανοειτε—should not be translated “repent”; μετανοια means rather -the changing of the mind, the transformation of the soul. Metamorphosis -is a change of form; “metanoia,” a changing of the spirit. It ought -rather to be translated “conversion,” that is, the renewing of the inner -life of man. The idea of “repentance” is only an illustration of -Christ’s command. - -As one of the conditions of the arrival of the Kingdom and at the same -time as the very substance of the new order, Jesus demands complete -conversion, a revolution of life and of the common values of life, a -transmutation of feelings, of opinions, of intentions. This He called, -speaking to Nicodemus, “the second birth.” Little by little He was to -explain in what way this total transformation of the ordinary human soul -is to be effected. All His life was devoted to this teaching and to -setting the example. But in the meantime, He contented Himself with -adding one conclusion, “Believe in the Gospel.” - -By “Gospel” men nowadays mean usually the book where the quadruple story -of Jesus is printed; but Jesus neither wrote books nor thought of -volumes. By “Gospel” He meant, according to the plain and sweet meaning -of the word, “good tidings.” Jesus is a messenger (in Greek “angel”) who -brings good tidings: He brings the cheerful message that the sick will -be cured, that the blind will see, the poor will be enriched with -imperishable riches, that the sad will rejoice, that sinners will be -pardoned, the unclean purified, that the imperfect can become perfect, -that animals can become saints, and saints become angels, like unto God. - -If this Kingdom is to come, if everybody is to prepare himself for its -coming, we must believe in the message, believe that the Kingdom is -possible and near. If there is no faith in this promise, no one will do -what must be done to fulfill the promise. Only the certainty of the -truth of this good tidings, only the conviction that the Kingdom is not -the lie of an adventurer or the hallucination of an obsessed zealot; -only the certainty of the sincerity and validity of the message can -arouse men to put their hands to the great work of its foundation. - -With those few words, obscure to the majority of men, Jesus began His -teaching. The fullness of time, the need to begin at once! The coming of -the Kingdom, victory of spirit over matter; of good over bad, of the -saint over the beast. “Metanoia”—the total transformation of the soul. -The Gospel—the cheerful assurance that all this is true and eternally -possible. - - - CAPERNAUM - - -Jesus taught His Galileans on the threshold of their shabby little white -houses, on the small shady open places of their cities or the shore of -the lake, leaning against a beached boat, His feet on the stones, -towards evening when the sun sank red in the west, summoning men to -rest. - -Many listened to Him and followed Him because, says Luke: “His word was -with authority.” The words were not wholly new, but the man was new, and -new was the warmth of His voice, and the good done by that voice, -overflowing from His heart and going straight to the hearts of others. -The accent of those words was new, and new the sense that they took in -that mouth, lighted by His look. - -Here was no prophet of the mountains shouting in waste places, far from -men, solitary, distant, forcing others to come to him if they wished to -hear him. Here was a prophet living like a man among other men, a friend -of all, friendly to the unfriended, an easy-going and companionable -comrade, searching out His brothers where they work in the houses, in -the busy streets, eating their bread and drinking wine at their tables, -lending a hand with the fisherman’s nets, with a good word for every -man, for the sad, for the sick, for the beggar. - -The simple-hearted, like animals and children, know instinctively who -loves them, they believe him, are happy when he comes (their very faces -suddenly transfigured) and are sad when he goes. Sometimes they cannot -bring themselves to leave him and follow him to the death. - -Jesus spent His time with them walking from one region to another, or -talking, seated among His friends. Always dear to Him was the sunny -shore of the lake, along the curve of quiet clear water scarcely ruffled -by the wind from the desert, dotted with a few boats silently tacking -back and forth. The western coast of the lake was His real Kingdom; -there He found His first listeners, His first converts, His first -disciples. - -If He returned to Nazareth, He stayed there but a short time. He was to -go back later, accompanied by the Twelve and preceded by the renown of -His miracles, and they were to treat Him as all the cities of the -world,—even the most renowned for amenity, Athens and Florence, have -treated those of their citizens who made them great above others. After -ridiculing Him (they had seen Him as a child, it is out of the question -that He can have become a great prophet) they tried to cast Him down -from the precipice. - -In no city did He make a long stay. Jesus was a wanderer, such a man as -is called a vagabond by the pot-bellied and sedentary citizen rooted to -his threshold. His life is an eternal journey. Before that other Jew who -was condemned to immortality by one condemned to death, He is the true -Wandering Jew. He was born on a journey. Still a baby at the breast, He -was carried along the sun-parched road to Egypt; from Egypt He came back -to the waters and greenness of Galilee. From Nazareth He often went to -Jerusalem for the Passover. The voice of John called Him to the Jordan: -an inner voice drove Him out into the desert; and after the forty days -of hunger and the Temptation, He began His restless vagabond life from -city to city, from village to village, from mountain to mountain, across -Palestine. Most often we find Him in Galilee, in Capernaum, Chorazin, in -Cana, in Magdala, in Tiberias, but often He crosses Samaria to sit down -near the well of Sychar. We find Him from time to time in the Tetrarchy -of Philip at Bethsaida, at Gadara, at Cæsarea, also at Gerasa in the -Perea of Herod Antipas. In Judah He often stops at Bethany, a few miles -away from Jerusalem, or at Jericho, but He did not shrink from -journeying outside the limits of the old kingdom and from going down -among the Gentiles. We find Him in Phœnicia, in the regions of Tyre and -Sidon, and in Syria, if the transfiguration took place on the summit of -Mt. Hermon. After the resurrection He appears in Emmaus, on the banks of -His lake of Tiberias and finally at Bethany near Lazarus’ house, where -He leaves His friends forever. - -He is the traveler without rest, the wanderer with no home, the wayfarer -for love’s sake, the voluntary exile in His own country; He says Himself -that He has not a stone on which to lay His head, and it is true that He -has no bed where He may lie down at night, nor a room that He can call -His own. His real home is the road which takes Him along with His first -friends in search of new friends. His bed is the furrow in a field, the -bench of a boat, the shadow of an olive tree. Sometimes He sleeps in the -houses of those who love Him, but only for short periods. - -In the early days we find Him most often at Capernaum, His journeys -began there and ended there. Matthew calls it “His city.” Situated on -the caravan route which from Damascus crosses Iturea and goes towards -the sea, Capernaum had become little by little a commercial center of -some importance. Artisans, bargainers, brokers, and shopkeepers had come -there to stay. Men of finance—as flies swarm on rotten pears—had come -there; publicans, excise men and other fiscal tools. The little -settlement, half-rustic, half a fishing village, had become a mixed and -composite city where the society of the times—even to soldiers and -prostitutes—was fully represented. And yet Capernaum, lying along the -lake, freshened by the air from the near-by hills and by the breeze from -the water, was not a prey to stagnation and decay like the Syrian cities -and Jerusalem. There were still peasants who went out to their fields -every day, and fishermen who every day went forth to their boats. Good, -poor, simple, warm-hearted people who talked of other matters than money -and gear. Among them a man could draw his breath freely. - -On the Sabbath Jesus went to the Synagogue. Everybody had the right to -enter there, to read aloud and also to expound what had been read. It -was a plain house, a bare room where people went with their friends and -brothers to reason together and dream of God. - -Jesus stood up, had some one give Him one of the scrolls of the -Scriptures (more often the Prophets than the Law) and recited in a -tranquil voice two, three, four or more verses. Then He commenced to -speak with a bold and forceful eloquence which put the Pharisees to -confusion, touched sinners, won the poor, and enchanted women. - -Suddenly the old text was transfigured, became transparent, belonged to -their own times; it seemed a new truth, a discovery they had made, a -discourse heard for the first time; the words withered by antiquity, -dried up by repetition, took on life and color; a new sun gilded them -one by one, syllable by syllable; fresh words coined at that moment, -shining before their eyes like an unexpected revelation. - - - POOR PEOPLE - - -Nobody in Capernaum could remember having heard such a Rabbi. The -Sabbaths when Jesus spoke, the Synagogue was full, the crowd overflowed -out on the street, everybody was there who could come. The gardener -comes, who for that day had left his spade, and no longer turned his -water wheel to irrigate the green rows of his garden, and the smith, the -good country smith, black with smoke and dust every day, but on the -Sabbath washed, neatly dressed, his face still a little dusky, although -scrubbed and rinsed in many waters like his hands, with his beard combed -and anointed with cheap ointment (but still perfumed like a rich man’s -beard), the smith all whose days are spent before the fire, sweaty and -dirty except this day which is the Sabbath, when he comes to the -Synagogue to hear the ancient word of the Ancient of Days, the God of -his fathers. He comes devoutly, but he comes too because his family, his -friends, his neighbors come there, and he finds them all together, and -he comes also because the day is long (all that long holiday without any -work, without any hammer in his hand, without the pincers) and in -Capernaum there is nothing to do on Sabbaths except go to the Synagogue. -The mason comes, he who has worked on this little house of the Synagogue -and made it small because the Elders—good, God-fearing people, but -inclined to be stingy—did not wish to spend too much. The mason still -feels his arms a little numb and lame from his six days’ labor, no -longer keeps track of the stones which he has laid in courses and the -trowels full of mortar which he has thrown between the stones during the -week. The mason puts on his new clothes to-day and sits down on the -ground, he who on all other days stands upright, active, watchful so -that the work may go well, and the employer be satisfied; the good mason -too has come to the house which seems to him partly his own. - -The fishermen have come too, the young and the old, both of them with -faces tanned by the sun and with eyes half-shut from the constant glare -of sunlight reflected by the water. (The old man is handsomer because of -the contrast of his white hair and white beard with his weather-beaten -and wrinkled face.) The fishermen have turned over their boats on the -sand, have left them tied to a stake, have spread the nets on the roof -and have come to the Synagogue, although they are not used to being -within walls and perhaps continue to hear a confused murmur of water -lapping about the bow. - -The peasants of the neighboring countryside are here too, prosperous -farmers who have put on a tunic as good as anybody’s, who are satisfied -with the harvest almost ready for the scythe. They do not mean to forget -God who brings the grain to a head and makes the grape-vine to blossom. -There are shepherds come in to town that morning, shepherds and -goat-herds with the smell of their flocks still on them, shepherds who -live all the week in the mountain-pastures without seeing a soul, -without exchanging a word, alone with their quiet animals peacefully -grazing on the new grass. - -The smaller property owners, the small business men, the gentry of -Capernaum, all have come. They are men of weight and piety. They stand -in the front row, serious, their eyes cast down, satisfied with the -business of the last few days and satisfied with their conscience -because they have observed the law without failing and are not -contaminated. The line of their well-clad backs can be seen, bowed backs -but broad and masterful, employers’ backs, backs of people in harmony -with the world, and with God, backs full of authority and of religion. -There are also transient foreigners, merchants going towards Syria or -returning to Tiberias. They have come from condescension or from habit, -perhaps to try to pick up a customer, and they stare into everybody’s -face with the arrogance which money gives to poverty-stricken souls. - -At the back of the room (for the Synagogue is only a long white-washed -room a little larger than a school, than an inn, than a kitchen) the -poor of the countryside are huddled together like dogs near a door, like -those who always stand in fear of being sent away. The poorest of all, -those who live by odd jobs, by ungracious charity and also—oh, -poverty!—by some discreet theft, the ragged, the vermin-ridden, the -timid, the wretched; old widows whose children are far away, young -orphans not yet able to earn a living, hump-backed old men with no -acquaintances, strengthless invalids, those who are incurably sick, -those whose wits no longer rightly serve them, who have no -understanding, who cannot work. The weak in mind, the weak in body, the -bankrupt, the rejected, the abandoned, those who one day eat and the -next day do not, who never have enough to satisfy their hunger, those -who pick up what others throw away, the pieces of dry bread, fish-heads, -fruit-cores and skins; and sleep now here and now there, and suffer from -the winter cold and every year wait for summer, paradise of the poor, -for then there are fruits to be plucked along the roads. They too, the -beggars, the wretched, the ragamuffins, the sickly and the weaklings, -when the Sabbath comes, go to the Synagogue to hear the stories of the -Bible. They cannot be sent away: they have as much right to be there as -any one, they are sons of the same Father and servants of the same Lord. -On that day they feel a little comforted in their poverty because they -can hear the same words heard by the rich and the strong. Here they are -not served with another sort of food, poorer and coarser, as happens in -the houses where the owner eats the best and the beggar on the threshold -must content himself with scraps. Here the fare is the same for the man -of possessions and him who has nothing. The words of Moses are the same, -everlastingly the same for him who owns the fattest flock and for him -who has not even a quarter of lamb on Passover day. But the words of the -Prophets are sweeter to them than those of Moses, harder on the great of -the world, but kinder for the humble. The poverty-stricken throng at the -back of the Synagogue waits every Sabbath for somebody to read a chapter -from Amos or from Isaiah because the Prophets take the part of the poor, -and announce the punishment and the new world. “And he who was clothed -with purple shall be made to handle dung.” - -And behold on that Sabbath there was One who came expressly for them, -who talked for them, who had come back from the desert to announce good -tidings for the poor and the sick. No one had ever spoken of them as He -did, no one had shown so much love for them. Like the old prophets, He -had for them a special affection which offended more fortunate men, but -which filled their hearts with comfort and hope. - -When Jesus had finished speaking they observed that the elders, the -bourgeois, the masters, lords, Pharisees, men who knew how to read and -make money, shook their heads forebodingly, and got up, making wry faces -and nodding among themselves, half contemptuous, half scandalized; and -as soon as they were outside, muttered a grumbling of prudent -disapprobation through their great black and silver beards. But no one -laughed. - -The merchants followed them, erect, already thinking of the next day; -there remained behind the working men, the poor, the shepherds, the -peasants, the gardeners, the smiths, the fishermen, and all the herd of -beggars, orphans without inheritance, old men without health, homeless -outcasts, friendless unfortunates, penniless men, the diseased, the -maimed, the worn-out, the rejected. They could not take their eyes from -Jesus, they would have liked Him to go on speaking, to reveal the day of -the New Kingdom when they too would have their return for all this -misery, and see with their own eyes the day of reckoning. The words of -Jesus had made their bruised and weary hearts beat faster. A gleam of -light, a glimpse of the sky and of glory, the hallucination of -prosperity, of banquets, of repose and abundance, sprang up from those -great words in the rich souls of the poor. Perhaps they scarcely -understood what the Master meant to say, and perhaps the Kingdom -glimpsed by them had some resemblance to a materialistic Land of -Cockaigne. But no one loved Him as they did. No one will ever love Him -like the poor of Galilee, hungering after peace and truth. Even those -who were less destitute, the day-laborers, the fishermen, the working -men, though less hungry for bread, loved Him for the love of those poor. - -And when He came out from the Synagogue all those stood waiting in the -street to see Him again. They followed Him timidly as if in a dream; -when He entered into the house of a friend to eat they were almost -jealous and some waited outside the door until He reappeared; then, -grown more bold, they accosted Him and went along together beside the -shores of the lake. Others joined them on the way, and now one and now -another (they were braver under the open sky and outside the Synagogue) -began asking questions. And Jesus paused and answered this obscure crowd -with words never to be forgotten. - - - THE FIRST FOUR - - -Among the fishermen of Capernaum, Jesus found His first disciples. -Almost every day He was on the beach of the lake; sometimes the boats -were going out, sometimes they were coming in, the sails swelling in the -breeze; and from the barks the barefooted men climbed down, wading -knee-deep in water, carrying the baskets filled with the wet silver of -dead fish piled together, good and bad, and with the old dripping nets. - -They put out sometimes at nightfall when there was a moon, and came back -early in the morning just after the setting of the moon and before -sunrise. Often Jesus was waiting for them on the strand and was the -first to greet them. But the fishing was not always good, sometimes they -came back empty-handed, tired and depressed. Jesus greeted them with -words which cheered them, and the disappointed men, although they had -not slept, listened to Him willingly. One morning two boats came back -towards Capernaum while Jesus standing by the lake was talking to the -people who had gathered around Him. The fishermen disembarked and began -to arrange the nets; then Jesus entered into one of the boats and asked -them to put it out a little from the land so that He might not be -pressed upon by the crowd. Upright near the rudder He taught those who -had remained on the land, and when He had left speaking He said to -Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” - -And Simon, son of Jona, owner of the boat, answered, “Master, we have -toiled all the night and have taken nothing, nevertheless at thy word, I -will let down the net.” - -When they were only a short distance from the bank, Simon and Andrew, -his brother, threw out into the water a large net. And when they drew it -back it was so full of fish that the meshes were almost breaking. Then -the two brothers called their partners in the other boat, that they -should come to help them, and they threw out the net again and drew it -up again full. Simon, Andrew and the others cried out “a miracle!” and -thanked Jesus, who had brought them this good luck. Simon, impulsive by -nature, threw himself at the knees of their guest crying, “Depart from -me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” - -But Jesus, smiling, said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of -men.” - -When they went back to the shore they pulled the boat up on the land, -and leaving their nets, the two brothers followed Him. And a few days -after this, Jesus saw the other two brothers, James and John, sons of -Zebedee, who were partners of Simon and Andrew, and he called them, -while they were mending the broken nets; and they too said farewell to -their father, who was in the boat with the sailors, and leaving the -broken nets half-mended, followed Him. Jesus was no longer alone: four -men, two pairs of brothers more deeply brothers in this common faith, -were ready to accompany Him wherever He wished to go, to break bread -with Him, to repeat His words, to obey Him as a father, and more than a -father. Four poor fishermen, four plain men of the lake, men who did not -know how to read, nor indeed how to speak correctly, four humble men -whom no one else would have been able to distinguish from others, were -called by Jesus to found with Him a kingdom which was to occupy all the -earth. For Him they left their faithful boats which they had put out -into the water so many times, and so many times tied up to the wharf; -they left the old fish nets which had drawn from the water thousands of -fish; they left their father, their family, their home. They left all -that to follow this man who did not promise money or lands and spoke -only of love, of poverty and perfection. Thus if their spirit always -remained too low to understand their master, always a little rustic and -common, and if sometimes they doubted and were uncertain and did not -understand His truths and His parables, and at the end abandoned Him, -all will be pardoned to them for the candid, unquestioning promptness -with which they followed Him at the first call. - -Who among us to-day, among all those now living, would be capable of -imitating those four poor men of Capernaum? If a prophet should come and -say to the merchant, “Leave your bank and your counter”; and to the -Professor, “Come down from your chair and throw away your books”; and to -the statesman, “Give up your portfolios and your lies which are only -nets for catching men”; and to the working man, “Put away your tools for -I will give you other work”; and to the farmer, “Stop in the middle of -the furrow and leave your plow among the clods, for I promise you a more -wonderful harvest”; and to the factory hand, “Stop your machine and come -with me, for spirit is more precious than metal”; and to the rich, “Give -away all your goods, for you will acquire with me an inestimable -treasure”; ... if a prophet should speak thus to us, men of the present -day, how many would follow him with the simple-hearted spontaneity of -those fishermen of old? But Jesus made no sign to the merchants who -stood trafficking in the open places, and in the shops, nor to those who -observed the tiniest commands of the law and could recite by heart -verses from the Bible, nor to the farmers rooted to their land and their -live-stock, and certainly not to the affluent, surfeited, satisfied, who -care nothing about any other kingdoms because their kingdom has long -since been realized. - -Not by chance did Jesus select His first companions from among -fishermen. The fisherman who lives a great part of his days in the pure -solitude of the water is the man who knows how to wait. He is the -patient, unhurried man who lets down his nets and leaves the rest to -God. The water has its caprices, the lake its fantasies, no day is like -another day; he does not know when he goes away if he will come back -with his boat full or without a single fish to cook for his dinner. He -commends himself into the hands of God, who sends abundance and famine. -He consoles himself for bad days by thinking of the good days which have -been and which will come. He does not desire sudden riches, and is glad -if he can exchange the results of his fishing for a little bread and -wine. He is pure in soul and body. He washes his hands in water and his -spirit in solitude. - -Of these fishermen who would have died in the obscurity of Capernaum -without any one except their neighbors being aware of them, Jesus made -saints whom men even to-day remember and invoke. A great man creates -great men; from a somnolent people he raises up prophets; from a -debilitated people, warriors; from an ignorant race, teachers. In any -weather fires are lighted if there is a hand capable of kindling them. -When David appears he finds at once his gibborim; an Agamemnon finds his -heroes, an Arthur his knights, Charlemagne his paladins, Napoleon his -Marshals. Jesus found among the men of the people of Galilee, His -apostles. - -Jesus did not seek armed warriors, men who would lay their enemies low, -conquerors of provinces. His apostles were to fight, but the good fight -of perfection against corruption, holiness against sin, health against -sickness, spirit against matter, the happy future against the past, -henceforth sterile. They were to aid Him in bringing His joyous message -to the heavy-hearted. They were to speak in His name in places where He -could not go, and in His name to carry on His work after His death. - - - THE MOUNT - - -The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest proof of the right of men to -exist in the infinite universe. It is our sufficient justification, the -patent of our soul’s worthiness, the pledge that we can lift ourselves -above ourselves to be more than men, the promise of that supreme -possibility, the hope of our rising above the beast. - -If an angel come down to us from the world above should ask us what our -most precious possession is, the master-work of the Spirit at the height -of its power, we would not show him the great wonderful oiled machines -of which we foolishly boast, although they are but matter in the service -of material and superfluous needs; but we would offer him the Sermon on -the Mount, and afterwards, only afterwards, a few hundred pages taken -from the poets of all the peoples. But the Sermon would be always the -one refulgent diamond dimming with the clear splendor of its pure light -the colored poverty of emeralds and sapphires. - -And if men were called before a superhuman tribunal and had to give an -account to the judges of all the inexplicable mistakes and of the -ancient infamies every day renewed, and of the massacres which last for -a thousand years, and of all the bloodshed between brothers, and of all -the tears shed by the children of men, and of our hardness of heart and -of our perfidy only equaled perhaps by our stupidity; we should not -bring before this tribunal the reasonings of the philosophers, however -learned and fine-spun; not the sciences, ephemeral systems of symbols -and recipes; nor our laws, short-sighted compromises between ferocity -and fear. The only thing we should have to show as restitution for so -much evil, as atonement for our stubborn tardiness in paying our debts, -as apology for sixty centuries of hideous history, as the one and -supreme attenuation of all those accusations, is the Sermon on the -Mount. Who has read it, even once, and has not felt at least in that -brief moment while he read, a thrill of grateful tenderness, and an ache -in his throat, a passion of love and remorse, a confused but urgent -longing to act—so that those words shall not be words alone, nor this -sermon mere sounds and signs, but so that they shall be imminent hope, -life, alive in all those who live, present truth for always and for -every one? He who has read it, if only once, and has not felt all this, -he deserves our love beyond all other men, because all the love of men -can never make up to him for what he has lost. - -The Mount on which Jesus sat the day of the sermon was certainly not so -high as that from which Satan had shown Him the Kingdoms of the earth. -From it you could see only the plain, calm under the loving sunset -light; on one side the silver-green oval of the lake, and on the other -the long crest of Carmel where Elijah overcame the scullions of Baal. -But from this humble mount which only the hyperbole of the chroniclers -called mountain, from this little rocky hill scarcely rising above the -level earth, Jesus disclosed that Kingdom which has no confines or -boundaries, and wrote not on tablets of stone like Jehovah, but on -flesh-and-blood hearts, the song of the new man, the hymn of -glorification. - -“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good -tidings, that publisheth peace!” Isaiah was never more a prophet than at -the moment when these words poured from his soul. - - - BLESSED ARE THE POOR - - -Jesus sat on a little hill in the midst of the first apostles surrounded -by hundreds of eyes that were watching His eyes; and some one asked Him -to whom would be allotted this Kingdom of Heaven, of which He so often -spoke. Jesus answered with the nine beatitudes. - -The beatitudes, so often spelled out even nowadays by people who have -lost their meaning, are almost always misunderstood, mutilated, -deformed, cheapened, distorted. And yet they epitomize the first day of -Christ’s teaching, that glorious day! - -“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” -Luke leaves out the words “in spirit,” seeming to mean the “poor” and -nothing else; and many people after him (some modern and malicious) have -understood him to mean the simple-minded, the silly. They see in the -words only a choice between the bankrupt and the imbecile. - -When He spoke, Jesus was not thinking either of the first or the second. -Jesus had no friendship for the rich and detested with all His soul the -greedy desire for riches, the greatest obstacle to the true enrichment -of the soul; Jesus was friendly to the poor and comforted them because -they had less comfort than other people; He kept them near Him because -of their greater need to be fed by loving words. But He was not so -foolish as to think that to be poor, materially poor in the worldly -sense of the word, is a sufficient title to enjoy the Kingdom, without -any other qualifications. - -Jesus never gave any sign of admiring that intelligence which is solely -the intelligence of abstraction and the memory for phrases. Purely -systematic philosophers, and metaphysical sophists, gropers in nature, -devourers of books, would never have found grace in His eyes. But -intelligence, the power of understanding the signs of the future and the -meaning of symbols—enlightened and prophetic intelligence, the loving -mastery of the truth—was a gift in His eyes also, and many times He -grieved that His listeners and His disciples showed so little of it. For -Him supreme intelligence consisted in realizing that the intelligence -alone is not enough, that all the soul must be changed to obtain -happiness, since happiness is not an absurd dream but eternally possible -and within reach. But he fully understood that intelligence ought to aid -us in this total transmutation. He could not therefore call to the -fullness of the Kingdom of God the dull and the imbecile. Poor in spirit -are those who are fully and painfully aware of their own spiritual -poverty, of the faultiness of their own souls, of the smallness of the -good that is in us all, of the moral indigence of most men. Only the -poor who realize that they are really poor suffer from their poverty, -and because they suffer from it try to escape from it. Very different -these from men apparently rich, from those blind arrogant self-satisfied -people who believe themselves fulfilled and perfected, in good standing -with God and man, who feel no eagerness to climb upward because they -delude themselves with thinking they are already on high, who will never -enrich themselves because they do not realize their own fathomless -poverty. - -Those therefore who confess themselves poor and undergo suffering to -acquire that veritable wealth named perfection, will become holy as God -is holy, and theirs shall be the Kingdom of Heaven; those complacent -people on the other hand who drape themselves in self-satisfaction, -taking no heed of the foulness accumulated and hidden under their -vainglory, will not enter into the Kingdom. - - - BLESSED ARE THE MEEK: FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH - - -The earth here promised is not the literal field of clods, nor -monarchies with built-up cities. In the language of the Messiah, “to -inherit the earth” means to partake of the New Kingdom. The soldier who -fights for the earthly earth needs to be fierce; but he who fights -within himself for the conquest of the new earth and the new heaven must -not abandon himself to anger, the counselor of evil, nor to cruelty, the -negation of love. The meek are those who endure close contact with evil -men and with themselves—often harder to bear—who do not break out into -brutish rage when things go badly, but conquer their inner enemies with -that quiet perseverance which more than sudden sterile furies shows the -force of the soul. They are like water which is not hard to the touch, -which seems to give way before other substances, but slowly rises, -silently attacks, and calmly consumes, with the patience of the years, -the hardest granites. - - - BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN - - -Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. The afflicted, -the weeping, those who feel disgust for themselves and pity for the -world, who do not live in the supine stupidity of everyday life, who -mourn over their own unhappiness and that of their brothers, who grieve -over failures, over the blindness which delays the victory of -light—because light for men cannot come from the sky if their own eyes -do not reflect it—who grieve over the remoteness of that righteousness -dreamed-of again and again, promised a thousand times, and yet always -further away through our fault and every one’s fault; those who mourn -over an offense received instead of increasing the wrong by revenge, and -who weep over the wrong they have done and over the good they might have -done and did not; those who care little about the loss of a visible -treasure but strain after the invisible treasure; those who mourn, -hasten with their tears the day of grace, and it is right that they -shall some day be comforted. - - -BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER JUSTICE: FOR THEY SHALL BE - FILLED - - -The justice which Jesus means is not the justice of men, obedience to -human law, conformity to codes, respect for usage and for the -established transactions of men. In the language of the psalmists, the -prophets, the saints, the just man is he who lives according to the will -of God, because God is the supreme type of all perfection. Not according -to the law written by the Scribes set down in the Bible, diluted by -Talmudic casuistries, obscured by the subtleties of the Pharisees; but -according to the one simple Law which Jesus reduces to one commandment, -“Love all men near and far, your fellow countrymen and foreigners, -strangers and enemies.” Those who hunger and thirst after this justice -shall be filled in the Kingdom of Heaven. Even if they do not succeed in -being perfect in all things, much will be pardoned for their endurance -of the long vigil. - - - BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL: FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY - - -He who loves shall be loved, he who gives help shall find help. The law -of retaliation is nullified for evil but remains valid for good. We -constantly commit sins against the spirit and those sins will be -forgiven us only as we forgive those committed against us. Christ is in -all men and what we do to others will be done to us. “Inasmuch as ye -have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it -unto me.” If we have pity on others we may have pity for ourselves; God -can pardon the evil which we do to ourselves only if we pardon the evil -which others do to us. - - - BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART: FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD - - -The Pure of Heart are those who have no other wish than for perfection, -no other joy than victory over the evil which hunts us down on every -side. He who has his heart crammed with furious desires, with earthly -ambitions, with carnal pride and with all the lusts which convulse this -ant-heap of the earth, can never see God face to face, will never know -the sweetness of His magnificent felicity. - - - BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS: FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD - - -These peacemakers are not the meek of the second beatitude. The meek -refrain from answering evil with evil; the peacemakers do more, they -return good for evil, they bring peace where wars are flaring up. When -Jesus said He had come to bring war and not peace, He meant war to evil, -to Satan, to the world, to evil which is wrong, to Satan who is Death, -to the world which is an eternal battle. He means, in short, war against -war. The peacemakers are those who wage war upon war, those who placate, -those who bring about concord. The origin of every war is self-love, -love which becomes love of riches, pride of possession, envy of those -more wealthy, hatred for rivals; and the new law comes to teach hatred -for oneself, contempt for measurable goods, love for all creatures, even -for those who hate us. The peacemakers who teach and practice this love -cut at the root of all war. When every man loves his brothers more than -himself there will be no more wars, neither great nor small, neither -civil nor imperial, neither of words nor of blows, between man and man, -between class and class, between people and people. The peacemakers will -have conquered the earth and they will be called the true sons of God, -and they will enter among the first into His Kingdom. - - -BLESSED ARE THEY WHO HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED FOR JUSTICE’ SAKE: FOR THEIRS - IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN - - -I send you out to found this Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, of that -higher justice which is love, of that fatherly goodness whose name is -God; I send you out therefore to fight against those who uphold -injustice, the servants of materialism, the proselytes of the Adversary. -They will defend themselves when attacked, and to defend themselves they -will attack you. You will be tortured in body, crucified in soul, -deprived of liberty and perhaps of life; but if you accept this -suffering cheerfully to carry to others that justice which makes you -suffer, this persecution will be for you an incontestable title to enter -into the Kingdom which you have founded as far as was in your power. - - -BLESSED ARE YE WHEN MEN SHALL REPROACH YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU AND SAY ALL -MANNER OF EVIL AGAINST YOU FALSELY FOR MY SAKE. REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDING - GLAD: FOR GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: FOR SO PERSECUTED THEY THE - PROPHETS WHICH WERE BEFORE YOU - - -Persecution is a material attack through physical, legal and political -means. The persecutors can take away your bread, and the clear light of -the sun, and divine liberty; they may break your bones, but you must -endure more than mere persecution. You must expect insult and calumny. -They will condemn you because you wish to change bestial men into -saints. Wallowing in the foulness of their bestiality, they detest the -idea of leaving their filth. But they will not be satisfied to strike -only at your body, they will strike also at your soul. They will accuse -you of all crimes, they will stone you with slander and contumely. Hogs -will say that you are filthy, asses will swear that you are ignorant, -ravens will accuse you of eating carrion, rams will drive you away as -ill-smelling, the dissolute will cry out upon the scandal of your -corruptness and thieves will denounce you for theft. But you must always -rejoice because the insult of evil men is the consecration of your own -goodness, and the mud thrown at you by the impure is the pledge of your -purity. This is, as St. Francis says, “the perfect joy.” Beyond all the -graces which Christ gives to His friends is the grace of conquering -oneself and willingly enduring injury, opprobrium, pains, discomforts. -All the other gifts of God are not ours to glory in, because they come -not from us, but from God; but in tribulation and in affliction we can -glory because that is ours. All the prophets who have ever spoken upon -the earth were insulted by men, and men will insult those who are to -come. We can recognize prophets by this, that smeared with mud and -covered with shame, they pass among men, bright-faced, speaking out what -is in their hearts. No mud can close the lips of those who must speak. -Even if the obstinate prophet is killed, they cannot silence him. His -voice multiplied by the echoes of his death will be heard in all -languages and through all the centuries. - -This promise brings the beatitudes to their end. - -By means of the beatitudes, Christ fully explains who are fit to be the -citizens of His new Kingdom. Those citizens are henceforth found and -sealed; every one can recognize them. The unwilling are warned, the -uncertain are reassured. The rich, the proud, the satisfied, the -violent, the unjust, the warlike, those who mock, those who do not -hunger after perfection, those who persecute and outrage, can never -enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. They cannot enter there until they are -altogether conquered and changed, and have become the opposite of what -they are now. Those who live happily according to the world, those whom -the world envies, imitates and admires, are infinitely further from true -happiness than those others whom the world scorns and hates. In this -exulting beginning Jesus has turned upside down the human hierarchy; now -as He goes on He will turn upside down the values of life, and no other -revaluation will ever be so divinely paradoxical as His. - - - THE DIVINE PARADOX - - -Emasculated Gymnosophists and the cowardly sect of the Saturnists,—these -are serious-minded men who can understand plain facts but cannot -interpret those facts but merely repeat and spoil them—have always -looked with unfriendly eyes on what is called the paradoxical. To save -themselves the trouble of distinguishing between sacred paradoxes and -those which are only a fatuous amusement, they make haste to pass -judgment on all paradox as nothing else than the overturning of -recognized old truths; hence, false and—they add, to clip the wings of -vanity—as easy as possible to invent. One would suppose it seems to them -more difficult to walk along the road already laid out, and to spell -over line by line what was written before they were born by men who -certainly had not their cowardly temperament. - -But if these priests of the already-said would consider the few master -ideas on which modern thought is living, or rather on which it is dying, -they would discover that they are almost all overturnings, that is to -say, paradoxes. When Rousseau says that men are born good but that -society makes them bad, he turns inside out the accepted doctrine of -original sin; when the disciples of progress affirm that from the worse -comes the better; when the evolutionist affirms that the complex springs -out of the simple; and the monist that all diversities are but -manifestations of the One; and the Marxist that economic history is the -basis of spiritual development; when the modern mathematical -philosophers affirm that man is not as he has always been believed, the -center of the universe, but a minute animal species on one of an -infinite number of spheres scattered in the infinite; when the -Protestants cry, “The Pope is of no account but only the Scriptures”; -when the French Revolutionists say, “The Third Estate is nothing and -should be everything”—what are all these people doing except overturning -old and commonly held opinions? - -But Jesus is the greatest overturner, the supreme maker of paradoxes, -radical and without fear. This is His greatness, His eternal freshness -and youth, the secret of the turning sooner or later of every great -heart toward His Gospel. - -He became incarnate to recreate men sunk in error and evil; He found -error and evil in the world; how could He fail to overturn the maxims of -the world? Read over again the words of the Sermon on the Mount. At -every step it proclaims the desire of Jesus that what is low shall be -recognized as lofty; that the last shall be first; that the overlooked -shall be the preferred; that the scorned shall be reverenced, and -finally, that the old truth shall be considered as error, and ordinary -life as death and corruption. He has said to the past, benumbed in its -death agony, to Nature, too easily followed, to universal and common -opinion of mankind, the most decisive “NO” in the history of the world. - -In this He is faithful to the spirit of His race which in its very -downfall always found reasons for greater hope. The most enslaved people -dreamed of dominating other peoples with the help of the Son of David. -The most despised race felt that glory was promised them, the people -most punished by God believed itself the most loved; the most sinful was -certain that it alone was to be saved. This absurd reaction of the -Hebrew conscience became in Christ a revision of values, became, because -of His superhuman origin, a divine renovation of all the principles -followed and respected by humanity. - -Christ’s first discovery is like that of Buddha, “Men are unhappy, all -men—even those who seem happy.” Siddharta to put an end to pain -counseled the suppression of life itself. Jesus had another hope, more -sublime in that it appears absurd. He taught that men are unhappy -because they have not found true life. Let them become the opposite of -what they are, let them do the contrary of what they do, and the -festival of happiness on earth will begin. - -Until now they have followed Nature, they have let themselves be guided -by their instincts, they have accepted and that only superficially a -provisional and insufficient law, they have worshiped lying gods, they -have thought they could find happiness in wine, in flesh, in gold, in -authority, in cruelty, in art, in learning; and the only result has been -that their suffering has become more intense. The explanation is that -they have lost the path, that they must turn straight around, renounce -what seemed good, pick up what was thrown away, worship what was burned, -and burn what was worshiped, conquer the animal instincts instead of -satisfying them, struggle with their nature instead of justifying it, -make a new law and live by it, faithfully, in the spirit. If until now -they have not obtained what they looked for, the only possible cure is -to turn their present life upside down, that is, to transform their -souls. - -Our permanent unhappiness is a proof that the experiment of the old -world has failed, that Nature is hostile, that the past is wrong, that -to live like animals according to the elementary instinct of animals, -only slightly furbished up and varnished with humanity, results in -wretchedness and despair. - -Those who have laughed at or wept over the infinite wretchedness of man -have seen clearly. The pessimists are right. Those who denounce our -boasting, those who scorn our strengthlessness, those who despise our -ignominy, how can they be refuted? - -Whoever is not born to wriggle contentedly in the worm heap, eating his -particle of earth, he who has not only a stomach and two hands, but a -soul and a heart; he whose soul is of finer temper because it has been -so beaten upon, is bound to feel a horror of mankind. For hard, arid -natures this horror changes into repugnance and hate; for others richer -and more generous it turns to pity and love. - -When we read Leopardi and consider how he lost (perhaps because of the -imperfect Christians surrounding him) his youthful love of Christ and, -eating his heart out in reasoning despair, ended with the despairing -lines, “Tiresome and bitter is life, never aught but that”; who of us -will have the insight to reply, “Be quiet, unfortunate man! If you taste -nothing but bitterness, it comes from the wormwood you are eating; if -you find life tiresome the fault is yours; you yourself have used the -infernal stone of barren reasoning to cauterize those feelings which -would have made your life cheerful or at least endurable”? - -No, Leopardi was not mistaken, for when you see men as they are and have -no hope of saving them, or changing them, and you cannot live like them -because you are too different from them, and cannot succeed in loving -them because you believe them condemned to eternal unhappiness and -wickedness, when you feel that the brutes will always be brutes and the -cowards always cowards and the foul always more sunk in their foulness, -what else can you do but counsel your heart to silence, and hope for -death? There is but one question: are men unchangeable, not to be -transformed, not capable of becoming better? Or, on the other hand, can -man rise above himself and make himself holy? The answer is of terrible -importance. All our destiny is in that question. Among superior men many -have not been fully conscious of this dilemma. Many have believed and -still believe that the form of life can be changed, but not the essence; -and that to man everything will be given except to change the nature of -his spirit; that man can become yet more master of the world, richer and -more learned, but he cannot change his moral structure. His feelings, -his primary instincts will always remain as they were in the wild -occupants of the caves, in the constructors of the lake cities, in the -first barbarians and in the peoples of the most ancient kingdoms. - -Others feel an equal horror of man as he has been and as he is, but -before they sink into the despair of moral nihilism they look at man as -he could be. They have a firm faith in his perfectibility of soul and -find happiness in the divine but terrible task of preparing the -happiness of their brothers. - -For men who are truly men there is no other choice: either the blackest -anguish or the boldest faith; either death or salvation. The past is -horrible, the present is repellent; let us give all our life, let us -offer all our power of loving and understanding in order that to-morrow -may be better, that the future may be happy. If up to now we have erred, -and the irrefutable proof is the black past from which we have come, let -us work for the birth of a new man and a new life. There are but two -possibilities: either happiness will never be given to men or, and this -Jesus believed firmly, if happiness could be our ordinary and eternal -possession there is no other price for attaining it but to change our -course, transform our souls, create new values, deny the old, answer the -“No” of holiness to the false “Yes” of the world. If Christ _was_ -mistaken, nothing remains but absolute and universal negation, resolute -faith in nothing. Either complete and rigorous atheism, not the maimed -hypocritical atheism of the cowardly sects of to-day; or active faith in -Christ who saves and resurrects us by His love. - - - YE HAVE HEARD - - -The first prophets, the earliest legislators, the leaders of young -nations, the Kings, founders of cities and institutors of justice, the -wise masters, the saints, began the domination of the beast. With spoken -and sculptured word they tamed wolfish men, domesticated the men of the -woods, held barbarians in restraint, taught those bearded children, -softened the violent, the vengeful, the inhuman. With the gentleness of -the word or the terror of punishment (Orpheus or Draco), by promises or -by threats, in the name of the gods of high heavens or the gods under -the earth, they trimmed the nails, which immediately grew long again; -put muzzles over the sharp-fanged mouths; protected the defenseless, the -victims, pilgrims, women. The old law that is found with only a few -variations in the Manava Dharmasastra, in the Pentateuch, in the Ta-Hio, -in the Avesta, in the traditions of Solon and of Numa, in the -sententious maxims of Hesiod and the Seven Wise Men, is the first -attempt, rough, imperfect and inadequate, to mold animality into a -sketch, a beginning, a simulacrum of humanity. - -This law reduced itself to a few elementary rules; not to steal, not to -kill, not to perjure, not to fornicate, not to tyrannize over the weak, -not to mistreat strangers and slaves any more than was necessary. These -are the social virtues, strictly necessary for a common life, useful to -all. The legislator contented himself with naming the most ordinary -sins, asked for a minimum of inhibition. His ideal rarely surpassed a -sort of approximate justice. But the law took for granted the -predominance of evil, the sovereignty of instinct, earlier than the law -and still existing. Every precept implies its infraction, every rule the -practice of the opposite. For this reason the old law, the law of the -first peoples, is only an insufficient channeling of the brute force -eternal and triumphant. It is a collection of compromises and -half-measures between custom and justice, between nature and reason, -between the rebellious beast and the divine model. - -Men of ancient time, carnal, physical, hearty, lusty, muscular, -sanguine, sturdy, solid, hairy men with ruddy faces, eaters of raw meat, -ravishers, cattle-stealers, mutilators of their enemies, fit to be -called, like Hector the Trojan, “killers of men,” strong, zestful -warriors who, having dragged by the feet their slaughtered antagonists, -refreshed themselves with fat haunches of oxen and of mutton, emptying -enormous cups of wine; these men ill-tamed, ill-subdued to the law such -as we see them in the Mahabharata, and in the Iliad, in the poem of -Izdubar, and in the book of the wars of Jehovah, such men without the -fear of punishment and of God would have been still more unrestrained -and ferocious. In times when a head was asked for an eye, an arm for a -finger, and a hundred lives for a life, a law of retaliation which asked -only an eye for an eye and a life for a life was a notable victory of -generosity, appalling though it seems after the teaching of Jesus. - -But the law was more often disobeyed than observed; the strong endured -it against their will, the powerful who ought to have protected it, -evaded it; the bad violated it openly; the weak cheated it. And even if -it had been entirely obeyed by every man every day it would not have -been enough to conquer the evil perpetually boiling up, held down only -for a moment, rendered harder to enact but not impossible, condemned but -not abolished. It was a reduction of innate fierceness, not its total -extirpation. Men, shackled but reluctant, had learned to pretend -obedience, did a little good where every one could see them in order to -be more free to do wrong secretly, exaggerated the observance of -external precepts that they might the better betray the foundation and -spirit of the law. - -They had come to this point when Jesus spoke on the Mount. He understood -that the old law was doomed, drowned in the stagnant swamps of -formalism; the endless work of the education of the human race was to -begin over again, the ashes must be brushed away, the flame of original -enthusiasm must be blown into it, it must be carried through to its -original destination which is always metanoia, the changing of the soul. -And for this it was necessary to terminate the old law, the dried and -burnt-out old law. - -With Jesus therefore begins the new law: the old is abrogated and -declared insufficient. - -He begins at every example with the words—“Ye have heard it said” ... -and at once He substitutes for the old command, which He purifies by -paradox or actually overthrows, the new command, “But I say unto -you....” - -With these “buts” a new phase of the human education begins. It is not -the fault of Jesus if we are still groping along in the twilight of very -early dawn. - - - BUT I SAY UNTO YOU - - -“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill -... but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother ... -shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his -brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall -say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Jesus goes straight to -the extreme. He does not even consider the possibility of striking a -brother, much less of killing him. He does not conceive even the -intention, the wish to kill. A single moment of anger, a single abusive -word, a single offensive phrase, are for him the equivalent of -assassination. Unimaginative, mediocre people cry out, “Exaggeration.” -There can be no grandeur where there is no passion and passion is -exaggeration. Jesus has His own logic and makes no mistake. Murder is -only the final carrying out of a feeling. From anger follow evil words, -from evil words, evil deeds; from blows, murder. It is not enough -therefore to forbid the final act, the material and external act. That -is only the result of an interior process which has made it inevitable. -The right thing to do is to cut at the root of the evil to destroy the -evil plant of hate which bears the poisonous fruit. - -Achilles, son of Peleus, that same Achilles who was wrathful because -they took away his concubine, and who begged the Gods to let him become -a cannibal so that he could set his teeth in his dead enemies’ flesh, -Achilles of the silver-footed mother said: “Whether they come from Gods -or from men, ill-omened are quarrels and the anger which drives even a -wise man to wrath, wrath which sweeter than honey in the mouth grows -greater in men’s hearts.” Achilles, after the massacre of his -companions, after the death of his dearest friend, discovers finally -what a thing is wrath, which kindles and burns and not even a river of -blood can quench it. The wrathful hero knows what an evil thing is -wrath, but he is not converted. And he foregoes his wrath against the -king of men only to vent the fury of his vengeance upon the murdered -body of Hector. - -Anger is like fire: it can be smothered only at the first spark; -afterwards it is too late. Jesus uttered the profoundest truth when He -decreed the same penalty for the first hot words as for murder. When all -men learn to conquer at the very start their outbreaks of resentment and -to curb their imprecations, quarrels of words or of deeds will flame up -no longer between man and his brother man, and homicide will become only -a black memory of our wild-beast past. - -“Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, thou shalt not -commit adultery, but I say unto you that whoever looketh upon a woman to -lust after her hath committed adultery already in his heart.” Even here -Jesus does not stop with the material fact which seems of importance to -gross men. He always soars from the body to the soul, from flesh to -will, from the visible to the invisible. The tree is judged by its -fruit, but the seed is judged by the tree. Evil visible to all is seen -too late. In its maturity it can no longer be prevented. Sin is the -pustule which suddenly appears, but which would not have appeared if the -blood had been purged from its malignant humors in time. When a man and -another man’s wife desire each other, the betrayal is complete, they -have committed adultery whether or not they are guilty in deed. A man -marries not only the body of his wife, but her soul. If her soul is lost -to him he has lost the greater part. To lose also the lesser part may be -unendurably painful, but it is not vital. A woman overcome and forced -without her consent by a stranger not loved by her, does not commit -adultery. What counts is the intention, the feeling. He who wishes to -maintain himself pure must abstain also from the mere silent passing -look of desire, because the look of desire if not repressed is repeated -and a look passes into a word, into a kiss, and into love which spares -no lover. To think of, to imagine, to desire a betrayal is already a -betrayal. He alone who cuts the first thread can save himself from the -great net of perversity which, starting from a glance, grows until not -even death can break it. And Jesus advises expressly to pluck out the -eye and cast it away if evil comes from the eye, and to cut off the hand -and throw it away if evil comes from the hand,—advice which dismays the -cowardly and even the strong. Yet even the most cowardly, when -threatened by cancer, have their arms or legs cut off, and if a tumor -grows in the bowels, are ready to have their bodies cut open to save -their lives. Men are concerned to save the body, but grudge any -sacrifice necessary to keep in health the soul, without which the body -is only an insensate machine of flesh and blood. - -“Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou -shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: - -“But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven; for it is -God’s throne: - -“Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it -is the city of the great King. - -“Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one -hair white or black. - -“But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is -more than these cometh of evil.” - -He who swears to the truth is afraid, he who swears to the false is a -traitor. The first believes that the power invoked could punish him, the -other is an impostor who profits by the faith of others the more readily -to deceive them. In both cases swearing is wrong. For us impotent men to -call on a superior power to bear witness or to be a judge in our -miserable quarrels of opposed interest, to swear by our heads or by our -sons’ heads when we cannot change the appearance of the smallest part of -our body, is an absurd challenge, a blasphemy. He who always speaks the -truth not through dread of penalties, but through natural desire of his -soul, needs no oaths. Oaths can almost always be called in question, and -never serve to give perfect security even to those who seem to be -satisfied with them. In the history of the world there are more stories -of broken oaths than of oaths kept, and he who uses most words to swear -is precisely the man who is already thinking of breaking his oath. - -“Ye have heard it said, Honor thy father and thy mother, but I say unto -you, he that loveth his father and mother more than me is not worthy of -me.” And also, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and -mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his -own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Here also the old precept -which ties the new order to the old order with the tether of reverence -is brusquely reversed. - -Jesus does not condemn filial love, but He puts it in its right place, -which is not first of all, as the people of antiquity thought. For Him -the greatest love, the purest is paternal love. The father loves in the -son the future, what is new; the son loves in the father, the past, the -old. But Jesus comes to change the past, to destroy the old. Homage paid -to parents, shutting oneself up in tradition and in the family, is a -barrier to the renovation of the world. Love of all men is a greater -thing than love for those who gave us life. Salvation for all men is -infinitely preferable to the service of the few who make up a family. To -have the greater, one must needs abandon the less. It would be more -convenient to love only those of our family and to make this love (often -forced and simulated) an excuse for not being friendly to any one else. -But he who is devoting his life to something which transcends him has a -great undertaking which takes all his strength and every moment of his -every hour until the last. He who wishes to serve the universe with a -broad spirit must give up, and if that is not enough, deny the common -affections. He who wishes to be Father in the divine sense of the word, -even without physical paternity, cannot be merely a son. “Let the dead -bury their dead.” In the old law, and more than ever in the learned -traditions, there were hundreds of precepts for the purification of the -body, minute, tiresome, complicated precepts without any true earthly or -heavenly foundation. The Pharisees made the best part of religion -consist in the observance of these traditions because it is much less -trouble to wash a cup than your own soul. For a dead thing like a cup a -little water and a towel are enough; for the soul there must be tears of -love and the fire of desire. “Not that which goeth into the mouth -defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a -man. Do ye not understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth -into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which -proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the -man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, -fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things -which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” - -The bath with water from the well or from the fountain, the bodily and -ritual bath, does not take the place of the essential inner -purification, and it is better to eat with hands soiled with sweat than -to repel a hungry brother with hands washed in three waters. Filth -issues from the body, disappears into the vaults and enriches orchards -and fields. But there are many finely dressed gentlemen so full to the -throat with another sort of filth that the stench of it comes out with -the words from their mouths, vainly washed and rinsed. And this filth -does not disappear into underground vaults, but soils every one’s life, -poisons the air, befouls even the innocent. From these excremental men -we should stand far away, even if they are washed twelve times a day; -the soaping of the skin is not enough if the heart sends up noisome -thoughts. The sewer-cleaner, if he thinks no evil, is certainly cleaner -than the rich man who, while splashing in the perfumed water of his -marble bath tub, is meditating some new fornication or fraud. - - - NONRESISTANCE - - -But Jesus had not yet arrived at the most stupefying of His -revolutionary teachings. “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye -for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist -not evil: But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him -the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away -thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee -to go a mile, go with him twain.” - -There could be no more definite repudiation of the old law of -retaliation. The greater part of those who call themselves Christians -not only have never observed this new Commandment, but have never been -willing to pretend to approve of it. For an infinite number of believers -this principle of not resisting evil has been the unendurable and -inacceptable scandal of Christianity. - -There are three answers which men can make to violence: revenge, flight, -turning the other cheek. The first is the barbarous principle of -retaliation, now smoothed over and emasculated in the legal codes, but -nevertheless prevailing in usage: evil is returned for evil, either in -one’s own person or by the means of intermediaries, representatives of -our tribal lack of civilization, called judges or executioners. To the -evil committed by the first offender are added the evils committed by -the officers of justice. Often the punishment turns on the punisher and -the terrible chain of violence from one revenge to another stretches out -interminably. Wrong is two-edged; it fails even if inflicted with the -desire of doing good, in nations, or families or individuals. A first -crime brings after it a train of expiations and punishments which are -distributed with sinister impartiality between offenders and offended. -The law of retaliation can give a bestial relief to him who is first -struck, but instead of lessening evil it multiplies it. - -Flight is no better than retaliation. He who hides himself redoubles his -enemies’ courage. Fear of retaliation can on rare occasions hold back -the violent hand, but the man who takes flight invites pursuit. He who -hides invites his adversary to make an end of him. His weakness becomes -the accomplice of the ferocity of others. Here also evil begets evil. - -In spite of its apparent absurdity the only way is that commanded by -Jesus. If a man gives you a blow and you return another blow, he will -answer with his fists, you in turn with kicks, weapons will be drawn and -one of you may lose your life, often for a trivial reason. If you fly, -your adversary will follow you and emboldened by his first experience -will knock you down. Turning the other cheek means not receiving the -second blow. It means cutting the chain of the inevitable wrongs at the -first link. Your adversary who expected resistance or flight is -humiliated before you and before himself. He was ready for anything but -this. He is thrown into confusion, a confusion which is almost shame. He -has the time to come to himself; your immobility cools his anger, gives -him time to reflect. He cannot accuse you of fear because you are ready -to receive the second blow, and you yourself show him the place to -strike. Every man has an obscure respect for courage in others, -especially if it is moral courage, the rarest and most difficult sort of -bravery. An injured man who feels no resentment and who does not run -away shows more strength of soul, more mastery of himself, more true -heroism than he who in the blindness of rage rushes upon the offender to -render back to him twice the evil received. Quietness, when it is not -stupidity, gentleness, when it is not cowardice, astound common souls as -do all marvelous things. They make the very brute understand that this -man is more than a man. The brute himself when not incited to follow by -a hot answer or by cowardly flight, remains paralyzed, feels almost -afraid of this new, unknown puzzling force, the more so because among -the greatest exciting factors for the man who strikes, is his -anticipated pleasure in the angry blow, in the resistance, in the -ensuing struggle. Man is a fighting animal; but with no resistance -offered, the pleasure disappears; there is no zest left. There is no -longer an adversary, but a superior who says quietly, “Is that not -enough? Here is the other cheek; strike as long as you wish. It is -better that my face should suffer than my soul. You can hurt me as much -as you wish, but you cannot force me to follow you into a mad, brutal -rage. The fact that some one has wronged me cannot force me to act -wrongly.” - -Literally to follow this command of Jesus demands a mastery possessed by -few, of the blood, of the nerves, and of all the instincts of the baser -part of our being. It is a bitter and repellent command; but Jesus never -said it would be easy to follow Him. He never said it would be possible -to obey Him without harsh renunciations, without stern and continuous -inner battles; without the denial of the old Adam and the birth of the -new man. And yet the results of non-resistance, even if they are not -always perfect, are certainly superior to those of resistance or flight. -The example of so extraordinary a spiritual mastery, so impossible and -unthinkable for common men, the almost superhuman fascination of conduct -so contrary to usual customs, traditions and passions; this example, -this spectacle of power, this puzzling miracle, unexpected like all -miracles, difficult to understand like all prodigies, this example of a -strong, sane man who looks like other men, and yet who acts almost like -a God, like a being above other beings, above the motives which move -other men—this example if repeated more than once, if it cannot be laid -to supine stupidity, if it is accompanied by proofs of physical courage -when physical courage is necessary to enjoy and not to harm—this example -has an effectiveness which we can imagine, soaked though we are in the -ideas of revenge and reprisals. We imagine it with difficulty; we cannot -prove it because we have had too few of such examples to be able to cite -even partial experiments as proofs of our intuition. - -But if this command of Jesus has never been obeyed or too rarely obeyed, -there is no proof that it cannot be followed, still less that it ought -to be rejected. It is repugnant to human nature, but all real moral -conquests are repugnant to our nature. They are salutary amputations of -a part of our soul—for some of us the most living part of the soul—and -it is natural that the threat of mutilation should make us shudder. But -whether it pleases us or not, only by accepting this command of Christ -can we solve the problem of violence. It is the only course which does -not add evil to evil, which does not multiply evil a hundredfold, which -prevents the infection of the wound, which cuts out the malignant growth -when it is only a tiny pustule. To answer blows with blows, evil deeds -with evil deeds, is to meet the attacker on his own ground, to proclaim -oneself as low as he. To answer with flight is to humiliate oneself -before him, and incite him to continue. To answer a furiously angry man -with reasonable words is useless effort. But to answer with a simple -gesture of acceptance, to endure for three days the bore who inflicts -himself on you for an hour, to offer your breast to the man who has -struck you on the shoulder, to give a thousand to the man who has stolen -a hundred from you, these are acts of heroic excellence, supine though -they may appear, so extraordinary that they overcome the brutal bully -with the irresistible majesty of the divine. Only he who has conquered -himself can conquer his enemies. Only the saints can charm wolves to -mildness. Only he who has transformed his own soul can transform the -souls of his brothers, and transform the world into a less grievous -place for all. - - - AGAINST NATURE - - -Nonresistance to evil is profoundly repugnant to our nature, but to obey -the teachings of Christ means that our nature will come to feel disgust -for what now pleases us, and find happiness in what now fills us with -horror. His every word takes for granted this total renovation of the -human spirit: He fearlessly contradicts our most ordinary inclinations -and the deepest of our instincts. He praises what every one avoids. He -condemns what all men seek. He not only gives the lie to what men teach -(often very different from what they really think and do), but He -contradicts what they actually think and do every day. - -Jesus does not believe in the perfection of the natural soul, of the -original soul. He believes in its future perfection, only to be reached -by a complete overturning of its present nature. His task is the reform -of man; more than that, the making-over of man. With Him begins the new -race; He is the model, the arch-type, the Adam of humanity remodeled and -recast. Socrates tried to reform the mind, Moses the law, others went no -further than altering a ritual, a code, a system, a science; but Jesus -did not aim at changing one part of man but the whole man from top to -bottom, changing the inner man who is the motive-power and origin of all -the facts and the words of the world. Therefore we need not expect Him -to compromise or to wheedle. He will make no concessions to evil and -imperfect nature; He will not find specious reasons to justify it as the -philosophers do. You cannot serve Jesus and Nature. He who stands with -Jesus is against the old animal nature and is working for the higher -nature which must conquer it. Everything else is idle talk, dust and -ashes. - -Nothing is more common among men than the thirst for riches. To heap up -money by any means, even the most infamous, has always seemed the -sweetest and most respectable of occupations. But he who wishes to come -with me, said Jesus, must go and sell that which he has and give it to -the poor and he shall have treasures in Heaven. Poverty is the first -requisite for the citizenship of the Kingdom. - -All men anxiously take thought for the morrow. They are always afraid -lest the ground give way under their feet, lest there may not be enough -bread to last to the next harvest. They fear that they will not have -enough clothes to cover their bodies and the bodies of their children. -But Jesus teaches us, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: -sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” - -Every man would like to stand first even among his equals. He wishes to -be superior to those who surround him, to command, to dominate, to seem -greater, richer, handsomer, wiser. The whole history of men is only the -terror of standing second; but Jesus teaches us, “And whosoever of you -will be the chiefest shall be servant of all.” The greatest is the -smallest, the most powerful shall serve the weakest, he who exalts -himself shall be humbled, he who humbles himself shall be exalted. - -Vanity is another universal curse of men. It poisons even their good -actions, because nearly always they perform those insignificant good -actions so that they may be seen. They do evil secretly and good openly. -Jesus commands us to do just the opposite. “But when thou doest alms, -let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth;... And when thou -prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray -standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they -may be seen of men.... But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy -closet.... Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad -countenance: for they disguise their faces, that they may appear to -fast.... But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy -face.” - -The instinct of self-preservation is the strongest of all those which -dominate us. No infamy, cruelty or cowardice is too much for us to pay -for the safety of this handful of animated dust. But Jesus tells us: -“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose -his life for my sake the same shall save it.” For what we _call_ life is -not true life and he who gives up his soul ruins also the flesh which -houses it. - -Every one of us has a hankering to judge his fellows. To sit in judgment -makes us feel that we are above those judged, better, more righteous, -innocent. To accuse others is like saying, “_We_ are not thus.” As a -matter of fact it is always the hunchbacks who first cry out on those -whose shoulders are a little bent. But Jesus says, “Judge not that ye be -not judged, condemn not and ye shall not be condemned, forgive and ye -shall be forgiven.” - -Every man boasts of being really manly, that is, a grave, mature, wise, -substantial, worthy person, who understands the nature of things and who -can reason and have an opinion on all subjects. A speech that is too -sincere is said to be childish; a simple person is scornfully called -childish. But when the disciples asked Him who is the greatest in the -Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus answered, “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever -shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise -enter therein.” - -The serious-minded man, the devout, the pure, the Pharisee, avoids if -possible the company of sinners, of the fallen, of the defiled, and -receives as equals at his table only the righteous. But Jesus tirelessly -announces that He has come to seek for sinners and not for the -righteous, the bad and not the good, and He feels no shame in sitting -down to dinner in the house of the publican, where a prostitute anoints -his feet. The truly pure man cannot be corrupted by the corrupt, and -does not feel that for fear of soiling his garments he needs leave them -to die in their own vileness. - -The avarice of men is so great that every one tries to take as much as -he can from others and to give back as little. Every one seeks to -possess; praises of generosity are only an attempt to cover professional -beggary with a decent mask; but Jesus affirms, “It is better to give -than to receive.” - -All of us hate most of the people we know. We hate them because they -have more than we, because they will not give us all we would like to -have, because they do not pay enough attention to us, because they are -different from us; in a word, because they exist. We even go so far as -to hate our friends, even our benefactors. And Jesus commands us to love -men, to love them all, to love even those who hate us. - -No one who disobeys this command can call himself a Christian; though he -is on the point of death if he does not love his slayer, he has no right -to call himself a Christian. - -Love for ourselves, the origin of our hatred for others includes all -other tendencies and passions. He who conquers self-love, and the hatred -toward others, is already entirely transformed; the rest flows from this -as a natural consequence. Hatred toward oneself and love for enemies is -the beginning and end of Christianity. The greatest victory over the -fierce, blind, brutal man of antiquity is this and nothing else. Men -cannot be born again into the happiness of peace until they love those -who have offended against them. To love your enemies is the only way to -leave not an enemy on earth. - - - BEFORE LOVE - - -Those who refuse Christ have many easily understandable reasons for not -accepting Him: they would need to renounce their old personalities and -they cannot see that they would gain much by this renunciation; and they -are afraid of losing the dusty rubbish which seems magnificence to them. -People who deny Christ as an excuse for not following His teachings have -justified themselves of late by another reason, a learned reason: they -claim that He said nothing new. His words can be found in the Orient and -in the Occident centuries earlier. Either He stole them, or plagiarized -unconsciously. If He said nothing new, He is not great; if He is not -great, there is no need to listen to Him. Let the ignorant admire Him, -the stupid obey Him, the foolish respect Him! - -However, these experts in the genealogy of ideas do not say whether the -ideals of Jesus, let them be new or old, should be accepted or rejected; -they do not dare to pretend that Christ did nothing of value when He -consecrated by His death a great truth, a forgotten, unused truth. They -do not look carefully to see whether there is a real identity of sense -and of spirit between the ideas of Jesus and those other older ideas, or -whether there is merely a simple assonance and a distant verbal -resemblance. And in the meantime, in order to avoid being misled in that -matter, they reject Christ’s law and that of the philosophers who, they -pretend, were Christ’s teachers, and they continue tranquilly to lead -their filthy lives as if the Gospels had not been addressed to them as -to other men. - -After the promulgation of the old Law there was amity between blood kin; -and the citizens of the same city bore with each other and did one -another no harm; but for strangers, if they were not guests, there was -only hatred and extermination. Inside the family a little love; inside -the city an approximate justice; outside the walls and the frontiers -inextinguishable hatred. Centuries later voices were heard which asked a -little love also for the neighbor, for those who were not of the same -household but of the same nation, which asked for a little justice even -for strangers, even for enemies. This would have been a wonderful step -forward; but these voices—they were so few, so weak, so distant—were not -heard, or, if heard, were not heeded. - -Four centuries before Christ a wise man of China, M’-Ti, wrote a whole -book, the Kie-Siang-Ngai, to say that men should love each other. He -wrote, “The wise man who wants to improve the world can improve it only -if he knows with certainty the origin of disorders; if he does not know -that, he cannot improve it.... Whence come disorders? They spring up -because men do not love each other. Workmen and children have no filial -feeling for their employers and parents. Children love themselves but do -not love their parents; they cheat their parents for their own purposes. -Younger brothers love themselves but do not love their older brothers; -subjects love themselves but do not love their princes; the father has -no indulgence for the son, the older brother for the younger brother, -the prince for his subjects. The father loves himself and does not love -his son; he wrongs his son to his own advantage ... thus, everywhere -brigands love their own homes and not their neighbors’ homes, and for -this they sack other men’s houses to fill their own. Thieves love their -own bodies and do not love men, wherefore they steal from men for the -good of their own bodies. If thieves considered the bodies of other men -as they do their own, who would rob? The thieves would stay their -hands.... If universal mutual love should come, countries would not -resort to blows, families would not be troubled, thieves would hold -their hands, princes, subjects, fathers and sons would be respectful and -indulgent and the world would be better.” - -For M’-Ti, love, or, to translate it more exactly, benevolence composed -of respect and indulgence, is the mortar to hold citizens and the state -more closely united. It is a remedy against the evils of life-in-common, -a social panacea. - -“Answer insults with courtesy,” suggests timidly the mysterious Lao-Tse; -but courtesy is prudence or mildness, not love. His contemporary, old -Confucius, according to his disciple Thseng-Tse, taught a doctrine which -consisted in uprightness of heart, and in loving one’s neighbor as -oneself (neighbor and not the distant one, the stranger, the enemy) as -much as ourselves and not more than ourselves! Confucius preached filial -love and general benevolence, necessary to the good ordering of -kingdoms, but he did not dream of condemning hate. In the same Lun-Yu, -where the words of Thseng-Tse are read, we find these other words, taken -from the oldest Confucian text, the Ta-Hio: “Only the just and human man -is capable of justly loving and hating men.” - -His contemporary Gautama recommends love for men, for all men, even the -most wretched and despised. And the same love is to be felt for animals, -for the smallest among animals, for all living beings. In Buddhism love -of man for man is only a salutary exercise for the total eradication of -self-love, first and strongest prop of life. Buddha wishes to suppress -suffering; and to suppress suffering he sees no other way than to drown -personal souls and universal souls in Nirvana,—in nothingness. The -Buddhist does not love his brother out of love for his brother, but out -of self-love,—that is, to avoid suffering, to overcome egotism, to -approach absorption in the stream of life. His universal love is cold -and self-seeking, egotistical, a form of indifference, stoical in grief -as in joy. - -In Egypt every dead body took with it into the tomb a copy of the book -of the dead, an anticipatory apology of the soul before the tribunal of -Osiris. The dead praises himself: he has been righteous and has given to -the needy, “I have starved no one! I have made no one weep! I have not -killed! I have not commanded treacherous murder! I have defrauded no -one! I have given bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to -the naked, a boat to the traveler halted on his journey, sacrifices to -the gods, funeral banquets to the dead.” This is righteousness and these -are works of mercy (had they really as a matter of fact done all that -they claimed?) but we find no love here, much less love for enemies. If -we wish to know how the Egyptians treated their enemies let us read an -inscription of the great king, Phiops I Miriri: “This army went in -peace; it entered as it pleased into the country of the Hirushaitu. This -army went in peace; it laid waste the country of the Hirushaitu. This -army went in peace; they cut down all their fig trees and their grape -vines. This army went in peace; they set on fire all their houses. This -army went in peace; it massacred their soldiers by myriads. This army -went in peace; it carried away their men, women and children in great -numbers, and for this, more than for any other thing, did his Holiness -rejoice.” - -Zarathushtra also leaves a law for the Iranians. This law commands the -faithful of Ahura Mazdâ to be kind to their companions in the faith. -They are to give clothes to the naked and they are not to refuse bread -to the hungry working man. We are still concerned with material charity -towards those who belong to us, who serve us, who are our neighbors. -There is no talk of love. - -It has been said that Jesus added nothing to the Mosaic law, and only -repeated the old Commandments. “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for -hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for -stripe.” Thus speaks Moses in Deuteronomy, “And thou shalt consume all -the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shalt -have no pity upon them.” Thus it is written in Deuteronomy: a step -further and we have reached Love, “Also thou shalt not oppress a -stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers -in the land of Egypt.” This is a beginning: do no wrong to strangers in -memory of the time when you also were a stranger; but the stranger who -lives with us is not an enemy, and to refrain from wronging him, does -not mean to do good to him. Exodus commands not to wrong him. Leviticus -is more generous, “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land ye -shalt not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto -you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself....” -Always the foreigner who lives with you and has become your -fellow-citizen, hence like one of your friends. In the same book we -read, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children -of thy people.” This is another step forward. Do no harm to him who -offends you, provided that he is of your own nation. We have come, if -not to pardon, to generous forgetfulness, although only for neighbors. - -“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Neighbor, fellow-citizen, the -man who is your racial brother, who can help you. But your enemy? There -is also an admonition about the treatment of your enemy: “If thou meet -thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it -back to him again. If you see the ass of him that hateth thee lying -under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely -help with him.” Oh, great kindness of Jewish antiquity! It would be so -sweet to drive the ass further, so that his master would have more -trouble in finding him: and when you see the ass fallen down under his -pack-saddle, how amusing it would be to smile in your beard and pass on; -but the heart of the old Jew was not hardened to this degree: an ass was -too precious in those times and those conditions: no one could live -without at least one ass in the stable, and every one had an ass. To-day -yours has escaped and to-morrow mine may run away. Do not let us avenge -ourselves on our animals even if the master is a brute. Because if I am -that man’s enemy he is my enemy. Let us set him a good example, an -example by which we hope he will profit; let us lend him a hand to -readjust the pack-saddle of his ass; let us do to others what we hope -others will do to us, and above the crupper and the ears of the ass let -us, as merciful men, lay aside every evil thought. - -This is rather too little: the old Jew has already made a tremendous -effort in caring for the animals of his enemy, but the Psalms, to make -up for it, resound at every step with outcries against enemies and with -violent demands to the Lord to persecute and destroy them. “As for the -head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips -cover them; let burning coals fall upon them ... let them be cast into -the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let destruction -come upon him unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself; -into that very destruction let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in -the Lord!” - -In such a world it is natural that Saul should be astounded that he was -not killed by his enemy David, and that Job should boast of not having -exulted in the misfortunes of an enemy. Only in the later proverbs do we -find words which forecast Jesus’ saying, “Say not thou, I will -recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.” The -enemy is to be punished, but by hands more powerful than thine. Then the -anonymous moralist of the Old Testament comes finally to charity, “If -thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give -him water to drink.” This is progress: pity does not stop with the ox, -but extends itself also to the owner. But the marvels of love of the -Sermon on the Mount cannot have sprung from these timid maxims hidden -away in a corner of the Scriptures. - -But there is, they say, Hillel, the Rabbi Hillel, the great Hillel, -master of Gamaliel, Hillel Hababli or the Babylonian. This celebrated -Pharisee lived a little before Jesus and taught, they say, the same -things which Jesus afterwards taught. He was a liberal Judean, a -rational Pharisee, an intelligent rabbi; but was he therefore a -Christian? It is true that he said these words, “Do not do unto others -what is displeasing to you; this is the whole Law, the rest is only -explanation of it.” These are fine words for a master of the old law, -but how far away they are from those of the overturner of the ancient -law! This is a negative command, “Do not do.” He does not say, “Do good -to those who wrong you,” but “Do not do to others (and these others are -certainly companions, fellow-citizens, members of the family and -friends) what you feel to be evil.” He mildly forbids harmfulness; he -gives no absolute command to love. As a matter of fact, the descendants -of Hillel were those Talmudists who mired the law in the great swamp of -casuistry. The descendants of Jesus were the martyrs who blessed their -torturers. - -And Philo, the Alexandrian Jew, the Platonizing metaphysician, some -twenty years older than Jesus, left a treatise on the love of men; but -Philo, with all his talents and with all his mystical and Messianic -speculations, is, like Hillel, a theorist, a man of pens and ink-pots, -of learning, of books, of systems, of abstractions, of classifications. -His dialectic strategy brings into the field thousands of words in -parade formation, but he is never inspired to pronounce the one word -that burns up in an instant all the past, the one word which brings -hearts together. He has talked of love more than Christ, but he could -never have said, and he would not have been able to understand, what -Christ said to his ignorant friends on the Mount. - - - ACHILLES AND PRIAM - - -Is it possible that in Greece, that well-spring from whence all have -drunk, there was no love for enemies? Would-be modern pagans, enemies of -the “Palestine superstition,” claim that Greek thought has everything in -it. In the spiritual life of the Occident, Greece is like China to the -East, mother of all invention. - -In the Ajax of Sophocles, famous Odysseus is moved to pity at the sight -of a fallen enemy reduced to misery. In vain Athena herself, Hellenic -wisdom personified in the sacred owl, reminds him that “the most -delightful mirth is to laugh at one’s enemies.” Ulysses is not -convinced. “I pity him, although he is my enemy, because I see him so -unfortunate, bound to an evil destiny; and looking at him, I think of -myself. Because I see we are not other than ghosts, and unsubstantial -shadows, all we who live.... It is not right to do evil to a dying man -even if you hate him.” It seems to me that we are here still very far -away from love. Wily Ulysses is not wily enough to conceal the motive of -his unnatural softening. He pities his enemy because he thinks of -himself, remembers that evil could happen also to him, and he pardons -his enemy only because he sees him dying and unfortunate. - -A wiser man than Ulysses, the son of Sophroniscus, the stone cutter, -asked himself, among many other questions, how the righteous man ought -to treat his enemies. But reading the texts, we discover with -astonishment two Socrates, of different opinions. The Socrates of the -Memorabilia frankly accepts the common feeling. Friends are to be -treated well and enemies ill, and thus it is better to anticipate one’s -enemies in doing ill: “The man most greatly to be praised,” he says to -Cherocrate, “is he who anticipates his enemies in hurtfulness and his -friends in helpfulness.” But Plato’s Socrates does not accept the common -opinion. He says to Crito, “Injustice should be rendered to no one in -return for injustice; nor evil for evil whatever has been the injury -that thou hast received.” And he affirms the same principle in the -Republic, adding in support that the bad are not bettered by revenge. -But the ruling idea in Socrates’ head is the thought of justice, not the -feeling of love. In no case should the righteous man do evil, out of -self-respect (notice this), not out of affection towards his enemy. The -bad man must punish himself, otherwise the judges in the lower world -will punish him after death. Aristotle, the disciple of Plato, turns -tranquilly back to the old idea: “Not to resent offenses,” he says in -the Ethics to Nicomachus, “is the mark of a base and slavish man.” - -In Greece, therefore, there is little to the purpose for those who are -looking for precedents for Christianity. - -But in order to make us believe that Christianity existed before Christ, -those who deny Jesus, have found a rival to Jesus even in Rome, in the -very palace of the Cæsars. Seneca, the director of conscience to young -gentlemen, leader of the fashionable cult of reformed stoicism; the -abstract aristocrat never moved by the troubles of the poor; the -proprietor who despises riches, and clutches them tightly, who affirms -the equality between free and slave, and owns slaves; the talented -anatomist of scruples, of evils, of active vices, and complacent -virtues; he who canalized the old doctrine of Chrisippus, dull but -clear, towards the estuary of preciosity; moral Seneca they claim was a -Christian without knowing it during Christ’s very lifetime. Thumbing -over his works (many were written after the death of Christ, for Seneca -waited till he was sixty-five years old before committing suicide), they -have found that “the wise man does not avenge but forgets affronts,” and -that “to imitate the Gods we should do good also to the ungrateful -because the sun shines equally on the wicked and the seas bear up the -pirate ship,” and finally that “We must succor our enemies with a -friendly hand.” But the “forgetting” of the philosopher is not -“forgiveness”; and “succor” can be philanthropy but is not love. The -imperious, the stoic, the Pharisee; the philosopher proud of his -philosophy, the righteous man complacent over his righteousness, can -despise the affronts of the small, the pricks of enemies, and through -pride of magnanimity and to win admiration can deign to give a loaf to a -hungry enemy in order to humiliate him more harshly from the heights of -perfection. But that bread was prepared with the leaven of vanity and -that would-be friendly hand could never have dried a tear or dressed a -wound. - -The world of antiquity did not know love. It knew passion for a woman, -friendship for a friend, justice for the citizen, hospitality for the -foreigner; but it did not know love. Zeus protected pilgrims and -strangers; he who knocked at the Grecian door was not denied meat, a cup -of wine, and a bed. The poor were to be covered, the weak helped, the -mourning consoled with fair words; but the men of antiquity did not know -love, love that suffers, that shares another’s sorrow, love for all who -suffer and are neglected, love for the poor, the lowly, the outlawed, -the maligned, the downtrodden, the abandoned; love for all, love which -knows no difference between fellow-citizens and strangers, between fair -and foul, between criminal and philosopher, between brother and enemy. - -In the last canto of the Iliad we see an old man, a mourner, a father -who kisses the hand of his most terrible enemy, of the man who has -killed his sons, who has just killed his most loved son. Priam, the old -king, head of the rich, ruined city, father of fifty sons, kneels at the -feet of Achilles, the greatest hero, and the most unhappy among the -Greeks, son of the Sea-Goddess, avenger of Patroclus, slayer of Hector. -The white head of the kneeling old man is bowed before the proud youth -of the victor, and Priam mourns for the slain, strongest, fairest, most -loved of all his fifty sons, and kisses the hand of the slayer! “Thou -also,” he says, “hast a grey-haired, failing, defenseless, far-distant -father. In the name of thy father’s love, give me back at least the dead -body of my son.” - -Achilles, the fierce, the wild, the slaughterer, puts the suppliant -gently on one side and begins to weep; and both of them, the two -enemies, the conqueror and the conquered, the father bereft of his son -and the son who will never see his father again, the white-haired old -man and the golden-haired youth both weep, drawn together for the first -time by sorrow. The others round about gaze at them silent and -astounded: we ourselves after thirty centuries are shaken by their -grief. - -But in the kiss of Priam there is no pardon, there is no love. This king -humbles himself to obtain a difficult and unusual favor. If a God had -not inspired him he would not have stirred from Ilium; and Achilles does -not weep for dead Hector, for weeping Priam, for the powerful man who is -brought to humble himself, for the enemy who is brought to kiss the hand -of the slayer. He weeps over his lost friend; over Patrocles, dearer to -him than all other men; over Peleus, left at Phthia; over his father, -whom he will never more embrace, for he knows that his young days are -numbered. And he gives back to the father the dead body of his son—that -body which he has dragged for so many days in the dust—because it is the -will of Zeus, not because his hunger of vengeance is stilled. Both of -them weep for themselves; the kiss of Priam is a harsh necessity, the -restitution of Achilles is obedience to the Gods. In the noblest heroic -world of antiquity there is no place for that love which destroys hate -and takes the place of hate, for love stronger than the strength of -hate, more ardent, more implacable, more faithful, for love which is not -forgetfulness of wrong, but love of wrong, because wrong is a misfortune -for him who commits it rather than for him who suffers. There is no -place for love for enemies in the world of antiquity. - -Jesus was the first to speak of such love, to conceive of such love. -This love was not known till the Sermon on the Mount. This is the -greatest and the most original of Jesus’ conceptions. Of all His -teachings this was the newest to men, this is still His greatest -innovation. It is new even to us, new because it is not understood, not -imitated, not obeyed; infinitely eternal like truth. - - - THOU SHALT LOVE - - -“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and -hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that -curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which -despitefully use you and persecute you; That ye may be the children of -your Father which is in Heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the -evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. -For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the -publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more -than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even -as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.” A few bare, plain words! -But they are the Magna Charta of the new race, of the third race, of men -not yet born. The first race was that of the animal without law, and its -name was War; the second were barbarians tamed by the Law, whose highest -perfection was justice. This is the race living now, and justice has not -yet conquered War, and the Law has not yet supplanted animality. The -third is to be the race of real men, not only upright but holy, not like -beasts but like God. - -Jesus had just one aim: to transform men from beasts to saints by means -of love. Circe, the enchantress, the Satanic consort of the old -mythologies, converted heroes into beasts by means of animal pleasures. -Jesus is the anti-Satan, the anti-Circe, He who saves from animality by -a force more powerful than pleasure. This undertaking, which seems -hopeless to all animals barely risen above animality and to beings just -entering upon real humanity, must be based on the imitation of God. To -approximate sanctity one must look toward divinity: “Be holy because God -is holy. Be perfect because God is perfect.” - -This is not the first time that this appeal has been made to the heart -of man. Satan said in the Garden: “You will be as gods.” Jehovah said to -His judges: “Be gods, be just as God is just.” But now there is no -question of being wise like God, nor is it even enough to be just, like -God. God is now more than wisdom and justice. With Jesus, He becomes our -Father, becomes love. His earth gives bread and flowers even to the -homicide; he who takes His name in vain sees the glorious sun every -morning, the same sun which warms the clasped hands of the laborer -praying in the field. A true father loves the son who turns from him as -he loves the son who seeks him out; a father cherishes the child who -obeys him in his house, or who vomits him out with his wine. A father -can be saddened, can suffer, can mourn, but no sinning man is capable of -making a father become like to himself. No one can induce a father to -take revenge. - -And we who are so much lower than God, poor finite creatures, who are -scarcely capable of remembering yesterday, who do not know to-morrow, we -unfortunate, inferior creatures, have we not many more motives to feel -for our brothers in wretchedness what God feels for us? God is the -supreme substance of our ideal. To draw away from Him, not to be as we -pray that He may be with us, is this not to draw away from our unique -destination, to keep perpetually and despairingly out of our reach that -happiness for which we are created, which we believe to be the aim of -our lives, imagined by us, dreamed of by us, longed-for, invoked and -followed in vain through all the false felicities which are not of God? -“Let us be Gods,” cries Bossuet. “Let us be Gods. He permits it, that we -may imitate His holiness.” - -Who will refuse to be like God? Dii estis. Divinity is in us; animality -hampers and constricts it, stunting our growth. Who would not wish to be -God? Oh, men, are you in very truth content to be only men? Men as you -are to-day, half-men, half-beasts? Centaurs without robustness, sirens -without sweetness, demons with fauns’ muzzles and goats’ feet? Are you -so satisfied with your bastard and imperfect humanity, with your -animality scarcely held in leash, taking no step to win holiness save to -desire it? Does it seem to you that the life of men as it has been in -the past, as it is to-day, is so dear, so happy, so contented that there -should be no effort to make it otherwise, entirely different, the -opposite of what it is, more like that which for thousands of years we -have imagined in the future and in Heaven? Is it not possible to make -another life out of this life, to change this world to a world more -divine, at last to bring down Heaven and the laws of Heaven upon earth? - -This new life, this earthly but celestial world is the Kingdom of -Heaven, and to bring about the Kingdom we must transfigure and deify -ourselves; become like God, imitate God. The secret of the imitation of -God is love, the certain way of the transfiguration is love, love of man -for man, love for friend and enemy. If this love is impossible, our -salvation is impossible. If it is repugnant, it is a sign that happiness -is repugnant to us. If it is absurd, our hopes of redemption are only -absurdity. Common sense tells us that to love our enemies is insanity, -and to count such love as a prerequisite of our salvation seems simple -madness. Love for enemies is like hatred for ourselves; hence it follows -that we can only earn beatitude by hating ourselves. - -This conclusion should alarm no one, for it has been proved; all the -experiments have been tried. It is not true that there has been no time -to test it. For thousands of years we have been proving and proving it, -over and over. We have tried the experiment of fierceness; and blood -answered blood. We have tried the experiment of lust; and lust has left -in the mouth the odor of corruption and a fiercer fever. We have forced -the body into the most refined and perverse pleasures and found -ourselves worn out and heavy-hearted, lying upon filth. We have tried -the experiment of the Law, and we have not obeyed the Law; we have -changed it and disobeyed it again, and Justice has not satisfied our -hearts. We have tried the experiment of intellectualism, we have taken -the census of creation, numbered the stars, described the plants, the -dead things and the living things, we have bound them together with the -thin threads of abstract ideas, we have transfigured them in the magic -clouds of metaphysics; and at the end of all this, things have remained -the same, eternally the same; they were not enough for us, they could -not be renewed; their names and their numbers did not quiet our hunger, -and the most learned men ended with weary confessions of ignorance. We -have tried the experiment of art and our feebleness has brought the -strongest to despair, because the Absolute cannot be fixed in any form; -the Many overflow from the One; the carefully wrought work of art cannot -arrest the ephemeral. We have tried the experiment of wealth and have -found ourselves poorer; the experiment of force and have come to -ourselves, weaker. In no thing has our soul found quiet. We have found -no welcoming shade, where our bodies can lie down and be at rest; and -our hearts, always seeking, always disappointed, are older, weaker, and -emptier because in nothing have they found peace, because no pleasure -has brought them joy, no conquest, happiness. - - - THE LAST EXPERIMENT - - -Jesus proposes His experiment, the only remaining possibility, the -experiment of love, that experiment which no one has made, which few -have even attempted (and that for only a few moments of their lives), -the most arduous, the most contrary to our instincts but the only one -which can give what it promises. - -As he comes from the hand of Nature, Man thinks only of himself, loves -nothing but himself. Little by little, with tremendous but slow efforts, -he succeeds in loving for a while his woman, and his children, in -tolerating his accomplices in the hunt, in assassination and in war. -Very rarely is he able to love a friend; more easily he hates the man -who loves him. He does not dream of loving the man who hates him. - -All this explains why Jesus commands us to love our enemies. To make -over the entire man, to create a new man, the most tenacious center of -the old man must be destroyed. From self-love come all the misfortunes, -massacres and miseries of the world. To tame the old Adam self-love must -be torn out of him, and in its place must be put the love most opposed -to his present nature, love for his enemies. The total transformation of -man is such a sublime paradox that it can be reached only by fantastic -means. It is an extraordinary undertaking, wild and unnatural, to be -accomplished only with an extraordinary exaltation, opposed to Nature. - -Until now man has loved himself and hated those who hate him; the man of -the future, the inhabitant of the Kingdom, must hate himself and love -those who hate him. To love one’s neighbor as one’s self is an -insufficient formula, a concession to universal egotism. For he who -loves himself cannot perfectly love others, and finds himself perforce -in conflict with others. Only hatred for ourselves is sufficient. If we -love ourselves, we admire ourselves, we flatter ourselves too much. To -overcome this blind love, we need to see our nothingness, our baseness, -our infamy. Hatred of ourselves is humility, is the beginning of -improvement, of perfection. And only the humble shall enter into the -Kingdom of Heaven because they alone feel how far they are from it. We -are angered at others because our dear ego feels undeservedly offended, -not sufficiently served by others; we kill our brother because he seems -an obstacle to _our_ good; we steal for the love of _our_ body, we -fornicate to give pleasure to our body; envy, mother of rivalry and of -wars, is merely sorrow because another has more than we, or has what we -have not; pride is the expression of our certainty of being of more -account than others, of possessing more than others, of knowing more -than others. All the things which religions, morals, and laws call sins, -vices, and crimes begin in self-love, in the hatred for others which -springs out of that one solitary, disordered love. - -What right have we to hate our enemies, when we ourselves have been -guilty of the same fault for which we think we have the right to hate -them; when we ourselves have been guilty of hatred? What right have we -to hate them, even if they have done wrong, even if we believe them -wicked, when we ourselves nearly always have done the same wrong -actions, have been defiled with the same pitch? What right have we to -hate them if nearly always we are responsible for their hate? We, who -with the endless errors of our monstrous self-love, have forced them to -hate us? And he who hates is unhappy, is the first to suffer. We ought -to respond with love to that hatred, with gentleness to that harshness -as reparation for the suffering of which we are often the real cause, -immediate or distant. - -Our enemy is also our savior. We ought every day to be grateful to our -enemies; they alone see clearly and state openly what is ignoble in us; -they make us conscious of our moral poverty, the realization of which is -the only beginning for the second birth. For this service we owe them -love. For our enemy needs love, and needs our love. He who loves us -already has his joy and reward in himself. He needs no reward from us. -But he who hates is unhappy; hates because he is unhappy. His hatred is -the bitter outlet for his sufferings. We are partly guilty for this -suffering, and even if, over-confident in our innocence, we do not feel -that we are responsible, we ought nevertheless to comfort with love the -unhappiness of the man who hates, to calm him, make him better, convert -him also to the beatitudes of loving. We will know him better if we love -him, and knowing him better, we will love him more. We only love -heartily what we know well. If we love our enemy, his soul will be -transparent to us, and as we penetrate further into it, we will discover -much more to call forth our pity and our love; because every enemy is an -unrecognized brother; we often hate in him what resembles our own -natures. Something of ourselves, unknown perhaps to us, is in our enemy -and is often the cause of our hostility. When we love our enemies we -purify our spirit by understanding and lift his spirit upward. Hatred, -instead of driving men apart, may thus engender a light that liberates -men’s souls. The worst of evil may bring about the highest good. - -This is the reason why Jesus commands us to reverse the ordinary and -customary relations of men. When man loves what he now hates, and hates -what he now loves, he will be the opposite of what he is to-day. And if -life now is made up of evils and despair, the new, changed life being -the opposite of what we now have, will be all goodness and consolation. -For the first time we shall know happiness; the Kingdom of Heaven will -begin on earth. We will find that eternal Paradise, lost because the -first men wished to learn the difference between good and evil. But for -absolute love like the love of God the Father, there is neither good nor -evil. Evil is overwhelmed by the good. Paradise was love, love between -man and God, between man and woman. The new earthly paradise, the -paradise regained, will be the love of every man for all men. Christ is -He who leads Adam back to the gates of the garden, teaches him how he -can enter and live there always. - -The descendants of Adam have not believed Christ; they have repeated His -words but have not obeyed them, and because their hearts are stubborn, -men are still groaning in an earthly Hell, which century by century goes -on becoming more infernal. When the torments finally become unendurable, -then the damned themselves will suddenly learn to hate hatred, the dying -rebels in the extremity of their despair will learn to love their -executioners. Then, at last, from the depths of sorrowful gloom will -shine out the pure splendor of a miraculous spring. - - - OUR FATHER - - -The apostles asked Jesus for a prayer. He had told them to pray briefly -and secretly, but they were not satisfied with any prayers recommended -by the lukewarm, bookish priests of the Temple. They wanted a prayer of -their own which would be like a countersign among the fraternity of -Christ. Jesus on the Mount taught for the first time the Pater-noster, -the only prayer which He ever taught. It is one of the simplest prayers -in the world, the most profound which goes up from human homes to God, a -prayer neither literary nor theological—neither bold nor servile—the -most beautiful of all prayers. But though the Lord’s Prayer is simple, -it is not always understood. The century-old, mechanical reiteration of -tongues and lips, the formal ritual repetition, have made it almost a -string of syllables from which the original meaning has been lost. -Reading it over word for word to-day like a new text, which we read for -the first time, it loses its ritual banality, and freshens into its -first meaning. - -“Our Father”; for we have sprung from Thee and love Thee as sons; from -Thee we shall receive no wrong. - -“Which art in heaven”—in that which is opposed to the earth, in the -opposite sphere from matter, in spirit and in that small but eternal -part of the spirit which is our soul. - -“Hallowed be Thy name”; let us not only adore Thee with words but be -worthy of Thee, drawing nearer to Thee with greater love, because Thou -art no longer the avenger, the Lord of Battles, but the Father who -teaches the joyfulness of peace. - -“Thy Kingdom come”—the Kingdom of Heaven, of the spirit of love, that of -the Gospel. - -“Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven”—may Thy law of goodness -and of perfection rule both spirit and matter, both the visible and -invisible universe. - -“Give us this day our daily bread”; because our material body, necessary -support of the spirit, needs every day a little material food to -maintain it. We do not ask of Thee riches, dangerous burden, but only -that small amount which permits us to live, to become more worthy of the -promised life. Man does not live by bread alone, and yet without a -morsel of bread the soul, living in the body, could not nourish itself -on other things more precious than bread. - -“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Pardon us because we -pardon others. Thou art our eternal and infinite creditor. We can never -pay our debt to Thee, but remember that because of our weakness, it is -more of an effort for us to forgive one single debt of a single one of -our debtors than it is for Thee to sweep away the record of all that we -owe Thee. - -“Lead us not into temptation.” We are weak, still snared in fleshliness -in this world which at times seems so beautiful and calls us to all the -delights of faithlessness. Help us that our struggling transformation -may not be too difficult, and that our entry into the Kingdom may not be -too long delayed. - -“Deliver us from evil”—Thou who art in Heaven, who art spirit, who hast -power over evil, over stubborn and hostile matter which surrounds us -everywhere, and from which it is hard to free ourselves, Thou enemy of -Satan, negation of matter, help us! Our true greatness lies in this -victory over evil, over evil which springs up constantly because it will -not be truly conquered until all have conquered it. But this decisive -victory will be less distant if Thou helpest us with Thy alliance. - -With this appeal for aid, the Lord’s Prayer ends. In it are none of the -tiresome blandishments of Oriental prayers, rigmaroles of adulation and -hyperbole which seem invented by a dog, adoring his master with his -dog’s soul, because his master permits him to exist and to eat. There -are none of the querulous, complaining supplications of the Psalmist who -asks God for every variety of aid, more often temporal than spiritual, -laments if the harvest has not been good, if his fellow-citizens do not -respect him, and calls down wounds and arrows on the enemies whom he -cannot conquer himself. In the Lord’s Prayer the only word of praise is -the word “Father”; and that praise is a pledge, a testimony of love. -From this father we ask only for a little bread, and we ask in addition -the same pardon that we give our enemies; and at the last a valid -protection in our fight with evil, the enemy of all, the great wall -which hinders our entry into the Kingdom. - -He who says “Our Father” is not proud but neither is he humbled; he -speaks to his Father with the intimate quiet accent of confidence almost -as from one equal to another. He is sure of his love and he knows that -his father needs no long speeches to know his desires. “Your Father,” -says Jesus, “knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” -Thus the most beautiful of all the prayers is a daily calling to mind of -all that we need if we are to become like God. - - - POWERFUL DEEDS - - -After He had given out the new law of the imitation of God, Jesus came -down from the Mount. - -One cannot always remain on the heights. The moment we arrive on the -summit of a mountain we are fated to descend. Every ascent is a pledge -of descent, a promise to come down again. He who has something to say -must make himself heard; if he always speaks on the summits, few will -stay with him; it is cold on the summits for those who are not all on -fire; and his voice will reach few. He who has come to give, cannot ask -men, weak lungs, tired hearts, nerveless legs, to follow him upward, -hobbling along to the heights. He must follow them down to the plain, -into their houses; he must stoop to them if he is to lift them up. - -Jesus knew that exalted teaching on the heights would not suffice to -spread the good news to all. He knew that men need less abstract words, -picture-making words, narrated words, words almost as tangible as facts. -And He knew that even these words would not be enough. - -The simple, rustic, coarse, humble people who followed Jesus were men -whose lives were based on material things, men who could only understand -spiritual things slowly, with great effort, through material proofs, -signs and material symbols. They could not understand a spiritual truth -without its material incarnation; without evidence simple enough for -them to weigh, evidence stated in the terms of the everyday world. An -illustrative fable can lead men to moral revelation; a prodigy is to -them confirmation of a new truth, of a contested mission. Preaching, -made up of abstract axioms and aphorisms, left these imaginative -Orientals unsatisfied. Jesus had recourse to the marvelous and to -poetry: he performed miracles and spoke in parables. For many moderns -the miracles recounted by the Evangelists are a compelling reason for -turning away from Jesus and the Bible. Their shriveled brains cannot -take in the miraculous; therefore, they reason the Gospel lies, and if -it lies in so many places none of it can be believed. It is out of the -question that Jesus can ever have raised the dead: therefore, His words -have no value. - -The people who reason in this way reason ill. They give to miracles a -weight and a meaning much greater than that which Jesus gave them. If -they had read the four Gospels they would have seen that Jesus is always -reluctant to perform miracles, that He does not feel this divine power -of His is of supreme importance. Every time that He finds a fair reason -for refusing, He refuses; if He yields, it is to reward the faith of the -sorrowing man or woman who calls on Him; but the Gospels show that for -Himself, for His own salvation, He never performs miracles. He performs -no miracles in the wilderness with Satan, none at Nazareth when they -wish to kill Him, none at Gethsemane when they come to arrest Him, nor -on the cross when they challenge Him to save Himself. His power is only -for others, to benefit His mortal brothers. - -There are many who ask for a sign, a sign from Heaven, a sign to -persuade the unbelievers that His word is the true word: “An evil and -adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be -given to it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas.” What is this sign? The -writers of the gospel who wrote after the resurrection thought that -Jonah emerging the third day from the whale symbolizes Jesus emerging -the third day from the tomb, but the rest of what Jesus says shows that -He meant something else. “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with -this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the -teaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Nineveh -did not ask for prodigies: it was converted by the word alone. Men whom -Jesus cannot convert by truths infinitely greater than those announced -by Jonah, are below the level of the men of Nineveh, idolaters, -barbarians. Faith must not rest on marvels alone, nevertheless let us -remember that faith—though it is higher and more perfect when achieved -without miracles—can by its very fervor accomplish miracles. Hardened -hearts, locked shut against truth, are not converted even by the -greatest miracles. “If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither -will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” He was neglected -and rejected by the cities which were the scenes of the greatest -prodigies. “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if -the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, -they would have repented long ago, in sack-cloth and ashes.” - -Jesus never held that miracles were His exclusive privilege. When they -came to tell Him that some man was driving out Demons in His name, He -answered, “Forbid him not.” This power was not denied to the disciples. -“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: -freely ye have received, freely give.” - -Even charlatanical wizards could perform prodigies which seemed -miracles. In His time a certain Simon was doing miracles in Samaria; -even the disciples of the Pharisees performed miracles. But miracles are -not enough to enter into the Kingdom. “Many shall say to Me in that day, -Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Thy name and in Thy name cast out -devils, and in Thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess -unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, all ye workers of -iniquity.” It is not enough to cast out devils, if thou has not cast out -the devil in thee, the devil of pride and cupidity. - -Even after His death men will see others perform miracles. “For there -shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great -signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall -deceive the very elect.” I have put you on your guard: do not believe in -these signs and these wonders until thou shalt see the Son of Man. The -miracles of false prophets do not prove the truth of what they say. - -For all these reasons, Jesus abstained, as often as possible, from -working miracles, but He could not always resist the pleadings of the -sorrowful, and often His pity did not wait for the request. For a -miracle is an attribute of faith, and His faith is infinite, and that of -the believers very great. But often, as soon as the healing was -complete, He asked the ones He had healed to keep it secret. “See thou -tell no man; Go thy way.” Those who do not listen to the truth of -Christ, because they are troubled by the miracles, should remember the -profound saying which was addressed to Thomas, “Blessed are they that -have not seen and yet have believed.” - - - THE BLIND SEE - - -Men cannot live without three things, bread, health and hope. Deprived -of everything else men can—raging and cursing—go on living. But if they -have not at least these three, they hasten to summon Death, because -without them life is like Death. It is death with suffering added, an -aggravated, embittered, envenomed death, without even the anæsthetic of -insensibility. Hunger is the wasting away of the body; pain makes the -body hateful; despair—not to expect anything better, a relief, an -alleviation—takes the savor out of everything, takes away every reason -to be, and every reason to act. There are men who do not kill themselves -because suicide is an action. - -He who wishes to draw men to him must give them bread, health and hope. -He must feed them, heal them and give them faith in a more beautiful -life. - -Jesus gives this faith. To those who followed Him into the wilderness -and upon the mountains, He distributed material and spiritual bread. He -was not willing to transform stones into loaves, but He made the real -loaves of bread sufficient for thousands. And the stones which men carry -in their breasts He changed into loving hearts. - -And He did not reject the sick. Jesus is no self-tormentor, no -flagellant. He does not believe that pain is necessary to conquer evil. -Evil is evil and must be driven away, but pain also is evil. Sorrow of -the soul is enough for salvation: why should the body suffer also, -needlessly? The old Jews thought of sickness as a punishment: Christians -believe it above all as an aid to conversion. - -But Jesus does not believe in vengeance taken on the innocent, and does -not expect that true salvation can be won by ulcers or by hair shirts. -Render unto the body that which is the body’s due, and unto the soul -that which is the soul’s. He likes the friendly supper-table; He does -not refuse good old wine; and He does not send away women who pour -perfumes on His head and on His feet. Jesus can fast many days; He can -be satisfied with a bit of bread, with half of a broiled fish; and He -can sleep on the ground with His head on a stone; but till it is -unavoidable He does not seek out want, hunger and suffering. Health -seems to Him a good thing and the innocent pleasure of dining with -friends; a cup of wine drunk in good company, the fragrance of a vase of -nard, seem good and acceptable to Him also when such things cause no -suffering to others. - -If a sick man accosts Him, He cures him. Jesus comes not to deny life, -but to affirm it, to institute a happier and more perfect life. He does -not purposely seek out the sick. His mission is to drive away spiritual -suffering, to bring spiritual joy. But if, by the way, it happens to Him -to drive out also suffering of the flesh, to quiet pain, to restore, -along with the health of the soul, the health also of the body, He -cannot refuse to do it. He shows Himself adverse to it, for the most -part, because His aim is higher; and He would not wish to appear in the -eyes of the people like a vagabond wizard, or like the worldly Messiah -whom most men were expecting. But since He wishes to conquer evil, and -there are men who know Him capable of conquering all evils, His love is -forced to drive out also those of the body. - -When, on the road trodden by men of health, there come towards Him -groups of lepers, repellent, disfigured, horrible lepers, and when He -sees that swollen lividness, the scaly skin showing through the torn -clothes, that scabby, spotted, cracked skin, the withered, wrinkled skin -which deforms the mouth, half-closes the eyes, and puffs up the hands; -wretched, suffering ghosts, shunned by every one, separated from every -one, disgusting to every one, who are thankful if they have a little -bread, a saucer for their water, the roof of an old shed for a -hiding-place; when painfully bringing out the words through their -swollen, ulcerated lips they beg Him, whom they know to be powerful in -word and deed, beg Him, their only hope in their despair, for health, -for a cure, for a miracle, how could Jesus shun them, as other men did, -and ignore their prayer? - -And the epileptics, who writhe in the dust, their faces twisted in a set -spasm, the froth on their lips; those possessed of devils who howl among -the ruined tombs, evil dogs of the night, disconsolate; the paralytics, -trunks which have just enough feeling left to suffer, dead bodies -inhabited by an imprisoned and suppliant soul; and the blind, the awful -blind, shut up from their birth in the night—foretaste of the blackness -of the tomb—stumbling in the midst of the fortunate men who go their way -freely, the terrified blind, who walk with their heads held high, their -eyes staring, as if the light could reach them from the depths of the -infinite, the blind, for whom the world is only a series of more or less -harsh surfaces, among which they grope; the blind, eternally alone, who -know the sun only by its warmth, by the heat on their bodies! How could -Jesus answer “No” to such wretchedness? - - - THE ANSWER TO JOHN - - -Jesus heals the sick, but He is in no way like a wizard or an exorcist. -He has no recourse to incantation, to amulets, to smoke, veils and -mystery. He does not call to His aid the powers of Heaven or Hell. For -Him a word is enough, a strong cry, a gentle accent, a caress. His will -is enough, and the faith of the petitioner. To them all He puts the -question, “Dost thou believe I can do this?” and when the cure is -accomplished, “Go, thy faith hath made thee whole.” For Jesus the -miracle is the union of two wills for good, the living contact between -the faith of the healer and the faith of the one healed. “Verily I say -unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto -this mountain, Remove hence, to yonder place; and it shall remove; and -nothing shall be impossible unto you. If ye had faith as a grain of -mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up -by the root and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” -Those who have no faith, not even as much as the thousandth part of a -grain of mustard seed, swear that no man has this power, and that Jesus -is an impostor. - -In the Gospels the miracles are called by three names: -“Dunameis”—forces; “Terata”—marvels; “Semeis”—signs. They are signs for -those who remember the prophecies of the Messiah; they are “marvels” for -those who look for proofs that Christ is the Messiah; but for Jesus and -in Jesus there are only “Dunameis,” mighty works, victorious -lightning-flashes from a superhuman power. The healings of Jesus are -two-fold; they are healings not only of bodies but of souls, and it is -soul-sickness which Jesus wishes especially to heal, so that the Kingdom -of Heaven may be founded also on the earth. - -Most sickness is two-fold, mental and physical, and lends itself with -singular exactitude to metaphors and allegory. Jesus cured the maimed, -the halt, the fevered, a man with the dropsy, a woman with an issue of -blood. He healed also a sword-wound—Malchus’ ear struck off by Peter on -the night of Gethsemane—this only in order that His law ... “do good to -those who wrong you” ... might be observed to the very last. But Jesus -healed more often those possessed by devils, the paralytics, the lepers, -the blind, the deaf-mutes. The old name for mental diseases is -possession by devils; even Professor Aristotle believed in possession by -devils. It was believed that lunatics, epileptics, hysterical patients, -were invaded by malign spirits. The contradictory and often merely -verbal explanations of the moderns does not invalidate the fact that -demoniacs, in many cases, are such in the real sense of the word. This -learned and popular explanation lent itself admirably to that -allegorical and figurative teaching of which Jesus was so fond. He -wished to found the Kingdom of God and supplant that of Satan. It was -part of His mission to drive out demons. The difference between bodily -disorders and actual malign obsessions was of no importance: between -bodily infirmities and spiritual infirmities there is a parallelism of -nomenclature, based on real affinity. There is a likeness between the -maniac and the epileptic, between the paralytic and the slothful, the -vile and the leprous, the blind and he who cannot see the truth, the -deaf and he who will not listen to the truth, the cured and the -resurrected. - -When John, shut up in prison, sent two disciples to ask Jesus if He were -the awaited prophet, or whether they should await another, Jesus -answered them, “Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and -heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, -the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.” -Jesus did not separate the gospel from miraculous cures. They are -similar deeds; by that answer he meant that he had cured bodies in order -that the souls might be better disposed to receive the gospel. - -Those who did not see the light of the sun can now see the light of -truth; those who did not hear even the words of men can now hear the -words of God; those who were possessed of Satan are freed from Satan; -those who were foul and ulcerated are clean as children; those who could -not move, who were strengthless and shrunken, now follow my footsteps; -those who were dead to the life of the soul have risen at a word from me -... and the poor, after the Good News, are richer than the wealthy. -These are my credentials, my letters proving my legitimacy. - -Jesus, Healer and Liberator, is not what the bad faith of His modern -enemies wish to imagine Him, in order to gild once more their -comfortable paganism and to protect it against asceticism. “He is the -God,” they say, “of the sick, the weak, the dirty, the wretched, the -strengthless, the servants.” But all that Christ does is to give health, -strength, purity, wealth, and liberty. He draws near to the sick -precisely in order to drive away their sickness; to the weak to lift -them out of their weakness; to the dirty in order to cleanse them; to -slaves in order to free them. He does not love the sick only because -they are sick: He loves health, just as the men of antiquity did, and He -loves it so greatly that He longs to give it back to those who have lost -it. Jesus is the prophet of happiness, the promiser of life, of life -that is worthier to be lived. The miracles are only pledges of His -promise. - - - TALITHA QUMI - - -“The dead shall arise!” This is one of the signs which are to suffice -for John the Baptist in prison. To the good sister, to the hard-working -Martha, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that -believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever -liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die.” The resurrection is a -rebirth in faith, immortality is the permanent affirmation of this -faith. - -The Evangelists know three resurrections, historical events narrated -with a sober but explicit statement of the evidence. Jesus raised up -three who were dead: a young lad, a little girl, and a friend. - -He was entering Nain, “the beautiful” set on a little hill some miles -from Nazareth, and met a funeral procession. They were carrying to the -grave the young son of a widow. She had lost her husband a short time -before; this son alone had been left to her; now they were carrying away -the son in turn for burial. Jesus saw the mother walking among the -women, weeping with the amazed and smothered grief of mothers which is -so profoundly moving. She had only two men in all the world who loved -her; the first one was dead, the second was now dead; one after the -other, both of them disappeared. She was left alone, a woman alone -without a man. Without a husband, without a son, without a help, a prop, -a comfort. Gone the love that was a memory of youth, gone the love that -was hope for declining years. Gone both those poor, simple loves. A -husband can console his wife for the loss of their son; a son can make -up for the loss of a husband. If only one had been left! Now her lips -were never to know another kiss. - -Jesus had compassion on this mother; her grief was like an accusation. -“Weep not,” he said. - -He went to the side of the cataleptic and touched him. The boy was lying -there stretched out, wrapped in his shroud, but with his face uncovered, -set in the stern paleness of the dead. The bearers halted; all were -silent; even the mother, startled, was quiet. - -“Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” And he that was dead sat up, and -began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother. He “delivered” him -because he was now hers. Jesus had taken him from the land of death to -give him back to her who could not live without him, that a mother might -cease from weeping. - -Another day as he was returning from Gadara, a father fell at His feet. -His only little daughter lay at the point of death. The man’s name was -Jairus, and although he was a leader at the Synagogue he believed in -Jesus. They went along together. When they were half-way, a servant met -them, saying, “Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.” But when -Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Fear not: believe only, and -she shall be made whole.” And when He came into the house He suffered no -man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the -mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but He said, “Weep -not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.” And they laughed Him to scorn, -knowing that she was dead. And He put them all out, and took her by the -hand, and called, saying, “Maid, arise.” And her spirit came again, and -she arose straightway: and He commanded to give her meat. She was not a -visible spirit, a ghost, but a living body, awakened a little weak, -ready for a new day after feverish dreams. - - - LAZARUS AWAKENED - - -Lazarus and Jesus loved each other. More than once Jesus had eaten in -his house at Bethany with him and his sisters. Now one day Lazarus fell -ill, and sent word of it to Jesus. And Jesus answered, “This sickness is -not unto death.” Two days went by. But on the third day He said to His -disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him -out of sleep.” He was near to Bethany when Martha came to meet Him as if -to reproach Him. - -“Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died.” And a little -later Mary too said, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not -died.” Their repeated reproach touched Jesus, not because He feared He -had come too late, but because He was always saddened by the lack of -faith even of those dearest to Him. - -“And he said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and -see.... Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. -It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the -stone.” - -Martha, the housekeeper, the practical, concrete character, interrupted, -“Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” But -Jesus did not heed her, “Take away the stone.” And the stone was rolled -away. Jesus made a short prayer, His face lifted towards the sky, drew -near to the hole and called His friend in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come -forth.” - -And Lazarus came forth, stumbling, for his hands and feet were shrouded -and his face covered with a napkin. - -“Loose him, and let him go.” - -And all four, followed by the Twelve and by a throng of thunderstruck -Jews, returned to the house. Lazarus’ eyes grew wonted again to the -light. He walked on his feet, although with pain, and used his hands. -Martha, moving rapidly, got together the best dinner she could in the -confusion after four days of demoralized sorrow—and the man come back to -life after death ate with his sister and his friends. Mary could -scarcely swallow a mouthful of food, nor take her eyes from the -conqueror of death, who, having wiped the tears from His eyes, broke His -bread and drank His wine as if this day were like any other day. - -These are the resurrections narrated by the Evangelists, and from their -account we can draw some observations which will allow us to dispense -with learned, that is to say with unsuitable, commentaries. In all His -life, Jesus raised from the dead only three persons, and this He did, -not to make a show of His power and to strike the imagination of the -people, but only because He was touched by the sorrow of those who loved -the dead, to console a mother, a father, two sisters. Two of these -resurrections were public; one, that of the daughter of Jairus, was -accomplished in the presence of very few, and Jesus asked those few to -say nothing about it. - -Another point, and the most important; in all these three cases Jesus -spoke to the dead person as if he were not dead but only asleep. He had -no time to say anything about the condition of the son of the widow, -because that decision was taken too rapidly, but even to him, He said, -as to a child, idly oversleeping, “Young man, I say unto thee, arise.” -When they told Him that the daughter of Jairus was dead, He answered, -“Weep not, she is not dead but sleepeth.” When they confirmed the news -of the death of Lazarus, He insisted, “He is not dead but sleepeth.” He -made no claim to bring back from the dead, only to awaken. Death for Him -was only a sleep, a deeper sleep than the common sleep of everyday, a -sleep only to be broken by a superhuman love. This love was for the -survivors more than for the dead; it was the love of one whose tears -flow at the sight of others’ tears. - - - THE MARRIAGE AT CANA - - -Jesus liked to go to weddings. For the man of the people who very seldom -gives way to lavishness and gayety, who never eats and drinks as much as -he would like, the day of his wedding is the most remarkable of all his -life, a rich passage of generous gayety in his long, drab, commonplace -existence. Wealthy people who can have banquets every evening, moderns -who gulp down in a day what would have sufficed for a week to the poor -man of olden times, no longer feel the solemn joyfulness of that day. -But the poor man in the old days, the workingman, the countryman, the -Oriental who lived all the year round on barley-bread, dried figs and a -few fish and eggs, and only on great days killed a lamb or a kid, the -man accustomed to stint himself, to calculate closely, to dispense with -many things, to be satisfied with what is strictly necessary, saw in -weddings the truest and greatest festival of his life. The other -festivals, those of the people and those of the Church, were the same -for everybody, and they are repeated every twelfth month; but a wedding -was his very own festival and only came once for him in all the cycle of -his years. - -Then all the delights and splendors of the world were centered around -the bride and groom, to make the day unforgettable for them. Torches -went at night to meet the groom with singers, dancers and musicians. The -house was filled with abundance, all sorts of meats cooked in all sorts -of ways; wine-skins of wine leaning against the walls, vases of unguents -for the friends; light, music, perfumes, gayety, dancing; nothing was -lacking for the gratification of the senses. On that one day all the -things which are the daily privilege of princes and rich men triumphed -in the poor man’s house. - -Jesus was pleased by this innocent joy, and touched by the exultation of -those simple souls, snatched for those few hours from the gloomy, -niggardly poverty of their everyday life. In weddings He saw more than a -mere festival. Marriage is the supreme effort of the youth of man to -conquer Fate with love, with the union of two affections, with the -joining of two loving youths. It is the affirmation of a double faith in -life, in the continuity and stability of life. The man who marries is a -hostage in the hands of human society. Making himself the head of a new -society and father of a new generation, he frees himself while he -professes to bind himself. Marriage is a promise of happiness, and an -acceptance of suffering. Illusion and conscience have their part in it. -In the shadow of tragedy, which sends over the future a trembling hope -of joy, is the heroic and holy greatness of marriage, which cannot be -dispensed with, and yet, in the light of selfish reason, should not be -accepted. Who has ever seen, except in this case, a condemnation so -eagerly longed for? - -For Jesus marriage has a still deeper meaning: it is the beginning of -something eternal. Whom God hath joined, man cannot put asunder. When -hearts have been united and bodies joined, no law nor sword can sever -them. In this our human life, changeable, ephemeral, evasive, failing, -frail, there is only one thing that ought to last forever till death and -beyond death,—marriage, the only link of eternity in the perishable -chain. - -Jesus often speaks of weddings and banquets. Among the most beautiful -parables is that of the King who sent out invitations to the wedding of -his son, that other of the Virgins who wait by night for the arrival of -the bridegroom’s friend; and that of the Lord who prepared a banquet. -Christ compares Himself to a bridegroom feasted by His friends when He -answers those who are scandalized because His disciples eat and drink. - -He did not despise wine, and when with His Twelve, He drinks that wine -which is His blood, He thinks of the new wine of the Kingdom. It is not -surprising therefore that He should have accepted the invitation to the -wedding at Cana. Every one knows the miracle He wrought that day. Six -jars of water were changed by Jesus into wine, and into wine better than -that which had been drunk. Old rationalists say that this was a present -of wine kept hidden until then, a surprise of Jesus at the end of the -meal, in honor of the bride and groom. And six hundred quarts of wine, -they add, are a fine present, showing the liberality of the Master. - -These Voltairian vermin have not noticed that only John, the man of -allegories, the philosophizer, tells of the Marriage at Cana. It was not -a sleight-of-hand trick, but a true transmutation, performed with the -power of Spirit over matter, and at the same time it is one of those -Parables in fact, instead of in words, a Parable told by actual deeds. - -But whoever does not stop at the literal meaning of the story, sees that -the water turned into wine symbolizes the new epoch which begins with -the Gospel. Before the Annunciation and the vigil in the desert, water -was enough; the world was left to sorrow. But now the joyful tidings are -come, the Kingdom is at hand, happiness is near. Men are about to pass -from sadness to joy, from the widowhood of the old law to the new -marriage with the new law. The Bridegroom is with us. Now is no time for -sadness, but for enthusiasm. There will be no more fasting but -rejoicings; no more water but wine. - -Remember the words of the steward to the Bridegroom, “Every man at the -beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then -that which is worse: but Thou hast kept the good wine until now.” Such -was the old usage, the usage of the Jews of old times and of the -heathen. But Jesus meant to overturn this old amphictyonic usage also. -The men of old gave the good and then the poor; He, after the good wine, -gives better. Sour, unripened wine, the poor quality which was drunk at -the beginning, symbolizes the wine of the old law, the wine that has -turned sour and can no longer be drunk. Christ’s wine, finer and -stronger, which cheers the heart and warms the blood, is the new wine of -the Kingdom, wine intended for the marriage of Heaven and earth, wine -which gives that divine intoxication which will be called later, “the -foolishness of God.” - -The marriage of Cana, which in John is the first miracle, is an allegory -of the evangelical revolution. - - - THE ACCURSED FIG-TREE - - -Another parable expressed in the form of a miracle is that of the -withered fig-tree. One morning towards Easter, returning from Bethany to -Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry. He came up to a fig-tree and found only -leaves. It was too early to expect fruit, even from the earliest -species. Yet Jesus, according to Matthew and Mark, was angry at the poor -tree and cursed it. - -According to Matthew, “Let no fruit grow on thee hence-forward forever.” -And presently the fig-tree withered away. - -According to Mark, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever.... And -in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree dried up from -the roots.” - -In the Evangelists the account of the curse is followed by a return to -the thought many times expressed by Jesus, that anything can be obtained -if asked for with powerful faith. - -Others instead see here a metaphorical lament which many times returned -to Jesus’ lips. The fig-tree is Israel, the old Judaic religion, which -from now on will bear only unnourishing leaves of rites and ceremonies, -leaves fated to shrivel without nourishing men. Jesus, hungry for -justice, hungry for love, sought among the leaves for sustaining fruits -of mercy and holiness. He did not find them. Israel did not feed His -hunger nor fulfill His hope. From now on nothing can be expected from -the old trunk, leafy but sterile. May it be dead to all eternity! Other -races will henceforth be fruitful. - -The miracle of the cursed fig-tree is at bottom nothing more than a very -apparent gloss of the parable of the sterile fig-tree in Luke. “A -certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and -sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of -his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this -fig-tree and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” - -And he answering said unto him, “Lord, let it alone this year also, till -I shall dig about it and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if -not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” - -The tree was not condemned at first, but after three years of sterility, -and even then by the intercession of the workman, was given a year’s -respite, and in that year the plant was handled and treated with loving -care. That was to be the final test: only if all care was unavailing was -it to be hewn down and burned. - -For three years Jesus had preached to the Jews, and He was thinking of -giving them up, and announcing the Kingdom to others. But one of His -workers, a disciple still attached to his people, asked for mercy; one -respite more. We shall see whether even great love could convert this -adulterous and bastard generation. But when they were on the road from -Bethany, Judaism had been put to the test, Christ had only His Cross to -expect. The evil fig-tree of Judaism deserved to be burned and from that -time on no one will eat its tardy, withered fruit. - - - BREAD AND FISHES - - -On two occasions there was a multiplication of bread, alike in all -details except the proportions of the quantities involved,—that is, in -exactly what give them their real spiritual meaning. - -Thousands of poor people had followed Jesus into a place in the -wilderness, far from any settlements. For three days they had not eaten, -so hungry were they for the bread of life which is His word. But on the -third day, Jesus took pity on them—there were women and children among -them—and ordered His disciples to feed the multitude. But they had only -a little bread and a few fishes, and there were thousands of mouths. -Then Jesus had them all sit down on the ground on the green grass, in -circles of fifty to a hundred, He blessed the small amount of food they -had; all were satisfied, and baskets of the broken pieces were left. - -The less there is of the true bread, the bread of truth, the more it -satisfies. The old law is abundant, copious, divided into innumerable -sections. There are hundreds of precepts written in the books and -thousands more invented by the Scribes and Pharisees. At first sight it -seems a gigantic table where a whole race could be satisfied. But all -these precepts, these rules and formulas are only dry leaves, shavings, -trash. No one can live on such fare. The more numerous they are, the -less they satisfy. Humble and simple people cannot satisfy their hunger -for justice with these innumerable but inedible viands. Instead, one -Word alone sums up all the words and transcends the petrified bigotry -beloved by the complacent and satiated; one Word which fills the soul, -which reconciles hearts, which calms the hunger for justice; the -multitudes will be satisfied and there will be enough to eat also for -those who were not present on that day. Spiritual bread is in itself -miraculous. A loaf of wheat bread is only enough for a very few, and -when they have finished it, there is no more for any one! But the bread -of truth, that mystic bread of Joy is never finished, can never be -finished. Give it out to thousands and it is always there; distribute it -to millions, and it is always intact. Every one has taken his part as -the men and women in the wilderness did, and as much as was given out, -so much the more remains for those who are to come. - -Another day when the disciples found themselves without bread, Jesus -admonished them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. -And the disciples, almost always slow to understand Him, said among -themselves, “It is because we have taken no bread.” Which when Jesus -perceived he said unto them, “O ye of little faith, why reason ye among -yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand -neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many -baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand and -how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I -spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the -leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?” That is, of the blind -guardians of the degenerate law. - -They are the Twelve, the chosen, the blest, the faithful, and yet they -cannot understand at once, do not sufficiently believe. - -Again in the boat, the night of the tempest, Jesus was obliged to -reprove them. The Master had gone to sleep in the stern, His head on the -pillow of one of the rowers. Suddenly the wind rose, a storm came down -on the lake, the waves beat against the boat and it seemed from one -moment to the next that they would be wrecked. The disciples, alarmed, -awakened Jesus, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” And he arose, -and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still.” And the -wind ceased and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, “Why are -ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” And they feared -exceedingly, and said one to another, “What manner of man is this, that -even the wind and the sea obey him?” - -There is one, Simon Peter, who has no fear. Not only does his nature -transcend the human, but great is his faith, great his love, great his -power of will. Nothing animate nor inanimate can resist these three -great qualities. A man who possesses them has renounced all that is -temporal and is victorious over time. He has renounced the good things -of the flesh, and for this reason can save the flesh; he has renounced -material things and so is master of matter. Every one can partake of -this power. Faith is sufficient, but it must not be faith only in -oneself. - -A few years before Christ, a great Italian, captain in many wars, -corrupt but a fitting ruler over the putrefaction of the Republic, was -on the sea, on a real sea, in a boat with a few rowers, in search of an -army which had not come up in time to win the victory for him. The wind -began to blow, the tempest bore down on the boat and the pilot wished to -turn back to the harbor. But Cæsar, taking the hand of the pilot, said -to him, “Go forward, fear not, Cæsar is with thee and his fortune sails -with you.” These words of haughty self-confidence heartened the crew; -every one, as if a little of Cæsar’s strength had entered into his soul, -did his best to overcome the opposition of the sea. But notwithstanding -the efforts of the seamen the ship was nearly sunk and was obliged to -turn back. Cæsar’s faith was only pride and ambition, faith in himself: -Christ’s faith was all love, love for the Father, love for men. - -With this love He could walk to meet the boat of the disciples tacking -against a contrary wind, and could step upon the water as on the grass -of a meadow. They thought in the darkness that it was a specter, and -once again He was obliged to reassure them, “Be of good cheer: it is I; -be not afraid.” As soon as He was in the boat, the wind fell and in a -few minutes they reached the shore. Once again they were astounded -because, says the honest Mark, “For they considered not the miracle of -the loaves: for their heart was hardened.” - -This comparison may seem ingenuous, but it is revealing, for the miracle -of the loaves is the foundation of all the others. Every parable spoken -in poetic words or expressed with visible prodigies was as bread -prepared in different manners, so that His own followers, at least His -very own, should understand the one needful truth that the Spirit is the -only fare worthy of man, and that the man who is nourished on that fare -is master of the world. - - - NOT SECRETIVE: A POET - - -Jesus seems at first sight secretive. He orders those affected by -miracles to say to no man who has cured them; He wishes prayers and -charity to be done secretly; when the disciples recognize that He is the -Christ, He charges them not to repeat it; after the Transfiguration He -bids the three keep silence, and when He teaches He uses parables which -all men are not capable of understanding. - -On further thought, on really considering the matter, it is apparent -that Jesus has nothing of the esoteric. He has no secret doctrine to -impart to a few acolytes. His words are public and open. He always -speaks in the public squares of cities, on the beaches of lakes, in the -Synagogue, in the midst of the people. He forbids speaking of His -miracles in order that He may not be confused with wizards and -exorcists; He commands to do good secretly in order to keep vainglory -from destroying merit; He does not wish the Twelve to proclaim Him the -Christ before His entry into Jerusalem, the public inauguration of His -Messiahship; and He speaks in parables to be better understood by the -simple who listen more willingly to a story than to a sermon, and -remember a narration better than an argument. - -Three of the Evangelists report a speech of Jesus, which seems to -contradict this view. “Unto you,” He is speaking to the disciples, “it -is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to others it -is not given; therefore I speak to them in parables that seeing they -might not see, and hearing they might not understand.” - -But Jesus means only to say this, “You understand these mysteries, but -the many do not understand them, although they have ears and spirits -like yours. And to them that they may understand I speak in -parables,—that is, in a figurative language of facts because it is -easier and more familiar.” You teach children with fables and the simple -with stories, and “the many” have remained like the simple and the -childish. To overcome the slowness of their minds I use words adapted to -their nature. They are all fancy, and little intellect; and the parables -are an appeal to the imagination more than to the reasoning powers. I do -not employ them therefore to hide the truth, but the better to reveal it -to those who could not see it in a purely rational form. For if then -they do not understand, it is the fault of their obstinacy, which often -closes the eyes and ears of the soul. - -Jesus had no mysteries to dissemble. It was His wish that all, even the -most humble and ignorant, should understand Him. The parables were not -made to hide His teaching from the profane, but to make it more explicit -and understandable to every one. That sometimes even the intelligence of -the Twelve is inferior to this task is a melancholy conclusion by no -means unknown to Jesus. - -The marvelous content of His message has cast into the shade His poetic -originality, not less marvelous. Jesus never wrote—once only He wrote on -the sand, and the wind destroyed forever His handwriting—but in the -midst of a people of powerful imagination, of the people who wrote the -Psalter, the story of Ruth, the book of Job, the Song of Songs, He would -have been one of the greatest poets of all times. His victorious -youthfulness of spirit, the racy, popular language of the country where -He grew up, the books He had read, few but among the richest of all -poetry—His loving communion with the life of the fields and of animals -and above all His divine and passionate yearning to give light to those -who suffer in the dark, to save those who are being lost forever, to -carry supreme happiness to the most unhappy (because true poetry does -not catch its fire from the light of the lantern but at the light of the -stars and of the sun, is not found in the writings left behind by -great-grandfathers, but in love, in sorrow in the deeply moved soul); -these things combined made of Jesus a poet, an inventor of living and -eternal images with which he achieved a miracle on which the Evangelists -make no comment,—the miracle of communicating the highest truth by the -means of stories so simple, familiar, full of grace that after twenty -centuries they shine with that unique youth which is eternity. Some of -these stories are only idyllic or epic restatements of revelations which -at other times He expounded in abstract words; but there are some which -express things never said in any other form in His teaching. The -parables are the imaginative comments on the Sermon on the Mount, such -as could be made only by a poet who merits the title of divine more -truly than any other poet ever born. - - - YEAST - - -City ladies do not make their own bread, but old countrywomen and -housewives know what yeast is. A handful of dough from the last baking -as big as a child’s hand, wet with warm water and put into the new -dough, raises even as much as three measures of flour. - -Among the seeds of plants that of the mustard is among the smallest; it -can hardly be seen, but from this tiny little seed, if it is put into -good earth, springs up a fine shrub, and the fowls of the air lodge in -the branches of it. The grain of wheat is not large, the farmer throws -it into the ground and then goes on about his other affairs; he sleeps, -he goes away from home and comes back. Days pass and nights pass, no -thought is given to the seed, but underneath there in the moist, plowed -field the seed has germinated. There comes out a blade of green and at -the top of this blade an ear, at first green and graceful, then little -by little becoming golden grain. Now the field is ready for the mowing -and the farmer can commence his harvesting. - -Likewise with the Kingdom of Heaven and the first news of it. A word -seems nothing. What is a word? Syllables, sounds, which come from the -lips, enter with difficulty into the ears and only when they come from -the heart find other hearts; it is a little thing, small, a breath, a -sigh, a sound which comes and goes and the wind carries it away. And yet -the word of the Kingdom is like yeast. If it goes into good flour, clean -honest flour not adulterated with other grains, it ferments and grows. -It is like the seed of the fields which germinates deep under the -ground, patient as the earth which hides it, which, when Spring comes, -grows green and strong and with the beginning of summer, lo, the harvest -is ready! - -The gospel is made up of few words, “The Kingdom is at hand, change your -souls!” but if it falls into the heart of men ready for it, of simple -men who wish to become great, of righteous men who wish to become holy, -of sinners who seek in good for that happiness which they have vainly -sought in evil, then those words take root in the depths, put out buds -and shoots, flourish up in clusters and ears, and luxuriate in a summer -never to be followed by the decay of Autumn. - -Only a few men of those living about Christ believed in the Kingdom and -prepared themselves for the great day. Only a few, insignificant men, -scattered like tiny particles of yeast in the midst of the divided -nations and the immense Empires, but these few dozen insignificant men -gathered together in the midst of a predestined people were to become, -through the contagion of their example, thousands upon thousands, and -only three hundred years after them, in the place of Tiberius, ruled a -man who bowed the knee before the heirs of the Apostles. - -But men must renounce everything else if they are to enjoy the promised -Kingdom. Worldly-minded men do the same in their temporal affairs. If a -man working in another’s field discovers a treasure-store, he quickly -hides it again and hurries to sell all that he has to buy that field. If -a merchant looking for marvelous jewels worthy to be offered to -monarchs, finds a pearl larger and purer than any he has ever seen, he -goes and sells everything that he has, even the other pearls of less -price, to buy this unique and wonderful pearl. - -If the workman and the merchant, material-minded men, who are satisfied -with frail acquisitions, are thus ready to sell all their goods to -acquire a treasure which seems to them more precious than anything they -possess, even though it is only a material and perishable treasure, how -much more reason there is for men to renounce what they hold most dear, -in order to achieve the Kingdom of God. If the laboring-man and the -merchant for a money gain, likely to be stolen or destroyed, thus -consent to a provisional sacrifice which will give them a hundred per -cent profit, ought not we for an infinitely greater, infinitely higher -profit, throw away the best we have, even if it has seemed until now of -inestimable price? - -But before we make this renunciation we must take thought and be sure -that what remains to us will be enough to take us to the end of this new -undertaking. We must measure the forces of our soul, that it may not -happen to us as to the man who wished to build up a tower, a beautiful -tower which would soar up to the sky like that of Jerusalem. He took no -account of the cost but called the diggers, had the foundations -excavated; called the masons and had the four walls of the foundations -begun; but when the tower had scarcely been raised above the level of -the earth, and was not yet as high as the roof of a house, he was -obliged to stop because he had no more money to pay for the mortar, the -stones, the bricks and the working men; and the tower remained thus, low -and unsightly, in memory of his presumption: and his neighbors mocked at -him. - -A king who wants to make war on another king first takes account of his -soldiers, and if he can count only on ten thousand and the other has -twenty thousand, he puts off any idea of war, and sends an embassy of -peace before his enemy can take the first hostile step. He who is not -sure of himself, of being able to conquer to the last, does not follow -Christ. For the foundation of the Kingdom is infinitely harder work than -the building of a tower, and the creation of the new man is war not less -harsh than external war, although silent and inner. - - - THE BANQUET - - -Only the clean of heart can enter into the Kingdom. The Kingdom is an -eternal feast, and only those dressed for a feast can go there. There -was a King who celebrated his son’s wedding, and those whom he invited -did not come. Then the King called in the common people, the passers-by, -the beggars, every one; but when the King came into the banqueting hall -and saw one of the guests all filthy with grease and mud, he had him -cast outside the door, to gnash his teeth in the coldness of night. - -At the banquet of the Kingdom if the first called do not come, all are -accepted; even the wretched and the sinners. The King had invited first -the chosen people; but one had bought a piece of ground, another five -yoke of oxen, a third had taken a wife that day. They were all deep in -their affairs, and some did not even trouble to send an excuse. Then the -King sent his servants to pick up out of the streets the blind, the -poor, the maimed and the halt, the lowest of the rabble; and still there -was room. Then he commanded that those who passed in front of his palace -should be forced to come in, whoever they might be; and the banquet -began. It was a royal banquet, a rich and magnificent feast; but after -all, it consisted in enjoying lamb and fish, in getting drunk on wine -and cider. At the break of day the bonfire was burned out, the tables -were cleared, every one had to return to his home and to his poverty. If -some of those whom the King first invited preferred another material -pleasure to this material pleasure it was pardonable. - -But the invitation to the banquet of the Kingdom is a promise of -spiritual happiness, absolute, satisfying, perpetual. Something else -than the passing amusements of terrestrial life: nauseating drunkenness, -food that distends the stomach, sensual pleasures that leave a man -bone-weary and defiled. And yet the men whom Jesus chose among all other -men, and called first of all to the divine feast of the reborn, did not -respond. They made wry faces, complained, slipped away and continued -their habitual low actions. They preferred the rubbish of carnal goods -to the splendor of high hope which is the only reasonable reason for -living. - -Then all the others were called in their place: beggars instead of the -rich, sinners instead of Pharisees, women of the streets instead of fine -ladies, the sick and sorrowing instead of the strong and happy. - -Even the latest arrivals if they come in time will be admitted to the -feast. The master of the vineyard saw in the marketplace certain -laborers who were waiting for work, sent them out to prune his vines, -and agreed on their wages. Later at noon-day he saw others without work -and sent also those; and still later more again, and he sent them all. -And they all worked, some at pruning and some at hoeing, and when the -evening came the master gave the same pay to all. But those who had -begun in the morning early, murmured, “Why do those who have worked less -than we receive the same payment?” But the master answered one of them -and said, “Didst not thou agree with me for a penny; why then dost thou -lament? If it is my pleasure to give the same to the working men of the -last hour, is that robbing you others?” - -The apparent injustice of the master is only a more generous justice. To -all he gives what he has promised, and he who arrived last but works -with equal hope has the same right as the others to enjoy that Kingdom -for which he has labored until the night. - -Woe to him who comes too late! No one knows the exact day, but after -that hour he who has not gone in will knock at the door, and it will not -be opened to him, and he will mourn in outer darkness. - -The master has gone to the wedding and the servants do not know when he -will come back. Fortunate are those who have waited for him and whom he -will find awake. The master himself will seat them at the table and will -serve them. But if he find them sleeping, if no one is ready to receive -him, if they make him knock at the door before opening it, if they come -to meet him disheveled, tousled, half-clad, and if he finds in the house -no lamp lighted, no water warmed, he will take the servants by the arm -and drive them out without pity. - -Every one should be ready because the Son of Man is like a thief in the -night who sends no word beforehand when he will come. Or like a -bridegroom who has been detained by some one in the street. In the house -of the bride there are ten virgins who are waiting to go to meet him -with the light of the procession. Five, the wise virgins, take oil for -their lamps, and wait to hear the voices and the steps of the -approaching bridegroom. The other five, the foolish, do not think of the -oil, and, tired of waiting, fall asleep. And suddenly there is the sound -of the nuptial procession arriving. The five wise virgins light their -lamps and run out into the street joyfully to welcome the bridegroom. -The other five wake up with a start and ask their companions to give -them a little oil. But the others say, “Why did you not provide for that -sooner? Go and buy some.” And the foolish run from one house to another -to get a little oil; but everybody is asleep, and nobody answers them, -and the shops are closed and the roaming dogs bark at their heels. They -go back to the house of the wedding, but now the door is closed. The -five wise virgins are already there and feasting with the bridegroom. -The five foolish virgins knock and beg and cry out, but no one comes to -open for them. Through the cracks in the window casings they see the -glowing lights of the supper. They hear the clatter of the dishes, the -clinking of the cups, the songs of the young men, the sound of the -musical instruments, but they cannot enter. They must stay there until -morning, in the dark, and the wind. Shut out from the pleasures of the -evening festival, they tremble and shake in terror. - - - THE NARROW GATE - - -“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the -way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: -Because strait is the gate, narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, -and few there be that find it.” Those who will try to enter will fail, -because the master of the house, when he has shut his door, will no -longer recognize any one. - -Until the great day, until it is too late, “Ask and it shall be given to -you; seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” -Even hard, slothful, obstinate men give way to persistent entreaty. If -even men are not always insensible to pleadings how much surer will be -the response from a Father who loves us? - -A man at midnight knocks at the door of a friend and wakens him. Through -the door he says to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of -mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before -him.” But the other, still half asleep, replies, “Trouble me not: for I -am tired, and I do not wish to arise. And here in my bed I have my -children who are asleep and if I get up I will wake them and chill -them.” But the other will not give up, and knocks again on the door and -raises his voice and begs with clasped hands that the other one will do -him this service, for he has no other friends near, and the hour is late -and his guest hungry and waiting for him. And he storms so at the door -that his friend gets out of bed and lets him come in and gives him as -many loaves as he needs. The friend was weak, but good-hearted. And even -the bad-hearted do as he does. There was in a certain city a judge who -cared for no one, a morose and scornful man who wanted to do everything -as it suited him best. A widow went every day before him and asked for -justice, and although her cause was just the judge always sent her away -and would not do what she wished. But the widow patiently endured all -his repulses and did not weary in her importunity. And finally the judge -to get rid of this woman who wore him out with her supplications, -pleadings, and prayers, gave the sentence and sent her in peace. - -But no more must be asked than can be expected. He who has accomplished -his task will eat and drink but will not have any special place of -honor, nor will he be better served than his brother, and certainly not -so well as his superior. When the servant, having been in the field -sowing or pasturing the cattle, comes back to the house, the master does -not call him to eat at his own table, but first is served himself and -afterwards gives the servant the meal which is due him. This is a -Parable which Jesus meant for His Apostles, who were already disputing -about who would have the highest place in the Kingdom. “Doth he thank -that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow -not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which were -commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants: we have done that -which was our duty to do.” - -The only thing which counts is the actual doing. There are those who say -“yes” to orders but who after this do nothing. Such men shall be -condemned more severely than those who refused openly and then -afterwards, repentant, obeyed. A father had two sons and said to the -older, “Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.” And the son answered, “I -go, sir,” but instead of going to work in the vineyard he lay down in -the shade to sleep. And the father said to the second, “Go too and work -with your brother.” But the son answered, “No, to-day I wish to rest -because I am not well.” But later, thinking of the old man who could not -do the work himself any longer, he took back his refusal, overcame his -indolence and went to the vineyard and worked with a will till evening. - -To listen to the word of the Kingdom is not enough. To consent verbally -and to live just as before, without effort to change the heart, is less -than nothing. “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth -them, I will show you to whom he is like; He is like a man which built -an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock, and when -the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could -not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and -doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon -the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately -it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” - -The same teaching is in the Parable of the Sowing, “A sower went out to -sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was -trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it, and some fell upon a -rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it -lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up -with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up and -bare fruit an hundredfold.” This is the Parable which the Twelve were -incapable of understanding. Jesus was obliged to explain it Himself. The -seed is the Word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear, then -cometh Satan and taketh the Word out of their hearts lest they should -believe and be saved. They on the rock are they which when they hear -receive the Word with joy, and these have no root which for a while -believe and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among -thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with -cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to -perfection. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and -good heart having heard the Word keep it and bring forth fruit with -patience. But it is not enough to hear it merely, to understand it, to -practice it. He who has received it should not keep it to himself. Who -is the man who having a lamp hides it under the bed or covers it with a -vessel? The light should stand high in the center of the room that they -which enter in may see it and be lighted. - -A Lord traveling into a far country left to each of his servants ten -talents with the understanding that they should use the money to good -purpose. And when he came back he reckoned with them. And the first -delivered to him twenty talents, because with the first ten he had -earned ten other talents. And the Lord made him steward over all his -goods. And the second delivered him fifteen talents, for he had not been -able to earn more than five more. But the third presented himself -timorously and showed him, wrapped up in a napkin, the ten talents which -he had received. “Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping -where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And -I was afraid, and went and hid thy talents in the earth.” And the Lord -answered, “Thou wicked and slothful servant, I will judge thee by thine -own words. Take the talents and give them to him who has twenty.” But he -has already plenty. “I say unto you,” answered the Lord, “For unto every -one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him -that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” And the -unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness, where there was -weeping and gnashing of teeth. He who has received the Word ought to -double his wealth. He has received so great a treasure that if he leaves -it useless, he deserves to have it taken away from him. From him who -does not add to it shall be taken away even that which he has, and unto -him who has doubled his treasures shall be given even more. Those who do -not use the treasure of the Word are not poverty-stricken men who need -gifts because they are destitute, but faithless and slothful husbandmen, -to whom was entrusted the most fruitful field in all the universe. Happy -the steward whom the Master shall find attentive to act justly and to -give to all their rightful part of the harvest. But if the steward -begins to oppress the serving men and women and thinks only of eating -and getting drunk he will be scourged and punished when the Master -returns, just punishment for the faithless! - -The servant who does not know what the Master wishes done, and so, not -knowing, does not carry out His wishes, shall be less punished than he -who knew, and still does the contrary, for he shall be driven out of the -house where he gave orders. The bearers of the Word have no excuse if -they are not the first to obey God’s wishes. From him to whom much was -given, much shall be required. - - - THE PRODIGAL SON - - -A man had two sons. His wife was dead, but he still had these two sons, -only two. But two are always better than one. If the first is away from -home, the second is still there; if the younger fall ill, the older -works for two; if one should die ... even children die, even the young -die, and sometimes before the old ... if one of the two should die, -there is at least one left who will care for the poor father. - -This man loved his sons, not only because they were of his blood but -because he had a loving heart. He loved them both, the older and the -younger; perhaps the younger a little more than the older, but so little -that he did not realize it himself. Fathers and mothers often have a -weakness for the youngest because he is the smallest, he is the -sweetest, he is the last baby, and after his birth there was never -another one, so that his boyhood, still so recent, so prolonged, -stretches out to the sill of his young manhood like a lingering halo of -tenderness. It seems only yesterday that he was a baby at the breast, -that he took his first stumbling steps, that he sprang up to embrace his -father, or sat astride his knees. - -But this man was not partial. He loved his sons like his two eyes and -his two hands, equally dear, one at the left, one at the right, and he -saw to it that both were happy. Nothing lacked for either one. - -And yet, even in the case of sons of one father, it almost never happens -that two brothers have the same tastes or even similar tastes. The older -was a serious-minded young man, sedate, settled, who seemed already -grown up and mature, a husband, the head of a family. He respected his -father, but more as master than as father, without any impulsive show of -affection. He worked faithfully, but he was hard and captious with the -servants; he went through all the religious forms, but did not let the -poor come about him. Although the house was full of all possible good -things, yet for them there was never anything. He pretended to love his -brother, but his heart was full of the poison of envy. When people say -“to love like a brother” they say the contrary of what ought to be said. -Brothers very rarely love each other. Jewish history, not to speak of -any other, begins with Cain, goes on with Jacob’s cheating Esau, with -Joseph sold by his brothers, with Absalom, who killed Amon, with Solomon -who had Adonijah killed: a long bloody road of jealousy, opposition and -betrayal. It would be more correct to say “a father’s love,” rather than -a brother’s. - -The second son seemed of another race. He was younger and was not -ashamed to be young. He splashed about and made merry in his youth as in -a warm lake. He had all the desires, the graces, and the defects of his -age. He was fitful with his father. One day he hurt him, the next, put -him into the seventh heaven; he was capable of not saying a word for -weeks together and then suddenly throwing himself on his father’s neck -in the highest spirits. Good times with his friends were more to his -taste than work. He refused no invitations to drink, stared at women and -dressed better than other people. But he was warmhearted; he gave money -to the needy, was charitable without boasting of it, never sent away any -one disconsolate. He was seldom seen at the synagogue, and for this and -for other reasons the middle-class people of the neighborhood, timid, -colorless people, religious and self-seeking, did not think well of him -and advised their sons to have nothing to do with him. So much the more -because the young man wanted to spend more than his father’s resources -allowed him—a good man, they said, but weak and blinded—and because he -talked recklessly and said things which were not fitting for the son of -a good family brought up as he ought to be. The little life of that -little country hole was repugnant to him; he said it was better to look -for adventure in rich countries, populous, far away, beyond the -mountains and the sea, where the big, luxurious cities are, with marble -buildings and the best wines and shops full of silk and silver, and -women dressed in fine clothes like queens fresh from aromatic baths who -lightly give themselves for a piece of gold. - -There in the country you had to obey orders and work hard, and there was -no outlet for gypsy-like and nomadic tastes. His father, although he was -rich, although he was good, measured out the drachma as if they were -talents. His brother was vexed if he bought a new tunic or came home a -little tipsy; in the family all they knew was the field, the furrow, the -pasture, the stock; a life that was not a life but one long effort. - -And one day (he had thought of it many times before, but had never had -the courage to say it) he hardened his heart and his face and said to -his father, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, -and I will ask nothing more of thee.” - -When the old man heard this, he was deeply hurt, but he made no answer, -and went away into his room that his tears should not be seen, and for a -while neither of them spoke any more of this matter. But the son -suffered, was sullen, and lost all his ardor and animation even to the -fresh color of his face. And the father, seeing his son suffer, suffered -himself, and yet suffered more at the thought of losing him. But finally -paternal love conquered self-love. The estimations and valuations of the -property were made, and the father gave to both his sons their rightful -part and kept the rest for himself. The young man lost no time, he sold -what he could not carry away, gathered together a goodly sum, and one -evening, without saying anything to any one, mounted his fine horse and -went away. The older brother was rather pleased by his departure; the -younger would never have the courage to come back; so now he was the -only son, first in command, and no one would take away the rest of his -inheritance from him. - -But the father secretly wept many tears, all the tears of his old -wrinkled eyelids. Every line of his old face was washed with tears, his -aged cheeks were soaked with his grieving. His son was gone and he -needed all the love of the remaining son to make up for the sorrow of -the separation. - -But he had an intuition that perhaps he had not lost his son forever, -his second-born, that before his death he would have the happiness to -kiss him again; and this idea helped him to endure the loneliness. - -In the meantime the young man drew rapidly near to the rich city of -revels where he meant to live. At every turning of the road he felt of -the money-bags which hung at either side of his saddle. He soon arrived -at the city of his desire and began his feasting. It seemed to him that -those thousands of coins would last forever. He rented a fine house, -bought five or six slaves, dressed like a prince, and soon had men and -women friends who were guests at his table, and who drank his wine till -their stomachs could hold no more. He did not economize with women and -chose the most beautiful the city contained, those who knew how to dance -and sing and dress with magnificence, and undress with grace. No -presents seemed too fine or too rich to please those bodies which -abandoned themselves with such voluptuous softness, and which gave him -the wildest, most torturing pleasure. The little provincial lord from -the dull country, repressed in the most sensual period of his life, now -vented his voluptuousness, his love of luxury, in this dangerous life. - -Such a life could not go on forever: the money bags of the prodigal son -were not bottomless—no money bags are—and there came a day when there -was neither gold nor silver, and not even copper, but only empty bags of -canvas and leather lying limp and flabby on the brick floor of his room. -His friends disappeared, the women disappeared, slaves, beds and -dining-tables were sold. With the proceeds he had enough to buy food, -but only for a short time. To complete his misfortune, a famine came on -the country and the prodigal son found himself hungering in the midst of -a famine-stricken people. The women had gone off to other cities where -the situation was better; the friends of his drunken night-revels had -hard work to look out for themselves. - -The unfortunate man, stripped and destitute, left the city, traveling -with a lord who was going to the country where he had a fine estate. He -begged him for work, till the lord hired him as swine-herd because he -was young and strong and hardly any one was willing to be a swine-herd. -For a Jew nothing could be a greater affliction than this. Even in -Egypt, although animals were adored there, the only people forbidden to -enter the temples were swine-herds. No father would have given his -daughter to wife to a swine-herd and no man for all the gold in the -world would have married the daughter of a swine-herd. - -But the prodigal son had no choice and was forced to lead the herd of -swine out to the pasture. He was given no pay and very little to eat, -because there was only a little for any one; but there was no famine for -the hogs, because they could eat anything. There were plenty of carob -beans and they gorged themselves on those. Their hungry attendant -enviously watched the pink and black animals rooting in the earth, -chewing beans and roots, and longed to fill his stomach with the same -stuff and wept, remembering the abundance of his own home and his -festivals in the great city. Sometimes overcome with hunger he took one -of the black bean-husks, from under the grunting snouts of the pigs, -tempering the bitterness of his suffering with that insipid and woody -food. And woe to him if his employer had seen him! - -His dress was a dirty slave’s smock which smelt of manure, his foot-gear -a pair of worn-out sandals scarcely held together with rushes; on his -head a faded hood. His fair young face, tanned by the sun of the hills, -was thin and long, and had taken a sickly color between gray and brown. - -Who was wearing now the spotless home-spun clothes, which he had left in -his brother’s chests? Where now were the fair silken tunics dyed purple -which he had sold for so little? His father’s hired servants were better -dressed than he, and they fared better than he. - -Returned to his senses, he said to himself, “How many hired servants of -my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” -Until now he had brushed away the idea of going home as soon as it had -appeared. How could he bear to go back in this condition and give in to -his brother after having despised his home, after having made his father -weep? To return without a garment, unshod, without a penny, without the -ring—the sign of liberty—uncomely, disfigured by this famished slavery, -stinking and contaminated by this abominable trade, to show that the -wise old neighbors were right, that his serious-minded brother was -right, to bow himself at the knee of the old man whom he had left -without a greeting, to return with opprobrium as a ragged fellow to the -spot from which he had departed as a king! To come back to the -soup-plate into which he had spit—into a house which contained nothing -of his! - -No, there was something of his always in his home, his father! If he -belonged to his father, his father belonged also to him. He was his -creation, made of his flesh, issued from his seed in a moment of love. -Though hurt, his father would never drive away his own flesh and blood. -If he would not take him back as son, at least he would take him back as -a hired servant, as he would any stranger, like a man born of another -father. “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, -Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, And am no more -worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” I do -not come back as son but as servant, a worker, and I do not ask love -from you, for I have no more right to that, but only a little bread from -your kitchen. - -And the young man gave back the hogs to his master, and went towards his -own land. He begged a piece of bread from the country people, and wept -salt tears as he ate this bread of pity and charity in the shadow of the -sycamores. His sore and blistered feet could scarcely carry him. He was -barefoot now, but his faith in forgiveness led him homeward step by -step. - -And finally one day at noon he arrived in sight of his father’s house; -but he did not dare to knock, nor to call any one, nor to go in. He hung -around outside to see if any one would come out. And behold, his father -appeared on the threshold. His son was no longer the same, was changed, -but the eyes of a father even dimmed by weeping could not fail to -recognize him. He ran towards him and caught him to his breast, and -kissed him and kissed him again, and could not stop from pressing his -pale, old lips on that ravaged face, on those eyes whose expression was -altered but still beautiful, on that hair, dusty but still waving and -soft, on that flesh that was his own. - -The son, covered with confusion and deeply moved, did not know how to -respond to these kisses, and as soon as he could free himself from his -father’s arms he threw himself on the ground and repeated tremulously -the speech he had prepared. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and -before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son.” - -But if the young man had brought himself to the point of refusing the -name of son, the old man never felt himself more father than at this -moment; he seemed to become a father for a second time, and without even -answering, with his eyes still clouded and soft, but with the ringing -voice of his best days, he called to the servants: - -“Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his -hand, and shoes on his feet.” - -The son of the master should not return home wretchedly dressed like a -beggar. The finest garment should be given him, new shoes, a ring on his -finger, and the servants must wait on him because he, too, is a master. - -“And bring hither the fatted calf; and kill it, and let us eat and be -merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is -found.” - -The fatted calf was kept in reserve for great feast days: but what -festival can be greater for me than this one? I had wept for my son as -dead and here he is alive with me. I had lost him in the world and the -world has delivered him back to me. He was far away and now is with me, -he was a beggar at the doors of strange houses, and now is master in his -own house; he was famished and now he shall be served with a banquet at -his own table. - -And the servants obeyed him and the calf was killed, skinned, cut up and -put to cook. The oldest wine was taken from the wine-cellar, and the -finest room was prepared for the dinner in celebration of the return. -Servants went to call his father’s friends and others went to summon -musicians, that there should be music. And when everything was ready, -when the son had been bathed, and his father had kissed him many times -more—almost as if to assure himself with his lips that his true son was -there with him and it was not the vision of a dream—they commenced the -banquet, the wines were mixed and the musicians accompanied the songs of -joy. - -The older son was in the field, working, and in the evening when he came -back and was near to the house he heard shouts and stampings and -clapping of hands, and the footsteps of dancers. And he could not -understand. “Whatever can have happened? Perhaps my father has gone -crazy or perhaps a wedding procession has arrived unexpectedly at our -house.” - -Disliking noise and new faces, he would not enter and see for himself -what it was. But he called to a boy coming out of the house and asked -him what all that clatter was. - -“Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, -because he hath received him safe and sound.” - -These words were like a thrust at his heart. He turned pale, not with -pleasure, but with rage and jealousy. The old envy boiled up inside. It -seemed to him that he had all the right on his side, and he would not go -into the house, but stayed outside, angry. - -Then his father went out and entreated him: “Come, for your brother has -come back and has asked after you, and will be glad to see you, and we -will feast together.” - -But the serious-minded young man could not contain himself, and for the -first time in his life ventured to reprove his father to his face. - -“Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any -time thy commandment; yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make -merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath -devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted -calf.” - -With these few words he discloses all the ignominy of his soul hidden -until then under the Pharisaical cloak of good behavior. He reproaches -his father with his own obedience, he reproaches him with his avarice. -“You have never given me even a kid”—and he reproaches him, he, a -loveless son, for being a too-loving father. “This thy son.” He does not -say “brother.” His father may recognize him as son, but he will not -recognize him as brother. “He hath devoured thy living with harlots. -Money that was not his, with women that were not his; while I stayed -with thee sweating on thy fields with no recompense.” - -But his father pardoned this son, as he did the other son. “Son, thou -art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we -should make merry, and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is -alive again; and was lost, and is found.” - -The father is sure that these words will be enough to silence the other. -“He was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found. What other -reasons can be needed, and what other reasons can be better than -these—grant that he has done what he has done, that he has spent my -money on women; he has dissipated as much as he could; he left me -without a greeting; he left me to weep. He could have done worse than -that and still would have been my son. He could have stolen on the -streets, could have murdered the guiltless, he could have offended me -even more, but I never could forget that he is my son, my own blood. He -was gone and has returned, was disappeared and has reappeared, was lost -and is found, was dead and is alive again. This is enough for me and to -celebrate this miracle a fatted calf seems little to me. Thou hast never -left me, I always enjoyed thee, all my kids are thine if thou asketh for -them; thou hast eaten every day at my table; but he was gone for so many -days and weeks and months! I saw him only in my dreams; he has not eaten -a single piece of bread with me in all that time. Have I not the right -to triumph at least this day?” - -Jesus stopped here, He did not go on with His story. There was no need -of that, the meaning of the parable is clear with no additions. But no -story—after that of Joseph—that ever came from human lips is more -beautiful than this one or ever touched more deeply the hearts of men. -Interpreters are free to comment and explain, that the prodigal son is -the new man purified by the experience of grief, and the older son, the -Pharisee who observes the old law but does not know love. Or else that -the older son is the Jewish people who do not understand the love of the -Father welcoming the pagan, although he had wallowed in the foul loves -of paganism and had lived in the company of swine. - -Jesus was no maker of riddles. He Himself says expressly that the -meaning of this and similar parables is: “More joy shall be in Heaven -over one sinner who repents than over all the righteous” who vaunt -themselves in their false righteousness; than for all the pure who are -proud of their external purity; than for all the zealots who hide the -aridity of their hearts by their apparent respect for the law. - -The truly righteous will be received in the Kingdom, but no one ever -doubted them, they have made no one tremble and suffer and there is no -need to rejoice; but for him who has been near perdition, who has gone -through deep sufferings to make himself a new soul, to overcome his -bestiality, who merits his place in the Kingdom the more because he has -had to deny all his past to obtain it, for him songs of triumph shall -arise. - -“What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth -not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which -is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on -his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together -his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have -found my sheep which was lost.” - -Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, -doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till -she find it? And when she hath found it she calleth her friends and her -neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece -which I had lost.” - -And what is a sheep compared to a son returned to life, to a man saved? -And of what value is a piece of silver compared to one astray, who finds -holiness again? - - - THE PARABLES OF SIN - - -But forgiveness creates an obligation for which there are no exceptions -allowed. Love is a fire which goes out if it does not kindle others. -Thou hast burned with joy; kindle him who comes near you if thou wilt -not become like stone, smoky but cold. He who has received must give; it -is better to give much, but it is essential to give a part at least. - -A king one day wanted a reckoning with his servants and one by one he -called them before him. Among the first was one who owed him ten -thousand talents, but as he had not anything to pay this, the king -commanded that he should be sold and his wife and his children and all -that he had, in payment of a part of the debt. The servant in despair -threw himself at the feet of the king. He seemed a mere bundle of -garments crying out sobs and promises. “Have patience with me, wait a -little longer and I will pay you all, but do not have my wife and my -children separated from me, sent away like cattle, no one knows where.” - -The king was moved with compassion—he also had little children—and he -sent him away free and forgave him that great debt. The servant went out -and seemed another man; but his heart, even after so much mercy shown to -him, was the same as before. And he met one of his fellow-servants who -owed him a hundred pence, a small thing compared with ten thousand -talents, and he sprang on him and took him by the throat. “Pay me what -thou owest and at once, or I will have thee bound by the guards.” The -unlucky man assaulted in this way did what his persecutor had done a -little while before in the presence of the king. He fell down at his -feet and besought him and wept and swore that he would pay him in a few -days and kissed the hem of his garment, and recalled to him their old -comradeship and begged him to wait in the name of the children who were -waiting for him in his home. - -But the oaf, who was a servant and not a king, had no compassion. He -took his debtor by the arm and had him cast into prison. The news spread -abroad among the other servants of the palace. They were full of -compassion, and it came quickly to the ears of the king, who called that -pitiless man and delivered him to the tormentors: “I forgave you that -great debt, shouldst thou not have had compassion on thy brother, for -his debt was so much smaller? I had pity on thee, oughtest thou not to -have had pity on him?” - -Sinners when they recognize the evil which is in their hearts and abjure -it with true humility are nearer to the Kingdom than pious men who daub -themselves with the praise of their own piety. - -Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a -Publican. The Pharisee, with his phylacteries hanging upon his forehead -and on his left arm, with the long, glittering fringes on his cloak, -erect like a man who feels himself in his own house, prayed thus: “God, -I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, -adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give -tithes of all that I possess.” - -But the Publican did not have the courage even to lift his eyes and -seemed ashamed to appear before his Lord. He sighed and smote on his -breast and said only these words: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” - -“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the -other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that -humbleth himself shall be exalted.” - -A lawyer asked Jesus who is one’s neighbor, and Jesus told this story: -“A man, a Jew, went down from Jerusalem to Jericho through the mountain -passes. Thieves fell upon him, and after they had wounded him and taken -away his clothes, they left him upon the road half dead. A priest passed -that way, one of those who go to all the feasts and meetings, and boast -that they know the will of God from beginning to end. He saw the -unfortunate man stretched out but he did not stop, and to avoid touching -something unclean he passed by on the other side of the road. A little -after came a Levite. He also was among the most accredited of the -zealots, knew every detail of all the holy ceremonies, and seemed more -than a sacristan, seemed one of the masters of the Temple. He looked at -the bloody body and went on his way. And finally came a Samaritan. To -the Jews the Samaritans were faithless, traitors, only slightly less -detestable than the Gentiles, because they would not sacrifice at -Jerusalem and accept the reform of Nehemiah. The Samaritan, however, did -not wait to see if the unfortunate man thrown among the stones of the -street were circumcized or uncircumcized, were a Jew or a Samaritan. He -came up close to him, and seeing him in such an evil pass, he was -quickly moved to pity, took down his flasks from his saddle and poured -upon his wounds a little oil, a little wine, bound them up as well as he -could with a handkerchief, put the stranger across his ass and brought -him to an inn, had him put to bed, tried to restore him, giving him -something hot to drink, and did not leave him until he saw him come to -himself and able to speak and eat. The next day he called the host apart -and gave him two pence: ‘Take care of him, do the best thou canst and -whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.’ - -“The neighbor, then, is he who suffers, he who needs help, whoever he -is, of whatever nation or religion he may be; even thine enemy, if he -needs thee, even if he does not ask help, is the first of ‘thy -neighbors.’” - -Charity is the most valid title for admission to the Kingdom. The -wealthy glutton knew this, he who was clothed in purple and fine linen -and fared sumptuously every day. At the gate of his palace there was -Lazarus, a poor man, hungry, covered with sores, who would have been -glad to have the crumbs and the bones which fell from the rich man’s -table. The dogs took pity on Lazarus and on his wretchedness, and did -for him all they could, which was to lick his sores. And he caressed -these gentle, loving animals with his thin hands. But the rich man had -no pity on Lazarus. It never once came into his head to call him to his -table, and he never sent him a piece of bread or the leavings of the -kitchen destined for the refuse heap, which even the scullions refused -to eat. It happened that both of them, the poor man and the rich man, -died, and the poor man was welcomed into Abraham’s bosom, and the rich -man was cast into the fire to suffer. From afar off he saw Lazarus, who -was banqueting with the patriarchs, and from the midst of the fire he -cried: “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may -dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am -tormented in this flame.” - -He had not given Lazarus even a tiny morsel of food when he was alive, -and now he did not ask to be let out of the fire, nor a cup of water, -nor even a draught, nor even a drop, but he was content with a little -dampness which would cling on the tip of a finger, of the smallest -finger of the poor man. But Abraham answered: “Son, remember that thou -in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil -things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” If thou hadst -given the smallest part of thy dinner to him, when thou knewest he was -hungered and was crouched at thy door in worse plight than a dog, and -even the dogs had more pity than thou, if thou hadst given him a -mouthful of bread only once, thou wouldst not need now to ask the tip of -his finger dipped in water. - -The rich man delights in his property and it grieves him to have to give -away even the smallest part of it because he thinks that this life will -never end and that the future will be like the past. But death comes to -him also, and when he expects it least. There was once a landed -proprietor who had an especially profitable year in all his possessions. -He had fantastic imaginings about his new riches, and he said: “I will -pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my -fruits and my goods, the wheat, the barley and the other grains, and I -will make other barns for the hay and the straw and other stables for -the oxen that I will buy, and still another stable where I can put all -my sheep and goats, and I will say to my soul: Thou hast much goods laid -up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” - -And the idea did not come to him even for a moment that from this -largesse of the earth he could have put aside a portion to comfort the -poor of his country. But on that very night when he had imagined so many -improvements in his property, the rich man died, and the day after, he -was buried naked and alone, under the earth, and there was no one to -intercede for him in Heaven. - -He who does not make friends among the poor, who does not use wealth to -comfort poverty, must not think of entering into the Kingdom. Sometimes -the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the -children of light, understand the management of their earthly affairs -better than the children of light understand their heavenly life. Like -that steward who was out of favor with his master and was obliged to -leave his position. He called one by one his lord’s debtors to him, and -canceled a part of the debt of every one, so that when he was sent away -he had made here and there with his fraudulent stratagem so many friends -that they did not let him die of hunger. He had benefited himself and -the others by cheating and robbing his master. He was a thief, but a -shrewd thief. If men would use for the salvation of the spirit the -shrewdness which this man used for his bodily comfort, how many more -would be converted to faith in the Kingdom! - -He who is not converted in time will be cut down like the unfruitful -fig-tree. And the conversion must be final, for falling from grace -injures a man’s soul a great deal more than repentance helps him. A man -had an unclean spirit in him and succeeded in driving it away. The demon -walked through dry places seeking rest; and finding none, he said: “I -will return into my house whence I came out.” It happens that this -house, the soul of that man, is empty, swept and garnished so that it is -hard to recognize it. Then the demon takes to him seven other spirits -more wicked than himself and at the head of the band he enters into his -house so that the last state of that man was worse than the first. - -In the day of triumph laments and excuses will count less than the -whispering of the wind among the rushes. Then will be made the last and -irrevocable choice, like that of the fisherman who, after having pulled -up from the sea his net full of fish, sits down on the beach and puts -those fit for food into his baskets and throws away the others. A long -truce is given to sinners, that they may have all the time necessary to -change their hearts, but when that day has come he who has not arrived -at the door, or is not worthy, will remain eternally outside. - -A good husbandman sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his -enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat. When the blade was -sprung up, the servants of the household saw the tares and came and told -their master of it. - -“Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?” But he said, “Nay; lest -while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them. Let -both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will -say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in -bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” - -Thus like a good husbandman Jesus waits for the day of the harvest. One -day an immense multitude was about Him to listen to Him, and seeing all -these men and these women who were hungering after righteousness and -thirsting after love, He was moved with compassion and said to His -disciples: “The harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few; -Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth -laborers into this harvest.” - -His voice does not carry everywhere, not even the Twelve are enough: -others are necessary to proclaim the good news, that it may be carried -to all those who suffer and who await it. - - - THE TWELVE - - -Fate knows no better way to punish the great for their greatness than by -sending them disciples. Every disciple, just because he is a disciple, -cannot understand all that his master says, but at very best only half, -and that according to the kind of mind he has. Thus without wishing to -falsify the teaching of his master, he deforms it, vulgarizes it, -belittles it, corrupts it. - -The disciple nearly always has companions and is jealous of them; he -would like to be at least first among those who are second; and -accordingly he maligns and plots against his fellows; and each one -believes that he is, or at least wishes others to believe that he is, -the only perfect interpreter of the master. - -The disciple knows that he is a disciple and sometimes it shames him to -be one who eats at another’s table. Then he twists and turns the -master’s thought to make it seem that he has a thought of his own, -different and original. Or else, and this is the most graceless and -servile manner of being a disciple, he teaches exactly the opposite of -what he was taught. - -In every disciple, even in those who seem most loyal, there is the seed -of a Judas. A disciple is a parasite, a middleman who robs the seller -and tricks the buyer; a dependent who, invited to dine, nibbles at the -hors d’œuvres, licks the sauces, picks at the fruit, but does not attack -the bones because he has no teeth, or only milk teeth, to crack them and -suck out the meaty marrow. The disciple paraphrases sentences, obscures -mysteries, complicates what is clear, multiplies difficulties, comments -on syllables, travesties principles, clouds evidence, magnifies -non-essentials, weakens the essential, dilutes the strong wine, and -retails this hodge-podge as elixir distilled and quintessence. Instead -of a torch which gives light and fire, he is a smoky wick giving no -light even to himself. - -And yet no one has been able to dispense with these pupils and -followers, nor even to wish to. For the great man is so foreign to the -multitude, so distant, so alone, that he needs to feel some one near -him. He cannot teach without the illusion that some one understands his -words, receives his ideas, transmits them to others far away before his -death and after his death. This wanderer who has no home of his own -needs a friendly hearth. To this uprooted man who cannot have a family -of his own flesh and blood, the children of his spirit are dear. The -prophet is a captain whose soldiers spring up only after his blood has -soaked into the ground, and yet he longs to feel a little army about him -during his life-time. Here is one of the most tragic elements in all -greatness: disciples are repugnant and dangerous, but disciples, even -false ones, cannot be dispensed with. Prophets suffer if they do not -find them; they suffer, perhaps more, when they have found them. - -A man’s thought is bound with a thousand threads to his soul even more -closely than a child to a parent’s heart. It is infinitely precious, -delicate, fragile, and the newer it is, the harder it is for other men -to understand. It is a tremendous responsibility, a continued torture -and suffering to confide it to another, to graft it on another’s -thought, to give it into the hands of the man incapable of respecting -it, this gift so rare, a thought new in human life. And yet every great -man longs to share with all men what he has received; and to achieve -this sharing with humanity is more than he can do single-handed. Then, -too, vanity insinuates itself even in noble breasts: and vanity needs -caressing words, needs praise, even offensive praise, needs assent, even -verbal, consecration even from the mediocre, victories even if they are -only apparent. - -Christ has none of this smallness of the great, and yet in order to -share all the burdens of mankind, He accepted with the other trials of -earthly life the burden of disciples. Before being tormented by His -enemies, He gave himself over to be tormented by His friends. The -priests killed him, once and once only; the disciples made Him suffer -every day of their life with Him. The anguish of His passion would not -have been completely intolerable if it had not included the desertion of -the Apostles in addition to the Sadducees, the guards, the Romans, the -crowd. - -We know who the Apostles were. A Galilean, He chose them from among the -Galileans. A poor man, He chose them from among the poor; a simple man, -but of a divine simplicity transcending all philosophies, He called -simple men whose simplicity kept them like clods. He did not wish to -choose them from among the rich, because He had come to combat the rich; -nor among the scribes and doctors, because He had come to overturn their -law; nor among the philosophers, because there were no philosophers -living in Palestine, and had there been, they would have tried to -extinguish His supernatural mysticism under the dialectic bushel. - -He knew that these souls were rough but had integrity, were ignorant but -ardent, and that He could in the end mold them according to His desire, -bring them up to His level, fashion them like clay from the river, which -is only mud, and yet when modeled and baked in the kiln, becomes eternal -beauty. But flame from the Holy Ghost was needed for that -transformation; until the day of the Pentecost their imperfect nature -had too often the upper hand. To the Twelve much should be pardoned -because almost always they had faith in Him; because they tried to love -Him as He wished to be loved; and, above all, because after having -deserted Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, they never forgot Him and left -to all eternity the memory of His word and of His life. - -And yet our hearts ache if we look at them closely in the Gospels, those -disciples of whom we have some knowledge. They were not always worthy of -their unique and supreme felicity, those men who were so inestimably -fortunate as to live with Christ, to walk, to eat with Him, to sleep in -the same room, to look into His face, to touch His hand, to kiss Him, to -hear His words from His very mouth; those twelve fortunate men, whom -throughout the centuries millions of souls have secretly envied. - -We see them, hard of head and of heart, not able to understand the -clearest parables of the Master; not always capable of understanding, -even after His death, who Jesus had been and what sort of a new Kingdom -was proclaimed by Him; often lacking in faith, in love, in brotherly -affection; eager for pay; envying each other; impatient for the revenge -which would repay them for their long wait; intolerant of those who were -not one with them; vindictive towards those who would not receive them, -somnolent, doubtful, materialistic, avaricious, cowardly. - -One of them denies Him three times; one of them delays giving Him due -reverence until He is in the sepulcher; one does not believe in His -mission because He comes from Nazareth; one is not willing to admit His -resurrection; one sells Him to His enemies, and gives Him over with His -last kiss to those who come to arrest Him. Others, when Christ’s -teachings were on a too-lofty level, “went back and walked no more with -Him.” - -Many times Jesus was forced to reprove them for their slowness of mind. -He told them the parable of the sower, and they did not understand its -meaning. “Know ye not this parable, and how then will ye know all -parables?” He warns them against the leaven of the Pharisees and the -Sadducees, and they think that He is speaking of material bread. “Why -reason ye because ye have no bread, perceive ye not yet, neither -understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes see ye not, and -having ears hear ye not?” Like the common people they constantly feel -that Jesus should be the worldly Messiah, political, warlike, come to -restore the temporal throne of David. Even when He is about to ascend -into Heaven they continue to ask Him: “Lord, wilt thou at this time -restore again the Kingdom to Israel?” And after the resurrection, the -two disciples of Emmaus say: “But we trusted that it had been he which -should have redeemed Israel.” - -They disputed among themselves to know who should have the chief place -in the new Kingdom and Jesus reproved them: “What was it that ye -disputed among yourselves by the way?” But they held their peace, for by -the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. -And He sat down and called the Twelve and saith unto them: “If any man -desires to be first, the same shall be last of all and the servant of -all.” Jealous of their privileges they denounced to Jesus one who was -casting out devils in His name: “Forbid him not,” answered Jesus, “for -there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly -speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.” After a -talk at Capernaum many murmured at his words and said: “This is an hard -saying; who can hear it?” and they left Him. - -And yet Jesus spared no warnings to those who wished to follow Him. A -Scribe said to Him that he would follow Him everywhere. “And Jesus saith -unto him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but -the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.” Another who was a -disciple wished first to bury his father, “But Jesus said unto him, -Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” And still another, “Lord, -I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell which are at -home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand -to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.” - -A rich young man came to Him who observed all the Commandments. “Then -Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou -lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, -and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come take up the cross, and -follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he -had great possessions.” - -To be with Him, a man must needs leave his home, his dead, his family, -his money,—all the ordinary loves, all the ordinary good things of life. -What is given in exchange is so great that it will repay every -renunciation. But few are capable of this renunciation, and some after -they have believed, falter. - -Renunciation was easier for the Twelve, almost all poor men, yet even -they did not always succeed in being as Jesus wished them. - -“Simon, Simon,” He said one day to Peter, “behold, Satan hath desired to -have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” In spite of the winnowing of -Christ, some evil seeds remained among his grain. - - - SIMON, CALLED THE ROCK - - -Peter before the Resurrection is like a body beside a spirit, like a -material voice which accompanies the sublimation of the soul. He is the -earth which believes in Heaven but remains earthy. In his rough man’s -imagination the Kingdom of Heaven still resembles rather too closely the -Kingdom of the Prophets’ Messiah. - -When Jesus pronounced the famous words: “It is easier for a camel to go -through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the -kingdom of God,” Peter thought this sweeping condemnation of wealth very -harsh. “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken -all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” He acts like a -money lender inquiring what interest he can expect. And Jesus, to -console him, promises him that he will sit upon a throne to judge one of -the tribes of Israel, that the other eleven will judge the other eleven -tribes, and adds that every one shall have a hundred times what he has -given up. - -Again Peter does not understand what Christ means when He asserts that -only what comes from man himself can defile men. “Peter then answered -and said unto him: Declare unto us this parable, and Jesus said: Are ye -also without understanding? Do ye not yet understand?” Among the -disciples so slow to understand, Peter is one of the slowest. His -surname “Cefa,” stone, piece of rock, was not given him only for the -firmness of his faith, but for the hardness of his head. - -He was not an alert spirit in either the literal or the figurative -meaning of the word. He easily fell asleep even at supreme moments. He -fell asleep on the Mount of the Transfiguration. He fell asleep on the -night at Gethsemane, after the last supper, where Jesus had uttered the -saying which would have kept even a Scribe everlastingly from sleep. And -yet his boldness was great. When Jesus that last evening announced that -He was to suffer and die, Peter burst out: “Lord, I am ready to go with -thee both, into prison, and to death. Although all shall be offended, -yet will not I. If I should die with thee, I will not deny Thee in any -wise.” Jesus answered him: “Verily I say unto thee that this night -before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” - -Jesus knew him better than Peter knew himself. When he stood in the -courtyard of Caiaphas, warming himself at the brazier while the priests -were questioning and insulting his God, he denied three times that he -was one of His followers. - -At the moment of the arrest he had made, against the teaching of Jesus, -an appearance of resistance: he had cut off the ear of Malchus. He had -not yet understood after years of daily comradeship with Christ that any -form of material violence was repellent to Jesus. He had not understood -that if Jesus had wished to save Himself, He could have hidden in the -wilderness unknown to all, or escaped out of the hands of the soldiers -as He had done that first time at Nazareth. So little did Jesus value -this act, contrary to His teaching, that he healed the wound at once and -reproved His untimely avenger. - -That was not the first time that Peter showed himself unequal to great -events. He had like all crude personalities a tendency to see the -material dross in spiritual manifestations, the low in the lofty, the -commonplace in the tragic. On the mountain of the transfiguration, when -he was awakened and saw Jesus refulgent with white light, speaking with -two others, with two spirits, with two prophets, the first thought which -came to him, instead of worshiping and keeping silence, was to build a -tabernacle for these great personages. “Lord, it is good for us to be -here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, -and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” Luke, the wise man, adds to -excuse him, “not knowing what he said.” - -When he saw Jesus walking in all security on the lake, the idea came to -him to do the same thing. “And when Peter was come down out of the ship, -he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind -boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, -Lord, save me” And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and -caught him, and said unto him, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst -thou doubt?” Because he was familiar with the lake and with Jesus, the -good fisherman thought he could do as his master did, and did not know -that the storm could be mastered only by a soul infinitely greater, a -faith infinitely more potent than his. - -His great love for Christ, which makes up for all his weakness, led him -one day almost to rebuke Him. Jesus had told His disciples how He must -suffer and be killed. “Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, -saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he -turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an -offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but -those that be of men.” No one ever pronounced such a terrible judgment -on Simon, called Peter. He was called to work for the Kingdom of God, -and he _thought as men do_. His mind, still occupied with the vulgar -idea of the triumphant Messiah, refused to conceive of a persecuted -Messiah condemned and executed. His soul had not yet kindled to the idea -of divine expiation, the idea that salvation cannot be secured without -an offering of suffering and blood, and that the great should sacrifice -His body to the ferocity of mean men in order that the mean, after being -enlightened by that life, may be saved from that death. He loved Jesus, -but although his love was warm and potent, it still had something earthy -in it, and he grew angry at the thought that his king should be reviled, -that his God should die. And yet he was the first to recognize Jesus as -the Christ; and this primacy is so great that nothing has been able to -cancel it. - - - SONS OF THUNDER - - -The two fishermen, the brothers James and John, who had left their boat -and their nets on the shore at Capernaum in order to go with Jesus, form -together with Peter a sort of favorite triumvirate. They are the only -ones who accompany Jesus into the house of Jairus, and on the Mount of -Transfiguration, and they are the ones whom He takes with Him on the -night of Gethsemane. But in spite of their long intimacy with the -Master, they never acquired sufficient humility. Jesus gave them the -surname of “Boanerges—Sons of Thunder,” an ironic surname, alluding -perhaps to their fiery, irascible character. - -When they all started together towards Jerusalem, Jesus sent some of -them ahead to make ready for Him. They were crossing Samaria and were -badly received in a village. “And they did not receive him, because his -face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, -James and John, saw this, they said: Lord, wilt thou that we command -fire to come down from heaven and consume them? But he turned, and -rebuked them.” For them, Galileans, faithful to Jerusalem, the -Samaritans were always enemies. In vain had they heard the Sermon on the -Mount: “Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which -despitefully use you, and persecute you.” In vain had they received -instructions for their mission among the peoples: “And whosoever shall -not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house -or city, shake off the dust from your feet.” Angry at an affront to -Jesus they presumed to be able to command fire from Heaven. It seemed to -them a work of righteous justice to reduce to ashes the village guilty -of inhospitality. And yet far as they were from that loving rebirth of -the soul which alone constitutes the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven, -these men had the pretension to claim the first places on the day of -triumph. - -“And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him, saying: Master, -we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we should desire. And -he said unto them: What would ye that I should do for you? They said -unto him: Grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and one on -thy left hand in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them: Ye know not what -ye ask. And when the ten heard it they began to be much displeased with -James and John. But Jesus called them to Him and saith unto them: -Whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister; and -whosoever will be the chief among you, let him be your servant, for even -the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister.” - -Christ, the overturner of the old order, took this occasion to repeat -the master word to which all magnanimous souls respond. Only the -useless, the petty, the parasites, wish to be served, even by their -inferiors (if any one in the absolute meaning of the word can be -inferior to them), but any superior being is always at the service of -lesser souls precisely because he is superior. - -This miraculous paradox is the proof of the fire of genius. It is -repugnant to the egotism of the self-centered, to the pretensions of -would-be supermen, and to the poverty of the avaricious because the -little that they have is not even enough for themselves. He who cannot -or will not serve shows that he has nothing to give, is a weakling, -impotent, imperfect, empty. But the genius is no true genius if he does -not exuberantly benefit his inferiors. To serve is not always the same -as to obey. A people can be served better sometimes by a man who puts -himself at their head to force them to be saved even if they do not wish -it. There is nothing servile in serving. - -James and John understood this stimulating saying of Jesus. We find one -of them, John, among the nearest and most loving of the disciples. At -the Last Supper he leans his head on Jesus’ breast; and from the height -of the cross Jesus, crucified, confides the Virgin to him, that he -should be a son to her. - - - THE OTHERS - - -Thomas owes his popularity to the quality which should be his shame. -Thomas, the twin, is the guardian of modernity, as Thomas Aquinas is the -oracle of medieval life. He is the true patron saint of Spinoza and of -all the other deniers of the resurrection, the man who is not satisfied -even with the testimony of his eyes, but wishes that of his hands as -well. And yet his love for Jesus makes him pardonable. When they came to -the Master to say that Lazarus was dead, and the disciples hesitated -before going into Judea among their enemies, it was Thomas alone who -said: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” The martyrdom which he -did not find then came to him in India, after Christ’s death. - -Matthew is the dearest of all the Twelve. He was a tax-gatherer, a sort -of under-publican, and probably had more education than his companions. -He followed Jesus as readily as the fishermen. “And after these things -he went forth, and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of -custom: and he said unto him, follow me. And he left all, rose up, and -followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house.” It was -not a heap of torn nets which Matthew left, but a position, a stipend, -secure and increasing earnings. Giving up riches is easy for a man who -has almost nothing. Among the Twelve Matthew was certainly the richest -before his conversion. Of no other is it told that he could offer a -great feast, and this means that he made a greater and more meritorious -sacrifice by his rising at the first call from the seat where he was -accumulating money. - -Matthew and Judas were perhaps the only ones of the Disciples who knew -how to write, and to Matthew we owe the first collection of Logia or -memorable sayings of Jesus, if the testimony of Papia is true. In the -Gospel which is called by his name, we find the most complete text of -the Sermon on the Mount. Our debt to the poor excise-man is heavy: -without him many words of Jesus, and the most beautiful, might have been -lost. This handler of drachma, shekels and talents, whom his despised -trade must have predisposed to avarice, has laid up for us a treasure -worth more than all the money coined on the earth before and after his -time. - -Philip of Bethsaida also knew how to reckon. When the famished multitude -pressed about Him, Jesus turned to him to ask what it would cost to buy -bread for all those people. Philip answered Him: “Two hundred pennyworth -of bread is not sufficient for them.” He was later to become a -proclaimer of his Master’s fame. He it was who announced to Nathaniel -the coming of Jesus, and it was to him that the Greeks of Jerusalem -turned when they wished to speak to the new Prophet. - -Nathaniel answered Philip’s announcement with sarcasm: “Can there any -good thing come out of Nazareth?” But Philip succeeded in bringing him -to Jesus, who as soon as He saw him, exclaimed, “Behold an Israelite -indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest -thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called -thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathaniel answered -and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of -Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I -saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater -things than these.” - -Less enthusiastic and inflammable was Nicodemus, who, as a matter of -fact, never wished to be known as a disciple of Jesus. Nicodemus was -old, had been to school to the Rabbis, was a friend of the Jerusalem -Sanhedrin, but the stories of the miracles had shaken him, and he went -by night to Jesus to tell Him that he believed that He was sent by God. -Jesus answered him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be -born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus did not -understand these words, or perhaps they startled him. He had come to see -a miracle worker and had found a Sybil, and with the homely good sense -of the man who wishes to avoid being taken in by a fraud he said, “How -can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his -mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answers with words of profound -meaning, “Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot -enter into the kingdom of God.” - -But Nicodemus still did not understand. “How can these things be?” Jesus -answered, “Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?” - -Nicodemus always respected the young Galilean, but his sympathy was as -circumspect as his visit. Once when the leaders of the priests and the -Pharisees were meditating how to capture Jesus, Nicodemus ventured a -defense: “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what -he doeth?” He took his stand on a point of law. He spoke in the name of -“our” law, not at all in the name of the new man. Nicodemus is always -the old man, law-respecting, the prudent friend of the letter of the -law. A few words of reproof were enough to silence him. “They answered -and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look: for out of -Galilee ariseth no prophet!” He belonged by right to the Sanhedrin, but -there is no record that he raised his voice in favor of the accused when -He was conducted to Caiaphas. The trial was at night and probably to -avoid the contempt of his colleagues and his own remorse for the legal -assassination, Nicodemus remained in his bed. When he awoke Jesus was -dead, and then, forgetting his avarice, he bought a hundred pounds of -myrrh and aloes to embalm the body. He who brought others to life was -dead, but Nicodemus, although not literally dead, would never know that -second birth in which he could not believe. - -Nicodemus is the eternal type of the luke-warm who will be spewed out of -the mouth of God on the day of wrath. He is the half-way soul who would -like to say “Yes” with his spirit, but his flesh suggests to him the -“No” of cowardice. He is the man of books, the nocturnal disciple who -would like to be a follower of the Master, but not to appear as one; who -would not mind being born again, but who does not know how to break the -withered bark of his ageing trunk; the man of inhibitions and -precautions. When the man of his admiration was martyred and killed and -His enemies were satisfied, and there was no more danger of being -compromised, then he comes with balsams to pour into those wounds which -were inflicted partly by his cowardice. - -But the church to reward his posthumous piety has chosen him to become -one of her saints. And there is an old tradition that he was baptized by -Peter and put to death for having believed, too late, in Him whom he did -not save from death. - - - LAMBS, SERPENTS, AND DOVES - - -Those whom Jesus sent out to the conquest of souls were rustic -countrymen, but they could be mild as sheep, wary as serpents, simple as -doves—sheep without cowardice, serpents without poison, doves without -lustfulness. - -To be stripped of everything was the first duty of such soldiers. -Seeking the poor, they should be poorer than the poor. And yet not -beggars, for the laborer is worthy of his hire; the bread of life which -they were to distribute to those hungering for justice deserved wheat -bread in return. The laborers should set out on their wonderful work -destitute of possessions, taking nothing for their journey save a staff -only, no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse. They should be shod -with sandals, clad in a single garment. The metals are a burden which -weighs down the soul. The sheen of gold makes men forget the sun’s -splendor; the sheen of silver makes them forget the splendor of the -stars; the sheen of copper makes them forget the splendor of fire. He -who deals with metals weds himself to the earth and is bound fast to the -earth. He does not know Heaven, and Heaven does not recognize him. - -It is not enough to preach love of poverty to the poor, or to talk to -them about the sumptuous beauty of poverty. The poor do not believe the -words of the rich until the rich willingly become poor. The Disciples -destined to preach the beauty of poverty to both poor and rich were to -set an example of happy poverty to every man in every house on every -day. They were to carry nothing with them except the clothes on their -backs and the sandals on their feet. They were to accept nothing; only -the small piece of daily bread which they would find on the tables of -their hosts. The wandering priests of the goddess Siria and of other -Oriental divinities carried with them, along with the sacred images, the -wallet for offerings, the bag for alms, because common people do not -value things which cost them nothing. The apostles of Jesus, on the -contrary, were to refuse any gift or payment, “Freely ye have received, -freely give.” And as one of the disguises of wealth is merchandise, the -messengers of the Kingdom were to renounce even a change of garments, -sandals and staff; were to dispense with everything except the barest -essentials. - -They were to enter into the houses, open to all in a country where the -locks and bolts of fear were not yet known, and which preserved some -remembrance of nomad hospitality—they were to speak to the men and the -women who lived there. Their duty was to announce that the Kingdom of -Heaven was at hand, to explain in what way the kingdom of earth could -become the Kingdom of Heaven, and to explain the one condition for this -happy fulfilling of all the prophecies,—repentance, conversion, -transformation of the soul. As a proof that they were sent by One who -had the authority to demand this change, they had power to heal the -sick, to drive away with their words unclean spirits,—that is, the -demons, and the vices which make men like demons. - -They commanded men to renew their souls and at once with all the power -which had been given them they aided them to commence this renovation. -They did not leave them alone with this command, so difficult to -execute. After the prophetic word, “The Kingdom is at hand,” they began -their labors; they worked to restore, to cleanse, to make over these -souls which had been abandoned by their rightful shepherds. They -explained what it was necessary to do to be worthy of the new Heaven on -earth and they lent a hand at once to the work. In short, to complete -the paradox they assassinated and brought to life. They killed the old -Adam in every convert, but their words were the baptism of the second -birth. Pilgrims without purses or bundles, they carried with them truth -and life,—peace. - -“And when ye come into an house salute it,” and this was the salutation, -“Peace be with you.” Those who received them gained peace, those who -rejected them continued their bitter warfare. Coming away from the house -or from the city which had not received them, they were to shake the -dust from their feet, not because the dust of the houses and of the -cities of those who were not willing to hear them was contaminated, but -because shaking it from their feet is a symbolic answer to their -deafness and niggardliness of soul. You have refused all, and we will -not accept anything from you, not even the dust which clings to our -sandals. Because you, made of dust and fated to return to dust as you -are, will not give a moment of your time, nor a piece of your bread, we -leave behind us the dust of your streets, down to the least grain. - - - SPEAK YE IN LIGHT - - -In their faithfulness to the sublime paradox of Him who sends them, the -apostles bring peace and at the same time war! All men are not capable -of conversion. In the same family, in the same house, there are some who -will believe and others who will not. And there will spring up between -them division and warfare, the hard price with which absolute and stable -peace can be secured. If all men should listen at the same moment to the -voice, if all could be transformed on the same day, the Kingdom of -Heaven would be founded in a twinkling of an eye, with no bloody preface -of battles. - -Furthermore those who do not wish to change themselves, because they do -not understand the news, or believe themselves already perfect, will -attack the converters and accuse them before tribunals. Representatives -of wealth and of the old law will be cruel to the poor who are teaching -the new law to the poor. The rich are not willing to concede that their -wealth is dangerous poverty; the scribes are not willing to admit that -their learning is only deadly ignorance.... “They will scourge you in -their synagogues.... But when they deliver you up, take no thought of -how or what ye shall speak.” Jesus is sure that the poor fishermen, -though they have never studied in the schools of eloquence, will find -for themselves great words in their hour of accusation. One thought, -when it is a great thought and profoundly fixed in the heart, engenders -of itself all the derivatory and accessory thoughts, and with them -perfect form in which to express them. The arid-hearted man who has -nothing in himself, who has faith in nothing, who does not feel, burn, -and suffer, though he may have studied long with the sophists of Athens -and the rhetoricians of Rome, is incapable of improvising one of those -powerful and illuminating answers which trouble the conscience of the -hardest judges. - -They are to speak therefore without fear and without hiding anything of -what has been taught them. “What I tell you in darkness that seek ye in -light, and what ye hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops.” With -these words Jesus does not ask his Disciples to be more daring than he -has been. He has spoken in the darkness, that is obscurity; He has -spoken to them, to His first faithful followers, but what He has said to -them along deserted roads and in solitary rooms they are to repeat as He -Himself has given them the example, on open squares of cities before -crowds of people. He has whispered the truth into their ears, because -the truth at first might alarm those not prepared for it, and because -there were so few of the Disciples that there was no need to cry aloud. -But this truth must be cried out now from the heights, in order that all -may hear it, in order that there may be no one to say on that Day that -he has not heard it. - -Men can kill the body of the man who spreads the truth abroad, but they -cannot kill his soul; from the death of a single body thousands of new -souls will be born into life. But not even your body will die, because -there is One who protects it. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? -and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But -the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye -are of more value than many sparrows.” The birds of the air who do not -sow, do not die of hunger; you who do not carry even a staff shall not -die at the hands of your enemies. - -They have with them a secret so precious that the flesh which contains -it will not be allowed to perish. Jesus is always with them, even though -from afar. What is done to them is done to Him. A mystic identity is -created for all eternity between Him who sends them out and those -disciples who are sent. “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of -these little ones, a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, -verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.” - -Jesus is the fountain of living water destined to quench the thirst of -all the weary, and yet He will take account also of the cup of water -which shall have quenched the thirst of the least among His friends. -Those who carry with them the water of truth, which purifies and saves, -may need some day a cup of the stagnant water buried at the bottom of -village wells. Any person who will give them a little of this ordinary, -material water will have in exchange a well-spring which intoxicates the -soul more than the strongest wine. - -The apostles who go about with one garment, with a single pair of -sandals, without belts or wallets, poor as poverty, bare as truth, -simple as joy, are, in spite of their apparent poverty, diverse forms of -a king who has come to found a kingdom greater and happier than all -kingdoms, to bring to poor people wealth which is worth more than all -measurable riches, to offer to the unhappy a joy more profound than any -fleshly pleasures. It suits this new King, as it did the kings of the -Orient, to show Himself under many forms, to appear to men in diverse -garments. But the disguises which He prefers even to-day are these -three: Poet, Poor Man, and Apostle. - - - MAMMON - - -Jesus is the poor man, infinitely and rigorously poor. Poor with an -absolute poverty! The prince of poverty! The Lord of perfect -destitution! The poor man who lives with the poor, who has come for the -poor, who speaks to the poor, who gives to the poor, who works for the -poor! Poor among the poor, destitute among the destitute, beggar among -the beggars! The poor man of a great and eternal poverty! The happy and -rich poor man, who accepts poverty, who desires poverty, who weds -himself to poverty, who chants of poverty! The beggar who gives alms! -The naked man who covers the naked! The hungry man who feeds others, the -miraculous and supernatural, who changes the men owning false riches -into poor men, and poor men into those with real wealth. - -There are poor men who are poor because they were never capable of -acquiring wealth. There are other poor men who are poor because they -give away every evening what they earned that day; and the more they -give the more they have. Their wealth, the wealth of this second class -of poor men, grows greater in proportion as it is given away. It is a -pile which becomes greater as more is taken away from it. - -Jesus was one of these poor men. Compared to one of them, men materially -rich, rich as the world esteems wealth, rich with their chests of -talents, mina, rupees, florins, shekels, crowns, francs, marks, and -dollars, are only lamentable beggars. The money-changers of the forum, -the great feasters of Jerusalem, the bankers of Florence and Frankfort, -the lords of London, the multi-millionaires of New York, compared to -these poor men are only unfortunate beggars, despoiled and needy; unpaid -servants of a fierce master; condemned every day to assassinate their -own souls. The wretchedness of such indigence is so terrible that they -are reduced to pick up the stones that are found in the mud of the -earth, and grope about in filth. Theirs is a poverty so repugnant that -not even the poor succeed in bestowing on them the charity of a smile. - -Richness is a curse like work, but a harder and more shameful curse. He -who is marked with the sign of wealth has committed, perhaps -unconsciously, an infamous crime, one of those mysterious and -unimaginable crimes which are nameless in human language. The rich man -is either under the burden of the vengeance of God, or God wishes to put -him to the test to see if he can succeed in climbing up to divine -poverty. For the rich man has committed the greatest sin, the most -abominable and unpardonable. The rich man is the man who has fallen -because of an exchange: he could have had Heaven and he chose Earth. He -could have lived in Paradise and he has chosen Hell. He could have kept -his soul and he has exchanged it for material things. He could have -loved and he has preferred to be hated. He could have had happiness and -he has desired power. No one can save him. Wealth in his hands is a -metal which buries him alive under its icy mass; it is the tumor which -consumes him still alive in his corruption; it is the fire which burns -him and reduces him to a terrible, black mummy, a blind paralytic, black -mummy, a ghostly carrion which everlastingly holds out its empty hand in -the cemeteries of the centuries, begging in vain for the alms of -charitable remembrance. - -For him there is only one salvation: to become a poor man, a true and -humble poor man; to throw away the horrible destitution of wealth in -order to enter again into poverty. But this resolution is the hardest -that the rich man can take. The rich man by the very fact that he is -sickened by wealth cannot even imagine that the entire renunciation of -wealth would be the beginning of redemption, and because he cannot -imagine such an abdication, he cannot even deliberate on it, cannot -weigh the alternatives. He is a prisoner in the impregnable prison of -himself. To liberate himself he must first be free. - -The rich man does not belong to himself, but belongs to inanimate -things. He has not the time to think, to choose. Wealth is a pitiless -master who allows no other masters near him. The rich man cannot think -of his soul, bowed as he is under the care of his riches, under his -thirst to increase his riches, under the fear of losing his riches, -under the material joys which are offered to him by those pieces of -matter which are called wealth. He cannot even imagine that his sick, -suffocating, mutilated, worm-eaten soul needs to be cured. He has taken -up his abode in that part of the world which, according to contracts and -laws, he has the right to call _his_, and often he has not even the -time, the wish, or the power to enjoy it. He must serve it and take care -of it,—he cannot serve or take care of his own soul. All his power of -love is absorbed by these material things, which order him about, which -have taken the place of his soul, which have robbed him of all his -liberty. The horrible fate of the rich man lies in this double -absurdity: in order to have the power to command men he has become the -slave of dead things; in order to acquire a part (and such a very small -part!) he has lost the whole. - -Nothing is ours as long as it is ours alone. Outside of himself man can -possess, actually own, nothing. The absolute secret of owning other -things is to renounce them. Everything is given to him who has refused -everything. But he who wishes to grasp for himself, for himself alone, a -part of the goods of this world, loses both what he has acquired and -everything else. And at the same moment he is incapable of knowing -himself, or possessing himself, making himself greater. He has nothing -more, not even the things which in appearance belong to him, but to -which in reality he belongs; and he has never had his own soul, the one -piece of property which is worth possessing. He is the most destitute -and despoiled beggar of all the universe. He has nothing. How then can -he love others, give to others himself and that which belongs to -himself, exercise that loving charity which would conduct him so soon to -the Kingdom? He is nothing and he has nothing. He who does not exist -cannot change. He who does not possess cannot give. How then can the -rich man, who is no longer his own, who has no longer a soul, transform -a soul, the only possession of mankind, into something nobler and more -precious? - -“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and -lose his own soul?” This question of Christ’s, simple like all -revelations, expresses the exact meaning of the prophetic threat. The -rich man not only loses eternity, but, pulled down by his wealth, loses -his life here below, his present soul, the happiness of his present -earthly life. - -“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” The Spirit and Gold are two masters -who will not tolerate any division or sharing. They are jealous; they -insist on having the whole man. And even if he wishes, the man cannot -divide himself in two. He must be all here, or all beyond worldly -things. For the faithful servant of the spirit, gold is nothing; for him -who serves gold, “spirit” is a word without meaning. He who chooses the -spirit throws away gold and all the things bought by gold; he who -desires gold puts an end to the spirit and renounces all the benefits of -the spirit: peace, holiness, love, perfect joy. The first is a poor man -who can never use up his infinite wealth; the other is a rich man who -can never escape out of his infinite poverty. By the mysterious law of -renunciation the poor man possesses even that which is not his—the -entire universe; through the hard law of perpetual desire, the rich man -does not even possess that little which he believes to be his. God gives -immensely more than the immensity which He has promised. Mammon takes -away even that very little which he promises. He who renounces -everything has everything given him; he who wishes a part for himself -alone, finds himself at the end with nothing. - -When the horrible mystery of wealth is deeply probed, it is easy to see -why the masters of men have considered wealth the kingdom of the Demon -himself. A thing which costs less than everything else is bought by -everything else. A thing which is nothing, the actual value of which is -nothing, is bought by giving up everything, is secured by exchanging for -it the whole of the soul, the whole of life. The most precious thing is -exchanged for the most worthless. - -And yet even this infernal absurdity has its reason for being, in the -economy of the spirit. Man is so universally and naturally drawn by that -nothingness called wealth that he could only be dissuaded from his -insensate search for it by putting a price so great, so high, so out of -all proportion that the very fact of paying it would be a valid proof of -insanity and crime. But not even the conditions of the bargain, the -eternal exchanged for the ephemeral, power for servitude, sanctity for -damnation, are enough to keep men away from the absurd bargain with the -powers of evil. Poor people do not rejoice that they are poor. Their -only regret is that they cannot be rich; their souls are contaminated -and in peril like those of the wealthy. Almost all of them are -involuntarily poor men, who have not known how to make money and yet -have lost the spirit; they are only poverty-stricken rich people who -have not as yet any cash. - -For poverty, voluntarily accepted, joyfully desired, is the only poverty -which gives true wealth, spiritual wealth. Absolute poverty frees men -for the conquest of the absolute. The Kingdom of Heaven does not promise -poor people that they shall become rich, it promises rich people that -they shall enter into it when they become freely poor. - - - SELL EVERYTHING - - -The tragic paradox implied in wealth justifies the advice given by Jesus -to those who wish to follow Him. - -They all should give whatever they have beyond their needs to those in -want. But the rich man should give everything. To the young man who -comes up to ask Him what he ought to do to be among His followers, Jesus -answers: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give -to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” Giving away wealth -is not a loss or a sacrifice. Instead of this, Jesus knows and all those -know who understand mankind and wealth that it is a magnificently -profitable transaction, an incommensurable gain. “Sell whatsoever thou -hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven where -neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break -through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be -also. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow from -thee, turn not thou away, for it is more blessed to give than to -receive.” - -Men must give and give without sparing, light-heartedly and without -calculation. He who gives in order to get something back is not perfect. -He who gives in order to exchange with others, or for other material -things, acquires nothing. The recompense is elsewhere, it is in us. -Things are not to be given away that they may be paid for by other -things, but by purity and contentment alone. “When thou makest a dinner -or a supper call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen -nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense -be made thee. But when thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, -the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blest, for they cannot recompense -thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” - -Even before Jesus’ time men had been advised to renounce wealth. Jesus -was not the first to find in poverty one of the steps to perfection. The -great Vaddhamana, the Jain, or triumpher, added to the commandments of -Parswa, founder of the Freed, the doctrine of the renunciation of all -possessions. Buddha, his contemporary, exhorted his disciples to a -similar renunciation. The Cynics stripped themselves of all material -goods to be independent of work and of men, and to be able to consecrate -their freed souls to truth. Crates, the Theban nobleman, disciple of -Diogenes, distributed his wealth to his fellow-citizens and turned -beggar. Plato wished the warriors in his Republic to have no -possessions. Dressed in purple and seated at tables inlaid with rare -stones, the Stoics pronounced eloquent eulogies on poverty. Aristophanes -puts blind Pluto on the stage distributing wealth to rascals alone, -almost as though wealth were a punishment. - -But in Jesus the love of poverty is not an ascetic rule, nor a proud -disguise for ostentation. Timon of Athens, who was reduced to poverty -after having fed a crowd of parasites with indiscriminate generosity, -was not a poor man as Christ would have men poor. Timon was poor through -the fault of his vainglory, to feed his own desire to be called -magnanimous and liberal. He gave to everybody, even to those who were -not needy. Crates, who stripped himself of all his property to imitate -Diogenes, was the slave of pride: he wished to do something different -from others, to acquire the name of philosopher and sage. The -professional beggary of the Cynics is a picturesque form of pride. The -poverty of Plato’s warriors is a measure of political prudence. The -first republics conquered and flourished as long as the citizens -contented themselves, as in old Sparta and old Rome, with strict -poverty, and they fell as soon as they valued gold more than sober and -modest living. But men of antiquity did not despise wealth in itself. -They held it dangerous when it accumulated in the hands of the few, they -considered it unjust when it was not spent with judicious liberality. -But Plato, who desires for his citizens a condition half-way between -need and abundance, puts riches among the good things of human life. He -puts it last of all, but he does not forget it. And Aristophanes would -kneel before Pluto if the blind God should acquire his sight again and -give riches to worthy people. - -In the Gospel, poverty is not a philosophical ornament nor a mystic -mode. To be poor is not enough to entitle one to citizenship in the -Kingdom. Poverty of the body is a preliminary requisite, like humility -of the spirit. He who is not convinced that his estate is low never -thinks of climbing high; no one can feel a zest for true treasures if he -is not freed from all material property,—from that winding-sheet which -blinds the eyes and binds down the wings. - -When he does not suffer from his poverty, when he glories in his poverty -instead of tormenting himself to convert it into wealth, the poor man is -certainly much nearer to moral perfection than the rich man. But the -rich man who has despoiled himself in favor of the poor and has chosen -to live side by side with his new brothers is still nearer perfection -than the man who was born and reared in poverty. That he has been -touched by a grace so rare and prodigious gives him the right to hope -for the greatest blessedness. To renounce what you have never had may be -meritorious, because imagination magnifies absent things; but it is the -sign of supreme perfectibility to renounce everything that you actually -did possess, possessions that were envied by every one. - -The poor man who is sober, chaste, simple and contented because he lacks -means and occasions for anything else, is inclined to look for a -recompense in pleasures which do not cost money, and as it were for a -revenge in a spiritual superiority where prosperous people cannot -compete with him. But often his virtues come from his impotence or from -his ignorance; he does not turn from the right course—he cannot afford -to do so—he does not pile up treasure because he possesses only the -strictly necessary; he is not drunken and licentious because -wine-sellers and women of the streets give no credit. His life, often -hard, servile, dark, redeems his faults. And his suffering forces him to -lift his eyes towards Heaven in search of consolation. We do so little -for the poor that we have no right to judge them. As they are, abandoned -by their brothers, kept far from those who could speak to their hearts, -avoided by those who shrink from the proximity of their sweaty bodies, -excluded from those worlds of intelligence and the arts which might make -their poverty more endurable, the poor are, in the universal -wretchedness of mankind, the least impure. If they were more loved, they -would be better men. How can those who have left them alone in their -poverty have the heart to condemn them? - -Jesus loved the poor; He loved them for the compassion which He felt for -them; He loved them because He felt them nearer to His soul, more -prepared to understand Him than other men. He loved them because they -constantly gave Him the happiness of service, of giving bread to the -hungry, strength to the weak, hope to the unhappy. Jesus loved the poor -because He saw that if they were justly treated they would be the most -legitimate inhabitants of the Kingdom. He loved the poor because they -rendered the renunciation of the rich easier by the stimulus of charity; -but most of all He loved the poor men who had been rich and who for the -love of the Kingdom had become poor. Their renunciation was the greatest -act of faith in His promise. They had given that which considered -absolutely is nothing, but in the eyes of the world is everything, for -the certainty of sharing in a more perfect life. They had been obliged -to conquer in themselves one of the most profoundly rooted instincts of -man. Jesus, born a poor man among the poor, for the poor, never left his -brothers. He gave to them the fructifying abundance of His divine -property. But in His heart He sought the poor man who had not always -been poor, the rich man ready to strip himself for His love. He sought -him, perhaps He never found him. But He felt this longed-for, unknown -brother man tenderly nearer to his heart than all the docile seekers who -crowded about Him. - - - THE DEVIL’S DUNG - - -Note well, you men who are yet to be born! Jesus was never willing to -touch a coin with His hand. Those hands of His which molded the clay of -the earth as a cure for blind eyes, those hands which touched the -contaminated flesh of lepers and of the dead, those hands which clasped -the body of Judas, so much more contaminated than clay, than leprosy, -than putrefaction, those white pure healing hands which nothing could -sully, never suffered themselves to be touched by one of those metal -disks which carry in relief the profiles of the proprietors of the -world. Jesus could mention money in His parables; He could see it in the -hands of others, but touch it—no! To Him who scorned nothing, money was -disgusting. It was repugnant to Him with a repugnance that was like -horror. All His nature was in revolt at the thought of a contact with -those filthy symbols of wealth. - -But one day even Jesus was constrained to look at a piece of money. They -asked Him if it was permitted to the true Israelite to pay the tribute, -and He answered at once, “Show me the tribute money.” They showed it to -Him, but He would not take it. It was a Roman coin stamped with the -hypocritical face of Augustus. But He wished to seem not to know whose -face it was. He asked, “Whose is this image and superscription?” They -answered, “Cæsar’s.” Then He threw into the faces of the wily -interrogators the answer which silenced them, “Render therefore unto -Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are -God’s.” - -Give back that which is not yours, money does not belong to us. It is -manufactured by the powerful for the needs of power. It is the property -of kings and of the kingdom, of that other kingdom which is not ours. -The king represents force and is the protector of wealth; but we have -nothing to do with violence and reject riches. Our Kingdom has no -potentates and has no rich men; the King of our Heaven does not coin -money. Money is a means for the exchange of earthly goods, but we do not -seek for earthly goods. What little is necessary for us, a little -sunshine, a little air, a little water, a piece of bread, a cloak, will -be given freely to us by God and by God’s friends. Tire yourselves out, -you other people, all your lives to gather together a great pile of -those round minted tokens. We have no use for them. For us they are -definitely superfluous. Therefore we give them back; we give them back -to him who has had them coined, to him who has had his portrait put on -them, so that all should know that they are his. - -Jesus never needed to give back any money because He never possessed -any. He gave the order to His disciples not to carry bags for offerings -on their journeys. He made one single exception, and that a fearful one. -The Gospel tells us that one apostle kept the common purse. This -disciple was Judas, and even Judas felt himself forced to give back the -payment for his betrayal before disappearing in death. Judas is the -mysterious victim sacrificed to the curse of money. Money carries with -it, together with the filth of the hands which have clutched and handled -it, the inexorable contagion of crime. Among the unclean things which -men have manufactured to defile the earth and defile themselves, money -is perhaps the most unclean. These counters of coined metal which pass -and repass every day among hands still soiled with sweat or blood, worn -by the rapacious fingers of thieves, of merchants, of misers; this round -and viscid sputum of the Mint, desired by all, sought for, stolen, -envied, loved more than love and often more than life; these ugly pieces -of stamped matter, which the assassin gives to the cut-throat, the -usurer to the hungry, the enemy to the traitor, the swindler to his -partner, the simonist to the barterer in religious offices, the lustful -to the woman bought and sold, these foul vehicles of evil which persuade -the son to kill his father, the wife to betray her husband, the brother -to defraud his brother, the wicked poor man to stab the wicked rich man, -the servant to cheat his master, the highwayman to despoil the traveler; -this money, these material emblems of matter, are the most terrifying -objects manufactured by man. Money which has been the death of so many -bodies is every day the death of thousands of souls. More contagious -than the rags of a man with the pest, than the pus of an ulcer, than the -filth of a sewer, it enters into every house, shines on the counters of -the money-changers, settles down in money-chests, profanes the pillow of -sleep, hides itself in the fetid darkness of squalid back-rooms, sullies -the innocent hands of children, tempts virgins, pays the hangman for his -work, goes about on the face of the earth to stir up hatred, to set -cupidity on fire, to hasten corruption and death. - -Bread, already holy on the family board, becomes on the table of the -Church the everlasting body of Christ. Money too is the visible sign of -a transubstantiation. It is the infamous Host of the Demon. He who loves -money and receives it with joy is in visible communion with the Demon. -He who touches money with pleasure touches without knowing it the filth -of the Demon. The pure cannot touch it, the holy man cannot endure it. -They know with unshakable certainty its ugly essence, and they have for -money the same horror that the rich man has for poverty. - - - THE KINGS OF THE NATIONS - - -“Whose is this image?” asks Jesus when they put the Roman money before -his eyes. He knows that face, He knows, as they all do, that Octavius by -a sequence of extraordinary good luck became the monarch of the world -with the adulatory surname of Augustus. He knows that falsely youthful -profile, that head of clustering curls, the great nose that juts forward -as if to hide the cruelty of the small mouth, the lips rigorously -closed. It is a head, like those of all kings, cut off from the body, -cut off below the neck; sinister image of a voluntary and eternal -decapitation. Cæsar is the king of the past, the head of the armies, the -coiner of silver and gold, fallible administrator of insufficient -justice. Jesus is the King of the future, the liberator of servants, the -abdicator of wealth, the master of love. There is nothing in common -between them. Jesus has come to overthrow the domination of Cæsar, to -undo the Roman Empire and every earthly empire, but not to put Himself -in Cæsar’s place. If men will listen to Him there will never be any -Cæsar again. Jesus is not the heir who conspires against the sovereign -to take his place. He has come peaceably to remove all rulers. Cæsar is -the strongest and most famous of His rivals, but also the most remote, -because his force lies in the slothfulness of men, in the weakness of -peoples. But One has come who will awaken the sleeping, open the eyes of -the blind, give back strength to the weak. When everything is fulfilled -and the Kingdom is founded—a Kingdom which needs no soldiers nor judges -nor slaves nor money, but only renewed and living souls—Cæsar’s empire -will vanish like a pile of ashes under the victorious breath of the -wind. - -As long as Cæsar is there, we can give back to him what is his. For the -new man, money is nothing. We give back to Cæsar, vowed to eternal -nothingness, that silver nothingness which is none of ours. Jesus is -always looking forward with passionate longing to the arrival of the -second earthly Paradise and He takes no heed of governors because the -new land which He announces will not need governors. A people of holy -men who love each other would have no use for Kings, law-courts and -armies. On one occasion only does He speak of kings, and then only to -overturn the common established idea. “The Kings of the Gentiles,” He -says to His disciples, “exercise lordship over them, and they that -exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be -so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he -that is chief, as he that doth serve.” It is the theory of perfect -equality in human relationship. The great is small, the master is -servant, the King is slave. Since, according to Christ’s teachings, he -who governs must become like him who serves, the opposite is true, and -he who serves has the same rights and honors as he who governs. Among -the righteous, there may be some more ardent than others; there may be -saints who were sinners up to the last day; there may be other innocent -ones who were citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven from their birth. -Different planes of spiritual greatness may exist as variations of the -perfection common to all; but to the end of time every category of -superior and inferior, of master and subordinate, shall be abolished. -Authority presupposes, even if it is badly wielded, a flock to lead, a -minority to punish, bestiality to shackle; but when all men are holy, -there will be no more need for commands and obedience, for laws and -punishments. The Kingdom of Heaven can dispense with the commands of -Force. - -In the Kingdom of Heaven men will not hate each other and will no longer -desire riches; every reason and need for government will disappear -immediately after these two great changes. The name of the path which -conducts to perfect liberty is not Destruction but Holiness. And it is -not found in the sophistries of Godwin, or of Stirner, or Proudhon, or -of Kropotkin, but only in the gospel of Jesus Christ. - - - SWORD AND FIRE - - -Every time that the sycophants of the powerful have desired to sanctify -the ambition of the ambitious, the violence of the violent, the -fierceness of the fierce, the pugnacity of the pugnacious, the conquests -of the conquerors, every time that the paid sophists or frenzied orators -have tried to reconcile pagan ferocity with Christian gentleness, to use -the Cross as the hilt of the sword, to justify blood spilt through -hatred by the blood which flowed on Calvary to teach love; every time, -in short, that people wish to use the doctrine of peace to legitimatize -war, and make Christ surety for Genghis Khan or for Bonaparte or even -through refinement of infamy, the outrider of Mahomet, you will see them -quote, with the inexorable punctuality of all commonplaces, the -celebrated gospel text, which everybody knows by heart and very few have -ever understood. - -“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send -peace, but a sword.” Some more learned add, “I am come to send fire on -the earth.” Others rush forward to present the decisive verse, “The -kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” - -What angel of eloquence, what supernatural enlightener, can ever reveal -to these hardened quoters the true meaning of the words which they -repeat with such light frivolity? They do not look at the words which -come before and after; they pay no attention to the occasion on which -they were spoken. They do not imagine for a moment that they can have -another meaning from the common one. - -When Jesus says that He has come to bring a sword,—or as it is written -in the parallel passage of Luke, “Discord,” He is speaking to His -Disciples who are on the point of departing to announce the coming of -the Kingdom. And immediately after having spoken of the sword, He -explains with familiar examples what He meant to say: “For I am come to -set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her -mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s -foes shall be they of his own household. For from henceforth there shall -be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.” -The sword therefore does not mean war; it is a figure of speech which -dignifies division. The sword is what divides, cuts in two, disunites; -and the preaching of the gospel shall divide men of the same family. -Because among men there are those deaf and those who hear, those who are -slow and those who are quick, those who deny and those who believe. -Until all are converted and “brothers in the Word,” discord will reign -on earth. But discord is not war, is not massacre. Those who have heard -and believe—the Christians—will not assault those who do not hear and do -not believe. They will, it is true, take up arms against their -refractory and stubborn brothers, but these arms will be preaching, -example, pardon, love. Those who are not converted perhaps will begin -real warfare, the warfare of violence and blood, but they will begin it -exactly because they are not converted, precisely because they are not -yet Christians. The triumph of the Gospel is the end of all wars, of -wars between man and man, between family and family, between caste and -caste, between people and people. If the Gospel at first is the cause of -separations and discord the fault is not in the truths taught in the -Gospel but in the fact that these truths are not yet practiced by all. - -When Jesus proclaims that he comes to bring fire, only a literal-minded -barbarian can think of murderous and destructive fire, worthy auxiliary -of human warfare. “What will I if it be already kindled!” The fire -desired by the Son of Man is the fire of purification, of enthusiasm, -the ardor of sacrifice, the refulgent flame of love. Until all souls are -burning and consumed in that fire, the word of the Gospel will be but -useless sound, and the Kingdom still far away. To renew the contaminated -and hateful family of men, a wonderful outburst of grief and of passion -is needed. The complacent must suffer, the cold must burn, the -insensible must cry out, the tepid must flame like torches in the night. -All the filth accumulated in the secret life of men, all the sediments -of sin which make of every soul an offensive sewer, all the corruption -which shuts the ears and suffocates the hearts, must be burned up in -this miraculous spiritual fire, which Jesus came to kindle in our -hearts. - -But to pass beyond this wall of flame there is need for strength of soul -and a boldness not possessed by all, possessed only by the valorous; and -thus Jesus can say, “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the -violent take it by force.” The word violent has as a matter of fact in -the text the evident meaning of “strong,” of men who know how to take -doors by assault without hesitating or trembling. “Sword,” “fire,” -“violence,” are words which are not to be taken in the literal sense, so -pleasing to the advocates of massacres. They are figurative words which -we are forced to use to reach the torpid imagination of the crowds. The -sword is the symbol of the divisions between those first persuaded and -those who are last in believing; fire is purifying love; violence is the -strength necessary to make oneself over and to arrive on the threshold -of the Kingdom. Any one who understands this passage in any other way -either does not know how to read, or is determined to misread. - -Jesus is the man of Peace. He has come to bring Peace. The Gospels are -nothing but proclamations and instructions for Peace. The very night of -His birth celestial voices sang in the sky the prophetic augury: “Peace -on Earth to men of good will.” On the Mount one of the first promises -which flowed from the heart and from the lips of Christ is that directed -to the peacemakers, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be -called the children of God.” When the apostles are ready to depart on -their mission He commands them to wish peace to all the houses where -they enter. To the disciples, to His friends, He counsels, “Have peace -one with another.” Drawing near to Jerusalem, He looks at it pityingly -and exclaims, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, -the things which belong unto thy peace!” and the terrible night on the -Mount of Olives, while the mercenaries armed with swords are binding -Him, He pronounces the supreme condemnation of violence, “For all they -that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” He understands the -evils of discord, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to -desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not -stand.” And in His talk on the last things, in the grand apocalyptic -prophecy, He announces among the terrible signs of the end together with -famine, earthquakes and tribulation, also wars. “And ye shall hear of -wars and rumours of wars.... For nation shall rise against nation, and -kingdom against kingdom.” - -For Jesus discord is an evil; war is a crime. His God is not the old -Lord of Battles. The apologists for great massacres confuse the Old and -the New Testament. But the New is new exactly because it transforms the -Old. - -Only when considered as a punishment can war be thought of as divine. -War is the terrible retribution of men who have recourse to war; it is -the cruelest manifestation of the hatred which broods and boils in human -hearts, the hatred which drives men to take up arms to destroy one -another. War is at the same time a crime and its own punishment. - -But when hate is abolished in every heart, war will be incomprehensible: -our most terrible punishment will disappear together with our greatest -sin. Then at last will arrive the day longed for by Isaiah when, “they -shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into -pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither -shall they learn war any more.” - -That day announced by Isaiah is the day on which the Sermon on the Mount -shall become the only law recognized on earth. - - - ONE FLESH ONLY - - -Jesus sanctions the union of man and woman even in the flesh. As long as -kings remain, we are to give back to them the coins stamped with their -names; as long as men are not like angels the human race must perpetuate -itself. - -The Family and the State, imperfect expedients compared with heavenly -beatitude, are necessary during our terrestrial probation; and since -they are necessary they should at least become less impure and less -imperfect. As long as rulers exist, at least the man who rules should -feel himself the equal of the man who serves. As long as marriage -exists, the union between man and woman should be eternal and faithful. - -In marriage Jesus sees first of all the joining of two bodies. On this -point He ratifies the metaphor of the Old Law, “So then they are no more -twain, but one flesh.” Husband and wife are one body, inseparable. This -man shall never have another woman; this woman shall never know another -man until death divides them. The mating of male and female, when it is -not the expression of careless wantonness, or furtive fornication, when -it is the meeting of two healthy virginities, when it is preceded by -free choice, by a chaste passion, by a public and consecrated covenant, -has an almost mystic character which nothing can cancel. The choice is -irrevocable, the passion is confirmed, the compact is for eternity. -Within the two bodies clinging to each other with bodily desire, there -are two souls which recognize each other and find each other in love. -Their flesh becomes one flesh; their two souls become one soul. - -The two have been fused into one, and from this communion will be born a -new creature formed of the essence of both, which will be the visible -form of their union. Love makes them like God, creators of a new and -miraculous creation. - -But this Duality of the flesh and of the spirit—the most perfect among -imperfect human relations—should never be disturbed or interrupted. -Adultery corrupts it, divorce destroys it. Adultery treacherously -corrodes the union; divorce repudiates it definitely. Adultery is a -secret divorce founded upon untruth and betrayal; divorce followed by -another marriage is sanctioned adultery. - -Jesus always condemns adultery and divorce in the most solemn and -absolute manner. His whole nature holds unfaithfulness in horror. There -will come a day, he warns people, in speaking of heavenly life, in which -men and women will not marry; but up to that day marriage should have at -least all the perfections possible to its imperfection. And Jesus who -always goes below the surface of things does not call adulterer only the -man who robs his brother of his wife, but also the man who looks at her -in the street with lustful eyes. The man who has underhand relations -with another man’s wife is an adulterer, but no less an adulterer is he -who, having put aside his own wife, marries another. On one occasion -alone, He seems to admit the possibility of divorce to the husband of an -adulteress; but the crime of the repudiated wife could never justify the -crime which the betrayed man would commit in taking another wife. - -Confronted with a law so absolute and so rigorous, even the Disciples -took alarm. “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good -to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, -save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so -born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs which were -made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves -eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, -let him receive it.” - -Marriage is a concession to human nature, and to the propagation of -life. “All men cannot receive this saying,” are not capable of remaining -chaste, virgin, and alone, but only “they to whom it is given.” Perfect -celibacy is a grace, a reward of the victory of the spirit over the -body. - -Any man who wishes to give all his love to a great undertaking must -condemn himself to chastity. He cannot serve both humanity and the -individual. The man who has a difficult mission to carry out, demanding -all his strength up to the last of his days, cannot tie himself to a -woman. Marriage means abandoning oneself to another being—but the -Saviour must abandon himself to all other beings. The union of two souls -is not enough for him—and it would make more difficult, perhaps -impossible, union with all other souls. The responsibilities which come -with the choice of a mate, the birth of children, the creation of a -little community in the midst of the great community of the human race, -are so heavy that they would be a daily hindrance to undertakings -infinitely more serious. The man who wishes to lead other men, to -transform them, cannot bind himself for all his life to one being alone. -He would need to be faithless to his wife or to his mission. He loves -all his brothers too much to love one only of his sisters. The Hero is -solitary. Solitude is his penalty and his greatness. He renounces the -pleasures of marital love, but the love which is in his heart, when -communicated to all men, is multiplied into a sublimation of sacrifice -surpassing all earthly joys. The man with no mate is alone, but is free; -his soul, unhampered by common and material thoughts, can rise to the -heights. He does not beget children of his own flesh, but he brings to a -second birth the children of his spirit. - -It is not given to every one, however, to resist and abstain. “He that -is able to receive it, let him receive it.” The foundation of the -Kingdom needs all men who will give all their souls to it; the lusts of -the flesh, even when confined to legitimate marriage, are weakening for -him who should give all his attention to the things of the spirit. - -Those who will know the resurrection of the great day of triumph will -have no further temptations. In the Kingdom of Heaven the joining of man -and woman, even sanctified as it is by the permanence of marriage, will -exist no more. Its real end is the creation of new human beings, but in -that day Death will be conquered and the everlasting renewing of the -generations will no longer be necessary. “For when they shall rise from -the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the -angels which are in heaven.” - -With this attainment of eternal and angelic life—the two promises and -the two certainties of Christ—what has seemed endurable will become -unthinkable, that which seemed pure will become vile, that which was -holy will become imperfect. In that supreme and happy world all the -trials of the human race will be over. A hasty mating with a stolen -woman was enough for the primitive bestial man. Man rose to the higher -level of marriage, to union with one woman alone; the saint rose higher -yet, to voluntary chastity. But the man who has become an angel in -Heaven, who is all spirit and love, will have conquered the flesh even -in memory. In a world where there will be no poor, sick, unhappy or -enemies, his love will be transfigured into a superhuman contemplation. - -The cycle of births will then be closed. The Fourth Kingdom will be -forever established. The citizens of the Kingdom will be eternally the -same, themselves and no other through all the centuries. Woman will no -longer bring forth her young with suffering. The sentence of exile will -be revoked, the Serpent will be conquered; the Father will joyfully -welcome his wandering son. Paradise will be found again and will never -more be lost. - - - FATHERS AND SONS - - -Jesus was speaking in a house, perhaps at Capernaum, and men and women, -all hungering for life and justice, all needing comfort and consolation, -had filled the house, had pressed close around Him, and were looking at -Him as they would look at their Father returned to them, their Brother -healing them, their Benefactor saving them. They were so hungry for His -words, these men and women, that Jesus and His friends had not stopped -to take a mouthful of food. He had spoken for a long time, and yet they -would have liked Him to go on speaking till nightfall, without ever -stopping for an instant. They had been waiting for Him for so long! -Their fathers and their mothers had waited for Him in wretchedness and -dumb resignation for thousands of years. They themselves had waited for -Him, year after year, in dull wretchedness. Night after night they had -longed for a ray of light, a promise of happiness, a loving word. And -now before them was He who was the reward of their long vigil. Now they -could wait no longer. These men and these women crowded about Jesus like -privileged and impatient creditors who finally have before them the -Divine Debtor, for whom they have been eternally waiting; and they -claimed their share down to the last penny. He certainly should be able -to get along without eating bread just this one time—for centuries and -centuries their fathers had been forced to go without the Bread of -Truth; for years and years they themselves had not been able to satisfy -their hunger for the Bread of Hope. - -Jesus therefore went on talking to the people who had filled the house. -He repeated the most touching figures of His inspiration, told the most -persuasive stories of the Kingdom, looked at them with those luminous -eyes which shone down into the soul as the morning sun penetrates the -shut-in darkness of a house. - -Any one of us would give what remains of his life to be looked at by -those eyes, to gaze for a moment into those eyes shining with infinite -tenderness; to listen for a moment only to that thrilling voice, -changing the Semitic vernacular into melodious music. Those men and -women who are now dead, those poor men, those poor women, those wretched -people who to-day are dust in the air of the desert, or clay under the -hoofs of the camels, those men and those women whom in their lifetime no -one envied, and whom we the living are forced to envy after their remote -and obscure death; those men and those women heard that voice, saw those -eyes. - -But there came a stir and voices were heard at the door of the house: -some one wished to come in. One of those present told Jesus, “Behold, -thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.” But Jesus did not -stir, “Who is my mother or my brethren?” And he looked round about on -them which sat about him, and said, “Behold my mother and my brethren! -For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my -sister, and mother.” - -My family is all here and I have no other family. The ties of blood do -not count unless they are confirmed in the spirit. My father is the -Father who made me like unto Him in the perfection of righteousness; my -brothers are the poor who weep; my sisters are the women who have left -their loves for Love. He did not mean with these words to deny the -Virgin of Sorrows, of whose womb He was the fruit; He meant to say that -from the day of His voluntary exile He belonged no more to the little -family of Nazareth, but only to His mission as Saviour, to the great -family of mankind. - -In the new organization of salvation, spiritual affiliations surpass the -simple relationships of the flesh. “If any come to me, and hate not his -father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, -yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Individual love -must disappear in universal love. We must choose between the old -affections of the old mankind and the unique love of the New Man. - -The family will disappear when men, in the celestial life, shall be -better than men. In the world as it is, the family is an impediment for -him who helps others to rise to higher things. “And call no man your -father upon the earth: for one is your Father which is in heaven.” He -who leaves his family shall be infinitely rewarded. “And he said unto -them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or -parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God’s -sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in -the world to come life everlasting.” - -Your Heavenly Father will never forsake you, your brothers in the -Kingdom will never betray you; but the fathers and the brothers of -earthly life might become your assassins. “And ye shall be betrayed both -by parents and brethren and kinsfolks and friends; and some of you shall -they cause to be put to death.” - -And yet fathers at least should be faithful, because, according to -Jesus, fathers have more duties toward their sons than sons toward their -fathers. The Old Law recognizes only the first. “Honor thy father and -thy mother,” said Moses. But he does not add, “Protect and love thy -children.” Children seemed to Moses to be the property of those who had -begotten them. Life in those times seemed so fair and precious that -children were always thought to be in debt to their parents. They were -to remain servants forever, everlastingly submissive. They should live -only for old age, by the orders of old age. - -Here also the divine genius of the Overthrower sees what is lacking in -the old ideals and insists upon righting the balance. Fathers should -give without sparing and without rest; even if the children are -ungrateful, even if they abandon their father, even if they are unworthy -in the eyes of the platitudinous sagacity of the world. The Paternoster -is a prayer of sons to a Father. It is the prayer which every child -might address to his father. He asks for daily bread; the remission of -sins, pardon for his failings, and daily protection against evil. - -And yet fathers, even when they give everything, are sometimes forsaken. -If their sons leave them to throw themselves into evil ways, they must -be forgiven as soon as they come back, as the Prodigal Son in the -parable was forgiven. If they leave their fathers to seek out a higher -and more perfect life—like those who are converted to the Kingdom—they -will be rewarded a thousand times in this life and the next. - -But from every point of view, fathers are debtors. The tremendous -responsibility which they have accepted in giving life to a new human -being must be met. Like the Heavenly Father, they must give to those of -their children who ask and to those who keep silence, to the worthy and -the unworthy, to those who sit about the family board and to those who -are wanderers over the earth, to the good and to the bad, to the first -and to the last. They must never become weary, not even with the -children who flee from them, with those who offend against them, with -those who deny them. - -“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give -him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?” Who will -refuse to a son who departs asking nothing, the supreme gift of a love -which asks no requital? - - - LITTLE CHILDREN - - -All men are children of the Son of Man, but no one could call Him father -in the flesh. Among the disappointing joys of men perhaps the only joy -which does not disappoint is to hold in one’s arms or on one’s knees a -child whose face is rosy with blood which is also yours, who laughs at -you with the dawning splendor of his eyes, who stammers out your name, -who uncovers the springs of the lost tenderness of your childhood; to -feel against your adult flesh, hardened by winds and the sun, this fresh -smooth young flesh where the blood seems still to have kept some of the -sweetness of milk, flesh that seems made of warm, living petals. To feel -that this flesh is yours, shaped in the flesh of your mate, nourished -with the milk of her breasts; to watch the birth and slow flowering of -the soul in this flesh; to be the sole father of this unique creature, -of this flower opening in the light of the world; to recognize your own -aspect in his childish eyes, to hear your own voice through his fresh -lips; to grow young again through this child in order to be worthy of -him; to be nearer to him; to make yourself younger, better, purer; to -forget all the years which bring us silently nearer to death, to forget -the pride of manhood, the vanity of wisdom, the first wrinkles on the -face, the expiations, the ignominies of life and to become a virgin -again beside this virginity, calm beside this calmness, good with a -goodness never known before; to be in short the father of a child of -your own, this is certainly the highest human pleasure given to a man -who has a soul within his clay. - -Jesus, whom no one called Father, was drawn to children as to sinners. -Lover of the absolute, He loved only extremes. Complete innocence and -complete downfall were for Him pledges of salvation. Innocence because -it does not need to be cleansed; abject degradation because it feels -more keenly the need to be cleansed. The people in danger are those -midway; men half depraved and half intact; men who are foul within and -wish to seem upright and just; those who have lost with their childhood -their native purity and do not yet recognize the filthiness of their -inner depravity. - -Jesus loved children with tenderness and sinners with compassion; the -pure and those who stood in dire need of purification. His hand -willingly caressed the floating hair of the newly weaned child and did -not draw back from the perfumed tresses of the prostitute. He drew near -to sinners because they often had not the strength to come to Him; but -He called children to Him because children know by instinct who loves -them, and run willingly to him. Mothers brought their children to Him to -have Him touch them. The Disciples, with their habitual roughness, cried -out on them—and Jesus once more was obliged to reprove them, “Suffer -little children, and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the -kingdom of heaven.” “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive -the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” - -The Disciples, bearded men, proud of their authority as mature men and -as lieutenants of their future Lord, could not understand why their -Master consented to waste time with children who could not yet speak -plainly and could not understand the meaning of grown people’s words. -But Jesus set in their midst one of these children and said: “Verily I -say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye -shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall -humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom -of heaven.... And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name -receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which -believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged -about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” - -Here, too, the transposition of values is complete. In the Old Law, the -child was to respect the grown man, to revere and imitate the old man. -The little child was to take the grown person as his model. Perfection -was supposed to lie in years of maturity, or, better yet, in old age. -The child was respected only as containing the hope for future manhood. -Jesus reversed these ideas; grown people were to take their example from -little children, elders were to try to become like infants, fathers were -to imitate their sons. In the world as it was, as it is, controlled by -force, where the only valued art is the art of acquiring riches and -overcoming others, children are at the most only human larvæ. In the New -World announced by Christ, which will be governed by fearless purity and -innocent love, children are the arch-types of happy citizens. The child -who seems an imperfect man is thus more perfect than the grown man. The -man who imagines that he has come into the fullness of his time and of -his soul is to turn back, despoil himself of his complacent complexities -and return to his first youth. From having been imitated he becomes an -imitator, from his position as first he becomes last. - -Jesus reaffirms His own likeness to a child, and declares with no -hesitation that He is identical with the children who seek Him out, “And -whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” The -saint, the poor man, the poet, present themselves under this new form -which sums them all up: the child, pure and candid as the saint, bare -and needy as the poor man, marveling and loving like the poet. - -Jesus loves children not only as unconscious models for those who wish -to attain the perfection of the Kingdom, but as the actual mediums of -truth. Their ignorance is more illumined than the doctrines of learned -men; their ingenuousness is more powerful than the intellect which shows -itself in reasoning words. Only a clear and untarnished mirror can -reflect the images of the revelation. - -“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid -these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto -babes.” Their own wisdom stands in the way of the wise, because they -think they understand everything. Their own intelligence is an -impediment for the intelligent, because they are not capable of -understanding any other light than that of the intellect. Only the -simple can understand simplicity, the innocent, innocence, the loving, -love. The revelation of Jesus, open only to virginal souls, is all -humility, purification and love. But man, as he grows older, becomes -more complicated, more corrupt, prouder, and learns the horrible -pleasure of hatred. Every day he goes further from Paradise, becomes -less capable of finding it. He takes pleasure in his steady downfall and -glories in the useless learning which hides from him the only needful -truth. - -To find the new Paradise, the Kingdom of innocence and love, it is -needful to become like children who have already what others must strive -and struggle to regain. - -Jesus seeks out the company of sinners, of men and women, but He feels -Himself with his true brothers only when He lays His hands on the heads -of the children whom the Galilean mothers bring to Him as an offering. - - - MARTHA AND MARY - - -Women also loved Jesus. He who had the form and flesh of a man, who left -His mother and never had a wife, was surrounded all His life and after -His death by the warmth of feminine tenderness. The chaste wanderer was -loved by women as no man was ever loved, or ever can be loved again. The -chaste man, who condemned adultery and fornication, had over women the -inestimable prestige of innocence. - -All women, who are not mere females, kneel before him who does not bow -before them. The husband with all his legal love and authority, the -satyr with all his mistresses, the eloquent adulterer, the bold -ravisher, have not so much power over the spirit of women as he who -loves them without touching them, he who saves them without asking for -even a kiss as reward. Woman, slave of her body, of her weakness, her -desire and of the desire of the male, is drawn to him who frees her, to -him who cures her, to him who loves her and asks no more from her than a -cup of water, a smile, a little silent attention. - -Women loved Jesus. They stopped when they saw Him pass, they followed -Him when they saw Him speaking to His friends, they drew near to the -house where He had gone in, they brought their children to Him, they -blessed Him loudly, they touched His garment to be cured of their ills, -they were happy when they could serve Him. All of them might have cried -out to Him, like the woman who raised her voice in the midst of the -multitude: “Blessed is the womb that bare ye, and the paps which thou -hast sucked.” - -Many followed Him to death. Salome, mother of the Sons of Thunder; Mary, -mother of James the less; Martha and Mary of Bethany. - -They would have liked to be His sisters, His servants, His slaves; to -serve Him, to set bread before Him, to pour Him wine, to wash His -garments, to anoint His tired feet and His flowing hair. Some of them -were fortunate enough to be allowed to follow Him, and knew the still -greater good fortune of helping Him with their money ... “and the twelve -were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits -and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, -And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many -others, which ministered unto him of their substance.” Women, in whom -piety is a native gift of the heart before it is acquired through desire -for perfection, were, as they have always been, more generous than men. - -When He appears in the house of Lazarus, two women, the two sisters of -the man brought back from death, seem distracted with joy. Martha rushes -towards Him to see what He needs, if He wishes to wash, if He wishes to -eat at once, and, bringing Him into the house, she leads Him to the -couch that He may lie down, puts over Him a blanket lest He be cold, and -runs with a pitcher to get fresh cool water. Then, on her return, she -sets to work to prepare for the pilgrim a fine meal, much more abundant -than the ordinary dinner of the family. With all haste she lights a -great fire, goes to get fresh fish, new-laid eggs, figs and olives; she -borrows from one neighbor a piece of new-killed lamb, from another a -costly perfume, from another richer than she, a flowered dish. She pulls -out from the linen-chest the newest table-cloth, and brings up from the -wine-cellar the oldest wine. And while the wood snaps and sparkles in -the fire and the water in the kettle begins to simmer, poor Martha, -bustling, flushed, hurrying, sets the table, runs between the -kneading-trough and the fire, glances at the waiting Master, at the -street to see if her brother is coming home, and at her sister, who is -doing nothing at all. - -For when Jesus passed the sill of their house, Mary fell into a sort of -motionless ecstasy from which nothing could arouse her. She sees only -Jesus, hears nothing but Jesus’ voice. There is nothing else in the -world for her at that moment. She cannot have enough of looking at Him, -of listening to Him, of feeling Him there, living, close to her. If He -glances at her, she is happy to be looked at; if He does not look at -her, she fixes her eyes on Him; if He speaks, His words drop one by one -into her heart, there to remain to her death; if He is silent, she draws -from His silence a more direct revelation. And she is almost troubled by -the bustling and stepping about of her sister. Why should Martha think -that Jesus needs an elaborate dinner? Mary is seated at His feet and -does not move even if Martha or Lazarus call her. She is at the service -of Jesus, but in another way. She has given Him her soul, only her soul, -but such a loving soul! And the work of her hands would be inopportune -and superfluous. She is a contemplative soul, an adorer. She will take -action only to cover the dead body of her God with perfumes. She would -move quickly enough if He should ask of her all her life-blood. But the -rest, all this business of Martha, is only material activity which is no -concern of hers. - -Women loved Him and He requited this love with compassion. No woman who -turned to Him was sent away disconsolate. The sorrow of the widow of -Nain made Him sorrow, so that He brought to life her dead son; the -prayers of the Canaanite woman, although she was a foreigner to Him, -wrought on Him to cure her daughter; the unknown woman which had a -“spirit of infirmity” eighteen years, and was bowed together and could -in no wise lift herself, was cured, although it was on the Sabbath day -and the rulers of the synagogue cried, “Sacrilege!” In the first part of -His wanderings He cured Peter’s wife’s mother of fever and the Magdalene -of evil spirits. He brought to life the daughter of Jairus, and cured -that unknown woman who had suffered for twelve years from a bloody flux. - -The learned men of His time had no esteem for women in spiritual -matters. They tolerated their presence at the sacred festivals, but they -never would have thought of teaching high and secret doctrines to any -woman. “The words of the Law,” says a rabbinical proverb of that time, -“rather than teach them to a woman, burn them up!” Jesus on the other -hand did not hesitate to speak to them of the highest mysteries. When He -went alone to the well of Sichar, and the Samaritan woman who had had -five husbands came there, He did not hesitate to proclaim His message to -her, although she was a woman and an enemy of His people. “But the hour -cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in -spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is -a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in -truth.” His Disciples came up, and could not understand what the Master -was doing. “And marvelled that he talked with the woman.” They did not -yet know that the Church of Christ would make a woman the link between -the sons and the Son—the woman who unites in herself the two supreme -possibilities of Woman: the Virgin Mother who suffered for us from the -night in Bethlehem until the night of Golgotha. - - - WORDS WRITTEN ON THE SAND - - -On another occasion at Jerusalem, Jesus found Himself before a woman—the -Adulteress. A hooting crowd pushed her forward. The woman, hiding her -face with her hands and with her hair, stood before Him, without -speaking. Jesus had taught that wife and husband should be perfectly -one, and He detested adultery. But He detested still more the cowardice -of tale-bearers, the hounding by the merciless, the impudence of sinners -presuming to set themselves up as judges of sin. Jesus could not absolve -the woman who had brutally disobeyed the law of God, but He did not wish -to condemn her, because her accusers had no right to be seeking her -death. And He stooped down and with His finger wrote upon the ground. It -is the first and last time that we see Jesus lower Himself to this -trivial operation. No one has ever known what He wrote at that moment, -standing there before the woman trembling in her shame, like a deer set -upon by a pack of snarling hounds. He chose the sand on which to write -expressly that the wind might carry away the words, which would perhaps -frighten men if they could read them. But the shameless persecutors -insisted that the woman should be stoned. Then Jesus lifted Himself up, -looked deep into their eyes and souls, one by one: “He that is without -sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” - -We are all of us guilty of the faults of our brothers. From the first to -the last we are all daily accomplices, although too often unpunished. -The Adulteress would not have betrayed her husband if men had not -tempted her, if her husband had made himself better loved; the thief -would not rob if the rich man’s heart were not so hard; the assassin -would not kill if he had not been harshly treated; there would be no -prostitutes if men knew how to mortify their wantonness. Only the -innocents would have the right to judge; but on this earth there are no -innocents, and even if there were, their mercy would be stronger than -justice itself. - -Such thoughts had never occurred to those angry spies, but Christ’s -words troubled them. Every one of them thought of his own betrayals, his -own secret and perhaps recent sins of the flesh. Every soul there was -like a sewer which when the stone is raised exhales a fetid gust of -nauseous vapor. The old men were the first to go. Then, little by -little, all the others, avoiding each other’s eyes, scattered and -dispersed. The open place was empty. Jesus had again stooped down to -write upon the ground. The woman had heard the shuffling of the -departing feet, and heard no longer any voice crying for her death, but -she did not dare to raise her eyes because she knew that One alone had -remained, the Innocent,—the only one who had the right to throw against -her the deadly stones. Jesus for the second time lifted Himself up and -saw no one. - -“Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” - -“No man, Lord.” - -“Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.” - -And for the first time the Adulteress dared to look in the face of her -liberator. She did not understand His words. What she had done was -evidently a sin in His eyes because he commanded her to “sin no more”; -and yet he had so acted that the others did not condemn her. And now He -also did not wish to condemn her. What man was this so different from -all the others, who hated sin but forgave the sinner? She would have -wished to turn to Him with a question, to murmur a word of thanks, to -reward Him at least with a smile, because her soul was weak and her lips -beautiful. But Jesus had begun again to write on the ground of the -court, His head lowered, and she saw only the silky waves of His hair -shining in the sun, and His finger moving slowly over the sunlit earth. - - - THE SINNER - - -But no woman loved Him so much as the woman who anointed Him with nard -and bathed Him with her tears in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Every -one of us has seen that picture in imagination; the weeping woman with -her hair falling over the feet of the Wanderer; and yet the true meaning -of the episode is understood by very few, so greatly has it been -disfigured by both the ordinary and the literary interpretations. The -decadents of the last century, careful workmen in lascivious preciosity, -who swarm to the scent of corruption like flies to filth and crows to -carrion, have sought out in the Gospel those women who are redolent of -sin. And they have made such women their own, adorning them with the -velvet of adjectives, the silk of verbs, the jewelry and precious stones -of metaphors; the unknown repentant woman, named Mary Magdalene, the -unknown adulteress of Jerusalem, Salome the dancer, the sinister -Herodias. - -The episode of this anointing has been profoundly misrepresented by such -writers. It is simpler and infinitely more profound. The praise of Jesus -for the woman who brought Him nard is not praise of carnal sin, or of -common love as it is commonly understood by men. - -This sinning woman who silently entered the house of Simon with her box -of alabaster was no longer a sinner. She had seen Jesus, had known Him -before that day. And she was no longer a woman for hire; she had heard -Jesus speak, and was no longer the public woman, flesh on sale for -masculine desires. She had heard the voice of Jesus, had listened to His -words; His voice had troubled her, His words had shaken her. The woman -who had belonged to every one had learned that there is a love more -beautiful than lust, a poverty richer than clinking coins. When she came -to the house of Simon she was not the woman she had been, the woman whom -the men of the countryside had pointed out sneeringly, the woman whom -the Pharisee knew and despised. Her soul was changed, all her life was -changed. Now her flesh was chaste; her hand was pure; her lips no longer -knew the bitter taste of rouge, her eyes had learned to weep. From now -on, according to the promise of the King, she was ready to enter into -the Kingdom. - -Without taking all this for granted it is impossible to understand the -story which follows. The sinning woman wished to reward her Saviour with -a token of her gratitude. She took one of the most costly things left to -her, a sealed box full of nard, perhaps the gift of a chance lover, -thinking to anoint her King’s head with this costly oil. Hers was an act -of public gratitude. The sinning woman wished publicly to thank Him who -had cleansed her soul, who had brought her heart to life, who had lifted -her up out of shame, who had given her a hope more glorious than all -joys. - -She went into the house with her box of alabaster clasped to her breast, -timid and shrinking as a little girl on her first day of school, as a -released prisoner in his first moment outside the prison. She went in -silently with her little box of perfume, raising her eyes for only a -moment to see at a glance where Jesus was reclining. She went up to the -couch, her knees trembling under her, her hands shaking, her delicate -eyelids quivering, because she felt they were all looking at her, all -those men’s eyes were fixed on her, staring at her beautiful swaying -body, wondering what she was about to do. - -She broke the seal of the little alabaster flask, and poured half the -oil on the head of Jesus. The large drops shone on His hair like -scattered gems. With loving hands she spread the transparent ointment on -the curls and did not stay her hand till every hair was softened, silky -and shining. The whole room was filled with the fragrance; every eye was -fixed on her with astonishment. - -The woman, still silent, took up the opened box and knelt by the feet of -the Peace-bringer. She poured the remaining oil into her hand and -gently, gently rubbed the right foot and the left with the loving care -of a young mother who bathes her first child, for the first time. Then -she could control herself no longer, she could restrain no longer the -great burst of tenderness which filled her heart, made her throat ache -and brought tears to her eyes. She would have liked to speak, to say -that this was her thanks, her simple, pure, heartfelt thanks for the -great help she had received, for the new light which had unsealed her -eyes. But in such a moment, with all those men there, how could she find -the right words, words worthy of the wonderful grace, worthy of Him? And -besides, her lips trembled so that she could not pronounce two words -together; her speech would have been only a stammering broken by sobs. -Then not being able to speak with her lips, she spoke with her eyes: her -tears fell down one by one, swift and hot on the feet of Jesus, like so -many silent thank-offerings. - -Weeping freed her heart of its oppression; the tears relaxed the -tension. She saw and felt nothing now but an inexpressible delight which -she had never known on her mother’s knees or in men’s arms; it ran -through all her blood, made her tremble, pierced her with its poignant -joy, shook all her being in that supreme ecstasy in which joy is a pain -and sorrow a joy, in which pain and joy become one mighty emotion. - -She wept over her past life, the miserable life of her vigil. She -thought of her poor flesh sullied by men. She had been forced to have a -smile for them all, she had been forced to offer her luxurious bed and -her perfumed body to them all. With all of them she had been forced to -pretend a pleasure she did not feel. She had been forced to show a -smiling face to those whom she despised, to those whom she hated. She -had slept beside the thief who had stolen the money to pay her. She had -kissed the lips of the murderer and of the fugitive from justice; she -had been forced to endure the acrid breath and the repellent fancies of -the drunkard. - -Never, on a kindly summer night when the eastern sky is all a flashing -splendor, had she known the welcoming kiss of a husband who had chosen -her, virgin among virgins, that she should be one with him till death. -She was outside the community and the laws. She was cut off from her -people. She was separated from them all. Women envied her and detested -her; men desired her and defamed her. - - - THE SECOND BAPTISM - - -But at the same time the tears of the weeping woman were tears of joy -and exaltation. She was weeping not only because of her shame, now -forever canceled, but because of the poignant sweetness of her life -beginning anew. - -She was weeping for her virginity restored, for her soul rescued from -evil, her purity miraculously recovered, her condemnation forever -revoked. Her tears were the tears of joy at the second birth, of -exultation for truth discovered, of light-heartedness for her sudden -conversion, for the saving of her soul, for the miraculous hope which -had released her from the degradation of the material and raised her to -the illumination of the spirit. The drops of nard and her tears were so -many thank-offerings for this incredible blessing. - -And yet it was not alone for her own sorrow and her own joy that she -wept. The tears which bathed the feet of Jesus were also shed for Him. - -The unknown woman had anointed her King like a king of olden times. She -had anointed His head as the high priests had anointed the kings of -Judea; she had anointed His feet as the lords and guests anointed -themselves on festal days. But at the same time the weeping woman had -prepared Him for death and burial. - -Jesus, about to enter Jerusalem, knew that those were the last days of -His life in the flesh. He said to His disciples, “For in that she hath -poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.” Still -living, He was embalmed by a woman’s compassion. - -Christ was to receive before His death a third baptism, the baptism of -infamy, the baptism of the supreme insult; prætorian soldiers were to -spit upon his face. But He had now received the baptism of glory and the -baptism of death. He was anointed like a king about to triumph in His -celestial kingdom. He was perfumed like a corpse about to be laid in the -tomb. This anointing unites the twin mysteries of His Messiahship and of -the crucifixion. - -The poor sinning woman, mysteriously chosen for this prophetic rite, had -perhaps a confused presentiment of the appalling meaning of this -premonitory embalming. Love’s second-sight, stronger in women than in -men, the foresight of exalted and deep emotion, may have made her feel -that this body perfumed and caressed by her was in a few days to be an -icy, blood-stained corpse. Other women, perhaps she herself, were to go -to the tomb to cover Him for the last time with aromatics, but they -would not find Him. He who was now feasting with His friends was at that -time to be at the doors of another Hell. Feeling this presentiment, the -weeping woman let her tears fall on Jesus’ feet to the astonishment of -all the others, who did not know and did not understand. - -Now the feet of the Saviour, the feet of the condemned one, are all -bathed with tears, the salt of the tears mingling with the perfume of -the nard. The poor sinning woman does not know how to dry those feet, -wet by her tears. She has no white cloth with her, and her garment does -not seem to her worthy to touch her Lord’s flesh. Then she thinks of her -hair, her long hair which has been so much admired for its fine -silkiness. She loosens the braids, slips out the pins, unclasps the -fastenings. The blue-black mass of her tresses falls over her face, -hiding her flushed face and her compassion. And taking up the masses of -these flowing curls in her hands, she slowly dries the feet which have -brought her King into that house. - -Now her tears are ended. All her tears are shed and dried. Her part is -done, but only Jesus has understood her silence. - - - SHE LOVED MUCH - - -Among the men who were present at this dinner there was no one except -Jesus who understood the loving service of the nameless woman. But all, -struck with wonder, were silent. They did not understand, but they -respected obscurely the solemnity of the enigmatic ceremony. All except -two, who wished to interpret the woman’s action as an offense to the -guest. These two were the Pharisee and Judas Iscariot. The first said -nothing, but his expression spoke more clearly than words. The second, -the Traitor, presuming on his familiarity with the Master, ventured to -speak. - -Simon thought to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have -known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him, for she is -a sinner.” The old hypocrite had for the paid woman the scorn of those -who have had much to do with them, or of those who have never known them -at all. Like his brothers he belonged to the endless cemetery of white -sepulchers, which within are full of foulness. It is enough for such men -to avoid physical contact with what they think is impure, even if their -souls are sinks of iniquity. Their morals are systems of ablutions and -washings; they would leave a wounded man to die, abandoned on the road, -for fear of staining themselves with blood; they would let a poor man -suffer hunger to avoid touching money on the Sabbath day: like all men -they commit thefts, adulteries, and murders, but they wash their hands -so many times a day that they imagine them as clean as those of babes. - -He had read the Law, and there were still ringing in his ears the -execrations and anathemas of Old Israel against prostitutes. “There -shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel.... Thou shalt not bring -the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord -thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination to the Lord thy -God.” And Simon, the wise burgher, remembered with equal satisfaction -the admonition of the author of the Proverbs: “For a whore is a deep -ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.... For by means of a whorish -woman a man is brought to a piece of bread.” The old Jew would perhaps -not have felt so bitterly about prostitutes, if they cost nothing! But -they are capable, those shameless women, of eating up a patrimony! The -old proprietor could not be reconciled to one of those dangerous women -in his house, to the fact that she had touched his guest. He knew that -the prostitute Rehab had made victory possible for Joshua and that she -was the only one to escape from the massacre of Jericho, but he -remembered that the invincible Samson, terror of the Philistines, had -been betrayed by a worthless woman. The Pharisee could not understand -how a man acclaimed by the people as a prophet should not have -understood what sort of woman had come to bestow on Him this -discreditable honor; but Jesus had read in the heart of the sinning -woman and in the heart of Simon, and answered with the parable of the -two debtors. “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the -one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. And when they had -nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which -of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, -to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly -judged.” - -And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon: “Seest thou this woman? -I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she -hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her -head. - -“Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath -not ceased to kiss my feet. - -“My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my -feet with ointment. - -“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for -she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. - -“And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.... Thy faith hath saved -thee; go in peace.” - -The parable and the comment of Jesus show how great, even to-day, is the -lack of understanding of this episode. Every one or nearly every one -remembers only those words: “Her sins are forgiven, for she loved much.” -An attentive reading of the text shows that this ordinary interpretation -is the opposite of the truth. It is thought that Jesus forgave her sins -because she had loved many men, or because she had shown her love for -Him with her perfume and her kisses. The parable of the two debtors -makes it clear that the meaning of Jesus’ words, badly quoted and even -more completely misunderstood, is entirely the contrary. The woman had -sinned greatly and because of her repentance she was wholly pardoned; -and because her pardon was great she greatly loved Him who had saved -her, who had forgiven her; the nard and her tears and her kisses were -the expression of that grateful love. If before going into the house -that evening the sinning woman had not already become transformed by -virtue of her pardon, she would not have obtained from Jesus forgiveness -for her past life spent in evil, not by using all the perfumes of India -and Egypt nor by all the kisses of her lips, nor by all the tears of her -eyes. Christ’s forgiveness was not the reward for those acts of homage; -those acts were her thank-offerings for her forgiveness already -received; and they were great because her forgiveness was great, as her -forgiveness had been great because great had been her sin. - -Jesus would not have repelled the sinning woman even if she had still -been a sinner, but if He had not been sure of her conversion He would -not perhaps have accepted those tokens of love; from now on even the -most rigorous Pharisaical precepts permitted Him to speak with her: “Thy -faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” - -Simon could think of no answer; but from the side of the disciples a -rough, angry voice was raised, well known to Jesus. It was the voice of -Judas: “Why was this waste of the ointment made, why was not this -ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?” And the -other disciples, so the Evangelists say, approved the words of Judas, -and murmured against the woman. Judas was the man who held the purse; -the basest of them all had chosen the basest element,—money. - -Money was pleasing to Judas, pleasing in itself and pleasing in its -possibility of power. He spoke of the poor, but he did not think of the -poor, to whom Jesus had distributed bread in the country-solitudes, as -well as to his own companions, too poor as yet to conquer Jerusalem and -to found the empire of the Messiah where Judas hoped to be one of the -masters. And he was envious as well as grasping; envious as all misers -are. That silent anointing which was the consecration of the King and -the Messiah, those honors offered by a beautiful woman to his Leader, -made him suffer; the everlasting jealousy of man against man, when a -woman is concerned, was mingled with the disappointment of his cupidity. - -But Jesus answered the words of Judas as He answered the silence of -Simon. He did not affront those who had affronted Him, but he defended -the woman at His feet. And Jesus said, “Let her alone; why trouble ye -her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you -always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not -always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my -body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel -shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath -done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” - -The inexpressible sadness of this prophecy escaped perhaps those who sat -about Him. They could not be persuaded that Jesus, in order to overcome, -should be overcome: that in order to triumph eternally He must die. But -Jesus felt the day drawing near, “But me ye have not always, she is come -to anoint my body to the burying.” The woman listened in terror to this -confirmation of her presentiment and another burst of tears rained down -from her eyes. Then with her face hidden in her loosened hair, she went -away as silently as she had come. - -The disciples were silent, not convinced, but abashed. To hide his -chagrin Simon filled the guest’s cup with better wine, but in the yellow -light of the lamps the silent table seemed a banquet of ghosts among -whom had passed the shadow of death. - - - “WHO AM I?” - - -And yet the disciples knew. Those words of death were not the first they -had heard from Jesus’ lips. They should have remembered that day, not -long before, when on a solitary road near Cæsarea, Jesus had asked what -people said of Him. They should have remembered the answer which flashed -out like sudden flame, the impetuous outcry of belief from Peter’s -heart; and the splendor which had shone on three of them on the summit -of the mountain; and the exact prophecies of Christ as to the manner of -His death. - -They had heard and they had seen, and still they hoped on,—all but one. -The truth shone out in them at moments like lightning-flashes in the -dark. Then the night fell blacker than ever. The new man in their hearts -who recognized Jesus as the Christ, the man born for the second time, -the Christian, disappeared to give way to the Jew, deaf and blind, who -saw nothing beyond the Jerusalem of bricks and stone. - -The question which Jesus had put to the Twelve on the road in Cæsarea -must have been the beginning of their complete conversion to the new -truth. What need did Jesus have to know what others thought of Him? Such -a curiosity springs up only in doubtful souls, in those who do not know -themselves, in the weak who cannot read in their own hearts, in the -blind who are not sure of the ground on which they stand. For any one of -us such a question is legitimate, but not for Jesus. No one of us knows -really who he is, no one knows with any certainty what is his real -nature, his mission, and the name which he has a right to call his own, -the eternal name which fits our destiny. The name which was given to us -in infancy, together with the salt and water of baptism, the name set -down on the municipal register, and written in the records of birth and -of death, the name which the mother calls with so much gentleness in the -morning, which the sweetheart murmurs with so much desire at night, the -name which is cut for the last time on the rectangle of the tomb, that -is not our real name. Every one of us has a secret name which expresses -our invisible and authentic essence, and which we ourselves will never -know until the day of the New Birth, until the full light of the -resurrection. - -Few of us dare to ask ourselves, “Who am I?” and there are still fewer -who can answer. The question “Who art thou?” is the most tremendous, the -most weighty which man can put to man. Other human beings are for each -of us a sealed mystery even in the moments of supreme passion, when two -souls desperately essay to become one. We are all of us a mystery even -to ourselves. Unknown to others, we live among others unknown to us. -Much of our wretchedness comes from this universal ignorance. Here is a -man who acts like a king and believes himself a king and in the absolute -he is really only a poor servant, predestined from the beginning of time -to dependent mediocrity. Here is another dressed and acting like a -judge; look at him well; he is born a dry-goods dealer, his real place -is in the country fair. That man there who writes poetry has not -understood his inner voice; he should be a goldsmith, because gold which -can be turned into coin suits his taste, and he is attracted by -filigree, mosaics, chasing, imitation jewels. This other man who is at -the head of an army ought to be teaching school. What an expert and -eloquent professor he might have become! And that fellow there, shouting -in the public places, heading a revolution, calling on the people to -revolt, is a gardener who has mistaken his calling; the red of tomatoes, -long lines of onions, garlic, and cabbages would be the fit reward of -his true mission. This other man here, on the contrary, who, cursing his -fate, prunes his grape-vines and spreads the manure on the cultivated -earth, should have studied in law-books the art of quibbling: no one can -invent sophisms and verbal tricks as he can, and even now, how much -eloquence he pours out in humble duels about money matters, this poor -“leading lawyer” exiled to barns and furrows. - -These errors concern us because we do not know, because we have not -spiritual eyes strong enough to read in the heart which beats inside our -own breasts, and the hearts which beat under the flesh of our neighbors, -so irrevocably remote from us. Everything is in confusion because of -those Names which we do not know, illegible for us, known to genius -alone. - - - THOU ART THE CHRIST - - -But what did Jesus care what was said of Him by the men of the lake and -of the cities, Jesus who could read in their souls the thoughts hidden -even to themselves? Long before that day Jesus alone knew with ineffable -certainty what His real name was, and what was his superhuman nature. As -a matter of fact He did not ask that He might know, but, now that the -end was near, that His faithful followers might know, His real name, at -last—even they. - -“Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, -Jeremias or, one of the Prophets.” - -What were these things to Him, these rudimentary guesses of the poor and -the ignorant? He wished the definite answer to come from His Disciples, -destined as they were to follow His work and to bear witness to Him -among the peoples and the centuries. Even at the last He did not wish to -impose by force a belief on those who had seen His life close at hand -and had heard Him speak. The recognition of His superb human mission, -that name which not one of them up to that time had pronounced (as if -they were afraid of it, as if it were too dangerous a secret to speak -aloud), that recognition on the part of the Twelve should be free and -spontaneous, should burst out, an impetuous confession of love, from one -of those souls, should be pronounced by one of those mouths. - -“But whom say ye that I am?” And then there came to Simon Peter the -great light that was almost too great for him, and made him First to all -eternity. He could not keep back the words, they came to his lips almost -involuntarily in a cry of which he himself the moment before would have -believed himself incapable: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living -God. Thou hast the word of eternal life, and we believe and are sure -that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” - -At last from Peter the Rock there sprang forth the wellspring which from -that day to this has quenched the thirst of sixty generations of men. It -was his right and his reward. Peter had been the first to follow Christ -in the divine wanderings: it was for him to be the first to recognize in -the wanderer the Proclaimer of the Kingdom, the everlasting and lawful -sovereign of that Kingdom, the Messiah whom all men had been awaiting in -the desert of the centuries, who had finally come and was there Himself, -clothed in flesh, standing before their eyes, with His feet in the dust -of the road. - -The pure King, the Son of Justice, the Prince of Peace, the Son of Man -sent by God, the Saviour, the Anointed, whom the prophets had foretold -in the twilight of sorrow and affliction; who had been seen by -apocalyptic writers descending upon the earth like lightning, in the -fullness of victory and glory; for whom the poor, the wounded, the -hungry, the afflicted, had been waiting from century to century, as dry -grass waits for rain, as the flower waits for the sun, as the mouth -awaits the kiss, and the heart, consolation; the Son of God and of Man, -the Man who hid God in human flesh, the God who cloaked His divinity in -Adam’s clay, it is He, the dear Brother of every day, who looks quietly -into the astounded eyes of those chosen ones! - -The period of waiting is done; ended is the vigil! Why had they not -recognized Him until that day? Whence did it come in those simple souls, -the first notion of the true name of Him who so many times had taken -them by the hand, and had spoken for their ears to hear? They could -never think that one of them—a common man like them, a workman and poor -as they were—could be the Saviour Messiah announced and awaited by -saints and by the centuries. With the intellect alone they could never -have discovered Him, nor with the mere bodily senses, nor with the -teachings of the scriptures; only with the inspiration, the intuition, -the sudden flaming illumination of the heart, as it happened that day in -the soul of Peter. “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona; for flesh and -blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven.” -Fleshly eyes would not have been able to see what they saw without a -revelation from on high. - -But weighty consequences flow from the choice of Peter for this -proclamation. It is a reward which calls for other recompense, “Thou art -Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hell -shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the -kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be -bound in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be -loosed in Heaven.” - -Weighty words from which have emerged, through the patient germination -of long centuries, helped by the fire of faith and by the blood of -witnesses, one of the greatest Kingdoms which men have ever established -upon the earth; the only one of the old kingdoms which still lives on in -the same city which saw the rise and fall of the proudest and most -pompous of earthly kingdoms. For these words many men suffered, many -were tortured, many were killed. To deny or uphold, to interpret or -cancel these words, thousands of men have been killed in city squares -and in battles; kingdoms have been divided, societies have been shaken -and rent, nations have waged war, emperors and beggars have given their -all. But their meaning in Christ’s mouth is plain and simple. He means -to say, “Thou, Peter, shalt be hard and staunch as a rock, and upon the -staunchness of thy faith in me, which thou wast the first to profess, is -founded the first Christian society, the humble seed of the Kingdom. -Against this Church which to-day has only Twelve citizens but which will -be spread to the limits of the earth, the forces of evil cannot prevail, -because you are the Spirit and the Spirit cannot be overcome and dimmed -by Matter. Thou shalt close forever—and when I speak to thee I am -speaking to all those who shall succeed thee united in the same -certainty—the Gates of Hell; and thou shalt open to all those who are -chosen the Gates of Heaven. Thou shalt bind and thou shalt unloosen in -my name. What thou shalt forbid after my death shall be forbidden -to-morrow also for that new humanity which I will find on my return; -what thou shalt command shalt be justly commanded because thou wilt be -only repeating in other words what I have told and taught thee. Thou -shalt be, in thy person and in that of thy legitimate heirs, the -shepherd of the interregnum, the temporary and provisional guide who -shalt prepare, together with comrades obedient to thee, the Kingdom of -God and of Love. - -“In requital for this revelation and for this promise I lay on you a -hard command: to keep silence; for the present you must tell no one who -I am. My day is near, but has not yet come; you will be witness to -events which you do not expect, which will even be the contrary of what -you expect. I know the hour in which I shall speak and in which you -shall speak. And when we break our silence, my cry and your cry shall be -heard in the most distant realms of Heaven and Earth.” - - - SUN AND SNOW - - -A man’s voice, the voice of Peter the Rock, had called Him the Son of -Man; another voice issuing from a cloud was to call Him the Son of God. - -Very high is the three-peaked mountain of Hermon, covered with snow even -in the hot season, the highest mountain of Palestine, higher than Mount -Tabor. The Psalmist says, “It is the dew of Hermon that descends upon -the mountains of Zion.” Jesus became incarnate light on this mountain, -the highest mountain in the life of Christ, that life which marks its -different stages by great heights—the mountain of the Temptation, the -mountain of the Beatitudes, the mountain of the Transfiguration, the -mountain of the Crucifixion. - -Three Disciples alone were with Him: he who was called Peter, and the -Sons of Thunder,—the man with the rugged, mountainous character, and the -stormy men—fitting company for the place and hour. He prayed alone, -apart from them, higher than all of them, perhaps kneeling in the snow. -All of us have seen in winter how the snow on a mountain makes any other -whiteness seem dull and drab. A pale face seems strangely dark, white -linen seems dingy, paper looks like dry clay. The contrary of all this -was seen on that day up in the gleaming, deserted height alone in the -sky. - -Jesus prayed by Himself apart from the others. Suddenly His face shone -like the sun and His raiment became as white as snow in the sunshine, -white “as no fuller on earth can white them.” Over the whiteness of the -snow a more brilliant whiteness, a splendor more powerful than all known -splendors, outshone all earthly light. - -The Transfiguration is the Feast and the Victory of Light. Jesus still -in the flesh—for so short a time!—took on the most subtle, the lightest -and most spiritual aspect of matter. His body awaiting its liberation -became sunlight, the light of Heaven, intellectual and supernatural -light; His soul transfigured in prayer shone out through the flesh, -pierced with its flaming whiteness the screen of His body and His -garments, like a flame consuming the walls which close it in, and -flashing through them. - -But the light was not the same on His face and on His raiment. The light -of His face was like the sun; that of His garments was like the -brilliance of snow. His face, mirror of the soul, took on the color of -fire; His garments, mere material stuff, were white like ice. For the -soul is sun, fire, love; but the garments, all garments,—even that heavy -garment which is called the human body,—are opaque, cold, dead; and can -shine only by reflected light. - -But Jesus, all light, His face gleaming with quiet refulgence, His -garments shining white—gold sparkling in the midst of silver—was not -alone. Two great figures, returned from death, gleaming like Him, stood -by Him, and spoke with Him, Moses and Elias. The first of the Prophets, -men of light and fire, came to bear witness to the new Light which -shines on Hermon. All those who have spoken with God remain radiant with -light. The face of Moses when he came down from Mt. Sinai had become so -resplendent that he covered it with a veil, lest he dazzle the others. -And Elias was caught up to Heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by fiery -steeds. John, the new Elias, announced the baptism of fire, but his face -was darkened by the sun and did not shine like the sun. The only -splendor which came into his life was the golden platter on which his -bloody head was carried, a kingly gift to Herod’s sinister concubine. -But on Hermon there was One whose face shone more than Moses’ and whose -ascension was to be more splendid than that of Elias,—He whom Moses had -promised and who was to come after Elias. They had come there beside -him, but they were to disappear thereafter forever. They were no longer -necessary after this last revelation. From now on the world can do -without their laws and their hopes. A luminous cloud hid the glorious -three from the eyes of the obscure three, and from the cloud came out a -voice: “This is my beloved Son: hear him.” - -The cloud did not hide the light, but increased it. As from the -tempest-cloud, the lightning darts out to light up suddenly all the -country; from this cloud already shining in itself, flamed out the fire -which burned up the Old Covenant and confirmed to all eternity the New -Promise. The column of smoke which guided the fleeing Hebrews in the -desert towards Jordan, the black cloud which hid the ark in the day of -desolation and fear, had finally become a cloud of light so brilliant -that it hid even the sunlike splendor of the face which was soon to be -buffeted in the dark days, close at hand. - -But when the cloud disappeared, Jesus was once more alone. The two -precursors and the two witnesses had disappeared. His face had taken on -its natural color. His garments had their everyday aspect. Christ, once -more a loving brother, turned back to his swooning companions. “Arise, -and be not afraid.... Tell the vision to no man, until the son of man be -risen again from the dead.” - -The Transfiguration forecasts the Ascension; but to die in shame always -precedes rising in glory. - - - I SHALL SUFFER MANY THINGS - - -Jesus had known that He must soon die a shameful death. It was the -reward for which he was waiting and no one could have defrauded Him of -it. He who saves others is ready to lose himself; he who rescues others -necessarily pays with his person (that is, with the only value which is -really his and which surpasses and includes all other values); it is -fitting that he who loves his enemies should be hated even by his -friends; he who brings salvation to all nations must needs be killed by -his own people; it suits human ideas of the fitness of things that he -who offers his life should be put to death. Every benefaction is such an -offense to the native ingratitude of men that it can be paid for only by -the heaviest penalty. We lend ears only to voices which cry out from the -tombs, and reserve our scanty capacity for reverence for those whom we -have assassinated. The only truths which remain in the fleeting memory -of the human race are the truths written in blood. - -Jesus knew what was awaiting Him at Jerusalem, and as later was said by -one worthy to portray Him, His every thought was colored by the thought -of death. Three times they had already tried to kill Him; the first time -at Nazareth when they took Him up on the summit of the mountain where -the city was built and wished to cast Him down; the second time in the -Temple, the Jews, offended by His talk, laid their hands on stones to -stone Him; and a third time at the feast of the Dedication in -winter-time, they took up the stones of the street to silence Him. But -for these three times he escaped because His hour was not yet come. - -He kept His certainty of death in His own heart for Himself alone until -His last hours. For He did not wish to sadden His Disciples who would -have shrunk from following a condemned man, a man who in His own heart -knew Himself at the point of death. But after the triple consecration as -Messiah—Peter’s cry, the light of Hermon, the anointing of Bethany—He -could no longer keep silence. He knew too well the ingenuous complacency -of the Twelve. He knew that when the rare moments of enthusiasm and -illumination were gone, their thoughts were often the common thoughts of -common people, human even in their highest dreams. He knew that the -Messiah for whom they were waiting was a victorious restorer of the Age -of Gold and not the Man of Sorrows. They thought of Him as a king on his -throne and not as a criminal on the gallows; triumphant, receiving -homage and tribute, not spat upon, beaten, and insulted; come to raise -the dead and not to be executed like an assassin. - -Lest the Disciples should lose this new certainty of Christ’s -Messiahship on the day of His ignominy, Christ knew that He must warn -them. They must learn from His own mouth that the Messiah would be -condemned, that the Victorious One would disappear in a dreadful -downfall, that the King of all kings would be insulted by Cæsar’s -servants, that the Son of God would be crucified by the ignorant, blind -servants of God. - -Three times they had tried to put Him to death; three times after -Peter’s recognition He announced to the Twelve His imminent death. And -there were to be three kinds of men who were to bring about His death: -the Elders, the High Priests and the Scribes. The Elders were the -Patricians, the aristocrats, the lay delegates of the Hebrew -middle-classes, they represented authority and wealth, and Christ had -come to transform authority into service and to condemn the rich and -their treasures. The High Priests represented the Temple, and He had -come to destroy the Temple. The Scribes were the doctors of law, of -theology, the interpreters of the Book, the masters of the Scriptures, -and represented the authority of word and of tradition; and He had come -to transform the Word and to regenerate the tradition. These three -orders of men never could forgive Him even after they had sent Him to -Golgotha. - -And there were to be three accomplices to His death: Judas who betrayed -Him, Caiaphas who sentenced Him, Pilate who permitted the execution of -the sentence. And there were to be three sorts of men to execute the -penalty: the guards who arrested Him, the Hebrews who cried “Crucify -Him!” before the procurator’s house, the Roman soldiers who nailed Him -on the cross. - -There were to be three degrees of His afflictions, as He Himself told -the disciples. First He was to be spurned and outraged, then spit upon -and beaten, and finally killed. But they were not to fear nor to weep. -As life has its reward in death, death is the promise of a second life. -After three days, He was to rise from the tomb, never more to die. -Christ was to be victorious not over earthly kingdoms, but over death. -He does not bring golden treasures, nor abundance of grain, but -immortality to all those who obey Him, and the cancellation of all sins -committed by men. He was to buy this immortality and this liberation by -imprisonment and death. The price was hard and bitter, but without those -few days of His Passion and burial He could not have secured centuries -and centuries of life and freedom for men. - -The Disciples were troubled at this revelation and unwilling to believe. -But Jesus had already begun His Passion, foreseeing those terrible last -days of His life and describing them. From now on the heirs of His work -knew all, and He could go on His way towards Jerusalem in order that His -words should be fulfilled to the very last. - - - MARANATHA - - -And yet for one day at least He was to be like that King awaited by the -poor every morning on the thresholds of the holy city. - -Easter draws near. It was the beginning of the last week which even now -had not yet ended—since the new Sabbath has not yet dawned. But this -time Jesus does not come to Jerusalem as in other years, an obscure -wanderer mingled with the crowd of pilgrims, into the evil-smelling -metropolis huddled with its houses, white as sepulchers, under the -towering vainglory of the Temple destined to the flames. This time, -which is the last time, Jesus is accompanied by His faithful friends, by -His fellow-peasants, by the women who were later to weep, by the Twelve -who were to hide themselves, by the Galileans who come in memory of an -ancient miracle, but with the hope of seeing a new miracle. This time He -is not alone; the vanguard of the Kingdom is with Him, and He does not -come unknown: the cry of the Resurrection has preceded Him. Even in the -capital ruled by the iron of the Romans, the gold of the merchants, the -letter of the Pharisees, there are eyes which look towards the Mount of -Olives and hearts which beat faster. - -This time He does not come on foot into the city which should have been -the throne of His kingdom, and which was to be His tomb. When He had -come to Bethpage, He sent two disciples to look for an ass, “Go into the -village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and -a colt with her; loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say -ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them.” - -Even up to our days it has been said that Jesus wished to ride on an ass -as a sign of humble meekness, as if He wished to signify symbolically -that He approached His people as the Prince of Peace. It has been -forgotten that in the robust early periods of history asses were not the -submissive beasts of burden of to-day, weary bones in flogged and -ill-treated skin, brought low by many centuries of slavery, used only to -carry baskets and bags over the stones of steep hills. The ass of -antiquity was a fiery and warlike animal; handsome and bold as a horse, -fit to be sacrificed to divinities. Homer, master of metaphors, intended -no belittling of Ajax the robust, the proud Ajax, when he likened him to -an ass. The Jews moreover used untamed asses for other comparisons: -Zophar the Naamithite said to Job, “For vain man would be wise though -man be born like a wild ass’ colt.” And Daniel tells how Nebuchadnezzar, -as expiation of his tyrannies, was driven from the sons of men, and his -heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild -asses. - -Jesus asked expressly for an ass not yet broken, never before ridden, -something like a wild ass, because on that day, the animal chosen by Him -was not a symbol of the humility of his rider but was a symbol of the -Jewish people, who were to be liberated and overcome by Christ; the -animal, unruly and restive, stiff-necked, whom no prophet and no monarch -had mastered and who to-day was tied to a post as Israel was tied with -the Roman rope; vain and foolhardy as in the Book of Job; fitting -companion for an evil king; slave to foreigners, but at the same time -rebellious to the end of time, the Hebrew people had finally found its -master. For one day only: it revolted against Him, its legitimate master -in that same week; but its revolt succeeded only for a short time. The -quarrelsome capitol was pulled down and the god-killing crowd dispersed -like the husks of the eternal Winnower over all the face of the earth. - -The ass’s back is hard, and Christ’s friends throw their cloaks over it. -Stony is the slope which leads from the Mount of Olives and the -triumphant crowds throw their mantles over the rough stones. This, too, -is symbolical of self-consecration. To take off your mantle is the -beginning of stripping yourself, the beginning of that bareness which is -the desire for confession and the death of false shame; bareness of the -body, promising naked truth for the soul. The loving charity of supreme -alms-giving; to give what we have on our backs, “If any man ... shall -take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” - -Then began the descent in the heat of the sun and of glory; in the midst -of freshly cut branches and of songs of hope. It was at the beginning of -breezy April and of the spring. The golden hour of noon lay about the -city with its green vineyards, fields and orchards. The sky, immense, -deep blue, miraculously calm, clear and joyful as the promise of divine -eyes, stretched away into the infinite. The stars could not be seen, yet -the light of our sun seemed augmented by the quiet brilliance of those -other distant suns. A warm breeze, still scented with the freshness of -heaven, gently swayed the tender tree-tops and set the young, growing -leaves a-flutter. It was one of those days when blue seems bluer, green -seems greener, light more brilliant and love more loving. - -Those who accompanied Christ in that descent felt themselves swept away -by the rapture of the world and of the moment. Never before that day had -they felt themselves so bursting with hope and adoration. The cry of -Peter became the cry of the fervent little army winding its way down the -slope towards the queen-city. “Hosanna to the Son of David!” said the -voices of the young men and of the women, in the midst of this impetuous -exultation. Even the Disciples almost began to hope, although they had -been warned that this would be the last sun, although they knew that -they were accompanying a man about to die. - -The procession approached the mysterious, hostile city with the roaring -tumult of a torrent that has burst its banks. These countrymen, these -people from the provinces, came forward flanked as by a moving forest, -as if they had wished to carry a little country freshness inside the -noisome walls, into the drab alleyways. The boldest had cut palm -branches along the road, boughs of myrtle, clusters of olives, willow -leaves, and they waved them on high, shouting out the impassioned words -of the Psalmist towards the shining face of Him who came in the name of -God. - -Now the first Christian legion had arrived before the gates of Jerusalem -and the voices did not still their homage: “Blessed be the King that -cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the -highest!” Their shouting reached the ears of the Pharisees, who arrived, -haughty and severe, to investigate the seditious noise. The cries -scandalized those learned ears and troubled those suspicious hearts, and -some of them, well wrapped up in their doctoral cloaks, called from -among the crowd to Jesus: “Master, rebuke thy disciples.” And then He, -without halting, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the -stones would immediately cry out!” - -The silent, motionless stones which, according to St. John, God could -have transformed into sons of Abraham; the hot stones of the desert -which Jesus was not willing to change into loaves of bread at the -challenge of the Adversary; the hostile stones of the street which twice -had been picked up to stone Him; the hard stones of Jerusalem would have -been less hard, less icy, less insensitive than the souls of the -Pharisees. - -But with this answer, Jesus had asserted His right to be called “the -Christ.” It was a declaration of war. At the very moment of His entrance -into His city, the New King gave the signal for the attack. - - - THE DEN OF THIEVES - - -He went up to the Temple where all His enemies were assembled. On the -hill-top the sacred fortress sunned its new whiteness in the -magnificence of the day. The old Ark of the nomads, drawn by oxen -through sweltering deserts and over battlefields, had halted on that -height, petrified as a defense for the royal city. The moveable cart of -the fugitives had become a heavy citadel of stone and marble, a pompous -stronghold of palaces and stairways, shady with colonnades, lighted with -courts, enclosed by walls, sheer above the valley, protected by bastions -and by towers, a fortress rather than a place of worship. It was not -only the precinct of the Holy of Holies, and the sacrificial altar, it -was no longer only the Temple, the mystic sanctuary of the people. With -its great old towers, its guardrooms, its warehouses for offerings, its -strong-boxes for deposits, its open piazzas for trade and covered -galleries for meetings and amusement, it was anything rather than a -sanctuary for meditation and prayer. It was everything, a fortress in -case of assault, a bank-vault, a market-place in time of pilgrimage and -feast-days, a bazaar on all days, a forum for the disputes of -politicians, the wranglings of doctors and the gossip of idlers; a -thoroughfare, a rendezvous, a business center. Built by a faithless King -to win over the favor of a captious and seditious people, to satisfy the -pride and avarice of the priestly caste, an instrument of war and a -market-place for trade, it must have seemed to the eyes of Jesus the -natural focus for all the enemies of His truth. - -Jesus goes up to the Temple to destroy the Temple. He will leave to the -Romans of Titus the task of literally dismantling the walls, of -scattering the masses of stone, of burning down the buildings, of -stealing the bronze and gold, of reducing to a smoky and accursed ruin -the great stronghold of Herod; but He will destroy the values which the -proud Temple upheld with its piled-up blocks of ordered stone, its paved -terraces and its golden doors. Jesus goes up towards the Temple: the Man -transfigured on the mountain is set against the scribes parched and -withered among their scrolls; the Messiah of the New Kingdom against the -usurper of the kingdom defiled by compromises, corrupt with infamy; the -Gospel against the Torah; the future against the past; the fire of love -against the ashes of the Letter. The day of battle is at hand. Jesus, -among the songs of His fervent band, goes up to the sumptuous lair of -His enemies. Well does He know the street. How many times He had gone -over it as a little child led along by the hand in the crowd of -pilgrims, in the midst of noise and dust, in the band of Galileans! -Later as an unknown boy, confused by the dust and heat of the sun, tired -and bewildered, He used to look toward the walls desperately longing to -arrive at the summit, hoping to find up there in the sacred precincts a -little shade for His eyes, cool water for His mouth, a word of -consolation for His heart. - -But to-day everything is transformed. He is not led along. He leads -along. He does not come to adore, but to punish. He knows that there -inside, behind the beautiful façades of the sublime sepulcher, there are -only ashes and corruption: His enemies selling ashes and feeding -themselves on corruption. The first adversary who comes before Him is -the demon of greed. - -He enters into the Court of the Gentiles, the most spacious and most -densely crowded of all. The great, sunny, well-paved terrace is not the -atrium of a sanctuary, but a dirty market-place. An immense, roaring din -rises up from the vermin-like crowd of bankers, of buyers and sellers, -of money-changers who give and take money. There are herdsmen with their -oxen and their flocks of sheep; vendors of pigeons and turtle doves, -standing by the long lines of their coops; bird-sellers, with cages of -chirping sparrows; benches for money-changers, with bowls overflowing -with copper and silver. Merchants, their feet in the fresh-dropped dung, -handle the flanks of the animals destined for sacrifice; or call with -monotonous iteration women who have come there after child-birth, -pilgrims who have come to offer a rich sacrifice, lepers who offer -living birds for their cure, obtained or hoped for. Money-changers, with -a coin hung at their ears as a mark of their trade, gloatingly plunge -their greedy talons into gleaming piles; the go-betweens run about in -the swarm of the gossiping groups; niggardly, wary provincials hold -excited conferences before loosening the purse strings to change their -cash for a votive offering, and from time to time a restless ox drowns -out with his deep bellow the thin bleating of the lambs, the thrill -voices of the women, the clinking of drachma and shekels. - -Christ was familiar with the spectacle. He knew that the house of God -had been turned into the house of Mammon, and that, instead of silently -invoking the Spirit, material-minded men trafficked there in the filth -of the Demon, with the priests as their accomplices. But this time He -did not restrain His scorn and His repugnance. To destroy the Temple, He -commenced with the destruction of the market-place. The Eternal -Mendicant, the poor man, accompanied by his poor friends, flung Himself -against the servitors of money. He had in His hand a length of rope, -which He knotted together like a whip, and with it He opened a -passage-way through the astonished people. The benches of the -money-changers crashed down at the first shock. The coins were scattered -on the ground amid yells of astonishment and wrath; the seats of the -bird-sellers were overturned beside their scattered pigeons. The -herdsmen began to urge towards the doors the oxen and the sheep. The -sparrow-sellers took their cages under their arms and disappeared. Cries -rose to Heaven, some scandalized, some approving; from the other -court-yards other people came running towards the disturbance. Jesus, -surrounded by the boldest of His friends, was brandishing His whip on -high, and driving the money-changers towards the door. And He repeated -in a loud voice, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye -have made it a den of thieves!” - -And the last money-handlers disappeared from the courts like rubbish -scattered by the wind. - - - BUSINESS THE GOD - - -This action of Jesus was not only the righteous purification of the -sanctuary, but also the public manifestation of His detestation for -Mammon and the servants of Mammon. Business, that modern god, was for -Him a form of theft. A marketplace was therefore a cave of obsequious -brigands, of tolerated thieves. Among all the elements of the legalized -theft which is called commerce, none is more detestable and shameful -than the use of money. If some one gives you a sheep in exchange for -money, you can be sure that he has made you pay more money than the -sheep really cost, but at least he gives you something which is not a -hateful mineral symbol of wealth. He gives you a living being, which -will furnish you wool in the spring time, which will bear you a lamb, -and which you can eat if you like. But the exchange of money for money, -of coined metal for coined metal, is something unnatural, paradoxical -and demoniac. Everything that is known of banks, rates of exchange, -discount and usury, is a shameful and repellent mystery which has always -been the terror of simple souls, that is, of upright and deep souls. The -peasant who sows his grain, the tailor who makes a garment, the weaver -who weaves wool or linen, have up to a certain limit a real right that -their wealth should increase, because they have added something which -before was not in the world, in cloth, in wool. But that a mountain of -money should bring forth other money without labor or effort, without -production by man of any object to be seen, to be consumed, to be -enjoyed, is a scandal which goes beyond, and confounds human -imagination. - -Money-changers, bankers, amassers of silver and gold, are slaves of the -witchcraft of the Demon more than all others. And it is to those men, -the men of banks and of finance, that the grateful Demon gives power on -this earth: they are the ones even to-day who rule nations, instigate -wars, who starve nations, and who, by an infernal system of their own, -suck out the life of the poor, transformed into gold, dripping with -sweat and blood. - -Christ, who pitied the rich, but who hated and detested wealth, the -great wall which cuts off from men the vision of the Kingdom of Heaven, -had broken up the den of thieves and had purified the Temple where He -was to teach the last truths which remained to Him to expound. But with -that violent action, He had antagonized all the commercial middle-class -of Jerusalem. The men He had driven away demanded that their patrons -should punish the man who was ruining business on the Holy Hill. These -men of money found ready hearing with the men of Law, already embittered -for other reasons, so much the more because Jesus in disturbing the -business of the Temple had condemned and harmed the priests themselves. -The most successful bazars were the property of the sons of Annas, that -is, close relations of the High-Priest Caiaphas. All the doves which -were sold in the Court of the Gentiles were raised on the property of -Annas, and the priests who did business in them made a good income every -month out of turtle-doves alone. The money-changers, who should not have -been allowed to stay in the Temple, paid the great Sadducee families of -the priestly aristocracy a goodly tithe on the thousands of shekels -brought in every year by the exchange of foreign money into Hebrew -money. Had not the Temple itself perhaps become a great national bank -with coffers and strong boxes in treasure chambers? - -Jesus had wounded the twenty thousand priests of Jerusalem in their -prestige and in their purses. He had overturned the values of the -falsified and mutilated Letter, in the name of which they commanded and -on which they fattened. More than this, He had driven out their -associates, the traffickers and bankers. If He had His way, it would -ruin them all. But the two threatened castes drew together still more -closely, to make way with the dangerous intruder. It was perhaps that -very evening that priests and merchants agreed on the purchase of a -betrayer and a cross. The bourgeoisie were to give the small amount of -money necessary; the clergy to find the religious pretext; the foreign -government, naturally desiring to be on good terms with clergy and -bourgeoisie, would lend its soldiers. - -But Jesus, having left the Temple, went His way towards Bethany, passing -by the Mount of Olives. - - - THE VIPERS OF THE TOMBS - - -The next morning when he went back, the herdsmen and merchants had -squatted down outside, near the doors, but the courts were humming with -crowds of excited people. - -The sentence pronounced and executed by Jesus against the honest thieves -had set gossiping Jerusalem all agog. Those blows of the whip, like so -many stones thrown into the Jerusalem frog-pond, had awakened the poor -to joyous hope and had set the lords quaking with fear. - -And early in the morning, all had gone up there from the dark alleys and -from the fine houses, from the work-shops and from the public squares, -leaving all their affairs, with the restless anxiety of those who hope -for miracles, or revenge. The day-laborers had come, the weavers, the -dyers, the cobblers, the woodworkers, all those who detested the -swindlers, the stranglers, the shearers of poverty, traders who enriched -themselves at the expense of indigence. Among the first had come the -lamentable scum of the city, the dirty vermin-ridden prisoners of -eternal beggary, with leprous scabs, with their sores uncared for, with -their bones protruding through the skin to testify to their hunger. -There had also come pilgrims from outside, those of Galilee, who had -accompanied Jesus in His festal entrance; and with them Jews from the -Syrian and Egyptian colonies, dressed in their best, like distant -relatives who reappear every once in so often at the family home for a -family festival. - -But there came up also, in groups of four or five, the Scribes and -Pharisees. They were fraternal colleagues, fitting companions for each -other. The Scribes were the Doctors of the Law; the Pharisees were the -Puritans of the Law. Nearly all the Scribes were Pharisees, many -Pharisees were Scribes. Imagine a professor adding religious pedantry to -his doctoral pedantry; or a religious hypocrite provided also with the -grave face of a casuistical pedagogue, and you will have the modern -equivalent of a Pharisaical Scribe, or of a Pharisee who was also a -Scribe. A Tartuffe with academic honors; an Academician, who is at the -same time a religious hypocrite; a philosophizing Quaker, are other -modern equivalents. - -These men therefore went up that morning to the Temple with much show of -pride without and many evil intentions within. They came up proudly -wrapped in their long cloaks, with their fringes fluttering, their -chests thrown out, their eyes clouded, their eyebrows raised, with -sneering mouths and quivering nostrils, with a step which announced -their importance and the indignation felt by them, God’s privileged -sheriffs. - -Jesus, in the midst of all these eyes turned on Him, waited for those -men. It was not the first time that they had come about Him. How many -discussions between Him and the provincial Pharisees had taken place -here and there in the country! They were Pharisees who had demanded a -sign from Heaven, a supernatural proof that He was the Messiah—because -the Pharisees, unlike the skeptical Sadducees, sunk in legalized -Epicureanism, believed in the imminent arrival of the Saviour. - -But the Pharisees expected to see this Saviour as a Jew, strictly -observing all laws as they did, and they held that to be worthy to -receive Him it was enough to be clean on the outside and to avoid any -transgression of any of the trivial rules of Leviticus. The Messiah, the -son of David, would not deign to save those who had not avoided all -contact, even remote, with foreigners and with heathens, who had not -observed the smallest detail of legal purification, who had not paid all -the tithes of the Temple, who did not respect at any cost the sanctity -of the Sabbath day. In their eyes Jesus could not possibly be the Divine -Redeemer. No spectacular and magic signs had been seen: He had contented -Himself with healing the sick, with talking about love, and with loving. -They had seen Him dining with publicans and sinners, and, worse than -everything else, had heard with horror that His disciples did not always -wash their hands before sitting down to the table. But the greatest -horror, the unendurable scandal, had been His lack of respect for the -Sabbath. Jesus had not hesitated to cure the sick, even on the Sabbath, -and He held it no crime on that day to do good to His unfortunate -brothers. He even shamelessly gloried in this, claiming blasphemously -that the Sabbath was made for man, rather than man for the Sabbath. - -In the minds of the Pharisees there was only one doubt about Jesus: was -He a fool or an impostor? To put the matter to the test, they had tried -many times to trap Him by theological tricks, or in dialectical -subtleties, but to no avail. As long as He went about in the provinces -drawing after Him a few dozen peasants, they had let Him alone, sure -that some day or other the last beggar, disillusioned, would leave Him. -But now the affair was becoming serious. Accompanied by a band of -excitable countrymen, He had gone so far as to enter into the Temple as -though it belonged to Him, and had seduced some ignorant unfortunates to -call Him the Messiah. More than that, usurping the place of the priests, -and almost giving Himself the airs of a king, He had roughly driven out -the honest merchants, pious people who admired the Pharisees, even if -they did not entirely imitate them. Up to that time the Pharisees had -been too easy-going and merciful towards Him. But from now on the -unequaled goodness of heart of those extremely mild and tolerant -professors would be dangerous and inopportune. The intolerable scandal, -the reiterated profanation, the public challenge, called for -condemnation and punishment. The false Christ must be disposed of and at -once. Scribes and Pharisees went up on the hill to see if He had had the -impertinence to go back to the place contaminated by His boasting. - -Jesus was waiting for just those men. He wanted to say to them publicly, -with the open sky as witness, what He thought of them, what God thought -of them, the definite truth about them. The day before, with His whip, -He had condemned the animal-sellers and money-changers. Now He was -dealing with the merchants of the Word, with the usurers of the Law, -with the swindlers of Truth. The condemnation of that day did not -exterminate them: with every generation such men spring up again, -innumerable, with new names; but their faces are stamped forever with -this condemnation wherever they are born and command. - - - THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN - - -“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Their sins could be -reduced to one, but that is the most poisonous, the least pardonable of -all sins: the sin against the Spirit, the sin against Truth, the -betrayal of Truth and Spirit, the laying waste of the only pure wealth -which the world possesses. Thieves steal perishable goods, assassins -kill the corruptible body, prostitutes sully flesh destined to -corruption; but the hypocrites, the Pharisees sully the Word of the -absolute, steal the promises of eternity, assassinate the soul. -Everything in them is pretense: their dress and their talk, their -teaching and their practice. What they say is contradicted by what they -do. Their inner life does not correspond to what they choose to show. -Secret swinishness gives the lie to their every claim. They are -hypocrites because they cover themselves with fringed mantles and with -wide phylacteries, to be seen in public places, and love to be called -“Master,” and all the time they have hidden the keys of knowledge and -have shut the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, and neither go in -themselves nor suffer others to enter. Hypocrites because they make long -prayers in public and devour the houses of widows, and take advantage of -the weak and the desolate. Hypocrites because they wash and clean the -outside of the platter and the cup, and inside they are full of rapine -and extortion. Hypocrites because they give their attention to minutiæ -of rites and purifications and have no care for greater things: they -strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Hypocrites because they observe -the smallest commandments and do not obey the only one which is of -value: they pay punctually the tithe of mint and anise and cummin and -rue, but they have not justice, mercy and faith in their hearts. -Hypocrites because they build monuments to the prophets and garnish the -sepulchers of righteous men of old times, but persecute the righteous -men of to-day, and are preparing to kill the prophets. “Ye serpents, ye -generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? -Wherefore, behold I sent unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: -and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye -scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That -upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the -blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, -whom ye slew between the temple, and the altar.” - -They have accepted the inheritance of Cain. They are the descendants of -Cain. They kill brothers, execute saints, crucify prophets. And, like -Cain, God has stamped upon their faces a Sign—the mysterious sign of -immortality. They cannot be killed because theirs are the hands which -must kill. The fugitive fratricide was saved by this sign among early -men, and the murderous Pharisees will be saved through all the centuries -because God needs them for the high works of His justice which seems -foolishness and madness to the eyes of little-minded men. An eternal -decree, not revealed to most men, decrees death and the most atrocious -death to all who would be like God. But the simple man could never -assassinate a saint, nor even a sinner, a miraculous chrysalis of -potential sanctity. And the saint would no longer be a saint if he took -the life of another saint, the only brother given him by the Father. So -the indestructible race of the Pharisees was created for all centuries -and for all peoples, men who are never simple like children and who -never know the way of salvation, those who are not visibly sinners, but -who are from head to foot the incarnation of the ugliest sin, those who -wish to appear saints and who hate real saints. God has made them -fitting instruments of an appalling and necessary massacre, to play the -part of executioners of perfect men. Faithful to this command, -invulnerable as inhabitants of Hell, marked like Cain, immortal as -hypocrisy and cruelty, they have survived all the empires and all the -overthrows of empire. With different faces, with different garments, -with different rules and pretexts, they have covered the face of the -earth, stubborn and prolific, up to the present day. And when they have -not been able to kill with nails and with fire, with axes and with -knives, they have used tongue and pen with the utmost success. - -Jesus, while He spoke to them in the great open courtyard crowded with -witnesses, knew that He spoke to His Judges, and to those who would be, -through intermediate persons, the real authors of His death. By speaking -out on this day, He justified His later silence before Caiaphas and -Pilate. He had condemned them and they would condemn Him; He had judged -them first and had nothing more to add when they wished to judge Him. - -Images of death came to His lips as He described them to themselves: -vipers and tombs, treacherous black vipers, which as soon as you -approach them pour into your blood all the poison hidden in their fangs. -Whited sepulchers, fair without but within full of dead men’s bones and -all uncleanness. - -The Pharisees who stood before Jesus, and all those who have -legitimately descended from them, are glad to hide themselves in the -shadow of the dead, to prepare their venom. Cold as a snake’s skin, as -the stone of a tomb, neither the heat of the sun, nor the warmth of -love, nor the fires of Hell can ever warm them. They know all the words -save one, the word of Life. - -“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves -which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of -them.” The only one aware of this was Jesus—and it was because of this -that He was not to remain more than two days in the sepulcher which they -were preparing for Him. - - - ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER - - -The Thirteen went down from the Temple to make their daily ascent to the -Mount of Olives. One of the Disciples (who could it have been?—perhaps -John, son of Salome, still rather childish and naïvely full of wonder at -what he saw? Or Judas Iscariot, with his respect for wealth?) said to -Jesus, “Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” - -The Master turned to look at the high walls faced with marble which the -ostentatious calculation of Herod had built up on the hill and said, -“Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone -upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” - -The admiring exclamation suddenly died. No one dared answer, but -perplexed and surprised, each of them continued to turn over in his mind -these words. Hard words for the ears of those carnal-minded Jews, for -the narrow hearts of those ambitious provincials. He whom they loved had -said in these last days many other hard words, hard to hear, hard to -understand, hard to believe. But they did not remember any other words -so hard as these. They knew that He was the Christ and that He was to -suffer and die, but they hoped that He would rise again at once in the -glorious victory of the new David, to give abundance to all Israel and -to award the greatest prizes and power to them, faithful to Him in the -dangerous wanderings of His poor days. But if the world was to be -commanded by Judea, Judea was to be commanded by Jerusalem, and the -seats of command were to be in the Temple of the great King. It was -occupied to-day by the faithless Sadducees, the hypocritical Pharisees, -the traitorous Scribes, but Christ was to drive them away to give their -places to His apostles. How then could the Temple be destroyed, splendid -memorial of the kingdom in the past; hoped-for rock of the new Kingdom? - -This talk of stones was harder than a stone for Simon called the Rock -and for his companions. Had not John the Baptist said that God could -change the stones of the Jordan into sons of Abraham? Had not Satan said -that the Son of God could change the stones of the desert to loaves of -wheat bread? Had not Jesus Himself said while He was passing the walls -of Jerusalem that those very stones, in place of men, would have shouted -out greetings and sung hymns? And was it not He who had made the stones -fall from the hands of His enemies, the stones which they had taken up -to kill Him? And had He not made them fall from those who accused the -adulteress? - -But the Disciples could not understand this talk about the stones of the -Temple. They could not and they would not understand that those great -massive stones, quarried out patiently from the mountains, drawn from -afar by oxen, squared and prepared by chisels and mallets, put one upon -another by masters of the art to make the most marvelous Temple of the -universe; that these stones, warm and brilliant in the sun, should be -torn apart once more and pulverized into ruins. - -They had scarcely arrived at the Mount of Olives, and Christ had only -had time to sit down opposite to the Temple, when their curiosity burst -out: - -“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when -all these things shall be fulfilled?” - -The answer was the discourse on the Last Things, the second Sermon on -the Mount. At the beginning of His work, He had explained how the soul -must be transformed to found the Kingdom; now at death’s door He taught -what the punishment of the stubborn would be and in what manner He would -come again. - -This discourse, less understood than the other, and even more forgotten, -is not, as it is generally believed, the answer to one question only. -The Disciples had put two questions, “When shall these things be?” That -is, the ruin of the Temple; and “What shall be the signs of Thy coming?” -There are two answers to these two questions. Jesus first describes the -events which will precede the destruction of Jerusalem, and then He -describes the signs of His second appearance. The prophetic discourse, -although it is read all in one piece in the Gospels, had two parts. The -prophecies are two, quite distinct from each other; the first was -fulfilled before the end of Jesus’ generation, about forty years after -His death. The second has not yet been fulfilled, but perhaps before the -passing of our own generation the first signs will be seen. - - - SHEEP AND GOATS - - -Jesus knew the weakness of the Disciples, weakness of the spirit, and -perhaps also of the flesh, and He puts them on their guard against two -great perils: fraud and martyrdom. - -“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, -saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. Then if any man shall say -unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For false -Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall shew signs and wonders, -to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Go not after them, nor -follow them.” - -But although they are to flee from the frauds of the false Messiahs, -they cannot escape the persecutions of the enemies of the real Christ. -“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and -ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. But take heed to -yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the -synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and -kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. . . . Now the brother -shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and the -children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be -put to death. . . . And then shall many be offended, and shall betray -one another, and shall hate one another . . . and because iniquity shall -abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure to the -end, the same shall be saved.” - -Then shall begin the signs of the imminent punishment, “And when ye -shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled: for such -things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall -rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be -earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: -these are the beginnings of sorrow.” - -These are the preliminary warnings: the order of the world shall be -disturbed, the world, peaceful at the time when Christ pronounced these -words, shall see man set against man, nation against nation, and the -earth itself soaked with blood shall rise against men; shall tremble -under their steps; shall cast down their houses; shall vomit out ashes, -as if it cast out from the mouth of its mountains all its dead, and -shall deny to the fratricides the food which ripens to gold every summer -in the fields. - -Then when all this shall have come to pass, the punishment will come -upon those people who would not be born again in Christ, who did not -accept the Gospel; on the city which nailed its Lord upon Golgotha and -persecuted His witnesses. - -“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that -the desolation thereof is nigh. But when ye shall see the abomination of -desolation, spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, standing where it ought -not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judea -flee to the mountains: and let him that is on the housetop not go down -into the house, neither enter therein, to take anything out of his -house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take -up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them who -give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in winter. -For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the -beginning of creation which God created unto this time, neither shall -be. There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this -people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led -away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of -the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” - -This is the end of the first prophecy. Jerusalem shall be taken and -destroyed and of the Temple, defiled by the abomination of desolation, -there shall remain not one stone upon another. - -But Jesus has not said all, until now has not spoken of His second -coming. - -“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the -Gentiles be fulfilled.” What are these “tempi dei Gentili, tempora -nationum”? The words of the Greek texts express it with greater -precision than the other languages: they are the times adapted to, -fitting, and awaiting the Gentiles, that is, those in which the non-Jews -shall be converted to the Gospel, announced to the Jews before all -others. Therefore that real end shall not come until the Gospel has been -carried into all nations, until the Gentiles, the faithless ones, tread -down the city of Jerusalem. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be -preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall -the end come.” - -The second coming of Christ from Heaven, the Parusia, will be the end of -this world and the beginning of the true world, the eternal kingdom. The -end of Judea was announced by signs human and terrestrial; this other -end will be preceded by signs divine and celestial. “The sun shall be -darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven -shall fall. And upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the -sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for -looking after these things which are coming on the earth: for the powers -of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of -man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and -they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power -and great glory.” - -For the end of Jerusalem only, the little earth was troubled; but for -this universal ending, Heaven itself is convulsed. In the great sudden -blackness only the roaring of water will be heard, and screams of -terror. It is the Day of the Lord, the day of God’s wrath described in -their times by Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Joel. “The day of the Lord -is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. A day -of darkness and of gloominess! The land is as the garden of Eden before -them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. The people shall be much -pained: all faces shall gather blackness. Therefore shall all hands be -faint and every man’s heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid: pangs -and sorrow shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman -that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another. Behold the day of -the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land -desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the -stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their -light: the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their -host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a -falling fig from the fig tree.” - -This is the day of the Father, day of blackness in the Heavens and of -terror on earth. But the day of the Son follows immediately after. - -He does not appear this time hidden in a stable, but on high in Heaven, -no longer poor and wretched, but in power and splendor of glory. “And he -shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall -gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to -the other.” And when the celestial trumpets shall have awakened all -those sleeping in the tombs, the irrevocable division shall be made. - -“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels -with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: - -“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate -them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from, the goats: - -“And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his -left. - -“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed -of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation -of the world: - -“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave -me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: - -“Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in -prison, and ye came unto me. - -“Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an -hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? - -“When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed -thee? - -“Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? - -“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, -Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, -ye have done it unto me. - -“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye -cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: - -“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye -gave me no drink: - -“I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: -sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. - -“Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an -hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, -and did not minister unto thee? - -“Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as -ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. - -“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous -into life eternal.” - -Jesus, even in His glory as judge of the last Day, does not forget the -poor and unhappy whom He loved so greatly during His life on earth. He -wishes to appear as one of those “least” who hold out their hands at the -doors and on whom the “great” look down. On earth, in the time of -Tiberius, He was the man who was hungering for bread and love, thirsting -for water and martyrdom, who was like a stranger in His own country, not -recognized by His own brothers, who stripped Himself to clothe those -shaking with cold, who was sick with sorrow and suffering and no one -comforted Him, who was imprisoned in the base prison of human flesh, in -the narrow prison of earthly life. He was divinely hungering for souls, -thirsting for faith, He was the stranger come from the ineffable -fatherland, defenseless before whips and insults, the Man sick with the -holy madness of love. But on that great Day of final Judgment, He will -not be thinking of Himself, as He did not think of Himself when He was a -man among men. - -The code of this dividing of good from evil men will be based on one -idea only: Compassion—Charity. During all the time which lies between -His first and second coming He has gone on living under the appearance -of the poor and the pilgrims, of the sick and persecuted, of wanderers -and slaves. And on the Last Day He pays His debts. Mercy shown to those -“least” was shown to Him, and He will reward that mercy in the name of -all. Only those who did not receive Him when He appeared in the -innumerable bodies of the poverty-stricken will be condemned to eternal -punishment, because when they drove away the unfortunate they drove away -God. When they refused bread, water and a garment to the poor man, they -condemned the Son of God to cold, thirst and hunger. The Father had no -need of your help, for all is His and He loves you even during the -moments when you curse Him. But you must love the Father in the persons -of His children. And those who did not quench the thirst of the thirsty -will themselves thirst for all eternity; those who did not warm the -naked man will suffer in fire for all eternity; those who did not -comfort the prisoner will be prisoners of Hell forever; those who did -not receive the stranger will never be received in Heaven, and those who -did not help the fever-stricken patient will shiver in the spasms of -everlasting fever. - -The Great Poor Man in the day of His glory will, as justice dictates, -reward every one with His infinite riches. He who has given a little -life to the poor will have life forever; he who has left the poor in -pain will himself be in pain forever. And then the bare sky will be -peopled with other more powerful suns, with stars flaming more brightly -in the heavens and there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth, and the -Chosen will live not as we live now, like beasts, but in the likeness of -angels. - - - WORDS WHICH SHALL NOT PASS AWAY - - -But when shall these things come to pass? These are the signs, this is -the manner in which it shall happen. But the time? Shall we be still -here, we who are now under the light of the sun? Or shall the -grandchildren of our grandchildren see these events while we are dust -and ashes under the earth? - -Up to the very last, the Twelve understand as little as twelve stones. -They have the truth before them and they do not see it: they have the -Light in their midst and the Light does not reach them. If only they had -been among stones like diamonds which send back, divided into reflected -rays, the light which strikes them. But these twelve men are rough -stones, scarcely dug out of the darkness of the quarry, dull stones, -opaque stones, stones which the sun can warm but not kindle, stones -which are lighted from without but do not reflect the splendor. They -have not yet understood that Jesus is not a common diviner, a student of -the Chaldeans and of the Etruscans, and that He has nothing to do with -the presumptuous pretensions of astrology. They have not understood that -a definitely dated prophecy would not work on men to create a conversion -which needs perpetual vigilance. Perhaps they have not even understood -that the Apocalyptic sayings revealed on the Mount of Olives form a -double prophecy which refers to two events, different and distant from -each other. Perhaps these provincial fishermen, for whom a lake was the -sea and Judea was the universe, confused the end of the Hebrew people -with the end of the human race, the punishment of Jerusalem with the -second coming of Christ. - -But the discourse of Jesus, although it is presented as one unit in the -synoptic Gospels, shows us two distinct prophecies. - -The first announces the end of the Jewish kingdom, the punishment of -Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple; the second the end of the old -world, the reappearance of Jesus, the judgment of the merciful and of -the merciless, the beginning of the New Kingdom. The first prophecy -given is close at hand—this generation shall not pass before these -things shall have arrived—and is local and limited, since it is -concerned only with Judea and especially with Judea’s metropolis. The -hour and the day of the second are not known because certain events, -slow to take place but essential, must precede this end, which, unlike -the other, will be universal. - -The first, as a matter of fact, was fulfilled to the letter, detail by -detail, about forty years after the crucifixion, while many who had -known Jesus were still living; the second coming, the triumphal Parusia, -is still awaited by those who believe what He said on that day, “Heaven -and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” - -A few years after Jesus’ death the signs of the first prophecy began to -be seen. False prophets, false Christs, false apostles, swarmed in -Judea, as snakes come out of their holes when dog-days arrive. Before -Pontius Pilate was exiled, an impostor showed himself in Samaria, who -promised to recover the sacred vessels of the Tabernacle hidden by Moses -on Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans believed that such a discovery would be -the prelude to the coming of the Messiah, and a great mob gathered -threateningly on the mountain until it was dispersed by Roman swords. - -Under Cuspius Fadus, the procurator who governed from 44 to 66, there -arose a certain Theudas, who gave himself out for a great personage and -promised great prodigies. Four hundred men followed him, but he was -captured and decapitated, and those who had believed him dispersed. -After him came an Egyptian Jew, who succeeded in gathering four thousand -desperate men, and camping on the Mount of Olives announcing that at a -sign from him the walls of Jerusalem would fall. The Procurator Felix -attacked him and drove him out into the desert. - -In the meantime, in Samaria, arose the notorious Simon Magus, he who -bewitched people with his prodigies and incantations and announced -himself as the Power of God. This man, seeing the miracles of Peter, -wished to turn Christian, imagining that the Gospel was only one of -those Oriental mysteries into which an initiation gave new powers. -Repelled by Peter, Magus became the father of heresies. He believed that -Ennœa first came from God and that it is now imprisoned in human beings: -according to him Ennœa (or, the first conception of the Deity), was -incarnate in Helen of Tyre, a prostitute who followed him everywhere; -and faith in him and in Helen was a necessary condition of salvation. -Cerinthus, the first Gnostic, was one of his followers, against whom -John wrote his Gospel—and Menander, who boasted that he was Saviour of -the world. Another Elxai mixed up the old and new Covenant, told stories -of many incarnations besides those of Christ, and swaggered about with -his followers, boasting of his magic powers. Hegesippus says that a -certain Tebutis through jealousy of Simon, second Bishop of Jerusalem, -formed a sect that recognized Jesus as Messiah, but in everything else -was faithful to the old Judaism. Paul, in the Epistle to Timothy, puts -the “Saints” on guard against Hymeneus, and Phyletus and Alexander. For -such are false prophets, deceitful workers transforming themselves into -the apostles of Christ, “who twisted truth and sowed the evil seed of -heresy in the early church.” A Dositheus had himself called Christ, and -a certain Nicholas began with his errors the sect of the Nicolaitans, -condemned by John in the Apocalypse: and the Zealots fomented incessant -tumults, claiming that the Romans and all the heathen should be driven -out in order that God might return to triumph with His own people. - -The second sign, the persecution, arrived promptly. The Disciples had -scarcely begun to preach the Gospel in Jerusalem when Peter and John -were thrown into prison: freed, they were captured again, and beaten and -commanded to speak no more in the name of Jesus. Stephen, one of the -most ardent of the neophytes, was taken by the priests outside the city -and stoned. - -Under the rule of Agrippa the tribulations began afresh. In 42 Herod’s -descendant had James the Greater, the brother of John, killed by the -sword; and for a third time Peter was imprisoned. In 62 James the -righteous, called the brother of Our Lord, was thrown from the terrace -of the Temple and killed. In 50 Claudius exiled the Christian Jews from -Rome, “Impulsore Chrestus tumultuantes.” In 58, on account of the -conversion of Pomponia Græcina, the war against converts began in the -capital of the Empire. In 64 the burning of Rome, desired and executed -by Nero, was the pretext for the first great persecution. An innumerable -multitude of Christians obtained their martyrdom in Rome and in the -Provinces. Many were crucified: others wrapped in the “tunica molesta” -lighted up the nocturnal amusement of the Cæsar: others wrapped in -animal skins were given as food to dogs: many, enforced actors in cruel -comedies, made a spectacle for amphitheaters and were devoured by lions. -Peter died on the cross, nailed head downward. Paul ended under the ax a -life which since his conversion had been one long torment. Ten years -before his death in 57 he had been flogged five times by the Jews, -beaten three times with rods by the Romans, three times imprisoned, -three times shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead at Lystra. The greater -part of the other Disciples met with similar fates. Thomas met a -martyr’s death in India, Andrew was crucified at Patras, Bartholomew was -crucified in Armenia. Simon the Zealot and Matthew, like their Master, -ended their lives on the cross. - -Nor were there lacking wars and rumors of wars. When Jesus was killed, -the “peace of Augustus” still existed, but very soon nations rise -against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms. Under Nero the Britons -rebel and massacre the Romans, the Parthians revolt and force the -legions to pass under the yoke; Armenia and Syria murmur against foreign -government; Gaul rises with Julius Vindex, Nero is near his end, the -Spanish and Gallic legions proclaim Galba Emperor; Nero, fleeing from -the Golden House, succeeds in being abject even in suicide. Galba enters -Rome, but brings no peace; Nymphidius Sabinus at Rome, Capito in -Germany, Clodius Macer in Africa, dispute the power with him. All are -dissatisfied with him: on the 15th of January, 69, the Prætorians kill -him and proclaim Otho. But the German legions had already proclaimed -Vitellius and move on Rome. Conquered at Bedriacum Otho commits suicide, -but Vitellius does not rule long either; the Syrian legions choose -Vespasian, who sends Antonius Primus into Italy. The followers of -Vitellius are defeated at Cremona and at Rome; Vitellius, the voracious -hog, is killed on the 20th of December, 69. In the meanwhile -insurrection breaks out in the north, with the Batavians, with Claudius -Civilus, and the insurrection of the Jews is not stamped out in the -east. In less than two years Italy is invaded twice, Rome taken twice, -two Emperors kill themselves; two are killed. And there are wars and -rumors of wars on the Rhine and on the Danube, on the Po and on the -Tiber, on the banks of the North Sea, at the feet of Atlas and of Tabor. - -The other afflictions announced by Jesus accompany in these years the -upheaval of the Empire. Caligula the Mad complained because in his reign -nothing horrible happened: he desired famines, pestilences and -earthquakes. The degenerate and incestuous epileptic did not have his -wish, but in the time of Claudius a series of poor crops brought famine -even to Rome. Under Nero pestilence was added to the famine, and at Rome -alone in one autumn the treasury of Venus Libitina registered thirty -thousand deaths. - -In 61 and 62 earthquakes shook Asia, Achaia, and Macedonia: especially -the cities of Hierapolis, Laodicea and Colossæ were greatly damaged. In -63 it was Italy’s turn: at Naples, Nocera and Pompeii the earth shook. -All the Campagna was a prey to terror. And as if this were not enough, -three years later, in 66, the Campagna was devastated by cloudbursts, -which destroyed the crops and rendered more threatening the prospects of -famine. And while Galba was entering Rome (68) the earth shook under his -feet with a terrible roar. All the signs were fulfilled: now had come -the fullness of time for the punishment of Judea. - - - JUDEA OVERCOME - - -The earthquake which shook Jerusalem on the Friday of Golgotha was like -a signal for the Jewish outbreak. For forty years the country of the -god-killers had no peace, not even the peace of defeat and slavery, up -to the day, when of the Temple not one stone was left upon another. - -Pilate, Cuspius Fadus and Agrippa had been forced to disperse the bands -of the false Messiahs. Under the Roman procurator, Tiberius Alexander, -the conflict began with the raging sect of the Zealots and ended with -the crucifixion of the leaders, James and Simon, sons of Judas the -Galilean. The procurator, Ventidius Cumanus, 48-52, did not have a day’s -peace: the Zealots and their allies, the Sicarii, did not lay down their -arms. Under the procurator Felix the disorders knew no truce: under -Albinus the flames of the revolt flared out more boldly. Finally at the -time of Gessius Florus, 64-66, the last procurator of Judea, the fire, -which for some time had been flickering, spread all over the country. -The Zealots took possession of the Temple: Florus was obliged to flee, -Agrippa, who went as peace-maker, was stoned, Jerusalem fell into the -power of Menahem, another son of Judas the Galilean. Zealots and Sicarii -now in power massacred the non-Jews and also those among the Jews who -seemed tepid to their fanatic eyes. - -And then finally came the abomination predicted by Daniel and recorded -by Christ. The prophecy of Daniel had already been fulfilled when -Antiochus IV Epiphanes had profaned the Temple by placing there the -statue of Olympian Jove. In 39 Caligula the Mad, who had set himself up -as God and had himself adored as God in various places, had sent the -order to the procurator Petronius to put the imperial statue in the -Temple, but he died before the order was executed. But Jesus was -alluding to something quite other than statues. The holy place during -the great rebellion occupied by the Sicarii had become a refuge for -assassins, and the great courts were soaked with blood, even with -priestly blood. And the Holy City underwent also the abomination of -desolation, when in December of 66 Cestius Gallus, at the head of forty -thousand men, came to crush the insurgents, camped around Jerusalem with -those imperial insignia which the Jews held in horror as idolatrous, and -which through a concession of the Emperors had not till then been -introduced into the city. - -But Cestius Gallus, finding more resistance than he had anticipated, -retreated and the retreat was turned into flight to the great jubilation -of the Zealots, who saw in this victory a sign of divine help. - -In those days, between the first and second assault, when already the -double abomination had contaminated the city, the Christians of -Jerusalem, obeying the prophecy of Jesus, fled to Pela, beyond the -Jordan. But Rome had no intention of giving way to the Jews. The command -of the punitive expedition was given to Titus Flavius Vespasian, who, -gathering an army at Ptolemais in 67, advanced against Galilee and -conquered it. While the Romans were taking up winter quarters, John of -Gischala, one of the heads of the Zealots, having taken refuge in -Jerusalem at the head of a band of Idumeans, overturned the aristocratic -government and the city was full of uproar and blood. - -Vespasian, going to Rome to become Emperor, gave the command to his son -Titus, who on Easter Day in the year 70, came up before Jerusalem and -began the siege. Horrible days began. Even at the height of danger, the -Zealots, carried away by wild frenzy, quarreled among themselves, and -split up into factions, who fought for the control of the city. - -John of Gischala occupied the Temple, Simon Bar Giora the city, and -their partisans cut the throats of those whom the Romans had not yet -killed. In the meantime Titus had taken possession of two lines of wall -and of a part of the city: on the fifth of July the Tower of Antonia -fell into his power. To the horror of fratricidal massacre and of the -siege was added that of hunger. The famine was so great that mothers -were seen, so says Josephus, to kill their children and eat them. On the -10th of August the Temple was taken and burned, the Zealots succeeding -in shutting themselves up into the upper city, but conquered by hunger -they were obliged to surrender on the 7th of September. - -The prophecies of Jesus had been fulfilled: the city by Titus’ order was -laid waste: and of the Temple already swept by fire, there remained not -one stone upon another. The Jews who had survived hunger and the swords -of the Sicarii were massacred by the victorious soldiery. Those who -still remained were deported into Egypt to work in mines, and many were -killed for the amusement of the crowd in the Amphitheaters of Cæsarea -and Berytus. Some hundreds of the handsomest were taken prisoners to -Rome to figure in the triumphal procession of Vespasian and Titus, and -there Simon Bar Giora and other heads of the Zealots were executed -before the idols which they hated. - -“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these -things be fulfilled.” It was the seventieth year of the Christian era -and His generation had not yet gone down into the tomb when these things -happened. One at least of those who heard Him on the Mount of Olives, -John, was witness of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the ruin of the -Temple. Within the destined time the words of Jesus were fulfilled, -syllable by syllable, with atrocious exactness, by a story of blood and -fire. - - - THE PARUSIA - - -The end of the god-killing people, the partial and local ending, had -taken place. According to the sentence of Christ, the statues of the -Temple were scattered among the ruined walls and the faithful of the -Temple had met their death by torture or were scattered among other -nations. - -The second prophecy is left. When shall the Son of Man come on the -clouds of Heaven, preceded by darkness, announced by angels’ trumpets? -Jesus says that no one can be sure of the day of His coming. The Son of -Man is likened to lightning which flashes suddenly in the east, to a -thief who comes by stealth in the night, to a master who has gone far -away and returns suddenly to take his servants by surprise. We must be -vigilant and ready. Purify your hearts, because you do not know when He -may come; and woe to him who is not ready to appear before Him. Take -heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with -surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life; and so that day -come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come upon all them that -dwell on the face of the whole earth. - -But if Jesus does not announce the day, He tells us what things must be -fulfilled before that day. These things are two: the Gospel of the -Kingdom shall be preached to all the nations and the Gentiles shall no -longer tread down Jerusalem. These two conditions are fulfilled in our -own time and perhaps the great day approaches. There are no longer in -the world any civilized nations or barbarous tribes where the -descendants of the Apostles have not preached the Gospel: since 1918 the -Moslems have no longer trodden down Jerusalem and there is talk of a -reëstablishment of the Jewish State. According to the words of Hosea, -the end of the time shall be near when the sons of Israel, left so long -without altar and without King, shall be converted to the Son of David -and shall turn, trembling, towards God’s goodness. - -If the words of the second prophecy are true, as the words of the first -prophecy were shown to be true, the Second Coming cannot be far distant. -Once again in these years nations have risen against nations, the earth -has quaked, destroying many lives, and pestilences, famines and -seditions have decimated nations. For more than a century the words of -Christ have been translated and preached in all languages. Soldiers who -believe in Christ, although they are not all faithful to the heirs of -Peter, are in command over that city, which after its downfall was in -the power of the Romans, the Persians, the Egyptians and the Turks. And -still men do not think of Jesus and His promise. They live as if the -world were always going to continue as it has been, and they work and -mortify themselves only for their earthly and carnal interests. - -“For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and -drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the day that Noah -entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them -all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Likewise also, -as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, -they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went -out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them -all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” - -The same thing happens in our day in spite of the wars and the -pestilences which have cut down millions of lives in a few years. People -eat and drink, marry and have children, buy and sell, write and play. -And no one thinks of the Divine Thief who will come suddenly in the -night, no one waits for the Real Master, who will return unexpectedly, -no one looks at the sky to see if lightning is flashing from the east. - -The apparent life of the living is like the delirious dream of a fatal -fever. They seem awake because they hurry about without rest, occupied -by those possessions which are clay and poison. They never look up to -Heaven—they fear only their brothers. Perhaps they are waiting to be -awakened in the last hour by those dead of old, who will rise up at the -approach of the Resurrected Christ. - - - UNWELCOME - - -While Jesus was condemning the Temple and Jerusalem, those maintained by -the Temple and the lords of Jerusalem were preparing His condemnation. - -All those who possessed, taught and commanded were waiting only for the -right moment to assassinate Him, without danger to themselves. Every man -who had a name, dignity, a school, a shop, a sacred office, a little -authority was against Him. He came to oppose them and they opposed Him. -With the idiocy natural to those in power they believed that they would -save themselves by putting Him to death, and they did not know it was -exactly His death which was needed as the beginning of their punishment. - -To have an idea of the hatred which the upper classes of Jerusalem felt -towards Jesus, priestly hatred, scholastic hatred and commercial hatred, -we must remember that the Holy City apparently lived by faith, but in -reality on the Faithful. Only in the Jewish metropolis could valid and -acceptable offerings be made to the Old God, and therefore every year, -especially on great feast days, streams of Israelites poured in there -from the Tetrarchates of Palestine and from all the provinces of the -Empire. The Temple was not only the one legitimate sanctuary of the -Jews, but for those who were attached to it and for all the others who -lived at its feet, it was the great nourishing breast which fed the -Capital with the products of the victims, the offerings, the tithes and, -above all, with the profits accompanying the continual influx of -visitors. Josephus says that at Jerusalem on special occasions there -were gathered together as many as three million pilgrims. - -The stationary population depended all the year round on the Temple: -business for the animal-sellers, dealers in victuals, money-changers, -inn-keepers, and even artisans depended on the fortunes of the Temple. -The priestly caste, which without the Levites (and there were a great -crowd of them) numbered in Christ’s lifetime twenty thousand descendants -of Aaron—got their living from the tithes in kind, from the taxes of the -Temple, from the payments for the first-born—even the first-born of men -paid five shekels a head!—and got their food from the flesh of the -sacrificial animals, of which only the fat was burned. They were the -ones who had the pick of herds and crops; even their bread was given -them by the people, for the head of every Jewish family was obliged to -hand over to the priests the twenty-fourth part of the bread which was -baked in his house. Many of them, as we have seen, made money on the -raising of the animals which the Faithful were obliged to buy for their -offerings; others were associated with money-changers, and it is not -impossible that some of them were really bankers, because people readily -deposited their savings in the strong-boxes of the Temple. - -A net-work of self-interest thus bound to the Herodian edifice all the -inhabitants of Jerusalem, down to the vendors at fairs and the -sandal-makers. The priests lived on the Temple and many of them were -merchants and rich men: the rich needed the Temple to increase their -profits and keep the common people respectful: the merchants did -business with the rich people who had money to spend, with the priests -who were their associates and with the pilgrims from every part of the -world drawn towards the Temple: the working men and the poor lived from -the scraps and leavings which fell from the tables of the rich, the -priests, the merchants and the pilgrims. - -Religion was thus the greatest and perhaps the only business in -Jerusalem: any one who attacked religion, its representatives, its -visible monument (which was the most famous and fruitful seat of -religion), was necessarily considered an enemy of the people of -Jerusalem, and especially of the prosperous and well-to-do. - -Jesus with His Gospel threatened directly the positions and fees of -these classes. If all the prescriptions of the Law were to be reduced to -the practice of love, there would be no more place for the Scribes and -Doctors of the Law who made their living out of their teachings. If God -did not wish animal sacrifices and asked only for purity of soul and -secret prayer, the priests might as well shut the doors of the Sanctuary -and learn a new profession: those who did business in oxen and calves -and sheep and lambs and kids and doves and sparrows would have seen -their business slacken and perhaps disappear. If to be loved by God you -needed to transform your life, if it were not enough to wash your -drinking-cups and punctually pay your tithes, the doctrine and the -authority of the Pharisees would be reduced to nothing. If in short the -Messiah had come and had declared the Primacy of the Temple fallen and -sacrifices useless, the capital of the cult would, from one day to the -next, have lost its prestige and with the passage of time would have -become an obscure settlement of impoverished men. - -As a matter of course, Jesus, who preferred fishermen, if they were pure -and loving, to members of the Sanhedrin; who took the part of the poor -against the rich, who valued ignorant children more than Scribes, -blear-eyed over the mysteries of the Scriptures, drew down on His head -the hatred of the Levites, the merchants and the Doctors. The Temple, -the Academy and the Bank were against Him: when the victim was ready -they would call the somewhat reluctant, but nevertheless acquiescent -Roman sword, to sacrifice Him to their peace of mind. - -For some time the life of Jesus had not been safe. The Pharisees said -that Herod had sought to kill Him from the days of His last sojourn in -Galilee. Perhaps it was the knowledge of this that sent Him into Cæsarea -Philippi, outside Galilee, where He predicted His passion. - -When He came back to Jerusalem the High Priests, the Pharisees and the -Scribes gathered about Him to lay traps for Him and take down His words. -The uneasy and embittered crowd set on His track spies, destined to -become false witnesses in a few days. If we are to believe John, the -order was given to certain guards to capture Him, but they were afraid -to lay their hands upon Him. The attack with the whips on the -animal-sellers and money-changers, the loud invectives against the -Scribes and Pharisees, the allusion to the ruin of the Temple, made the -cup run over. Time pressed; Jerusalem was full of foreigners and many -were listening to Him. Some disorder, some confusion might easily spring -up, perhaps an uprising of the provincial crowds who were less attached -to the privileges and interests of the metropolis. The contagion must be -stopped at the beginning and there seemed to be no better way than to -make away with the blasphemer. The wolves of the Altar and of business -arranged a meeting of the Sanhedrin to reconcile law with assassination. - - - THE HIGH PRIEST CAIAPHAS - - -The Sanhedrin was the assembly of the chiefs, the supreme council of the -aristocracy which ruled the capital. It was composed of the priests -jealous of the clientele of the Temple which gave them their power and -their stipends: of the Scribes responsible for preserving the purity of -the law and of tradition: of the Elders who represented the interests of -the moderate, moneyed middle-class. - -They were all in accord that it was essential to take Jesus on false -pretenses and to have Him killed as a blasphemer against the Sabbath and -the Lord. Only Nicodemus attempted a defense, but they were able quickly -to silence him. “What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let -him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come -and take away both our place and nation.” It is the Reason of State, the -Salvation of the Fatherland which political cliques always bring out to -screen with legality and ideality the defense of their particular -profit. - -Caiaphas, who that year was High Priest, settled their doubts with the -maxim which has always justified in the eyes of the world the immolation -of the innocent. “Ye know nothing at all nor consider that it is -expedient that one man should die for the people and that the whole -nation perish not.” This maxim in Caiaphas’ mouth, and on this occasion, -and for what it meant, was infamous, and hypocritical like all the -speeches made by the Sanhedrin. But transposed into a higher meaning and -transferred into the Absolute, changing nation into humanity, the -President of the circumcised patriciate was expounding a principle which -Jesus Himself had accepted and which has become under another form the -crucial mystery of Christianity. Caiaphas did not know—he who had to -enter alone into the Holy of Holies to offer up to Jehovah the sins of -the people—how much his words, coarse in expression and cynical in -sentiment as they were, were in accord with his victim’s thought. - -The thought that only the righteous can pay for injustice, that only the -perfect can discount the crimes of the brute, that only the pure can -cancel the debts of the ignoble, that only God in His infinite -magnificence can expiate the sins which man has committed against Him; -this thought, which seems to man the height of madness exactly because -it is the height of divine wisdom, certainly did not flash out in the -corrupt soul of the Sadducee when he threw to his sixty accomplices the -sophism destined to silence their last remorse. Caiaphas, who together -with the crown of thorns and the sponge of vinegar was to be one of the -instruments of the Passion, did not imagine in that moment that he was -bearing witness solemnly, though involuntarily, to the divine tragedy -about to begin. - -And yet the principle that the innocent can pay for the guilty, that the -death of one man can be salvation for all, was not foreign to the -consciousness of ancient peoples. The heroic myths of the pagans -recognize and celebrate voluntary sacrifices of the innocent. They -record the example of Pilades, who offered himself to be punished in -place of the guilty Orestes; Macaria of the blood of Heracles, who saved -her brother’s life with her own; Alcestis, who died that she might avert -from her Admetus the vengeance of Artemis; the daughters of Erechtheus, -who sacrificed themselves that their father might escape Neptune’s -blows. The old King Codrus, who threw himself into the Ilissus, in order -that his Athenians might be victorious; and Decius Mus and his sons, who -consecrated themselves to the Manes that the Romans might triumph over -the Samnites; and Curtius, who, fully armed, cast himself into the gulf -for the salvation of his country; and Iphigenia, who offered her throat -to the knife that Agamemnon’s fleet might sail safely towards Troy. At -Athens during the Thargelian feast two men were killed to save the city -from divine wrath; Epimenides the Wise, to purify Athens, profaned by -the assassination of the followers of Cylon, had recourse to human -sacrifice over the tombs; at Curium, in Cyprus, at Terracina, at -Marseilles, every year a man threw himself into the sea as payment for -the crimes of the community, a man regarded as the Saviour of the -people. - -But these sacrifices, when they were spontaneous, were for the salvation -of one being alone, or of a restricted group of men; when they were -enforced they added a new crime to those they were intended to expiate; -they were examples of individual affection or of superstitious crimes. - -No man had yet appeared who would take upon his head all the sins of -men, a God who would imprison Himself in the abject wretchedness of -flesh to save all the human race and to give it the power to ascend from -bestiality to sanctity, from earthly humiliation to the Kingdom of -Heaven. The perfect man, who takes upon himself all imperfections, the -pure man who burdens himself with all infamies, the righteous man who -shoulders the unrighteousness of all men, had appeared under the aspect -of a poor fugitive from justice in the day of Caiaphas. He who was to -die for all, the Galilean working-man who was disquieting the rich and -the priests of Jerusalem, was there on the Mount of Olives only a short -distance from the Sanhedrin. The Seventy, who knew not what they did, -who did not know that they were obeying the will of the very man they -were persecuting, decided to have Him captured before the Passover; but -because they were cowardly, like all men of possessions, one thing -restrained them, the fear of the people who loved Jesus. They consulted -that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill Him. But they said, “Not -on the feast day lest there be an uproar among the people.” To solve -their difficulty, by good fortune, there came to them the day after one -of the Twelve, he who held the purse, Judas Iscariot. - - - THE MYSTERY OF JUDAS - - -Only two creatures in the world knew the secret of Judas: Christ and the -traitor. - -Sixty generations of Christians have racked their brains over it, but -the man of Iscariot, although he has drawn after him crowds of -disciples, remains stubbornly incomprehensible. His is the only human -mystery that we encounter in the Gospels. We can understand without -difficulty the depravity of Herod, the rancor of the Pharisees, the -revengeful anger of Annas and Caiaphas, the cowardly laxity of Pilate. -But we have no evidence to enable us to understand the abomination of -Judas. The Four Gospels tell us too little of him and of the reasons -which induced him to sell his King. - -“Then entered Satan into Judas.” But these words are only the definition -of his crime. Evil took possession of his heart, therefore it came -suddenly. Before that day, perhaps during the dinner at Bethany, Judas -was not in the power of the Adversary. But why suddenly did he throw -himself into that power? Why did Satan enter into him and not into one -of the others? - -Thirty pieces of silver are a very small sum, especially for an -avaricious man. In modern coinage it would amount to about twenty -dollars, and, granting that its effective value or as the economists say -its buying power were in those days ten times greater, two hundred -dollars seem hardly a sufficient price to induce a man whom his -companions describe as grasping to commit the basest perfidy recorded by -history. It has been said the thirty pieces of silver was the price of a -slave. But the text of Exodus states on the contrary that thirty shekels -was the compensation to be paid by the owner of an ox which had injured -a slave. The cases are too far apart for the doctors of the Sanhedrin to -have had this early precedent in mind. - -The most significant indication is the office which Judas held among the -Twelve. Among them was Matthew, a former tax-collector, and it would -have seemed almost his right to handle the small amount of money -necessary for the expenses of the brotherhood. In place of Matthew, we -see the man of Iscariot as the depository of the offerings. Money is -insidious and saturated with danger. The mere handling of money, even if -it belongs to others, is poisonous. It is not surprising that John said -of Judas the thief, that he, “having the bag, took away what was put -therein.” And yet it is not probable that a man greedy for money would -have stayed a long time with a group of such poor men. If he had wished -to steal, he would have sought out a more promising position. And if he -had needed those miserable thirty pieces of silver, could he not have -procured them in another way, by running away with the purse, without -needing to propose the betrayal of Jesus to the High Priests? - -These common-sense reflections about a crime so extraordinary have -induced many to seek other motives for the infamous transaction. A sect -of heretics, the Cainites, had a legend that Judas sorrowfully accepted -eternal infamy, knowing that Jesus through His will and the will of the -Father was to be betrayed to His death, that no suffering might be -lacking in the great expiation. A necessary and voluntary instrument of -the Redemption, Judas was according to them a hero and a martyr to be -revered and not reviled. - -According to others, Iscariot, loving his people and hoping for their -deliverance, perhaps sharing the sentiments of the Zealots, had joined -with Jesus, hoping that he was the Messiah such as the common people -then imagined Him: the King of the revenge and restoration of Israel. -When little by little, in spite of his slowness of comprehension, it -dawned on him from the words of Jesus that he had fallen in with a -Messiah of quite another kind, he delivered Him over to His enemies to -make up for the bitterness of his disappointment. But this fancy to -which no text either canonical or apocryphal gives any support is not -enough to explain Christ’s betrayer: he could have deserted the Twelve -and gone in search of other company more to his taste, which certainly, -as we have seen, was not lacking at that time. - -Others have said that the reason is to be sought in his loss of faith. -Judas had believed firmly in Jesus, and then could believe no longer. -What Jesus said about His end close at hand, the threatening hostility -of the metropolis, the delay of his victorious manifestation, had ended -by causing Judas to lose all faith in Him whom he had followed up till -then. He did not see the Kingdom approaching and he did see death -approaching. Mingling with the people to find out the temper of the day, -he had perhaps heard a rumor as to the decisions of the meeting of the -Elders and feared that the Sanhedrin would not be satisfied with one -victim alone, but would condemn all those who had long followed Jesus. -Overcome by fear—the form which Satan took to enter into him—he thought -he could ward off the danger and save his life by treachery; unbelief -and cowardice being thus the ignominious motives of his ignominy. - -An Englishman celebrated as an opium-eater, has thought out a new -apology for the traitor which is the opposite of this theory. His idea -is that Judas believed: he even believed too absolutely. He was so -persuaded that Jesus was really the Christ that he wished by giving Him -up to the Tribunal to force Him finally to show Himself as the -legitimate Messiah. So strong was his hope that he could not believe -that Jesus would be killed. Or if He really were to die, he knew with -entire certainty that He would rise again at once to sit on the right -hand of the Father as King of Israel and of the world. To hasten the -great day, in which the Disciples were at last to have the reward for -their faithfulness, Judas, secure in the intangibility of his Divine -Friend, wished to force His hand and, putting Him face to face with -those whom He was to cast out, to compel Him to show Himself as the true -Son of God. According to this theory the action of Judas was not a -betrayal but a mistake due to his misunderstanding of the real meaning -of his Master’s teaching. He did not betray therefore through avarice or -revengefulness or cowardice, but through stupidity. - -On the other hand others give revenge as the reason. No man betrays -another without hating him. Why did Judas hate Jesus? They remember the -dinner in the house of Simon and the nard of the weeping woman. The -reproof for his stinginess and hypocrisy must have exasperated the -disciple who perhaps had been reproved for these faults on other -occasions. To the rancor of this rebuff was added envy which always -flourishes in vulgar souls. And as soon as he could revenge himself -without danger, he went to the palace of Caiaphas. - -But did he really think that his denunciation would bring Jesus to His -death or did he rather suppose that they would content themselves with -flogging Him and forbidding Him to speak to the people? The rest of the -story seems to show that the condemnation of Jesus unnerved him as a -terrible and unexpected result of his kiss. Matthew describes his -despair in a way to show that he was sincerely horrified by what had -happened through his fault. The money which he had pocketed became like -fire to him: and when the priests refused to take it back he threw it -down in the Temple. Even after this restitution he had no peace and -hastened to kill himself. He died on the same day as his victim. Luke in -the Acts sets down in another way the evil end of Judas, but the -Christian tradition prefers the story of his remorse and suicide. - -In spite of all the unraveling of unsatisfied minds, mysteries are still -tangled about the mystery of Judas. But we have not yet invoked the -testimony of Him who knew better than all men, even better than Judas, -the true secret of the betrayal. Jesus alone could give us the key to -the mystery; Jesus who saw into the heart of Judas as into the hearts of -all men, and who knew what Judas was to do before he had done it. - -Jesus chose Judas to be one of the Twelve and to carry the gospel to the -world along with the others. Would He have chosen him, kept him with -Him, beside Him, at His table, for so long a time if He had believed him -to be an incurable criminal? Would He have confided to him what was -dearest in the world to Him, the most precious thing in the world—the -prophecy of the Kingdom of God? - -Up to the last days, up to that last evening, Jesus treated Judas -exactly like the others. To him, as to all others, He gave His body, -symbolized by bread, His soul, symbolized by wine. He washed and wiped, -with His own hands, the feet of Judas, those feet which had carried him -to the house of Caiaphas—with those hands which, through Judas’ fault, -were to be nailed to the cross on the following day. And when, in the -red light of the flickering lanterns and the flashing of swords, Judas, -under the dark shadow of the olive trees, came and kissed that face -still wet with bloody sweat, Jesus did not repel him, but said, “Friend, -wherefore art thou come?” - -_Friend!_ It was the last time that Jesus spoke to Judas, and even in -that moment He would use none other than that wonted word. Judas was not -for Him the man of darkness who came in the darkness to turn Him over to -the guards, but the friend, the same who a few hours before had been -sitting with Him before the dish of lamb and herbs, and had set his lips -to His cup: the same who, so many times in hours of rest in leafy shade, -or in the shadow of walls, had listened with the others like a disciple, -like a companion, like a friend, like a brother, to the great words of -the Promise. Jesus had said at the Last Supper, “Woe unto that man by -whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had -not been born.” But now that the traitor was before Him, that the -treachery was complete, now that Judas had added to that betrayal the -outrage of the kiss laid on the lips of Him who has commanded love for -our enemies, He answered him with the sweet and divine words of their -habitual intercourse, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” - -Thus the testimony of Him who was betrayed increases our bewilderment -instead of raising the veil of the dreadful secret. He knew that Judas -was a thief and He gave him the purse: He knew that Judas was evil and -He confided to him a treasure of truth infinitely more precious than all -the money in the universe: He knew that Judas was to betray Him and He -made him a participant of His divinity, offering him the mouthful of -bread and the sip of wine; He saw Judas leading His assailants upon Him -and He still addressed him as at first, as He always had, with the holy -name of friend. - -“It had been good for that man if he had not been born.” These words -might have been, rather than a condemnation, an exclamation of pity at -the thought of a fate which could not be escaped. If Judas hated Jesus, -we see no signs that Jesus was ever repelled by Judas, because Jesus -knew that the base bargain was necessary, as the weakness of Pilate was -necessary, the rage of Caiaphas, the insults of the soldiery, the -timbers and nails of the cross. He knew that Judas must needs do what he -did and He did not curse him, as He did not curse the people who wished -His death, or the hammer which drove the nails into the cross. One -prayer alone broke from him, to beg Judas to shorten the dreadful agony, -“That thou doest, do quickly.” - -The mystery of Judas is doubly tied to the mystery of the Redemption and -we lesser ones shall never solve it. - -No analogy can give us light. Joseph also was sold by one of his -brothers, who, like Iscariot, was called Judas, and was sold to -Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces of silver, but Joseph, who -prefigured Christ, was not sold to his enemies, was not sold to be put -to death: and as a compensation for his betrayal, great good fortune was -his and he became so wealthy that he could enrich his father, and so -generous that he could pardon even his brothers. - -Jesus was not only betrayed, but sold, sold for a price, sold for a -small price, bought with coins. He was the object of a bargain, a -bargain struck and paid. Judas, the man of the purse, the cashier, did -not present himself as an accuser, did not offer himself as a -cut-throat, but as a merchant doing business in blood. The Jews, who -understood bartering for blood, daily cutting the throats of victims, -and quartering them, butchers of the Most High, were the first and last -customers of Judas. The sale of Jesus was the first business done by the -merchant, just entering business; not very big business, it must be -admitted, but a real, true commercial transaction, a valid contract of -buying and selling, verbal, but honestly lived up to by the contracting -parties. If Jesus had not been sold, something would have been lacking -to the perfect ignominy of His expiation: if He had been sold for more -money, for three hundred shekels instead of thirty, for gold instead of -silver, the ignominy would have been diminished, slightly, but still -diminished. It had been destined to all eternity that He should be -bought, but bought with a small sum. In order that an infinite, -supernatural but communicable value should be made available to men, it -was needful to buy it with a small sum, and with a sum of metal, which -has no real value. Did Jesus bought by others not do the same, He who -wished to redeem with the blood of only one man all the blood shed on -the earth from the days of Cain to Caiaphas? - -And if He had been sold as a slave, as so many living souls were sold in -those days in the public places, if He had been sold as redeemable -property, as human capital, as a living tool for work, the ignominy -would have been almost nothing, and the Redemption put off. But He was -sold as the calf is sold to the butcher, as the innocent animals which -the butcher buys to kill, to sell again, to distribute in morsels to -flesh-eaters. The sacred butcher, Caiaphas, never in his most successful -days had a victim so prodigious. For more than two thousand years -Christians have been fed on that victim, and it is still intact, and -those who feed are not satiated. - -Every one of us has contributed his quota, an infinitesimal quota, to -buy that victim from Judas. We have all contributed towards the sum for -which the blood of the Redeemer was bought: Caiaphas was only our agent. -The field of Aceldama, bought with the price of blood, is our -inheritance, our property. And this field has grown mysteriously larger, -has spread over half the face of the earth: whole populous cities, -paved, lighted, well-ordered cities, of shops and brothels, shine -resplendent on it from north to south. And that the mystery should be -even greater, Judas’ money, also multiplied by the betrayals of so many -centuries, by the accumulation of interest, has become incalculably -great. Nothing is so fruitful and fecund as blood. The statisticians, -those soothsayers of modern days, can bear witness to the fact that all -the courts of the Temple could not contain the money engendered from -that day to this by those thirty pieces of silver cast down there in a -delirium of remorse, by the man who sold his God. - - - THE MAN WITH THE PITCHER - - -The bargain was struck, the price paid, the buyers were impatient to -finish the transaction. They had said “before the Feast day.” The great -feast day of the Passover fell on a Saturday and this was Thursday. - -Jesus had but one more day of freedom, the last day. - -Before leaving His friends, those who were to abandon Him that night, He -wished once more to dip His bread in the same platter with them. Before -the Syrian soldiery should have spit upon Him, before He should be -defiled by the Jewish filth, He wished to kneel down and wash the feet -of those who until the day of their death were to travel all the roads -of the earth to tell the story of His death. Before the blood dropped -from His hands, His feet, His chest, He wished to give the first fruits -to those who were to be one soul with Him until the end. Before -suffering thirst, nailed upon the cross, He wished to drink a cup of -wine with His companions. This last evening before His death was to be -like an anticipation of the banquet of the Kingdom. - -On the evening of Thursday, the first day of unleavened bread, the -Disciples asked Him, “Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou -mayest eat the passover?” - -The Son of Man, poorer than the foxes, had no home of His own. He had -left His home in Nazareth forever. The home of Simon of Capernaum, which -had been in the early days like His own, was far away; and the home of -Mary and Martha in Bethany, where He was almost Master, was too far -outside the city. - -He had only enemies in Jerusalem or shame-faced friends: Joseph of -Arimathea was to receive Him as his guest only the next evening, in the -dark cave, the banquet-hall of worms. - -But a condemned man on his last day has a right to any favor he may ask. -All the houses of Jerusalem were rightfully His. The Father would give -Him the house best suited to shelter His last joy. And He sent two -Disciples with this mysterious command, “Go ye into the city, and there -shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water; follow him. And -wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good man of the house, the -Master saith, My time is at hand; where is the guest chamber, where I -shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large -upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.” - -It has been believed that the master of that house was a friend of Jesus -and that they had arranged this beforehand. But that cannot be. Jesus -would have sent the two Disciples straight to him, giving his name, and -would not have had recourse to the following of the man with the -pitcher. - -There were many men on the morning of that feast day who must have been -coming up from Shiloah with pitchers of water. The two Disciples were to -follow the first one whom they saw before them. They did not know why -they were not to stop him instead of going after him to see where he -went in. His master, since he had a servant, certainly was not a poor -man, and in his house, as in all those of prosperous people, there would -certainly be a room suitable for serving a supper, and he would know at -least by hearsay who “the Master” was. In those days at Jerusalem there -was little talk of anything else. The request was one which could not be -refused. “The Master saith, My time is at hand.” The time which was -“His” was the hour of death. No one could shut out from his house a man -at the point of death, who wished to satisfy his hunger for the last -time. The Disciples set out, found the man with the pitcher, entered the -house, talked with the master, prepared there what was necessary for the -supper: lamb cooked on the spit, round loaves without leaven, bitter -herbs, red sauce, the wine of thanksgiving, and warm water. They set the -couches and pillows about the table and spread over it the white cloth. -On the cloth they set the few dishes, the candelabra, the pitcher full -of wine, and one cup, one cup only to which all were to set their lips. -They forgot nothing: both were experienced in this preparation. From -childhood up, in their home beside the lake, they had watched, -wide-eyed, the preparations for the most heart-warming feast of the -year. And it was not the first time since they had been with Him whom -they loved, that they had thus eaten all together of the feast of the -Passover. But for that last day—and perhaps their dull minds had at last -understood the dreadful truth that it was really the last—for this last -supper which all the thirteen were to have together, for this Passover -which was the last for Jesus and the last valid Passover for old Judaism -because a new covenant was about to begin for all countries and all -nations: for this festal banquet which was a memorial of life, and a -warning of death, the Disciples performed those humble menial tasks with -a new tenderness, with that pensive joy that almost brings tears. - -With the setting of the sun, the other ten came with Jesus and placed -themselves around the table, now in readiness. All were silent as if -heavy-hearted with a presentiment which they were afraid to see -reflected in their companions’ eyes. They remembered the supper in -Simon’s house, almost funereal, the odor of the nard, the woman and her -endless weeping, and Christ’s words on that evening, and His words of -those last days; the repeated warnings of ignominy and of the end; the -signs of hatred increasing about them, and the indications, now very -plain, of the conspiracy, which with all its torches was about to come -out from the darkness. - -But two of them—for opposite reasons—were more oppressed, more moved -than the others: the two for whom this was the last of their lives, the -two who were about to die: Christ and Judas, the one sold and the -seller; the Son of God and the abortion of Satan. - -Judas had finished his bargain, he had the thirty pieces of silver on -his person wrapped tightly so that they would not clink. But he knew no -peace. The Enemy had entered into him, but perhaps the friend of Christ -was not yet dead in his heart. To see Him there in the midst of His -friends, calm but with the pensive expression of the man who is the only -one who knows a secret, who is aware of a crime, a betrayal; to see Him, -still at liberty in the company of those who loved Him, still alive, all -the blood still in His veins under the delicate protection of the -skin—and yet those bargainers who had paid the price refused to wait any -longer, the affair was arranged for that very night!—and they were only -waiting for Judas to act. But suppose Jesus, who must know all, had -denounced him to the eleven? And suppose they, to save their Master, had -thrown themselves on Judas to bind him, perhaps to kill him? Judas began -to feel that to betray Christ to His death was perhaps not enough to -save himself from the death, which he so greatly feared and yet which -was near upon him. - -All these thoughts darkened his somber face, more and more blackly, and -at times terrified him. While the more active ones busied themselves -with the last arrangements for serving the supper, he looked furtively -at the eyes of Jesus—clear eyes scarcely veiled with the loving sadness -of parting—as if to read there the revocation of his fate, so close at -hand. Jesus broke the silence: “With desire I have desired to eat this -Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any -more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” - -Such great love had not up to that moment been expressed by any words of -Christ to His friends: such a longing for the day of perfect union, for -the feast, so ancient and destined to so great a sublimation. They knew -that He loved them; but until this evening their poor bruised hearts had -not felt how poignant His love was. He knew that this evening was the -last respite of rest and cheer before His death, and yet He had desired -it ardently as though it were a boon, with that fervor which is the mark -of passionate souls, souls on fire, loving souls, those who battle for -the love of victory, who endure all things for a high prize. He had -ardently desired to eat this Passover with them. He had eaten others: He -had eaten with them thousands of other times, seated in boats, in their -friends’ houses, in strangers’ houses, in rich men’s houses, or seated -beside the road, in mountain pastures, in the shadow of bushes on the -shore; and yet for so long He had ardently desired to eat with them this -supper which was the last! The blue skies of happy Galilee, the soft -winds of the spring just passed, the sun of the last Passover, the -waving branches of His triumphant entry, did He think of them now? Now -He saw only His first friends and His last friends, the little group -destined to be diminished by treachery, and dispersed by cowardice. -Still, for a time they were there about Him in the same room, at the -same table, sharing with Him the same overwhelming grief, but sharing -also the light of a supernatural certainty. - -Up to that day He had suffered, but not for Himself; He had suffered -because of His ardent desire for this nocturnal hour, when the air was -already heavy with the tragedy of farewells. And, when He had thus told -them how great was His love, Christ’s face, soon to be buffeted, shone -with that noble sadness which is so strangely like joy. - - - THE WASHING OF THE FEET - - -Now that He was on the point of being snatched from those whom He loved, -He wished to give them a supreme proof of this love. From the time they -had begun to share His life, He had always loved them, all of them, even -Judas: He always loved them with a love surpassing all other affections, -a love so bountiful that their narrow hearts could not always contain -it; but now about to leave them, knowing that He was to be with them -again only when transfigured after death, all His hitherto unexpressed -affection overflowed in a great wave of tender sadness. - -Before beginning the supper where He was the head of the family, He -wished to be kinder than a Father, humbler than a servant. He was their -King, and He would humble Himself to the service performed by slaves: He -was their Master and He would put Himself below the level of His -disciples; He was the Son of God and He would accept a position despised -of men: He was the first and He would kneel before His inferiors as if -He had been the last. So many times, to rebuke their pride and jealousy, -He had told them that the Master must serve his servants, that the Son -of Man was come to serve, that the first must be last. But His words had -not yet been assimilated by those souls, since even up to the last, they -continued to quarrel for priority and precedence. - -For raw, untrained minds, action has more meaning than words. Jesus -prepared Himself to repeat, with the symbolic aspect of a humiliating -service, one of His most important instructions. John tells us, “He -riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and -girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason and began to -wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he -was girded.” - -Only a mother or a slave would have done what Jesus did that evening. -The mother would have done it for her little children, but for no one -else: the slave for his masters, but for no others. The mother would -have served joyfully because of her love, the slave would have been -resigned through obedience. But the Twelve were neither Christ’s -children nor His masters. Son of Man and of God, His love was above that -of all earthly mothers,—King of a kingdom existing in the future, but -more legitimate than all existing monarchies, He was the unrecognized -Master of all masters. - -And yet He was willing to wash and wipe those twenty-four callous and -sweaty feet, in order to engrave on those unwilling hearts, still -swollen with vanity, the truth which His lips had so long vainly -pronounced; “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he -that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” - -So after He had washed their feet and taken His garments and was set -down again He said unto them, “Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call -me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord -and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s -feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done -to you. Verily, verily I say unto you, The servant is not greater than -his lord; neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If -ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” - -Jesus had not only given them a memory of complete humility, but an -example of perfect love. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye -love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. -Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his -friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” - -But this action, with its deep meaning hidden under the appearance of -menial service, signifies purification as well as love. “He that is -washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and -ye are clean, but not all.” - -The eleven, although not of lofty character, had some right to this -cleansing service from Jesus. For many months those feet had trodden the -dusty, muddy, filthy roads of Judea to follow Him who brought life; and -after His death, year by year, they were to tread longer and harder -roads in countries the very names of which they then did not know; and -foreign clay would soil the sandaled feet of those who were to go as -pilgrims and strangers to repeat the call of the Crucified One. - - - TAKE—EAT - - -These thirteen men had apparently come together to perform the old -social rite in memory of the liberation of their people from Egyptian -slavery. They seemed to be thirteen devout men of the people, waiting -about a white table redolent of roasted lamb and wine, for the signal to -begin an intimate and festal supper. - -But this was only in appearance. In reality it was a vigil of -leave-taking and separation. Two of these thirteen, He into whom God had -entered and he into whom Satan had entered, were to die terrible deaths -before the next nightfall. The very next day the others were to be -dispersed, like reapers at the first downfall of hail. - -But this supper which was the viaticum of an ending, was also a -wonderful beginning. In the midst of these thirteen Jews the observance -of the Jewish Passover was about to be transfigured into something -incomparably higher and more universal, into something unequaled and -ineffable; into the great Christian mystery. The simple eating of bread -was to become actual communion with God. - -For the Jews, Easter is only the feast in memory of their flight from -Egypt. They never forgot their victorious escape from their slavery, -accompanied by so many prodigies, so manifestly under God’s protection, -although they were to bear on their necks the yokes of other -captivities, and to undergo the shame of other deportations. Exodus -prescribed an annual festivity which took the name of the Passover; -Pasch, the paschal feast. It was a sort of banquet intended to bring to -mind the hastily prepared food of the fugitives. A lamb or a goat should -be roasted over the fire, that is, cooked in the simplest and quickest -way; bread without leaven, because there was no time to let yeast rise. -And they were to eat of it with their loins girded, their staves in -their hands, eating in haste, like people about to set out upon a -journey. The bitter herbs were the poor wild grasses snatched up as they -went along by the fugitives, to dull the hunger of their interminable -wanderings. The red sauce, where the bread was dipped, was in memory of -the bricks which the Jewish slaves were obliged to bake for the -Pharaohs. The wine was something added: the joy of escape, the hope of -the land of promise, the exaltation of thanksgiving to the Eternal. - -Jesus changed nothing in the order of this ancient feast. After the -prayer He had them pass from hand to hand the cup of wine, calling on -God’s name. Then He gave the bitter herbs to each one and filled a -second time the cup which was to be passed around the table for each to -sip. - -What taste did that wine have in the mouth of the traitor, when Jesus in -that deep silence pronounced those words of longing and hope which were -not for Judas, but only for those who could ascend to the eternal -banquet of the Father: Take this and divide it among yourselves, “but I -say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, -until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” - -A sad farewell; but nevertheless the confirming of a solemn promise. -Perhaps they felt only the promise, and perhaps there flashed before -their poor men’s eyes a vision of the great Heavenly feast. They did not -believe that they would have a long time to mourn: after that other -vintage-time, after the fruit of the vine had fermented, and the sweet -wine had been poured into the flasks, the Master would return, as He had -promised, to summon them to the great wedding of Heaven and Earth, to -the everlasting banquet. They must have thought, “We are men growing -old, elderly men, more than mature, within sight of old age; if the -Bridegroom tarries too long He will not find us among the living, and -those who have believed Him will be mocked at.” - -Comforted by the certainty of an early and glorious reunion, they -chanted together, as the custom was, the Psalm of the first -Thanksgiving, a chant of praise to the Father from Him who served Him. -“Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of -the God of Jacob; which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint -into a fountain of waters.—He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and -lifteth the needy out of the dung-hill; that he may set him with -princes, even with the princes of his people.” - -These old words, colored at that moment with a new meaning, were sung -with a joyful conviction of their truth. They, too, the Disciples, were -poor men and they would be raised out of the dust of poverty by the -intercession of the Son of God: they too were poor men and He would soon -raise them out of the misery of their beggary, to make them masters of -inconsumable wealth. - -Then Jesus, who saw how insufficiently they understood, took the loaves, -blessed them, broke them and, as He gave them each a piece, set the -dreadful truth before their eyes. “Take, eat; This is my body which is -given for you: this do in remembrance of me.” - -So He was not to return as quickly as they thought! After His brief stay -during the Resurrection, His second coming was to be delayed, so long -that it might be possible to forget Him and His death. - -“This do in remembrance of me.” The breaking of bread at the common -table among those who await Him shall be the signal of a new -brotherhood. Every time that you break bread, I will not only be present -among you, but by that means you will be intimately united with me. -Because, as this bread is broken in my hands, my body will be broken by -my enemies. As this bread eaten to-night will be your food until -to-morrow, my body which I will offer in death to all men shall satisfy -the hunger of those who believe in me, until the day when the great -granaries of the Kingdom shall be open to all, when you shall be angels -in the presence of your Father whom you shall have found again. I will -leave you therefore not merely a memory; I will be present with a mystic -but real presence in every particle of bread consecrated to me and this -bread shall be a living necessary food for souls, and my promise to be -with you shall be fulfilled till time shall be no more. - -In the meantime, this evening, eat this unleavened bread, this bread -made by the hand of man, made of water and grain, these loaves which -have felt the heat of the oven and which my hands, not yet cold in -death, have divided amongst you—and which my love has changed into my -flesh so that it may be your everlasting food. It is sweet to the heart -of a friend to see his friends eating bread at his table, bread born of -the earth, bread which was green blades with flowering lilies among -them, and then the ripe ear bending down the tall stalk with its golden -weight. You know how many efforts, how much anxiety, how much trouble, -are contained in a piece of bread; how the great oxen cultivated the -earth, how the countrymen threw great handfuls of the grain into the -fallow land in winter, how the first blade softly penetrated the damp -darkness of the earth, how the reapers all day long cut down the ripened -stalks, and then the sheaves were bound, and carried to the threshing -floor and beaten so that the ears let fall the grain. The workers must -wait for a little wind, neither too gentle nor too violent, to winnow -out the good grain from the chaff. Then they grind it, sift out the bran -from it, make a dough with warm water, heat the oven with dry grass or -twigs. All this must be done with love and patience before the father -may break a piece with his children, the friend with his friends, the -host with strangers. Plowers, sowers, reapers, winnowers, millers and -bakers sweat in the heat of the sun, in the heat of the oven, before the -golden wheat can be transformed into well-baked golden bread for our -table. - -Truly it is sweet to eat good wholesome bread with friends: the soft -white crumb, covered with the crisp crust. So many times with me you -have begged bread in poor men’s houses; and all your lives you are to -beg it in my name: you will have the moldy hard crusts which dogs -refuse, the dry bits left at the bottom of the dish, the crusts gnawed -by children and old people which they have let fall upon the hearth. But -you know want, and nights of fasting and the pale face of poverty. But -you are strong; you have the powerful jaws of those who eat hard bread. -You will not lose courage, if no place is made for you at the tables of -the well-to-do. - -But verily it is infinitely sweeter for Him who loves you to transform -the bread which comes from the hard earth and from hard labor into the -Body which will be eternally offered for you, into the Body which every -day will come down from Heaven as the visible means of grace. - -Remember the prayer which I taught you: “Give us this day our daily -bread—” For to-day and for always your bread is this bread, my Body. He -shall never know hunger who shall eat my Body, which every morning -throughout endless centuries shall be changed into endless morsels of -transubstantiated bread. But whosoever shall refuse it, shall be -anhungered to all eternity. - - - WINE AND BLOOD - - -As soon as they had eaten the lamb with the bread and the bitter herb, -Jesus filled the common cup for the third time and gave it to the -Apostle nearest Him, “Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the -new testament, which is shed for many.” - -His blood, mixed with sweat, had not yet fallen on the ground, under the -olives, and had not yet dropped from the nails upon Golgotha. But His -desire to give life with His life, to redeem with His suffering all the -sorrows of the world, to transmit at least a part of His substance to -His immediate heirs; this desire to give Himself up wholly for those -whom He loves is so great that from this moment on, He feels the -immolation complete and the gift possible. If bread is the body, blood -is in a certain sense the soul. The Lord said to Noah: “But flesh with -the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” With -blood as visibly representing life, the God of Abraham and of Jacob had -established the covenant with His own people. When Moses had received -the law, he had sacrificed oxen, took half of the blood and put it in -basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar: “And Moses took -the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of -the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these -words.” - -But after a trial of many centuries, God had announced by the voice of -the prophets that the Old Covenant was obliterated and abrogated, and -that another was henceforth necessary. The blood of animals sprinkled -upon stubborn heads and upon blaspheming faces had lost its virtue; -another Blood, purer and more precious, was needed for the New Covenant, -for the Last Covenant of the Father with His perjured children. In many -ways He had already tried to lead His first-born towards the narrow door -of salvation; the rain of fire on Sodom, the washings of the waters of -the flood, the Egyptian slavery, hunger in the desert, had terrified -them without reforming them. - -And now there had come a Liberator at once more divine and more human -than the old Captain of Exodus. Moses also saved a people, spoke upon a -mountain, announced a promised land. But Jesus saves not only His -people, but all peoples; writes His laws not upon stone, but upon human -hearts; and His promised land is not a country of rich grazing-land and -vineyards, with great clusters of grapes, but a Kingdom of holiness and -eternal joy. Moses had killed a man, and Jesus brought the dead to life; -Moses changed water into blood and Jesus, after having changed water -into wine at the wedding banquet, changed wine into blood, into His own -blood, at the melancholy last supper of His marriage with death. Moses -died full of years and honors on a solitary mountain top, glorified by -his people; and Jesus was to die among the insults of those whom He -loved. - -The blood of oxen, the impure blood of earthly animals, involuntary and -inferior victims, is no longer sufficient. The New Covenant was -established that night with the words of Christ, who under the -appearance of wine shed His own blood and His own soul: “This cup is the -new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” - -It was shed not merely for the Twelve who were there; they represent in -His eyes all of humanity alive at that time and all those to be born -thereafter. The blood which was to be shed the next day, on Golgotha, -was real blood, actual, warm blood congealing on the cross in clots -which all the tears shed by Christians can never wash away. But the -blood of the Last Supper symbolizes a soul which gave itself up to make -over into His own likeness, the souls shut up in the bodies of men: -which was given to those who asked for it and to those who fled away -from it, which had suffered for the sake of those who had received it -and for those who had blasphemed it. This baptism of blood which came -after the baptism of water by John, after the baptism of tears by the -women of Bethany, after the baptism of spitting by the Jews and by the -Romans, this baptism of blood, red as the baptism of fire announced by -the prophet of fire, and mixed with the tears shed by women over His -blood-stained body, this is the greatest sacrament, revealed to His -betrayers, by Him who was betrayed. - -I have broken bread for you, daily bread for which you pray every day to -the Father, as my body will be broken to-morrow, and I offer you now my -blood in this wine which I drink for the last time on earth. If you -always do this in memory of me, you will feel no hunger, no thirst. -There is no food better than wheat-bread, and no drink better than wine, -but the bread and wine which I have given you to-night will feed you and -quench your thirst for all your lives, by virtue of my sacrifice and of -that love which makes me seek for death and which reigns beyond death. - -Ulysses advised Achilles to give the Achaians, before they went into -battle, “bread and wine that they should have strength and courage.” For -the Greek the strength of his members came from bread and homicidal -courage from wine. Wine was to intoxicate men so that they should -destroy each other and bread was to strengthen their arms so that they -could battle without weakness. The bread given by Christ does not -strengthen the flesh, but the soul, and His wine gives that divine -intoxication which is Love, that Love which the Apostle, scandalizing -the descendants of Ulysses, was to call in his Epistle to the -Corinthians, “the foolishness of God.” - -Judas also ate that bread and swallowed that wine, partook of that body, -in which he had trafficked, drank that blood which he was to help shed, -but he had not the courage to confess his infamy, to throw himself down -weeping at the feet of Him who would have wept with him. Then the only -friend remaining to Judas warned him, “Verily I say unto you, that one -of you shall betray me.” - -The eleven were capable of leaving Him alone in the midst of Caiaphas’ -guards, but they never could have brought themselves to sell Him for -money, and at this they shuddered. Every one looked in his neighbor’s -face, almost dreading to see in his companion the livid look of guilt, -and all, one after the other, said, “Lord, is it I?” - -Even Judas, hiding his increasing confusion under the appearance of -offended astonishment, was able to force his voice to say, “Lord, is it -I?” But Jesus, who the next day would not defend Himself, would not even -bring an accusation and only repeated the sad prophecy in more definite -words, “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall -betray me.” And while they all still gazed at Him in painful doubt, for -the third time He insisted, ... “The hand of him that betrayeth me is -with me on the table.” He added no more, but to follow the old customs -up to the last, He filled the cup for the fourth time and gave it to -them to drink. And once more the thirteen voices rang out in the old -hymn, the “great hallel” which ended the liturgy of the Passover. Jesus -repeated the vigorous words of the Psalmist which were like a prophetic -funeral oration for Him, pronounced before His death. “The Lord is on my -side; I will not fear; what can man do unto me?... They compassed me -about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns.... I shall not -die, but live.... The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given -me over unto death. Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go -into them, and I will praise the Lord:... The stone which the builders -refused is become the headstone of the corner.... Bind the sacrifice -with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” - -The victim was ready and the next day the inhabitants of Jerusalem were -to see a new altar of wood and iron. But perhaps the Disciples, sleepy -and confused, did not understand the new meaning both melancholy and -triumphant of the old canticles. - -When the hymn was ended they left the room and the house, at once. As -soon as they had emerged from the house Judas disappeared into the -night. The remaining eleven silently followed Jesus, who, as was His -wont, made His way to the Mount of Olives. - - - ABBA FATHER - - -On the Mount there was a garden, and a place where olives were crushed, -which gave it its name, Gethsemane. Jesus and His friends had been -spending the nights there, either to avoid the odors and noise of the -great city, distasteful to them, country-bred as they were, or because -they were afraid of being treacherously captured in the midst of their -enemies’ houses. - -And when He was at the place, He said to His disciples, “Sit ye here -while I go and pray yonder.” - -But He was so heavy-hearted that He dreaded being alone. He took with -Him the three whom He loved the best, Simon Peter, James and John. And -when they had gone a little way from the others, He began to be -sorrowful and very heavy. “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto -death; tarry ye here, and watch with me.” - -If they answered Him no one knows what they said. But we know that they -did not comfort Him with the words which come from the heart when it -shares the suffering of a loved one, for He withdrew Himself from them -alone, and went further on, to pray. He fell on the ground on His face -and prayed, saying, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; O -my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” - -He was alone now, alone in the night, alone in the midst of men, alone -before God, and He could show His weakness without shame. After all, he -was a Man, too, a man of flesh and blood, a living, breathing man, who -knew that His destruction was at hand, that His body would be destroyed, -that His flesh would be pierced, that His blood would be poured out on -the ground. - -This was the second temptation. After the defeat of Satan in the desert, -the Evangelist says: “he departed from him for a season.” He had left -Him till this moment. Now He was in a new desert, terribly alone in the -darkness, more alone than in the desert where the wild beasts served -Him. Cloaked and learned wild beasts were at hand now, but only to tear -Him to pieces. In that terrible nocturnal desert, Satan returned to -tempt his enemy; at first he had promised Christ, kingdoms, victories, -and prodigies, he had tried to draw Him by the bait of power. Now, on -the contrary, he counted on His weakness. At the beginning of His life, -Christ burning with confident love had not fallen into his trap, but -Christ near His end, abandoned by those nearest to Him, encompassed by -His enemies, might be conquered by fear, even though He had risen above -cupidity. The prayer to the Father was at the instigation of Satan, was -a beginning of cowardice. Jesus knew He must die, that His death was -necessary, that He had come to give life by His death, to confirm by His -death that greater life which He announced. He had made no effort to -avoid death, He had been willing to die for His friends, for all men, -for those who did not know Him, for those who hated Him, for those not -yet born. He had predicted His death to His friends, had already given -them the rewards of His death, the bread of His body, the blood of His -soul; and He had no right to ask the Father that the cup might pass from -His lips or that His death might be delayed. He had written His words on -the dust of the public place, and the wind had quickly obliterated them. -He had written them on the hearts of a few men, but He knew how easily -effaced are words written on the hearts of men. If His truth were to -remain forever on the earth so that no one could ever forget it He must -write it with His blood. Only with the blood in our veins can truth be -written permanently on the pages of earth so that it will not fade under -men’s footsteps or under the rainfall of centuries. The Cross is the -rigorously necessary consequence of the Sermon on the Mount. He who -brings love is given over to hatred, and He can only conquer hatred by -accepting condemnation. Everything must be paid for, the good at a -higher price than evil; and the greatest good, which is love, must be -paid for by the greatest evil in men’s power, assassination. - -But all that faith and revelation tell us of His divinity rises up -against the idea that He can ever have been subjected to temptation. If -the torture and the end of His body had really terrified Him, was there -not yet time to save Himself? For many days He had known that they were -trying to take Him captive, and even on that night there were ways of -escaping the pack of hounds ready to fall upon Him. He would have been -safe if, either alone or with His most faithful friends, He had taken -the road back to the Jordan, and thence by hidden paths have passed -across Perea into the Tetrarchy of Philip, where He had already taken -refuge to escape the ill-will of Antipas. The Jewish police were so few -and primitive that they could scarcely have found Him. The fact that He -did not do this, did not flee, shows that He did not try to escape death -and the horrors that were to accompany it. From the point of view of our -coarse human logic His death was a suicide—a divine suicide by the hand -of others, not unlike that of the heroes of antiquity who fell upon the -sword of a friend or a slave. What sort of a life would He have had -after such a flight? To grow old obscurely, the timorous master of a -hidden sect, to die at the last, worn out, the death-rattle in His -throat like any other man! Better, infinitely better to finish the -sowing of the Gospel on the Cross and to water it with His blood. He had -spoken out His truths and now, that those truths should be everlastingly -remembered He must needs link with them the horror of His unforgettable -death. Perhaps this blood, like a stinging drink, would arouse His -disciples forever. - -But if the cup that Jesus wished to pass from Him was not fear of death, -what else could it have been? Betrayal by him whom He had chosen and -loved, by the disciple whose hunger He had fed that very evening with -His body, whose thirst He had quenched with His soul? Or the denial -close at hand of the other disciple in whom after his cry at Cæsarea He -had the greatest hope? Or the desertion of all the others who would flee -like scattered lambs when the wolf sets his fangs into their mother’s -body? Or was it grief for that greater denial, the refusal of His own -people, the Jews, of the people from whom He was born and who now -despised Him like one born out of His time, and suppressed Him like a -child of shame, and did not know that the blood of Him who came to save -them would never be wiped from their foreheads? Perhaps in the darkness -of this last vigil He had a glimpse of the fate which would befall His -children later on, the bewilderment of the first saints, the dissensions -between them, the desertions, the martyrdoms, the massacres, and after -the hour of triumph the weakness of those who should have guided the -multitude, the irrepressible schisms, the dismemberment of the Church, -the wild dreaming of heretical pride, the growth of innumerable sects, -the confusion of false prophets, the boldness of rebellious reformers, -the simony and dissoluteness of those who deny Him in their actions -while glorifying Him in word and gesture: the persecutions of Christians -by Christians, the neglect of the lukewarm and the arrogant, the -dominion of new Pharisees and new Scribes, distorting and betraying His -teachings, the misunderstanding of His words, when they fall into the -hands of the hair-splitters, weighers of the immaterial, separators of -the inseparable, who, with learned vanity, eviscerate and cut to pieces -the living things they pretend to bring to life. - -The cup that Jesus wished to pass from Him might therefore have been not -at all any wrong done to Him, but wrongs committed by others, those -alive then and close to Him, or those not yet born and far-distant. What -He was asking from His Father might have been not His own safety from -death, but safety from the evils, which, then and later, were to -overwhelm those who claim to believe in Him. The origin of His sadness -would have been thus not fear for Himself, but love for others. - -But no one will ever know the true meaning of the words cried out by the -Son to the Father, in the black loneliness of the Olives. A great French -Christian called the story of this night the “Mystery of Jesus.” The -“Mystery of Judas” is the only human mystery in the Gospels; the prayer -of Gethsemane is the most inscrutable, divine mystery of the story of -Christ. - - - BLOOD AND SWEAT - - -And when He had prayed, He turned back to find the Disciples, who were -perhaps waiting for Him to return. But the three had gone to sleep. -Crouching on the ground, wrapped as best they could in their cloaks, -Peter, James and John, the faithful, the specially chosen, had allowed -themselves to be overcome with sleep. The obscure apprehensions, the -repeated agitations of those last few days, the oppressive melancholy of -the Supper, accompanied by words so grave, by presentiments so sad, had -plunged them into that prostration which is more like torpor than sleep. -The voice of the Master—who of us has the spiritual acuteness to realize -that the accent of that voice in the sinister black silence is speaking -also to our own hearts now?—called them: “What, could ye not watch with -me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The -spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.” Did they hear these -words in their sleep? Did they answer, shamefaced, putting their hands -to their confused eyes which could not bear even the dim light of the -night? What could they answer, startled, only half awake, to the -Sleepless One who was to sleep no more? - -Jesus went away again, more heavy-hearted than ever. Was the temptation -against which He had put them on guard in them alone or also in Him? Was -it the temptation to escape? To deny Himself as others were to deny Him? -To oppose violence to violence? To pay with the lives of others for His -own life, or to beg once more with a more despairing supplication that -the peril might be averted from His head? - -Jesus was once more alone, more alone than ever, in a solitude complete -as infinite desolation. Until that hour He might have thought that -there, close at hand, His loved friends were keeping vigil with Him. Now -they had reached the limit of their endurance and had deserted Him -spiritually before deserting Him bodily. - -They had left Him alone; they were not men enough to grant Him the last -favor which He asked, they who had received so many. In return for His -blood, and His soul, for all His promises, for all His love, He had -asked one thing only, that they should not fall asleep. And this small -favor had not been granted Him. And yet He was suffering and struggling -at that moment for the sake of those who slept. He who gave all was to -receive nothing. During that night of refusals His every prayer was -denied; both His Father and His fellow-men refused Him. - -Satan also had disappeared into the darkness which is his own kingdom, -and Christ was alone, utterly alone, alone as men are alone who raise -themselves above other men, who suffer in the darkness to bring light to -all. Every hero is always the only one awake in a world of sleepers, -like the pilot watching over his ship in the solitude of the ocean and -of the night, while his companions rest. - -Jesus was the most solitary of all these eternally solitary souls. -Everything slept about Him. The city slept, its white, shadow-checkered -mass sprawling beyond the Kedron; and in all the houses, in all the -cities in the world, the blind race of ephemeral men were sleeping. The -only ones awake at that hour were perhaps some woman waiting for the -call of her lover; perhaps a thief in ambush in the dark, his hand on -the hilt of his knife; perhaps a philosopher pondering the problem, -“Does God exist?” - -But the leaders of the Jews and their guards were not asleep that night. -Those who should have defended Jesus, who might at least have consoled -Him, those who claimed to love Him and who in their way at times did -really love Him, were stretched in sleep. But those who hated Him, who -wished to kill Him, did not sleep. Caiaphas was not asleep and the only -Disciple awake at that moment was Judas. - -Until the arrival of Judas His Master was alone with His death-like -sadness. That He might feel less alone He began to pray to His Father, -and once more those imploring words rushed to His lips. The effort to -keep them back, the conflict which convulsed His whole being—because the -divinity which was in Him accepted joyfully what it had willed, while -the ruddy clay which clothed it shuddered—this human and superhuman -effort brought to Him at last the victory. He was racked with suffering, -but He was triumphant; He was utterly spent, but He had conquered. - -The spirit had once more overcome the flesh; but from now on His body -was merely a trunk which bled and died. The tension of the terrible -struggle had done so great a violence to all that was earthly in Him -that the sweat stood out on Him, as though He had achieved an impossible -task, had endured the unendurable. The sweat poured from all His person; -but not merely the natural sweat which runs down the face of the man -walking in the sun, or working in the fields or raving in fever. The -blood which He had promised to shed for men was shed first on the grass -of the garden of Gethsemane. Great drops of blood mixed with sweat fell -on the earth as a first offering of His conquered flesh. It was the -beginning of liberation, almost a relief to that humanity which was the -greatest burden of His expiation. - -Then from His lips wet with tears, wet with sweat, wet with blood, arose -a new prayer: “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, -except I drink it, thy will be done. Not my will, but thine, be done.” - -Gone now was any trace of cowardly shrinking; the will, that is the -individual, abdicated in the obedience which alone can assure the -freedom of the universal. He is no longer a man, but Man; the Man one -with God, “I wish that which Thou wisheth.” From that moment His victory -over death is assured, because he who gives himself wholly to the -Eternal cannot die. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and -whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” - -He stood up calmed, and turned back towards His Disciples. His sad -reproof had been vain; worn out and exhausted, the three were again -sleeping. But this time Jesus did not call them. He had found a -consolation greater than any which they could give Him—and He kneeled -down once more to repeat to the Father those great words of abnegation, -“Not my will, but thine, be done.” - -God was no longer to be asked to be the servant of man. Up to that time -men had asked Him to satisfy their particular wishes in exchange for -canticles and offerings. I wish for prosperity, said the man who prayed, -for safety, for strength, for flowering fields, for the ruin of my -enemies. But now Christ, the Over-turner, has come to transpose the -common prayer, “Not what is pleasing to me, but what is pleasing to -Thee. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Blessedness can -only come as a result of perfect harmony between the sovereign will of -the Father and the subordinate will of man, as a result of the -convergence and identity of those two wills. What if the will of God -give me into the hands of the torturers and fastens me like an evil and -malignant beast upon two crossed beams of wood? If I believe in the -Father as a Father, I know that He loves me more than I could love -myself, and that He knows more than I could know, therefore He can wish -only for what is best for me even if that best to human eyes seems the -most dreadful evil; and I wish for what the Father wills. If His -foolishness is unimaginably more wise than our wisdom, martyrdom given -by Him will be incomparably better than any earthly pleasures. - -What if the Disciples slept? What if all men slept? Christ was no longer -alone. He was content to suffer, content to die. He had found His peace -under the hammer-stroke of anguish. - -Now He can listen almost longingly for the footsteps of Judas. - -For a time He hears only the beating of His own heart, so much calmer -than at first, now that the horror is nearer. But after some moments, He -hears approaching the sound of cautious shuffling, and there among the -bushes which border the road red flickerings of light appear and -disappear in the darkness. They are the servants of the assassins who -are following Iscariot along the path. - -Jesus turns to the Disciples, still asleep, “Behold the hour is come; -rise, let us go. Lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.” - -The eight other Disciples, sleeping farther away, are already aroused by -the noise, but have no time to answer the Master because while He is -still speaking the crowd comes up and stops. - - - THE HOUR OF DARKNESS - - -It was the rabble who swarmed around the Temple, paid by the Sanhedrin; -bunglingly made over for the time being into warriors; sweepers, and -door-keepers, the lower parasites of the sanctuary, who had taken up -swords in place of brooms and keys. There were many of them, a great -multitude, so the Evangelists say, although they knew they were going -out against only twelve men, who had only two swords. It is not credible -that there were Roman soldiers among them and certainly not “a captain,” -as John says, an officer over a thousand men. Caiaphas wished to make -Christ a prisoner before he presented Him to the procurator, and the few -forces at his disposition (the last vestiges of David’s army) with the -addition of some clients and relatives were enough to carry out the -far-from-dangerous capture. - -This haphazard mob had come with torches and lanterns almost as if out -for an evening celebration. The pallid faces of the disciples, the livid -face of Judas seemed to flicker in the red lights. Christ offered His -face, stained with blood but more luminous than the lights, to Judas’ -kiss. “Friend, wherefore art thou come? Betrayest thou the Son of Man -with a kiss?” He knew what Judas came to do, and He knew that this kiss -was the first of His tortures and the most unendurable. This kiss was -the signal for the guards who did not know the delinquent by sight. -“Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He: take Him and lead Him away -safely,” the merchant of blood had told the rough crowd who followed him -as they came along the road. But that kiss was at once the first and the -most horrible sullying of those lips which had pronounced the most -heavenly words ever spoken here in the inferno of our earth. The -spitting, the buffeting, the blows of the Jewish rabble and of the Roman -soldiers, and the sponge dipped in vinegar, were to be less intolerable -than that kiss, the kiss of a mouth which had called Him friend and -Master, which had drunk from His cup, which had eaten from His dish. - -As soon as the sign was given the boldest came up to their enemy. - -“Whom seek ye?” - -“Jesus of Nazareth.” - -“I am he.” He had scarcely said “I am he” when the curs fell backward, -either at the sound of His tranquil voice or at the light of those -divine eyes. But even at such a moment Jesus took thought for His -friends “I have told you that I am He, if therefore ye seek me, let -these go their way.” - -At the moment, profiting by the confusion of the guards, Simon, coming -suddenly to himself from his sleep and from his panic, laid his hand to -a sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, a servant of Caiaphas. Peter on -that night was full of contradictory impulses; after the supper he had -sworn that no matter what happened he would never leave Jesus; then in -the garden he fell asleep and could not keep himself awake; after that, -tardily he set himself up as a militant defender; and a little later he -was to deny that he had ever known his Master. Simon’s untimely and -futile action was at once repudiated by Christ: “Put up thy sword into -the sheath, for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword. -The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” And He -offered His hands to the nearest rogues who made all haste to tie them -with the rope which they had brought. While they were busy tying Him, -the prisoner accused them of cowardice. “Are ye come out, as against a -thief, with swords and staves to take me? When I was daily with you in -the temple ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour -and the power of darkness.” - -He is the Light of the world, and the powers of darkness seek to -extinguish it; but they can obscure it only for a short time, as on a -July noon when the sun is suddenly covered by a dark storm-cloud but an -hour afterwards shines out again, higher and more majestic than ever. -The guards, eager to return triumphantly and to receive their fees, did -not trouble to answer; they dragged Him by the rope towards the road to -Jerusalem as butchers drag the ox to the slaughter-house. Then, -confesses Matthew, “... all the disciples forsook him, and fled.” Their -Master forbade them to defend Him; instead of blasting His enemies the -Messiah offered His hands to be bound; the Saviour was powerless to save -Himself. What could they do but disappear so that they might not also be -brought before those powers which yesterday they had boasted of -overthrowing, but which now, in the flickering of the lanterns and the -swords, seemed suddenly very formidable to their distracted minds? And -only two followed the infamous procession, and they from a safe -distance. We shall see them later in the court-yard of Caiaphas’ house. - -All this bustle awakened a young man who had been sleeping in the house -in the grove of olives. Inquisitive like all young men, he did not take -the time to dress, but wrapping a sheet about him, stepped out to see -what was happening. The guards thought him a disciple who had not had -time to escape, and laid hands on him, but the young man, casting off -the sheet, left it in their hands and fled from them naked. - -No one has ever known the identity of this mysterious man awakened from -his sleep, who appeared suddenly in the night, and as suddenly -disappeared. Perhaps he was the youthful Mark, the only one of the -Evangelists who tells this story. If it were Mark, it is possible that -on that night the involuntary witness of the beginning of the Passion -first conceived the impulse to become, as Mark did, its first historian. - - - ANNAS - - -In a short time the criminal was taken to the house which Annas shared -with his son-in-law, the High Priest Caiaphas. Although the night was -now well advanced, and although the assembly had been warned the day -before, that Caiaphas hoped to capture the blasphemer early in the -morning, many of the Jews were still in bed and the prosecution could -not begin at once. In order that the common people might not have time -to rise in rebellion, nor Pilate to take thought, the leaders were in -haste to finish the affair that very morning. Some of the guards who -returned from the Mount of Olives were sent to awake the more important -Scribes and Elders, and in the meantime old Annas, who had not slept all -that night, set himself on his own account to question this false -Prophet. - -Annas, son of Seth, had been for seven years High Priest, and though -deposed in the year 14 under Tiberius, he was still the real primate of -the Jewish Church. A Sadducee, head of one of the most aggressive and -wealthy families of the ecclesiastical patriarchate, he was still, -through his son-in-law, leader of his caste. Five of his sons were -afterwards High Priests, and one of them, also called Annas, caused -James, the brother of the Lord, to be stoned to death. - -Jesus was led before him. It was the first time that the wood-worker of -Nazareth found Himself face to face with the religious head of His -people, with His greatest enemy. Up to that time He had met only the -subalterns in the Temple, the common soldiers, the Scribes and -Pharisees; now He was before the head, and He was no longer the accuser -but the accused. This was the first questioning of that day. In the -space of a few hours, four authorities examined Him; two rulers from the -Temple, Annas and Caiaphas; and two temporal rulers, Antipas and Pilate. - -The first question Annas put to Jesus was to ask Him who His disciples -were. The old political priest who like all the other Sadducees gave no -credence to the foolish stories about the coming of a Messiah, wished to -know first of all who were the followers of the new Prophet, and from -what rank of society He had picked them up, so that he might determine -how far the seditious ulcer had progressed. But Jesus looked at Him -without answering. How could that dove-huckster have thought that Jesus -could betray those who had betrayed Him? - -Then Annas asked about His doctrine. Jesus answered that it was not for -Him to explain: “I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the -synagogue and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in -secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, -what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.” - -This was the truth. Jesus was not esoteric. Even if He sometimes said to -His Disciples words that He did not repeat in the open places of the -city, He exhorted them to cry out on the housetops what He told them in -the house. But Annas must have made a wry face at an answer which -pre-supposed an honest trial, for one of the officers standing by struck -Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Answerest thou the high priest -so?” - -This blow from the quick-tempered attendant was the beginning of the -insults which were henceforth rained upon Christ up to the cross. But He -who had been struck, with His cheek reddened by the boor, turned towards -the man who had struck Him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the -evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?” - -The rogue, abashed by such calm, found no answer. Annas began to see -that this Galilean was no common adventurer, and he was all the more -eager to get Him out of the way. Seeing, however, that he was not -succeeding in extracting anything from Him, he sent Him bound to -Caiaphas, the High Priest, so that the fiction of a legal prosecution -might begin at once. - - - THE COCK CROWS - - -Only two of the fleeing Disciples repented of their cowardice, and -trembling in the shadow of the walls, followed from afar the swaying -lanterns which accompanied Christ to the den of fratricides: Simon, son -of Jonas, and John, son of Zebedee. - -John, who was known in the household of Caiaphas, went into the -courtyard of the building with Jesus, but Simon, more shamefaced, or not -so bold, did not enter and stood at the door without: then after a few -moments John, not seeing his companion, and wishing to have him at hand -for sympathy or defense, went out and persuaded the suspicious -doorkeeper to let Peter also come in. But as he stepped through the -door, the woman recognized him: “Art not thou also one of his -disciples?” - -But Peter took on an offended air, “I know not, neither understand I -what thou sayest. I know him not.” - -And he sat down with John near the brazier which the servants had -kindled in the courtyard because, although it was in April, the night -was cold. But the woman would not give up her idea, and coming to the -fire and looking at him earnestly, said, “Thou also wast with Jesus of -Nazareth,” and he denied again with curses, “Woman, I know him not!” - -The gate-keeper, shaking her head, turned back to her gate, but the men -aroused by these heated denials looked at him more closely and said, -“Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech -agreeth thereto.” - -Then Simon began to curse and to swear, but another, a kinsman of -Malchus whose ear Peter had cut off, cut short his testimony: “Did I not -see thee in the garden with him?” - -But Peter, now hopelessly involved in lies, began again to protest that -they had mistaken him for another and that he was not one of the friends -of the Man. - -At this very moment Jesus, bound among the guards, crossed the courtyard -after His colloquy with Annas, passing to the other part of the palace, -where Caiaphas lived: and He heard the words of Simon and looked at Him. -For just one moment He turned His eyes upon Simon, those eyes where -Simon, denying Him now, had once recognized the gleam of divinity. For -an instant only He looked at him with eyes whose gentleness was more -unendurable than any contempt. And this look pierced for all time the -pitiable, distracted heart of the fisherman. To the day of his death he -could never forget those sad, mild eyes fixed on him in that terrible -night; those eyes which in one flash expressed more and moved him more -than a thousand words. - -“Thou also who wast the first, of whom I hoped most, the hardest but the -most zealous, the most ignorant but the most fervent, thou also, Simon, -the same who cried out my true name near Cæsarea, thou also who knowest -all my words and hast slept with thy head on my cloak and hast kissed me -so many times with those lips which now deny me, thou also, Simon Peter, -son of Jonas, deny me before those who are about to kill me! I was right -that day when I called thee a stumbling block and reproached thee with -thinking not like God but like men. Thou mightest at least have fled -away as the others did if thou hadst not the strength to drink with me -the cup of infamy which I had foretold to thee. Flee away now that I may -see thee no more until the day when I shall be truly free and thou shalt -be truly made over by faith. If thou fearest for thy life why art thou -here? If thou fearest not, why dost thou deny me? Even Judas at the last -has been more faithful than thou: he came with my enemies, but he did -not deny that he knew me. Simon, Simon, I foretold that thou wouldst -leave me like the others, but now thou art more cruel than the others. I -have pardoned thee from my heart. I am about to die, and I pardon him -who brings me to death, and thee also; and I love thee as I have always -loved thee, but canst thou forgive thyself?” - -Under the weight of this look, Simon hung his head and his heart beat -furiously in his breast. Not for his very life could he have brought out -another “No.” His face burned with an intolerable heat as if the brazier -before him had been the mouth of Hell. He was torn by an unbearable -tumult of passion and of remorse; in one breath he seemed frozen, in the -next all his body flamed. A moment before he had said that he had never -known Jesus, and now it seemed to him that he had spoken truly, that at -this moment he knew Him for the first time: that he finally understood -who He was, as if those eyes full of loving grief had pierced him with a -flash like an archangel’s sword. - -He was scarcely able to drag himself to his feet and to stumble out to -the door. As he went out into the street in the silent, solitary -darkness a distant cock crew. This gay, bold note was for Peter like the -cry which awakens a sleeper from his nightmare. Then in the dim light of -dawn the last stars saw a man staggering along like a drunkard, his head -hidden in his cloak, his shoulders shaken by the sobs of a despairing -lament. - -Weep, Peter, now that God mercifully grants you the grace of tears, weep -for yourself and for Him, weep for Judas, your traitor brother; weep for -your fleeing brothers, weep for the death of Him who is dying to save -your poor soul, for all those who will come after you and who will do as -you have done, deny their Saviour, and who will not pay for their -redemption by repentance. Weep for all the apostates, for all the others -who will deny Him, all those who will say as you have said, “I am not -one of His disciples!” Who of us has not done at least once what Simon -Peter did? Who of us, born in the Church of Christ, having prayed to Him -with our childish lips, having knelt before His blood-stained face, has -not said, fearing a mocking smile, “I never knew Him.” - -Thou at least, unfortunate Simon, although thou wast Peter the rock, -wept bitterly and hid in thy cloak thy face convulsed with remorse. And -before many days Christ risen from the dead will kiss thee once more -because thy perjured mouth has been washed clean forever by thy tears. - - - THEN THE HIGH PRIEST RENT HIS CLOTHES - - -Caiaphas’ real name was Joseph. Caiaphas is a surname and is the same -word as Cephas, Simon’s surname, that is to say, Rock. On that Friday -morning’s dawn, the Son of Man was caught between those two rocks like a -grain of wheat between two millstones. Simon Peter is the type of the -timid friends who knew not how to save Him: Joseph Peter, of His -enemies, determined at any cost to destroy Him. Between the denial of -Simon and the hatred of Joseph, between the head of the church about to -disappear and the head of the Church just coming into existence, between -those two rocks Jesus was like wheat between the mill-stones. - -The Sanhedrin had already come together and was awaiting Him. Together -with Annas and Caiaphas who presided, there were John, Alexander, and -all the reeking scum of the upper classes. As a rule the Sanhedrin was -composed of twenty-three priests, twenty-three Scribes, twenty-three -Elders, and two Presidents, in all, seventy-one. But on this occasion -some were absent, those who had more fear of an uprising of the people -than hatred for the blasphemer, and those few who would not lift a -finger to condemn Him, but would not defend Him openly: among these last -were certainly Nicodemus, the nocturnal disciple, and Joseph of -Arimathea, who was devoutly to lay Jesus in His tomb. - -They had come together to ratify with a cloak of legality the decree of -murder already written on their hearts. These delegates from the Temple, -from the School and the Bank, burned with impatience to confirm, each -for his own reasons, their revengeful sentence. The great room of the -council already full of people was like a den of werewolves. The new day -showed itself hesitatingly: the orange-colored tongues of the torches -were scarcely visible in the dim light of dawn. In this sinister -half-shadow the Jews were waiting: aged, portly, hook-nosed, harsh, -beetle-browed, wrapped in their white cloaks, their heads covered, -stroking their venerable beards, with choleric eyes, seated in a half -circle, they seemed a council of sorcerers awaiting a living offering. -The rest of the hall was occupied by the clients of the seated assembly, -by guards with staves in their hands, by the domestic servants of the -house. The air was heavy and dense as in a charnel house. - -Jesus, His wrists still tied with ropes, was thrust into the midst of -this kennel like a condemned man thrown to the beasts of the Imperial -amphitheater. Annas had gathered together in all haste from among the -rabble some false witnesses to make an end of any discussion or defense. -The pretense of a trial began with calling these perjurers. Two of them -came forward and swore that they had heard these words: “I will destroy -this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build -another made without hands.” - -At the time and for those hearers this accusation was a very grave one, -meaning nothing less than sacrilege and blasphemy. For in the minds of -its upholders the Temple of Jerusalem was the one intangible home of the -Lord. And to threaten the Temple was to threaten their real Master, the -Master of all the Jews. But Jesus had never said these words or at least -not in this form, nor with this meaning. It is true that He had -announced that of the Temple not one stone would remain upon another, -but not through any action of His. And the reference to the Temple not -made with hands, built up in three days, was part of another discourse -in which He had spoken figuratively of His resurrection. The false -witnesses could not even agree about these words confusedly and -maliciously repeated, and one statement from Jesus would have been -enough to confound them utterly. But Jesus held His peace. - -The High Priest could not endure this silence, and standing up, cried -out, “Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against -thee?” - -But Jesus answered nothing. - -These silences of Jesus were so weighty with magnetic eloquence that -they enraged His judges. He held His peace at the first questioning of -Annas. He was silent now at the outcry of Caiaphas and He was to be -silent with Antipas and Pilate. - -He had made already, a thousand times, the statements He might have made -now, and any other answers He might have made would either have been -misunderstood by His judges, or have been used by them as new pretexts -for attacking Him. Superhuman truths are in their very nature ineffable, -and only a shadow of them can be grasped, through a loving effort by -those who already have a faint divination of that shadow; and even to -them this comes more through the heart than through faulty and defective -words. - -Jesus did not speak, but looked about Him with His great calm eyes, at -the troubled and convulsed faces of His assassins, and for all eternity -judged these phantom judges. In a flash every one of them was weighed -and condemned by that look which went straight to the soul. Were they -worthy to hear His words, those flawed, self-seeking souls, empty and -inane, those of them that are not ulcerous and moribund? How could He -ever, by the most unthinkable prodigy, stoop to justify Himself before -them? - -Such self-justification was attempted by the son of the midwife, the -flat-nosed student and rival of the Sophists! The seventy-year-old -arguer, who for so many years had bored the artisans and the idlers on -the market-place, was capable of reciting to the judges of Athens an -eloquent and carefully arranged oration of excuses, which, from the -limits of dialectics, descended little by little to the sophistries of -law courts. It is true that the ironical old man who had set himself to -reform the art of thinking rather than the art of living, who had not -been above usury, who, not having his fill with Xantippe, had had two -children by his concubine Myra, and who amused himself with caressing -handsome young men more than was becoming for the father of a family, -was ready to die, and knew how to die with noble firmness; but at the -bottom of his heart he would have preferred to descend into Hades by the -more natural road. Towards the end of his specious defense, he tried to -placate his judges by recalling his old age to them. “It is useless to -kill me because I will die very soon anyhow”—and offered to pay thirty -greater minæ if they would let him go in peace. - -But Christ was neither a sophist nor a lawyer, Christ whom so many -posthumous Pilates have tried to belittle by comparing Him to Socrates, -so inferior to Him. Like Dante’s angel, He disdained human discussions. -He answered with silence, or if He was forced to speak, spoke candidly -and briefly. Caiaphas, exasperated by this disrespectful taciturnity, -finally hit on a way to make him speak. “I adjure thee by the living -God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.” - -As long as they conducted His trial with the usual insidious procedure, -adducing falsities or asking Him about perfectly well-known truths, -Jesus said no word; but even in the infamous mouth of the High Priest, -the invocation to the living God was irresistible. Jesus could not deny -Himself to the living God, to the God who will live eternally, and who -lives in all of us, and who was present there even in that lair of -demons. And yet He hesitated a moment before dazzling those bleared eyes -with the splendor of His formidable secret. - -“If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not -answer me.” - -Now Caiaphas was not alone in putting the question; all of them, -excited, sprang to their feet and cried out, their clawing fingers -stretched towards Him, “Art thou then the Son of God?” - -Jesus could not, like Peter, deny the irrefutable certainty which was -the reason for His life and for His death. He was responsible towards -His own people and towards all men. But, as at Cæsarea, He wished others -to be the ones to pronounce His real name, and when they had said it He -did not refuse it, even though death were the penalty. - -“Ye say that I am. I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man -sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” - -He had condemned Himself out of His own mouth. The snarling pack about -Him was frothing at the mouth with delight and anger. In the presence of -His assassins He had proclaimed what He had secretly admitted to His -most loving friends. Although they might betray Him, He had not betrayed -Himself or His father. Now He was ready for the last degradation. He had -said what He had to say. - -Caiaphas was triumphant. Pretending a shocked horror which he did not -feel—because like all the Sadducees he had no faith whatever in the -apocalyptic writers and cared about nothing but the fees and honors of -the Temple—he rent his priestly garments, crying out, “He hath spoken -blasphemy! What further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have -heard his blasphemy. What think ye?” - -And all the noisy kennel bayed out their answer, “He is guilty of -death.” - -And without any further examination, without a single protest, they all -condemned Him to death as a blasphemer and false prophet. - -The comedy of legal pretense was played to an end, and the cloaked -ghosts felt themselves relieved of an immense weight. It had cost the -High Priest a garment and he let the torn pieces hang like glorious -symbols of victorious battle. He did not know that on that very day a -garment more precious than any of his was to be torn, and he did not -dream that his gesture was a symbolic recognition of another -death-sentence. The priesthood of which he was the head was henceforth -disqualified and abolished forever. His successors were to be mere -semblances of priests, spurious and illegitimate, and in a few years the -sumptuous garment of marble and masonry of the Jewish sanctuary was to -be rent by the Roman rabble. - - - AND WHEN THEY HAD BLINDFOLDED HIM - - -When the tragi-comedy acted by the masters had ended in a -death-sentence, the devils’ band of subalterns had their turn. While the -high officials went apart to take counsel on the manner of securing the -ratification from the Procurator and executing the death sentence with -all speed, Jesus was thrown as prey to the rabble in the Palace, as the -offal of the slain animal is thrown to the pack which has taken part in -the hunt. The ruffians who lived upon the leavings of the Temple felt -that they had as their perquisite the right to some amusement. Man, the -beast, when he is certain of impunity, knows no more pleasing recreation -than to wreak himself upon the defenseless, especially if the -defenseless is innocent. Our bestial nature, crouching untamed at the -bottom of every human heart, rushes out bold and snarling; the face -becomes a muzzle, teeth are tusks, hands appear what they really are, -claws, the articulate sounds of human speech vanish in snarlings and -growlings. If a drop of blood reddens to the view, they jostle each -other to lick it up: there is no more intoxicating liquor than blood: it -is far more stimulating than wine, and far fairer to see, red as it is, -than the water of Pilate. - -But tigerishness breaking loose readily takes the form of play; even -tigers are sportive, even children, as soon as they begin to grow strong -at all, are tigerish. The captors of Christ, waiting for foreign -authority to confirm the death sentence of the most innocent of their -brothers, meant to give Christ a humorous foretaste of His sufferings. -They had permission to jest with their King, to divert themselves with -their God. And they felt that they really deserved some amusement; they -had been awake all night long, and the night had been cold: and then the -march up to the Mount of Olives, fearing resistance, a well-grounded -fear, since one of them had had his ear stricken off; and then the long -wait, till dawn, a very tiring business especially on those festal days -when the city and the Temple were full of foreigners and there was so -much more for every one to do. - -But they did not know how to begin. He was tied and his friends had -disappeared. But this man who looked at them with an expression they had -never seen till then, with a steady look which seemed beyond all earthly -things and yet searched them out within like a ray of troublesome -sunshine—this man, bound, exhausted, the fresh sweat on His face -softening the drops of dried blood on His cheeks, this insignificant -man, this defenseless provincial with no protecting patrons, condemned -to death by the highest and holiest tribunal of the Jewish people, this -human rubbish destined to the cross of slaves and thieves, this -laughingstock whom the authorities had given over to their abuse like a -puppet at the saturnalia, this man who did not speak nor complain nor -weep, but who looked on them as if He had compassion on them, as a -father might look at his sick child, as a friend might look at a -delirious friend, this man, mocked by all, inspired in their worthless -souls a mysterious reverence. - -But one of the Scribes or the Elders gave the example, and spat at Jesus -as he passed by Him. He was too careful of His ritual cleanliness to -contaminate His newly washed hands, ready for the Passover, by touching -an enemy of God, who, near to death, was already impure like a corpse. -But saliva: what is saliva? Refuse of the body, contempt materialized in -a liquid. - -And on that face illumined by the early morning sun and by imprisoned -divinity, on that face transfigured by the light of the sun and by -love’s light, on the golden face of Christ, the spittle of the Jews -covered the first blood of the Passion. But for the rabble of the -servants and the guards spitting was not enough, nor were they afraid of -sullying their hands. The example of the leaders had overcome the -impression made on them by the condemned man’s sad and brotherly look. -The guards who were nearest Him struck Him in the face; those who could -not strike His face rained down blows and threats, and the words which -came from the mouths of those insensate men wounded Him more cruelly -than blows. - -That face, which had been white as a hawthorn blossom and shining like -sunlight, darkened into the livid purple of beaten flesh. The fair, -gracious body, reeling with blows, staggered in the midst of the heaving -crowd. Christ said no word to those who vomited out on Him the appalling -contents of their souls. He had answered the guard who had struck Him in -the presence of Annas, asking him to correct Him if He had spoken ill; -for this ribald mob let loose He had no answer. But one of them more -quick-witted or more childish than the others had an idea: he took a -dirty cloth and with it covered the bleeding, buffeted face, tying the -corners behind. And he said: “Let us play blind man’s buff. This man -boasts of being a prophet; let us see if he can guess which of us is -striking him.” - -Christ’s face was covered. Was there, in the action of the ruffians, an -unconsciously compassionate desire to spare Him, at least, the sight of -His brothers become like beasts? Or was that look of suffering love -really unendurable to them? With childish cruelty, they arranged -themselves in a circle about Him and first one and then another twitched -a fold of His garment, gave Him a blow on the shoulder, thrust Him in -the back, struck Him with a staff over the head: “Prophesy! Who is it -that smote thee?” - -Why did He not answer? Had He not predicted the ruin of the Temple, wars -and earthquakes, the coming of the Son of Man on clouds and many other -idle stories? How was it that now He could not make such an easy guess, -give the name of a person so close at hand? What sort of a prophet was -this? Had he lost His power all at once, or had He never had it? He -might be able to make those poor countrified Galileans believe His -stories, but here we are in Jerusalem, the city which understands -prophets and kills them when they do not show a proper spirit. Luke -adds, “And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.” - -But Caiaphas and the others were in haste and thought that the servile -pack had amused itself long enough. The false king must be taken to -Pilate that his sentence be confirmed: the Sanhedrin could pronounce -judgment, but since Judea was under Roman rule, it had no longer, -unfortunately, the Jus Gladii. And the High Priests, Scribes and Elders, -set out for the Palace of the Procurator, followed by the guards leading -Jesus with ropes, and by the yelling horde which grew larger as they -went along the street. - - - PONTIUS PILATE - - -Since A. D. 26, Pontius Pilate had been Procurator in the name of -Tiberius Cæsar. Historians know nothing of him before his arrival in -Judea. If the name comes from Pileatus it may be supposed that he was a -freedman or descendant of freedmen, since the Pileo, or skull cap, was -the head gear of freed slaves. - -He had been in Judea only a few years, but long enough to draw upon -himself the bitterest hate of those over whom he ruled. It is true that -all our information about him comes from Jews and Christians, who were, -of course, his declared enemies; but it appears that he finally lost -favor even with his masters, since in A. D. 36 the Governor of Syria, -Lucius Vitellius, sent him to Rome to justify himself before Tiberius. -The Emperor died before Pilate arrived in the metropolis, but according -to tradition, he was exiled by Caligula, exiled into Gaul, where he -killed himself. - -In the first place the hatred of the Jews came from the profound scorn -which he showed from the start for this stiff-necked, indocile people, -who must have seemed to him, brought up in Roman ideas, like a snake pit -of venomous serpents—a low, dirty crowd, scarcely worthy to be tamed by -the cudgels of the mercenaries. To have an idea of Pilate’s personality, -make a mental picture of an English Viceroy of India, a subscriber to -the _Times_, a reader of John Stuart Mill and Shaw—with Byron and -Swinburne on his bookshelves—destined to administer the government over -a ragged, captious, hungry and turbulent people, wrangling among -themselves over a confusion of castes and mythologies and superstitions -for which their ruler feels in his heart the profoundest aversion, -looking down on them from the height of his dignity as a white man, a -European, a Briton and a Liberal. Pilate, as shown by his questions put -to Jesus, was one of those skeptics of the Roman decadence corrupted -with Pyrrhonism, a devotee of Epicurus, an encyclopedist of Hellenism -without any belief in the gods of his country, nor any belief that any -real God existed at all. The idea certainly can never have occurred to -Pilate that the true God could be found in this vermin-ridden, -superstitious mob, in the midst of this factious and jealous clergy, in -this religion which must have seemed to him like a barbarous mixture of -Syrian and Chaldean oracles. The only faith remaining to him, or which -he needed to pretend to hold because of his office, was the new Roman -religion, civic and political, concentrated on the cult of the Emperor. -The first conflict with the Jews arose in fact from this religion. When -he had changed the guard of Jerusalem, he ordered the soldiers to enter -the city by night, without taking off from their ensigns the silver -images of Cæsar. In the morning, as soon as the Jews were aware of this, -great was the horror and the uproar. It was the first time that the -Romans had lacked in external respect for the religion of their subjects -in Palestine. These figures of the deified Cæsar planted near the Temple -were for them an idolatrous provocation, the beginning of the -abomination of desolation. All the country was in an uproar; a -deputation was sent to Cæsarea to have Pilate take them away. Pilate -refused; for five days and nights they stormed about him day and night. -Finally the Procurator, to get himself out of the trouble, convoked them -in the amphitheater and treacherously had them surrounded with soldiers -with naked swords, assuring them that no one would escape if they did -not make an end of their clamor. But the Jews, instead of asking for -mercy, offered their throats to the swords, and Pilate, conquered by -this heroic stubbornness, ordered that the insignia be carried back to -Cæsarea. - -But if this clemency did not diminish the hatred of the Jews for the new -Procurator, neither did it lessen Pilate’s distaste nor his desire to do -them an ill turn. A little while after this, he introduced into Herod’s -palace, where he lived when he stayed at Jerusalem, votive tablets -dedicated to the Emperor. But the priests heard of it and once more the -people were aroused to outraged and furious anger. He was asked to take -away the idolatrous objects at once. An appeal to Cæsar was threatened, -an appeal supported by evidence of the impositions and cruelties -committed by Pilate. Pilate this time also did not yield. The Jews then -made the appeal to Tiberius, who decreed that the tablets should be sent -back to Cæsarea. - -Twice Pilate had had the worst of a dispute. But the third time he was -triumphant. Coming from the city of public baths and aqueducts, a -friend, as is well known, of ablutions, he noticed that Jerusalem lacked -water and he planned to have a fine large reservoir constructed and an -aqueduct several miles long. But the undertaking was expensive and to -pay for it he used a goodly sum taken from the treasury of the Temple. -The treasury was rich, for all the Jews scattered about in the Empire -came there to bring offerings, and when they could not come in person -sent them from a distance—but the priests cried out on the sacrilege, -and the people incited by them made such a commotion that when Pilate -came for the Feast of the Passover to Jerusalem, thousands of men -gathered in a tumultuous crowd in front of his Palace. But this time he -sent among the multitude a large number of disguised soldiers who at a -given signal began to lay about them so vigorously, among the most -furious of the crowd, that in a short time they all fled away, and -Pilate could enjoy in peace the water of the reservoir paid for with the -Jews’ money, and make use of it for his various ablutions. - -Only a short time had passed since this last encounter and now these -very priests who three times had risen against his authority, the very -ones who had tried to obtain his deposition, the very ones who hated him -heartily, hated him as a Roman, as a symbol of the foreign dominion and -of their slavery, and hated him still more personally as Pontius Pilate, -as plotter against their religion and thief of their money—these very -High Priests were forced to have recourse to him in order to vent -another hatred, which for the moment was more bitter in their wicked -hearts. Only hard necessity drove them to it, because death sentences -could not be carried out if they were not confirmed by Cæsar’s -representative. - -That Friday, at dawn, Pontius Pilate, wrapped in his toga, still sleepy -and yawning, was waiting for them in Herod’s palace, very ill-disposed -towards those tiresome trouble-makers, whose contentions had forced him -to rise earlier than usual. - - - WHAT IS TRUTH? - - -The crowd of the accusers and of the rough populace finally came out -into the open place which was before Herod’s palace, but they stopped -outside, because if they went into a house where there was leaven and -bread baked with leaven, they would be contaminated all day long and -could not eat the Passover. Innocent blood does not pollute, but leaven -does. - -Pilate, warned of their coming, went out on the door-sill and asked -abruptly: “What accusation bring ye against this man?” - -Those who were before him were his enemies. It appeared that this man -was their enemy and Pilate instinctively took his part. Not that he had -any pity for him—was he not a Jew like the others, and poor into the -bargain? But if he were by any chance innocent, Pilate had no mind to -lend himself to a whim of those detestable vermin. - -Caiaphas answered at once as if offended: “If he were not a malefactor, -we would not have delivered him up unto you.” - -Then Pilate who wished to lose no time with ecclesiastical squabbles, -and did not think that there was any question of a capital crime, -answered dryly: “Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.” - -Already in these words appears his wish to save the man without being -forced to take sides openly. But the concession of the Procurator, which -in any other case would have delighted Caiaphas and his party, this time -did not suit them, because the Sanhedrin could inflict only light -sentences and now they desired the most extreme sentence of all and -could not dispense with the Roman arm. They answered: “It is not lawful -for us to put any man to death.” - -Pilate suddenly understood what sentence they wished passed on the -wretched man who stood before him, and he wished to find out what crime -He had committed. What might seem worthy of a death sentence to those -bigoted rabbis might seem a venial fault in the eyes of a Roman. - -The foxes of the Temple had thought of this difficulty before taking -action. They knew very well that Pilate would not be satisfied if they -told him that this man attacked the religion of their fathers and -announced the Kingdom of God. They were prepared therefore to lie. For a -man about to commit a base action, one more accessory and subordinate -infamy seems of little consequence. Pilate could be conquered only with -his own weapons, by appealing to his loyalty to Rome and to the Emperor -and to the basis of his office-holding. It was already agreed that they -would give a political color to the accusation. If they told him that -Jesus was a false Messiah, Pilate would smile. But if they said that He -was a seditious inciter of revolt, that He was trying to rouse the -common people against Rome, Pilate could not do less than put Him to -death. - -“We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give -tribute to Cæsar, saying that he himself is Christ, a King.... He -stirreth up all the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning -from Galilee to this place.” - -Every word was a lie. Jesus had commanded men to render unto Cæsar that -which was Cæsar’s. He paid no attention whatever to the Romans. He said -that He was Christ but not in the coarse, political meaning of a King of -the Jews: and He did not stir up the people but wished to make of an -unhappy and degraded people a blessed kingdom of saints. However grave -these accusations might have seemed to Pilate if they had been true, -they only increased his suspicions of the priests. Was it probable that -those treacherous vipers who detested him and Rome, and who had tried to -overturn him so many times and whose one dream was to sweep away the -governing pagans and foreigners, should suddenly be kindled with so much -zeal to denounce a rebel of their own nation? - -Pilate was not convinced and he wished to find out for himself, by -questioning the accused man in private. He went back into the palace and -commanded that Jesus be brought to him. Disregarding the less important -accusations, he went at once to the essential: “Art thou the King of the -Jews?” - -But Jesus did not answer. How could He ever make this Roman understand! -This Roman who knew nothing of God’s promises, misinformed by His -assassins, a Pyrrhonic atheist, whose only religion was the artificial -and diabolical cult of a living man—and of what a man—Tiberius!—how -could He ever explain to this freedman, a pupil of the lawyers and -rhetoricians of Rome in the most decadent of all the degenerate foulness -of that time; how could He explain that He was the King of a Kingdom not -yet founded, of a spiritual Kingdom which would abolish all human -kingdoms? - -Jesus read the depths of Pilate’s soul and made no answer, as He had -kept silent at first before Annas and before Caiaphas. The Procurator -could not understand this silence on the part of a man over whom hung -the threat of death. “Hearest thou not how many things they witness -against thee?” - -But Jesus answered him never a word. Pilate, who at all costs wished to -triumph over those who hated him as much as they hated this man, -insisted, hoping to extract a denial which would permit him to set Him -at liberty: “Art thou the King of the Jews?” - -If Jesus denied this He would betray Himself. He had said to His -disciples and to the Jews that He was Christ. He had no wish to lie and -save Himself. The better to sound the Roman’s mind He answered Him, as -was his wont, with another question: “Sayest thou this thing of thyself, -or did others tell it thee of me?” - -Pilate answered, as if offended, “Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the -chief priests have delivered thee unto me. Art thou the King of the -Jews?” - -With the exception of this contemptuous beginning, this answer of Pilate -was conciliatory. “For whom do you take me? Do you not know that I am a -Roman, that I do not believe what your enemies believe? Your accusers -are priests, not I; but they are obliged to give you into my hands: your -safety rests with me: tell me that what they say is not true and you -shall be free.” - -Jesus had no wish to escape death, but still He determined to try to -shed more light on this pagan. Everything is possible to the Father: was -it not possible that Pilate might be the last convert of the dying man? - -“My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then -would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but -now is my kingdom not from hence.” - -The servant of Tiberius did not understand. The difference between “of -this world” and “my kingdom is not from hence” was obscure to him. -Pilate thought that what is the phrase “not of this world” meant the -gods above if there were really any, gods favorable or malignant to men, -and below in Hades the shadows of the dead if really there was anything -remaining of us when the body had been consumed by fire or worms: the -only reality for such a man as Pilate was “this world,” the great world -with all its kingdoms. And once more he asked: “Art thou a king then?” - -There was no longer any reason to deny. He would say to this blinded man -what He had proclaimed to the others: “Thou sayest that I am a king. To -this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I -should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth -heareth my voice.” - -Then Pilate, annoyed by what seemed to him truculent mystification, -answered with the celebrated question: “What is truth?” - -And without waiting for an answer, he rose to go out. The skeptical -Roman had many times been present at the endless disputes of -philosophers, and because he had heard so many contradictory -metaphysical contentions and so many sophistical quibblings, had become -convinced that truth did not exist, or if it did exist, could never be -known by men. He did not dream for a moment that this obscure Jew who -stood before him as a malefactor could tell him the truth. It was -Pilate’s destiny on that one day of his life to contemplate the face of -truth, supreme truth made man, and he could not see it. Living truth, -the truth which could have made him a new man, was before him clothed -with human flesh and rough garments, with buffeted face, and hands tied. -But in his arrogance he did not guess what prodigious good fortune was -his, a good fortune which millions of men have envied him after his -death. If any one had told him that because of this one encounter, -because to him was vouchsafed the overwhelming honor of having spoken to -Jesus and having sent Him to the cross, his name would be known, -although in infamy and malediction, through all the centuries and by all -the human race, such a prophecy would have seemed to him like the -frenzied ravings of a madman. Pilate was blind with an appalling and -incurable blindness, but Christ on that very day was to pardon even him -because the blind, even less than others, know what they do. - - - CLAUDIA PROCULA - - -Just as Pilate was preparing to go out and give his answer to the Jews, -who were muttering restlessly and impatiently before the door, a servant -sent by his wife came up to him, giving him this message: “Have thou -nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this -day in a dream because of him.” - -No one in the four Gospels tells us what impression was made on the -Procurator by this unexpected intercession from his wife. We know -nothing of her except her name. According to the Gospel of Nicodemus her -name was Claudia Procula, and if this name was really hers she may have -belonged to the Gente Claudia, distinguished and powerful at Rome. We -may thus suppose that she was by birth and connections of a higher -social rank than her husband, and that Pilate, a mere freedman, may have -owed to her and her influence in Rome his post in Judea. - -If all this was true, certainly the request of Claudia Procula must have -made some impression on Pilate, especially if he loved her; and that he -loved her, at least as a man of his nature could love, seems proved by -the fact that he had asked to take her with him into Asia. The Lex -Oppia, although mitigated by a decree of the Senate in the consulship of -Cethegus and Varro, forbade the pro-consuls to take their wives with -them, and Pontius Pilate had a special permit from Tiberius allowing -Claudia Procula to accompany him to Palestine. - -The motives for this intercession, so briefly stated, are mysterious. -The words of Matthew refer to a dream in which she had suffered because -of Jesus: it is probable that she had heard people talking for some time -of the new Prophet; perhaps she had seen Him, and found Him very -different from the other Jews. The fact that He was neither a vulgar -demagogue nor a hypocritical Pharisee must have been pleasing to the -imagination of a fanciful Roman woman. She did not understand the -language spoken in Jerusalem, but some interpreter of the law courts -might have repeated to her some of Jesus’ words, words which would have -convinced her that He was not, as they said, a dangerous criminal. - -In those days the Romans, especially Roman women, were beginning to feel -the attraction of Oriental myths and cults, which gave more satisfaction -to the longing for personal immortality than the old Latin religion, a -cold, legal, businesslike exchange of sacrifices to obtain utilitarian -and political ends. Many patrician women, even in Rome, had been -initiated into the mysteries of Mithra, Osiris and of Isis, the Great -Mother, and some showed a certain leaning towards Judaism. In that very -reign of Tiberius many Jews living in Rome were exiled from the Capital -because, according to Josephus, some of them had deceived a matron -Fulvia—converted to Judaism—and Fulvia, as we see from a reference of -Suetonius, was not the only one. - -It is not impossible that Claudia Procula, living in Judea, had been -curious to know more in detail about the religion of the people governed -by her husband, and that, curious like all women about new things, she -had tried to find out what new doctrines were being preached by the -Galilean prophet of whom every one in Jerusalem was talking. It is -certain that she had become convinced that Jesus was a “just man” and -hence innocent. The dream of that night, the terrible dream—for she had -“suffered many things” in it—had confirmed her in this conviction, and -it is not surprising that relying on the influence which women have with -their husbands, even if their husbands love them no longer, she sent -this imploring message to Pilate. - -It is enough for us that she called Him “That just man”—the man whom the -Jews wished to assassinate. Together with the Centurion of Capernaum and -with the Canaanite woman, Claudia Procula is the first pagan who -believed in Christ, and the Greek Church has good reason to revere her -as a Saint. - -This message from his wife strengthened Pilate’s reluctance, inclined as -he already was to neutrality, if not to clemency, through his animosity -to Caiaphas, and perhaps through the words of the Accused. Claudia -Procula had not said, “Save Him”—but: “Have thou nothing to do with that -just man.” This was Pilate’s idea, also; as if he had a confused -divination of the importance of this mysterious beggar who called -Himself King. At the very first he had ordered the Jews to judge Him, -themselves, but they had not been willing to do this. Then another way -to evade the responsibility occurred to him. He went back to Jesus and -asked whether He were a Galilean. - -This evasion seemed to promise success. Jesus did not belong to his -jurisdiction, but to that of Herod Antipas. By good luck Herod was there -at Jerusalem at that very time, come as was his wont for the Passover. -The Procurator had found a legitimate subterfuge to satisfy his wife—and -to free himself from this troublesome perplexity. With one stroke he -would ingratiate himself with the Jews, leaving to one of their own race -the decisive judgment, and at the same time he would do a bad turn to -the patriarch whom he hated with all his heart because he suspected him -with good reason of spying on him and tale-bearing to Tiberius. So, -losing no time, he ordered the soldiers to take Jesus before Herod. - - - THE WHITE CLOAK - - -The third judge before whom Jesus was led was a son of that -bloody-minded hog, Herod the Great, by one of his five wives. He was the -true son of his father because he wronged his brothers as his father had -wronged his sons. When his brother Archelaus, his own half-brother, was -accused by his subjects, he managed to have him exiled. He robbed his -other brother Herod of his wife. When he was seventeen years old he -began to reign as Tetrarch over Galilee and over Berea, and to -ingratiate himself with Tiberius, offered himself as a secret -tale-bearer of the sayings and doings of his brothers and of the Roman -officials in Judea. On a voyage to Rome he fell in love with Herodias, -who was both his niece and his sister-in-law, since she was the daughter -of his brother Aristobulus, and wife of his brother Herod, and not -shrinking from the double incest, he persuaded her to follow him, -together with Salome, the daughter of the adulteress. His first wife, -daughter of Aretas, king of the Nabatei, went back to her father, who -declared war on Antipas and defeated him. - -This happened while John the Baptist was beginning to be talked about -among the people. The prophet let slip some words of condemnation -against these two incestuous adulterers, and this was enough for -Herodias to persuade her new husband to have him taken and shut up in -the fortress of Machærus. Every one knows how the foul Tetrarch, -inflamed by cruel Salome’s lascivious arts, and perhaps meditating a new -incest, was forced to offer her the bearded head of the Prophet of Fire -on a golden platter. - -But even after his decapitation John’s shade disturbed Herod, and when -he began to hear talk of Jesus and of His miracles he said to his -courtiers, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead.” - -It seems that he kept his eye on the new prophet, and that at one time -he thought of serving Him as he had his precursor; but either for -political or superstitious reasons, deciding that he would have no more -to do with prophets, he saw that the best way was to force Jesus to -leave his Tetrarchy. One day some Pharisees, very probably acting on -Herod’s instructions, went to say to Jesus: “Get thee out, and depart -hence: for Herod will kill thee.” - -“And he said unto them, Go ye and tell that fox ... nevertheless I must -walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that -a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” - -And now at Jerusalem near His death, He appeared before that fox. That -traitor and spy, incestuous adulterer, assassin of John and enemy of the -prophets was the most fitting person to condemn innocence. But Jesus had -named him well: he was more fox than tiger, and he shrank from being a -substitute for Pilate. Luke tells us, “When Herod saw Jesus he was -exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because -he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle -done by him.” - -The son of the Idumean and the Samaritan woman had scorched himself in -John’s fire, and he received Jesus as an old tamer of animals, with the -marks of the lion’s teeth still on his arm, looks at a new wild animal -brought for him to see. But, like all Oriental barbarians, his mind was -obsessed by prodigies, and he imagined Jesus to be a wandering wizard -who could, whenever He wished, repeat some of His sorcery. Herod hated -Him as he had hated John, but he hated Him partly because he feared Him; -the prophets had a power which Herod did not understand and which -intimidated him: perhaps the beheading of John had brought him bad luck. -He too wished Jesus to be killed, but he had no mind to be in any way -responsible for His death. - -Seeing that there were no miracles to be expected, he began to put many -questions, to which Jesus made no answer. He had broken His silence for -Annas, for Caiaphas, for Pilate, but He would not for this crowned -rascal! Annas and Caiaphas were His declared enemies, Pilate was a blind -man groping along, thinking that he was saving Him, but this Herod was a -cowardly fox and did not deserve even an insult. The High Priests and -the Scribes, fearing that John’s assassin would be too cowardly to kill -Jesus, as in fact he was, had followed their victim there and vehemently -accused him. These furious accusations and the silence of the accused -man deepened the hidden rancor of Antipas, who, together with his -soldiers, abused the Man of divine silences, threw over his shoulders a -gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate. - -Like Pilate, but for other reasons, he was not willing to condemn the -man baptized by John, and who perhaps was John himself returned from the -dead to avenge himself. But when he sent Him away he made Him a gift -which bears unconscious witness to the rank of the man about to die. The -mantle, shining with whiteness, was, so Josephus says, the garment of -the Jewish Kings, and Jesus was accused of wishing to make Himself King -of the Jews. Antipas, the astute, wished to ridicule the pretensions of -Jesus by ironically making him a present of the regal robe; but when he -covered Him with that whiteness, which is the symbol of innocence and of -sovereignty, the ignoble fox sent to Pilate a symbolical message which -involuntarily confirmed the message of Claudia Procula, the accusation -of Caiaphas, and what Christ Himself had said. - - - CRUCIFY HIM! - - -Pilate had thought that he had succeeded in extracting himself from the -troublesome position in which his adversaries had tried to place him. -But when he saw Jesus return wrapped in that regal white garment he -understood that he must at any cost get the matter settled. - -The bitter fury of those who for so many reasons were objects of -suspicion to him, his wife’s compassion, the answers of Christ, the fact -that Antipas had refrained from action, all inclined him to refuse to -give the Jews the life for which they were asking. Perhaps while Jesus -was with the Tetrarch, Pilate had asked some one of his followers about -the pretended King, and the information confirmed him in his decision. -Jesus had never said anything that would be offensive to Pilate: rather -there was much in what He said calculated to please the Roman, or at -least that would seem advantageous to the authority of Rome. - -Jesus taught love for enemies, and in Judea the Romans were considered -enemies; He called the poor blessed, hence He exhorted them to -resignation and not to revolt; He advised men to render unto Cæsar that -which was Cæsar’s, that is, to pay tribute to the Emperor; He was -opposed to the Pharisaical formalism which made the relations of the -Romans with their subjects so difficult; He did not respect the Sabbath; -He ate with publicans and with Gentiles; and finally He announced that -His Kingdom was not of this world, but of a world so metaphysical and -remote that it could never endanger Tiberius or his successors. If -Pilate knew these things, he must have said to himself with the -superficiality of all skeptics, especially when they think themselves -expert politicians, that it would be a good thing for him and for Rome -if many Jews followed Jesus, rather than fomented rebellion in the -councils of the Zealots. - -He had therefore decided to save Jesus, but in this indulgence he wanted -to put a sarcastic note, something that would be offensive to the High -Priests, who three times had set themselves against him and now were -importuning him to be their hangman. Up to the last he would pretend to -treat Jesus like the King of the Jews. Here is your King, the King that -you deserve, wretched and perfidious people! A village carpenter, a -vagabond, a beggar, who vapored of reigning beyond earthly life, and who -as a matter of fact had as followers only a few fishermen and peasants -and a few silly women. See how wretched He is, how miserable! Why do you -want to kill Him? Keep Him; you deserve no better King than He. I will -follow your example, will amuse myself a little by tormenting Him, and -then I will let Him go. - -And causing Jesus to be led out, Pilate went to the door and said to the -High Priests and the others who crowded about, their faces thrust -forward to hear the sentence given at last, “Ye have brought this man -unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having -examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those -things whereof ye accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; -and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore -chastise him and release him.” - -This was not the answer awaited by the ravening hounds, yelling in the -square before the Procurator’s house. A bestial cry burst out from those -gaping mouths, “Kill Him!” - -A flogging would be too light a punishment for this dangerous enemy of -the God of Armies and the God of Business. Something quite different -from that was necessary to satisfy these butchers of the Temple. They -had come to ask for blood and not for pardon. - -“Kill Him!” yelled Annas and Caiaphas, and with them the Pharisaical -vipers hissed, the sellers of the holy animals shrieked, the -money-changers, the men who rented beasts of burden, the porters of the -caravans. “Kill Him!” howled the Scribes, wrapped in their theological -cloaks, the vendors of the Passover fair, the tavern-keepers of the -upper city, the Levites, the servants of the Temple, the hired helpers -of the usurers, the errand boys of the priests, all the servile horde -assembled before the Procurator’s house. - -As soon as this uproar was a little quieted, Pilate asked, “What will ye -then that I shall do unto him whom ye call King of the Jews?” - -And they all answered, “Crucify him!” - -But the Procurator resisted, “Why, what evil hath he done?” - -And they cried out the more exceedingly, “Crucify him!” - -Jesus, pale and calm in the whiteness of the mocking cloak, looked -quietly at the crowd, which desired to give Him what in His heart He had -been seeking. He was dying for them, with the divine hope of saving even -them by His death, and they were assailing Him, howling as if He had -wished to escape His accepted fate. His friends were not there, were -hidden; all His people wished to pierce His flesh with nails, and only a -foreigner, an idolater, defended His life. Why was Pilate not moved to -compassion? Why did He not give Him at once to the crucifiers? Did he -not realize that his false pity only lengthened and embittered the -anguish? He loved and it was fitting that He should be hated; He brought -men back from death and it was fitting that He should be killed; He -wished to save others and it was fitting that all men should wish to -destroy Him; He was innocent and it was fitting that He should be -sacrificed. - -But obstinate Pilate did not surrender to the howls of the Jews nor to -Jesus’ silent prayer. At any cost he wanted to win his point. He would -not give in once more to that fierce, filthy mob. He had not succeeded -in transferring to Antipas the disagreeable responsibility of a -death-sentence; he had not succeeded in persuading this tigerish and -mulish people of the innocence of their wretched king. What they wanted -was to see a little blood; on these festival days they wanted to enjoy -the spectacle of a crucifixion. He would satisfy them with a bargain, -giving them the carcass of a murderer in exchange for the body of an -innocent man. - - - BARABBAS - - -“I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom, that I should -release unto you one at the passover. Whom will ye that I release unto -you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?” - -Taken by surprise, the people did not know what to answer. Until then -there had been but one name, one victim, one punishment asked for; -everything was as clear as the sky on that mid-April morning. But now, -in order to save that scandal-maker, this impertinent pagan brought into -question another name which confused the whole matter. Pilate wanted to -flog Him only, instead of crucifying Him: and now he wanted to crucify -another delinquent in His place. By good fortune the Elders, Scribes and -Priests were still there and they had no intention of letting Jesus -escape. In a flash they suggested the right reply. So that when Pilate -asked them a second time which of the two they wished him to free, they -answered with one voice, “Away with this man, and release unto us -Barabbas!” - -He was not an ordinary delinquent, the man whom the Procurator offered -as blood-ransom to those men with such a morbid relish for crucifixions. -The common tradition has preserved his memory as a street ruffian, a -criminal by profession. But his surname—Bar Rabban, which means Son of -Rab, or rather disciple of the Master, since the scholars of the Rabbis -were called their sons—shows us that through birth or through study he -belonged to the caste of Doctors of Law. Mark and Luke say expressly -that he was accused of having committed murder during a sedition, hence -a political assassin. Jesus Barabbas, a student in the school of the -Scribes, lamenting over the loss of the Jewish Kingdom, and hating -Judea’s pagan masters, was probably a Zealot and had been captured in -one of the unsuccessful revolts, so common at that time. Was it likely -that such an absurd bargain would satisfy the Sadducee and Pharisee -assembly which shared the sentiments of the Zealots, even if for reasons -of state they hid them, or out of weakness of soul forgot them? - -Barabbas, although an assassin, and indeed precisely because he was an -assassin—was a patriot, a martyr, persecuted by the foreigners. Jesus, -on the other hand, although He had never killed any one, had wished to -overturn the law of Moses, and to ruin the Temple. The first, in short, -was a sort of national hero, the other an enemy of the nation: there -could be no doubt about their choice. “Free Barabbas! Let this man die!” -Once more Pontius Pilate had failed to save Christ or himself. He ought -to have realized before this, that the leaders of the Jews would not -loose their hold on the flesh into which they had already set their -teeth, the only flesh which could stay their hunger. Their need for it -that day was like their need for bread and air. They would not have left -that spot, not even to eat, until they had seen that Bastard Messiah -fastened with four nails upon two beams. - -Pontius Pilate was cowardly. He was afraid that he was committing an -injustice; he was afraid of displeasing his wife; he was afraid of -giving satisfaction to his enemies; but at the same time he was afraid -to put Jesus in a place of safety; he was afraid to have his soldiers -disperse that sullen, arrogant crowd; he was afraid to decide with a -clear-cut act of authority that Jesus, the innocent man, should be -released, and not Barabbas, the assassin. A real Roman, a Roman of -antiquity, of the true Roman stock, would either at once have satisfied -the demands of that turbulent crowd and would not have wasted a moment -in defending an obscure visionary; or would at once have decreed, from -the beginning, that this man was innocent and was under the august -protection of the Empire. - -By his stratagems, half-measures, indolent questionings, hesitations and -partially executed maneuvers Pilate found himself slowly pushed towards -a decision he did not wish to make. The fact that he had not at once -decided the question with a yes or no had increased the insolence of the -High Priests and the excitement of the people. Now there were only two -alternatives: either to give in shamefully after resisting so long, or -to risk starting a tumult which on those days, when Jerusalem included -almost a third of the population of Judea, might become a perilous -uprising. - -Undone by his cowardly wavering, deafened by the yells, the only thing -that came into his mind was to ask once more the advice of men to whom -he should have issued orders. - -“What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” - -“Crucify him, let him be crucified!” - -“Why, what evil hath he done?” - -“Crucify him! Crucify him!” - -What affair is it of this odious foreigner if Jesus had done evil or -not? According to our faith He is an impostor, a blasphemer, an enemy of -the people and deserves death. Even if He has done no evil He deserves -death because His words are more dangerous than any wicked actions. - -“Crucify him! Crucify him!” - -“Take ye him and crucify him,” cried Pilate, “for I find no fault in -him.” - -“We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself -the Son of God.” - -The silence of Jesus was more potent than this bestial outcry. They were -fighting for the possession of His body, and He seemed scarcely to be -aware of it. He knew that from the beginning of time His destiny was -sealed and that this was His day. The battle was so uneven! On one side -a Gentile, who knew nothing and understood nothing of Him, who did not -defend Him through love but through Hate, who did not defend Him openly -but with tricks and quibbles, who was more afraid of a revolt than of an -injustice, who was stubborn through punctilio and not because of his -certainty of Christ’s innocence. On the other hand, a threatened clergy, -a vindictive bourgeoisie, a crowd, like all crowds, easily incited to -evil deeds. It was easy enough to foresee the outcome. - -But Pontius Pilate would not yield the point. He would restore Barabbas -to his accomplices, but he would not give up Jesus. His first idea came -into his head again: to have Him scourged; perhaps when they saw the -bruises and the blood dripping from His back they would be satisfied -with that punishment and would leave in peace the innocent man who -looked with equal pity on the cowardly shepherd and the unruly wolves. - -The Procurator had said that he found no fault with Him, and yet he was -to have Him scourged with rods. This contradiction, this half-injustice, -this compromise, is characteristic of Pilate. But it was to be of no -avail; like his other efforts, it was merely to add one more shame to -his final defeat. - -The Jews were still shrieking, “Let him be crucified!” But Pilate went -back into his house and gave Jesus over to the Roman soldiers to be -flogged. - - - A CROWNED KING - - -The mercenaries, who (in the provinces) were the majority in the -legions, had been waiting for this decision. Throughout the long dispute -the soldiers of the Procurator’s guard had been obliged to look on, -silent and motionless, at this mysterious colonial uproar, of which only -one thing seemed clear to them, that their commanding officer was not -cutting the best figure. For a while they had been amused by watching -the sinister faces, the excitability and the gesticulation of that -Jewish swarm; and they had become aware that the Procurator, somber and -perplexed, was vainly trying to unravel the tangled threads of this -early-morning quarrel. They kept their eyes on him, as dogs watch an -unskillful hunter, circling about without making up his mind to fire, -although the quarry is close at hand. - -Now at last something to their taste happened. They were to have their -turn at amusing themselves. To flog a Jew, hated by the Jews themselves, -was an amusement neither dangerous nor very tiring,—just enough to -exercise their arms, to stretch the muscles contracted by the morning -chill, and to start the blood circulating. - -All the company was ordered into the court-yard of the palace, and the -white cloak given by Antipas was taken from Jesus’ back—the first spoils -of the enterprise—together with part of His other clothes. The lictors -chose the rods, and the strongest among the soldiers snatched at them. -They were practical people who knew how to flog energetically and -according to the rules. - -Jesus, half of His body bared, tied to a pillar, that He might not -lessen the force of the blows by bending forward, silently prayed to the -Father for the soldiers about to scourge Him. Had He not said: “Love -those who hate you, do good to those who persecute you, offer the left -cheek to him who has struck the right”? At that moment He could reward -his scourgers only by interceding with God for their forgiveness. These -soldiers were prisoners as much as He, and they knew not whom they were -flogging with such innocent heartiness. They themselves had been flogged -sometimes for small breaches of discipline, and they saw nothing out of -the way in the fact that the Procurator, a Roman officer, had them -scourge a delinquent belonging to a subject and inferior race. - -Strike hard, O legionaries, for of this blood which now begins to flow, -some drops are shed for you. This was the first blood drawn by men from -the Son of Man. At the Last Supper His blood had been symbolized by the -wine, on the Mount of Olives the blood which mixed with the sweat, stood -in drops on His face, came from a suffering altogether spiritual and -inner. But now, at last, men’s hands shed blood from the veins of -Christ; knotty hands of soldiers in the service of the rich and the -powerful, hands which wield the scourge before taking up the nails. That -livid back, swollen and bloody, was ready for the cross; torn and raw as -it was, it would add to the suffering of crucifixion when they stretched -it out on the rough wood of the cross. Now they could stop, the -courtyard of the cowardly stranger was stained with blood. Servants that -very day might wash away those spots, but they would start out again on -the well-washed white hands of Pontius Pilate. - -The number of blows prescribed had been duly administered, but now, -after their taste of amusement, the legionaries did not wish to let -their plaything escape at once. All they had done so far was to execute -an order; now they wished to have some entertainment of their own. This -man, so said the Jews howling out there in the public square, pretended -to be a king. Let us give Him His wish, this madman, and thus we will -enrage those who refuse Him His royal dignity. - -A soldier took off his scarlet cloak, the red chlamys of the -legionaries, and threw it over those shoulders, red with blood; another -took up a handful of dry thorns, kindling for the brazier of the -night-watch, twisted a couple of them together like a crown and put it -on His head; a third had a slave give Him a reed and forced it into the -fingers of His right hand; then, roaring with laughter, they pushed Him -upon a seat. One by one, passing before Him, they bent their knees -awkwardly, crying: “Hail, King of the Jews!” - -But some were not satisfied with this burlesque homage, and one of them -struck a blow at the cheek, still showing the marks of the fingers of -Caiaphas’ servants; one, snatching the reed out of His hand, gave Him a -blow on the head, so that the thorns of His crown pierced the skin and -made about His forehead a border of drops red as His cloak. - -They would perhaps have thought of some other amusing diversion if the -Procurator, coming up when they were making merry, had not ordered them -to lead the scourged King outside. The jocose disguise invented by the -legionaries fitted in with the sarcastic intention of Pilate. He smiled, -and taking Jesus by the hand, led Him to the crowd of wild animals -there, and cried: “Behold the man!” - - - THE WASHING OF THE HANDS - - -“Behold the man!” - -And he turned Christ’s shoulders towards that expanse of yelling muzzles -that they might see the welts left by the rods, red with oozing blood. -It was as if he said: Look at Him, your King, the only King that you -deserve, in His true majesty, tricked out as befits such a King. His -crown is of sharp thorns; His purple cloak is the chlamys of a -mercenary; His scepter is a dry reed. These are the ornaments merited by -your degraded King, unjustly rejected by a degraded people like -yourselves. Was it His blood you desired? Here is His blood; see how it -drops from the thorns of His crown. There is not much of it, but it -ought to be enough for you, since it is innocent blood. It is shed as a -great favor to you—to satisfy you. And now be off from here, for you -have troubled me long enough! - -But the Jews were quieted neither by these words nor by that spectacle. -They demanded something quite other than a flogging and a masquerade -before they would go their ways. Pilate thought that he could make mock -of them, but he would realize that this was no time for feeble jokes. -They had had the best of him twice already and they would again. A few -bruises and a practical joke played by the soldiery were not enough to -punish this enemy of God as He deserved; there were trees in Judea and -nails to nail Him to them. And their hoarse voices shouted all together, -“Let him be crucified! Let him be crucified!” - -Too late Pilate realized that they had driven him into a tangle from -which he could not disengage himself. All his decisions were combated -with a pertinacity he had not foreseen. By a flash of inspiration he had -pronounced the great words, “Behold the man!” But he himself did not -understand that proclamation which transcended his base soul. He did not -realize that he had found the truth he was seeking: a half-truth, but -deeper than all the teachings of the philosophers of Rome and Greece. He -did not understand how Jesus was really Man, the symbol of all humanity, -sorrowing and humiliated, betrayed by its rulers, deceived by its -masters, crucified every day by the Kings who oppress their subjects, by -the rich who cause the poor to weep, by priests who think of their -bellies rather than of God. Jesus is the Man of Sorrows announced by -Isaiah, the man without form or comeliness, despised and rejected of -men, who was to be killed for all men; He is God’s only son who had -taken on man’s flesh, and who would ascend in the glory of power and of -the new sun, in the midst of the blaring of the trumpets calling the -dead to life. But now to the eyes of Pilate, to the eyes of Pilate’s -enemies, He was only a wretched, insignificant man, flesh for rods and -for nails, a man and not Man, a mortal and not a God. Why did Pilate -lose time with those sibylline remarks before delivering Him to the -executioner? - -And yet Pilate still did not yield. Standing beside that silent man, the -Roman felt his heart heavy with an oppression he had never known before. -Who could this man be whom all the people wished to kill, and whom he -could neither save nor sacrifice? He turned once more to Jesus, “Whence -art thou?” - -But Jesus gave him no answer. - -“Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to -crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” - -Then the insulted King raised His head, “Thou couldest have no power at -all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that -delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” - -Caiaphas and his associates were the guilty ones; the others were dogs -incited by Caiaphas, mere tools of Caiaphas. Even Pilate was only an -indocile instrument of priestly hatred and of the Divine will. - -But the Procurator in his perplexity found no new expedient to free -himself from the net about him, and returned to his fixed idea, “Behold -your King!” - -The Jews, infuriated by this repeated insult, burst out, enraged, “If -thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend; whosoever maketh -himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.” - -At last they had hit on the right words to bring pressure on weak, -cowardly Pilate. Every Roman magistrate, no matter how high his rank, -depended on Cæsar’s favor. Pilate’s reputation might be ruined by an -accusation of this sort, presented with ability, by malicious -advocates—and there were plenty of those among the Hebrews, as was shown -later by the memorial of Philo. But in spite of the threat, Pilate cried -out his last and weakest question, “Shall I crucify your king?” - -The High Priests, feeling that they were on the point of winning, -answered with their last lie, “We have no king but Cæsar.” - -Pilate surrendered. He was forced to yield unless he wished to start an -uproar which might set all Judea on fire. His conscience did not disturb -him: had he not tried everything possible to save this man who did not -wish to save Himself? - -He had tried to save Him by referring the matter to the Sanhedrin, which -could not pronounce a death sentence; he had tried to save Him by -sending Him to Herod; he had tried to save Him by affirming that he -found no fault in Him; he had tried to save Him by offering to free Him -in the place of Barabbas; he had tried to save Him by having Him -scourged in the hope that this ignominious punishment would pacify them; -he had tried to save Him by seeking to arouse a little pity in those -hardened hearts. But all his maneuvers had failed, and he certainly did -not wish the whole province to rise on account of that unfortunate -Prophet; and even less was he willing that on His account they should -accuse him before Tiberius and have him deposed. - -Pilate thought himself innocent of the blood of this innocent man. And -in order that they might all have a visible representation of that -innocence which they would not forget, he had a basin of water brought -to him and washed his hands there before them all, saying, “I am -innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.” - -Then answered all the people and said, “His blood be on us, and on our -children.” - -“Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus he -delivered him to be crucified.” - -But the water which flowed over his hands was not enough to cleanse -them. His hands are still blood-stained, and will be to all eternity. He -might have saved Christ if he had really wished. Jesus was sent to -Golgotha by Pilate’s subterfuges, by the multiple forms taken by the -cowardice of Pilate’s soul, poisoned by the irony of skeptics. He would -have been less base if he had really believed Christ guilty and had -given his consent to the assassination. But he knew that there was no -fault in Jesus, that Jesus was a just man as Claudia Procula had said, -as he himself had repeated after her. There is no excuse for a man in -authority who, fearing for himself, allows a just man to be killed: he -holds office in order to protect the just against assassins. But Pilate -said, “I have done everything that I could to save Him from the hands of -the unjust.” That was not true; he had tried many ways, but not the only -way which could have succeeded. He had not offered himself, had not -sacrificed himself, had not been willing to risk his dignity and his -fortune. The Jews hated Jesus, but they also hated Pilate, who had -harassed and derided them so many times. Instead of proposing the -seditious Barabbas in exchange for Jesus, he ought to have proposed -himself, Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea, and perhaps the people -might have accepted the bargain. No other victim except himself would -have satisfied the rage of the Jews. It would not have been necessary -for him to die. It would have been enough to let them denounce him to -Cæsar as Cæsar’s enemy. Tiberius would have deposed him and perhaps have -banished him, but he would have taken into exile and into disgrace a -comforting certainty of innocence. Little did his shifts avail him; for -the fate he now sought to avert by giving Jesus over into the hands of -his adversaries fell upon him a few years later. The Jews and the -Samaritans accused him; the Governor of Syria deposed him, and Caligula -banished him to the frontiers of Gaul. But he was followed into his -exile by the shade of that great, silent man, assassinated with his -consent. In vain had he constructed in Jerusalem the great reservoir -full of water, in vain had he washed himself with that water before the -multitude. That water was Jewish water, turbid and ill-omened water that -did not cleanse. No washing will ever cleanse his hands from the stains -left on them by the divine blood of Christ. - - - GOOD FRIDAY - - -The sun rose higher in the clear April sky and now it was near to noon. -The contest between the flaccid defender and the furious assailants had -wasted most of the morning, and there was no time to lose. According to -Mosaic law, the bodies of executed criminals could not remain after -sunset on the place of punishment, and April days are not as long as -June days. - -Moreover, Caiaphas, reënforced though he was by so many furiously -enraged partisans, could not draw a tranquil breath until the Vagabond’s -feet were forever halted, fastened with iron nails on the cross. He -remembered how, a few days before, Jesus had entered the city surrounded -with waving branches and joyful hymns. He was sure of the city itself, -but at this period it was full of provincials come from everywhere, who -had not the same interests and the same passions as the clientele -dependent on the Temple. Those Galileans especially, who had followed -Him until now, who loved Him, might make some effort at resistance and -put off, even if they did not actually prevent, the real votive offering -of that day. - -Pilate, too, was in haste to have that troublesome, innocent man taken -away. He did not wish to think of Him again. He hoped that he would -forget after His death that look, those words and, above all, his own -corroding uneasiness, so painfully like remorse. Although he had washed -and dried his hands, that man in His silence, it seemed to him, was -sentencing him to a penalty worse than death itself. Before that -scourged man, at the point of death, he felt himself the guilty one. To -vent his uneasiness on those who really caused it, he dictated the -wording of the titulus or superscription, which the condemned man was to -wear about His neck until it was fastened above His head at the top of -the cross, as follows: “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.” The -Scribe wrote these words three times in three languages in clear, red -letters on the white wood. - -The leaders of the Jews, who had remained there, craning their necks, to -hasten the preparations, read this sarcastic inscription and protested. -They said to Pilate, “Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, -I am King of the Jews.” - -But the Procurator cut them short with a dry brevity: “What I have -written I have written.” - -These are the last words recorded of him, and the most profound! I am -forced to make you a present of the life of this man, but I do not deny -what I have said. Jesus is a Nazarene, which means also, saint. And He -is your King, the wretched King who fits your wretchedness. I wish all -men to know how your ill-born race treats saints and kings. It is for -this I have written these words in Latin and Greek as well as in Hebrew. -And now be off, for I have endured you long enough, “Quod scripsi, -scripsi.” - -In the meantime the soldiers had put back on the King His poor man’s -garments and had tied the notice about His neck. Others had brought out -from the storerooms three massive crosses of pine, the nails, the hammer -and the pincers. The escort was ready. Pilate pronounced the usual -formula: “I lictor, expedi crucem.” And the sinister procession moved -forward. - -The Centurion rode at the head, he whom Tacitus calls with terrible -brevity, “exactor mortis.” Immediately after him came, in the midst of -the armed legionaries, Jesus and the two thieves who were to be -crucified with Him. Each of them carried a cross on his shoulders, -according to the Roman rule. And behind them, the shuffling steps and -the uproar of the excited crowd, increased at every step by accomplices -and idle sight-seers. - -It was Parasceve, the day of preparations, the last night before the -Passover. Thousands of lambs’ skins were stretched out on the sunlit -roofs; and from every house rose a column of smoke, delicate as a -flower-bud, which opened out in the air and then was lost in the clear, -festal sky. Old women with malignant faces, mumbling anathemas, emerged -from the dark alley-ways; dirty-faced little children trotted along with -bundles under their arms; bearded men carried on their shoulders a kid -or a cask of wine; drovers were dragging along asses with hanging heads; -children stared with impudent and melancholy eyes at the foreigners who -were walking about circumspectly, impeded by this festal bustling. In -every home the house-mother was busy, preparing everything needful for -the next day, because with the setting of the sun every one was exempt -for twenty-four hours from the curse of Adam. The lambs, skinned and -quartered, were all ready for the fire; the loaves of unleavened bread -were piled up fresh from the oven; men were decanting the wine, and the -children to lend a hand somewhere were cleaning the bitter herbs. - -There was no one idle, no one whose heart was not rejoicing at the -thought of that festal day of repose, when all families would be -gathered about the father, when they would eat in peace and drink the -wine of Thanksgiving from the same cup; and God would be witness of this -cheer because the psalms of the grateful would go up to Him from every -house. On that day even the poor felt themselves almost rich; and the -rich, because of their unusual profits, felt themselves almost generous; -and children whose hopes had not yet been dashed by experience of life -felt themselves more loving; and women more loved. - -Everywhere there was that peaceful confusion, that good-natured tumult, -that joyous bustle which goes before a great, popular feast-day. An odor -of hope and of Spring purified the old filth of the Jewish ant-heap. And -the great eastern sun sent down a flood of light upon the four Hills. - - - SIMON OF CYRENE - - -Under that festal sky, through that festal crowd, slow as a funeral -procession, the sinister column of the bearers of the cross made its -way. About them everything spoke of joy and of life, and they were going -to burning thirst and to death. About them all men were waiting joyfully -to spend the evening with their loved ones, to sit down at the -well-garnished table, to drink the bright, genial wine served on -feast-days, to stretch themselves out on their beds to wait for the most -longed-for Sabbath morning of the year. And the three, cut off forever -from those who loved them, would be stretched upon the cross of infamy, -would drink only a sip of bitter wine, and, cold in death, would be -thrown into the cold earth. - -At the sound of the Centurion’s horse, people stepped to one side and -stopped to look at the wretched men toiling and sweating under their -terrible burden. The two thieves seemed more sturdy and callous, but the -first, the Man of Sorrows, seemed scarcely able to take another step. -Worn out by the terrible night, by His four questionings, by the -buffetings, by the beatings, by the flogging, disfigured with blood, -sweat, saliva, and by the terrible effort of this last task set Him, He -did not seem like the fearless young man who a few days before had -scourged the vermin out of the Temple. His fair, shining face was drawn -and contracted by the convulsions of pain; His eyes, red with suppressed -tears, were sunken in their sockets; on His shoulders, torn by the rods, -His clothes clung to the wounds, increasing His sufferings; His legs, -more than His other members, felt this terrible weakness, and they bent -under His weight and under that of the cross. “The spirit is willing but -the flesh is weak.” After the vigil, which had been the beginning of His -agony, how many blows had been struck upon that flesh! Judas’ kiss, the -flight of His friends, the rope on His wrists, the threats of the -judges, the blows of the guard, the cowardice of Pilate, the howling -demands for His death, the insults of the legionaries, and now this -weight of the cross, carried along amid the sneers and scoffing of those -whom He loved! - -Those who saw Him pass took no notice of Him, or at the most, those who -knew how to read tried to make out the inscription which hung down on -His chest. Many, however, knew Him by sight and by name, and pointed Him -out to their neighbors with learned and complacent airs. Some of them -mingled with the crowd, following behind to enjoy to the end the -spectacle, always new, of a man’s death; and more would have followed if -it had not been a day when there was much to do at home. Those who had -begun to hope in Him now despised Him because He had not been stronger, -because He had let Himself be taken like any sneak-thief; and to -ingratiate themselves with the Priests and Elders mingled with the -crowd, they cast out at the false Messiah as He went by some neatly -phrased insult. Very few were those who felt any movement of pity to see -Him in that situation and among those few were some who did not know who -He was, who were moved merely by the natural pity which any crowd feels -for condemned men. Some few there were who still felt a little love in -their hearts for the Master who had loved the poor, who had healed the -sick, who had announced the Kingdom so much more righteous and holy than -the kingdoms then in existence and ruining the earth. But these were -few, and they were almost ashamed of that secret tenderness for one whom -they had believed to be less hated or more powerful. The greater part -laughed, satisfied and contented, as if this funeral procession had been -a part of the feast-day. - -Only some women, their heads wrapped in their cloaks, came behind all -the rest, weeping, but trying to hide this seditious grief. - -They had not yet come to the Gate of Gardens, but they were almost there -when Jesus, His strength utterly exhausted, fell to the ground and lay -there stretched under His cross. His face had suddenly gone white as -snow; the reddened eyelids were dropped over His eyes; He would have -seemed dead if it had not been for the painful breath coming and going -through His half-open mouth. - -They all stopped, and a dense circle of jeering men stretched out their -faces and hands towards the fallen man. The Jews, who had followed Him -from Caiaphas’ house, would not listen to reason. - -“He is only pretending,” they cried. “Lift Him up! He is a hypocrite! He -ought to carry the cross to the last! That is the law! Give Him a kick, -as you would to an ass, and let Him get along!” - -Others said, “Look at the great King who was to conquer Kingdoms. He -cannot manage even two sticks of wood, and yet He wanted to wear armor. -He said that He was more than a man, and see, He is a womanish creature -who faints away at the first work given Him. He made paralytics walk and -He Himself cannot stand up. Give Him a cup of wine to bring back His -strength.” - -But the Centurion who, like Pilate, was in great haste to finish his -distasteful task, was experienced in the handling of men, and saw -clearly that the unfortunate Jesus would never be able to drag the cross -along all the way to Golgotha. He cast his eyes about to find some one -to carry that weight. Just at that moment there came in from the country -a Cyrenian called Simon, who, at the sight of so many people, had -stepped into the crowd and was looking with an astonished and pitying -expression at the body prostrate and panting under the two beams. The -Centurion saw that he had a kindly look, and furthermore that he was -strongly built, and called to him, saying, “Take this cross and come -after us.” - -Without a word the Cyrenian obeyed, perhaps out of goodness of heart, -but in any case from necessity, because the Roman soldiers in the -countries which they occupied had the right to force any one to help -them. “If a soldier gives you some task to do,” wrote Arrian, “be -careful not to resist him and not to murmur, otherwise you will be -beaten.” - -We know nothing more of the merciful-hearted man who lent his broad -countryman’s shoulders to lighten Jesus’ load, but we know that his -sons, Alexander and Rufus, were Christians, and it is extremely probable -that they were converted by their father’s telling them of the death of -which he was an enforced witness. - -Two soldiers helped the fallen man up on His feet, and urged Him -forward. The procession took up its way again under the noon-day sun, -but the two thieves muttered between their teeth that no one thought of -them, and that it was not right that that other man by pretending to -fall should be freed of His burden while they still were forced to carry -theirs. It was favoritism, nothing less, especially as that fellow, to -hear what the priests said about Him, was much more guilty than they. -From that moment His two companions in punishment, jealous of Him, began -to hate Him, and were to insult Him even when they were nailed at His -side on the crosses which they were then carrying on their backs. - - - FORGIVE THEM - - -The Centurion halted outside the old walled city, in the midst of the -young verdure of the suburban gardens. The city of Caiaphas did not -allow capital punishment within its walls; the air perfumed with the -virtue of the Pharisees would be polluted; and the soft hearts of the -Sadducees would be distressed; hence, condemned prisoners were expelled -from the city before their death. - -They had stopped on the summit of a rounded mound of limestone -resembling a skull. This resemblance might seem to be the reason for -choosing this place for executions, but the real reason was rather -because the two great roads from Jaffa and Damascus crossed each other -close at hand, and it was well that the cross should show its terrible -warning to the traveling multitude of pilgrims, merchants and -provincials. - -The sun, the benign sun of the solstice, the high noon-day sun, shone on -the white mound and on the mattocks ringing sonorously in the rock. In -the nearby gardens the spring flowers expanded in the mild air; singing -birds, hidden in the trees, rent the sky with the silver arrows of their -warblings; doves flew about in pairs in the warm, pastoral peace. It -would be sweet to live there in some well-watered garden beside a well, -in the perfume of the earth awakening and clothing itself, awaiting the -harvest moon, in company with loving friends! Days of Galilee, days of -peace, days of sunshine and friendship among the vineyards, beside the -lake, days of light and liberty, wandering with friends who listened -understandingly, days drawing to a close with the well-earned -cheerfulness of supper, days which seemed eternal, although they were so -short! - -Now Thou hast no one with Thee, Jesus, called the Christ. These soldiers -preparing that appalling bed, these thieves insulting Thee, those hounds -awaiting Thy blood, are only shadows, cast by the great shadow of God. -Thou art alone as Thou wert alone at night; the sun that warms Thy -assassins is not for Thee. Before Thee lies no other day, no other -journey; ended are Thy wanderings and now at last Thou canst rest; this -skull of rock is Thy goal. A few hours hence, Thine imprisoned spirit -shall be torn from its dungeon. - -God’s human face is wet with cold sweat. The blows of the mattocks ring -in His head, as if they struck at Him; the sun which He loved so much, -symbol of the Father, just even to the unjust, now falls harshly on His -aching eyes and swollen eyelids. His whole body aches with weariness, -trembles in a yearning for rest which He resists with all His soul. Has -He not promised to suffer as much as is needful up to the very last? At -the same time it seems to Him that He loves with a more intimate -tenderness those whom He is leaving, even those who are working for His -death. And from the depths of His soul, like a song of victory over the -torn and weary flesh, rise up the words, never to be forgotten by men, -“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” - -No more divine prayer was ever raised to Heaven since men have lived and -prayed; it is not the prayer of a man, but of a God to a God. Men, who -cannot pardon even the innocence of an innocent man, had never before -that day dreamed that a man might pray for the forgiveness of those who -were putting him to death. - -For they know not what they do! Wrongs consciously wrought cannot be -absolved without assurance of repentance. But the ignorance of men is so -appallingly great that only a few really know what they do. - -Jesus had taught what men should know; but how many knew it? Even His -own Disciples, the only ones to know that Jesus was Christ, had been -overcome by the fear of losing this last remnant of their lives; even as -they fled away, they had shown that they did not know what they did. And -even more ignorant of what they really did were the Pharisees, fearful -of losing their preëminence; the Doctors, fearful of losing their -privileges; the rich, fearful of losing their money; Pilate, fearful of -losing his office; and most ignorant of all were the Jews, misled by -their leaders, and the soldiers obedient to orders. None of them knew -who Christ was and what He came to do, and why He was killed. Some of -them were to know it, but afterwards, and they came to know it only -through the intercession of the Man whom they were killing. - -Now, at the point of death, He had confirmed His most difficult and -divine teaching, “Love for enemies,” and He could now hold out His hands -to the hammer. The crosses had been raised; now they were piling stones -about them to steady them under the weight, and were filling the holes -with earth, stamping it down with their feet. - -The women of Jerusalem approached the condemned Man with a pitcher. It -contained a mixture of wine, incense and myrrh, which the executioners, -out of the goodness of their hearts, imagined would dull consciousness. -Those very people who were making Him suffer pretended as a last insult -that they had mercy on that suffering, and by reducing it by the merest -trifle they thought they had the greater right to demand that the rest -of the cup of suffering be drained. But Jesus, as soon as He had tasted -this mixture, bitter as gall, pushed it away. He would have accepted a -single word in place of the wine, but the only one on that day who could -find the word to say was one of the thieves whom they had dragged up to -the place of the skull with Him. - -The incense and the myrrh which they offered Him on that day were not -perfumed like that incense and myrrh brought to Him in the stable by the -Wise Men from the distant Orient. And in place of the gold which had -lighted the dingy darkness of the stable, there was the iron of the -nails, gray now, waiting to be reddened. And that wine which seemed -poisoned so bitter was it, was not the genial nuptial wine of Cana, nor -that which He had drunk the evening before, warm and dark as blood -dripping from a wound. - - - FOUR NAILS - - -On the top of the hill of the Skull the three crosses, tall, dark, with -outspread beams like giants with outstretched arms, stood out against -the great sweep of the sweet spring sky. They threw no shadow, but they -were outlined by brilliant reflections from the sun. The beauty of the -world on that day in that hour was so great that tortures were -unthinkable; could they not, those wooden branches, blossom out with -field flowers, and be wreathed with garlands of tender green, hiding the -scaffold with verdure, in the shade of which reconciled and friendly -brothers might sit down? - -But the Priests, the Scribes, the Pharisees, those who gloated over -suffering and over revenge, who had come there to satisfy their morbid -appetites with the spectacle of three deaths, were stamping with -impatience, and jeeringly hastening on the Romans. - -The Centurion gave an order. Two soldiers approached Jesus and with -rapid, rough gestures removed all His clothes. The criminal condemned to -crucifixion must be entirely naked. - -As soon as He was stripped, they passed two ropes under His armpits, and -hoisted Him up on the cross. Half-way up on the upright was a rough -wooden peg like a seat where the body was to find a precarious and -painful support. Another soldier leaned the ladder against one of the -arms of the cross, climbed up on it, hammer in hand, seized the hand -which had cured lepers and caressed little children’s hair, spread it -out on the wood and drove a nail into the middle of the palm. The nails -were long, and with a wide head so that they could be easily hammered. -The soldier struck a vigorous blow, which pierced the flesh at once, and -then another and a third so that the nail would hold firmly and so that -only the head would remain outside. A little blood spurted out from the -pierced hand upon the hammering hand, but the diligent workman paid no -attention to it, and continued to hammer away vigorously until his work -was properly done. Then he came down the ladder and did the same to the -other hand. - -All the spectators had fallen silent, hoping to hear screams from the -condemned man. But Jesus was silent before His executioners as He had -been silent before His judges. - -Now they turned their attention to the feet. This was work which could -be done standing on the ground, for the Roman crosses were set so low -that, if the bodies of the executed criminals were left on them too -long, prowling dogs and jackals could tear out their bowels and eat -them. - -The soldier who was nailing Christ on the cross now lifted up His knees -so that the soles of His feet should be flat against the wood, and -taking the measure so that the iron nail should be long enough to go -through the instep, he pierced the first foot, and drove the nail home. -He did the same to the other foot, and at the end glanced up, still with -his hammer in his hand, to see if he had finished his work, and if -anything was lacking. He remembered the scroll which they had taken from -Jesus’ neck and flung down on the ground. He picked it up, climbed again -up the ladder, and with two nails fastened it on the upright of the -cross, above the thorn-crowned head. - -Then he came down the ladder for the last time, threw away his hammer, -and looked to see if his companions had finished their work. The -thieves, too, were now in place and all three crosses had their -flesh-offerings. The soldiers could rest and divide the garments which -henceforth the men up there on the crosses needed no more. This was the -perquisite of the executioners and came to them by law. Four soldiers -had a right to Jesus’ clothes and they divided them into four parts. -This left the tunic, which was without seam, woven all in one piece. It -would be a sin to cut it, for after that it would be of no use to any -one; but one of them, an old gambler, took out his dice, threw them, and -the tunic was awarded by luck. From now on the only possession of the -King of the Jews was the thorns of His crown which, as a greater insult, -they had left on His head. - -All was finished: the drops of blood fell slowly from His hands on the -ground and the blood from His feet reddened the cross. From now on He -was to flee no more; His blaspheming mouth was soon to be gaping in -agony, but it was to teach no more forever. The assassins might be -satisfied with themselves and with the foreign executioners. The -poisoner of the people, the enemy of the Temple and of business, was -fastened with four solid nails on the tree of ignominy. From that night -on the lords of Jerusalem could sleep more peacefully. - -A clamor of demoniac laughter, of exultant exclamations, of ferocious -jests rose from the crowd about Golgotha. There He was, the bird of -ill-omen, nailed with outspread wings. The poor man, satisfied if He had -but a tunic, now was altogether naked; the vagabond, who had only a -stone on which to lay His head, now had a fine pillow of wood; the -impostor who deceived with His miracles, no longer had His hands free to -mold the clay which restored sight to the blind; the throne of the King -was a hard wooden peg; the hater of Jerusalem was hung up in sight of -the Holy City; the Master with so many disciples now had as companions -only two thieves who insulted Him, and four bored soldiers. “Call on the -Father now to save Thee, ask for a legion of angels to take Thee away -from there and disperse us with flaming swords. Then even we will -believe that Thou art the Christ, and we will fall down with our faces -in the dust to adore Thee.” - -And some of the priests, shaking their heads, said: “Thou that -destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If -thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” - -This challenge recalls that of Satan in the desert. They, like Satan, -wished for a prodigy. They had asked so many times for a sign! “It would -be a fine sign if Thou couldst loosen the four nails and come down from -the cross, and if the power of the Father should flame out in the -Heavens destroying us as God-killers. But Thou seest well that the nails -are strong and are not loosened, and that no one appears to aid Thee -from heaven or from earth.” - -The Scribes, the Elders, mocked Him in the same way, and so did even the -soldiers, although the affair was none of theirs, and even the thieves -also, suffering though they were in anguish with Him. - -“He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, -let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He -trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he will have him: ... for he -said, I am the Son of God.” - -He had announced that He came to give life, but now He could not save -Himself from death! He had boasted that He was the Son of God, but God -did not move to save His firstborn from the scaffold. Therefore, He had -always lied; it was not true that He had ever saved any one. It was not -true that God was His Father, and if He had lied about that, He had lied -about everything, and deserved this fate. There was no need of proof, -but the proof was there so clear that all could see it, and their -consciences were perfectly at rest. If any miracle were possible, He -would no longer be crucified there to agonize; but the sky was empty and -the sun, God’s light, shone clearly that all men might see more clearly -the contractions of His face and the painful heaving of His chest. - -“What a pity that the Romans do not allow our old punishment for -blasphemers, for it would have relieved us to have stoned Thee one by -one. Thus every one would have had his share of pleasure, taking aim at -the head with well-directed stones, and covering Thee with bruises, -clothing Thee in a tunic of stones. Once before when the adulteress was -brought before Thee we put down our stones, but to-day no one would be -backward, and Thou wouldst have paid for Thee and for her! The cross is -well enough, but how much less satisfying for the spectators! If only -these foreigners had permitted us to give a blow of the hammer on the -nails! Thou answerest not? Hast Thou no longer any desire to preach? -Canst Thou not come down? Why dost Thou not deign to convert us also? If -we ought to love Thee, show us first that God loves Thee enough to do a -great miracle to save Thee from death!” - -But the divine Sacrifice was silent. The torture of the fever, which had -begun already, was not so terrible as those words of His brothers who -were crucifying Him a second time on the cross of their appalling -ignorance. - - - DISMAS - - -The thieves who had been crucified with Jesus had begun to be hostile to -Him in the street when He was liberated from the weight of His cross. -They felt aggrieved because no one thought of them; they were to die the -same death, but no one seemed to think of this; people abused Him, but -at least they recognized that He was there, they were all thinking about -Him, running along for His sake as if He had been alone. It was for Him -that all those people were following along—important people, educated -and wealthy—it was for Him that the women were weeping and that even the -Centurion was moved to pity. He was the King of the occasion, this -country cheat, and He drew every one’s attention as if He had really -been a King. Who knew, perhaps the wine with myrrh would never have been -offered to them, if He had not been so fastidious as to refuse it. - -But one of them, when he heard the great words of his envied companion, -“Forgive them; for they know not what they do,” suddenly fell silent. -That prayer was so new for him, summoned him to emotions so foreign to -his nature and all his life, that it carried him back at one stroke to -his almost forgotten childhood, when he also was innocent, and when he -knew there was a God of whom one could ask for peace as poor men beg for -bread at the rich man’s door. But in no canticle could he remember -hearing any such prayer as this, so extraordinary, so paradoxical in the -mouth of one who was at that moment being killed. And yet those -impossible words found in the thief’s withered heart an echo of -something he would have liked to believe, above all at that moment when -he was about to appear before a Judge more awful than those of the -law-courts. This prayer of Jesus’ found an unexpected echo in his own -thought, a thought beyond his power to formulate or express, but which -now seemed to him luminous in the darkness of his fate. Had he really -known what he was doing? Had other men ever thought of him? Had they -ever done for him what they could to turn him from evil? Had there ever -been any one who really loved him? Had any one given him food when he -was hungry and a cloak when he was cold, and a friendly word when -suddenly temptations laid siege to his lonely and dissatisfied soul? If -he had had a little more bread and love, would he have committed the -actions which had brought him to Golgotha? Was he not also among those -who knew not what they do, distraught by poverty, abandoned among -ambushed passions? Were they not thieves like him, the Levites who -trafficked in the offerings of the faithful, the Pharisees who cheated -widows, the rich men, who by their usury drained dry the veins of the -poverty-stricken? Those were the men who had condemned him to death; but -what right had they to kill him if they had never done anything to save -him, and if they, too, were tainted with his guilt? - -All these thoughts went through his distracted heart while he waited to -be fastened to the cross. The nearness of death—and what a death!—this -unheard-of prayer of the man who was not a thief, but who was suffering -the penalty of thieves, the hate which deformed the faces of the men who -had condemned him also, moved his poor, maimed soul, and inclined him to -emotions unfelt since his boyhood, to emotions the very name of which he -did not know, but which were very like to tenderness and repentance. - -When they were all on the cross, the other thief, although suffering -terribly from his pierced hands and feet, began again to insult Jesus. -He also began to vomit out the challenge of the Jews, “If thou be -Christ, save thyself and us.” - -If He were really the Son of God would He not have thought of freeing -also His companions in misery? Why was He not moved to compassion? -Hence, they were right, those men down there: He was a deceiver, a man -of no account, an execrated outcast. And the anger of the raging thief -was intensified by his fury over a lost hope, an abortive hope, an -impossible dream of miraculous salvation; but a despairing man hopes -even for the impossible, and this hope withdrawn seemed to him a -betrayal. - -But the Good Thief who had been listening to him, and to the other -raging voices shrieking down below, now turned to his companion. “Dost -thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we -indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man -has done nothing amiss.” - -The thief had passed from the doubt of his own blameworthiness to the -certainty of the innocence of that mysterious Pardoner at his side. “We -have committed deeds (he was not willing to call them crimes) which men -punish, but this man has done nothing amiss, and yet He is punished as -we are; why, therefore, insult Him? Hast thou no fear that God will -punish thee for having humiliated an innocent man?” - -And he turned over in his mind what he had heard told about Jesus—only a -few things and those not at all clear to him—but he knew that Jesus had -spoken of a Kingdom of Peace and that He himself was to be at the head -of it. Then with impetuous faith as if he invoked the blood which fell -at the same moment from his criminal hands and from those guiltless -hands, he cried out these words, “Lord, remember me when thou comest -into thy kingdom.” - -We have suffered together; wilt Thou not recognize the man who was -beside Thee on the cross, the only man who defended Thee when all were -attacking Thee? - -And Jesus, who had answered no man, turned His head as well as He could -towards the pitying thief and answered him, “Verily I say unto thee, -To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” - -He could promise him nothing earthly: what would it have availed him to -be unnailed from the cross and to drag himself along the roads of the -earth a few years more, crippled and needy? And unlike the other thief -he had not asked to be saved from death: he had asked only to be -remembered after his death, if Jesus should return in glory. Jesus -instead of fleshly and uncertain life promised him the eternal life of -Paradise, and that without delay—“to-day.” - -He had sinned; in the eyes of men, he had gravely sinned, he had taken -away from the rich a little of their riches, perhaps he had also stolen -a little from the poor, but for sinners ailing with an illness worse -than any bodily weakness, Jesus had always a tenderness of which He made -no show, but which He was never willing to hide. Had He not come to -bring back to the warmth of the stable the flock lost among the thorns -of the countryside? Were not the wicked already sufficiently punished -with their own wickedness? And those who thought themselves righteous, -were they not perhaps often more corrupt than the wicked they condemned? -Jesus does not pardon all men. That would be injustice, holier than the -injustice of the world, but still unjust. But a single motion of -repentance, a single word of regret is enough. The prayer of the thief -was enough to absolve him. - -The Good Thief was Jesus’ last convert in His corporeal existence. He -was the last Disciple and at the same time the first of the martyrs, for -Peter’s Gospel tells us that when they heard his words, the Jews were -angered against him and demanded that his legs should not be broken, in -order that he might die in greater torment. The legs of crucified men -were broken out of mercy that their sufferings might end sooner; this -shortening of his torture was refused to him because he had defended -Christ and believed in Him: like his Master, he was forced to drink his -cup to the dregs. - -We know nothing more of him; only his name preserved in an apocryphal -manuscript. The Church has received him among her saints because of this -promise of Christ, with the name of Dismas. - - - THE DARKNESS - - -Jesus’ breathing was more and more like the death-rattle. His chest -heaved with convulsive efforts to breathe; loud, painful pulses hammered -at His temples. His heart beat so rapidly and so violently that it shook -Him as if it would tear Him loose; the feverish thirst of crucified men -flamed all over His body, as if His blood had become a raging molten -fire in His veins. Stretched in that painful position, nailed to the -beams and not able to move, held up by His hands, which were lacerated -if He let Himself hang by them, but which, if He held them up, exhausted -His weak and worn-out frame, that young and divine body which had -suffered so many times because it contained too great a soul, was now a -funeral pyre of suffering where all the sufferings of the world burned -together. - -As ancient writers admitted, crucifixion was the cruelest and blackest -of punishments. It gave the greatest torture for the longest time. If -tetanus set in, a merciful torpor hastened death; but there were men who -held out, suffering always more and more, until the second day after -crucifixion, and even longer. The thirst of their fever, the congestion -of their hearts, the rigidity of their veins, their cramped muscles, the -dizziness and terrible pains in the head, the ever-greater agony—all -these were not enough to make an end of them. But most men died at the -end of twelve hours. - -The blood from the four wounds of Jesus had clotted about the -nail-heads, but every movement made fresh blood gush out, which fell -slowly along the cross and dripped upon the ground. His head drooped on -His weary neck; His eyes, those mortal eyes, whence God had looked out -upon the earth, were glazing over in the death stupor; and His livid -lips, parched with suffering and thirst, drawn by His painful breathing, -were withered by that last kiss, the poisonous kiss of Judas. - -Thus died a God, who had cooled the blood of the feverish, had given the -water of life to the thirsty, who had raised up the dead from their -tombs, who had quickened the paralyzed, cast out demons from obsessed -souls, who had wept with the weeping, who, instead of punishing the -wicked, had made them to be born again into a new life, who had taught -with poetic words and proved by miracles that glorious aspiration—the -life of perfect love—which raging beasts sunk in stupor and in blood -would never have been capable of discovering for themselves. He had -healed wounds and they wounded all His perfect body; He had pardoned -evildoers, and evildoers nailed Him, an innocent man, between two -criminals; He had infinitely loved all men, even those unworthy of His -love, and hatred had nailed Him there where hatred punished and was -punished; He had been more righteous than righteousness and they had -wreaked upon Him the most iniquitous unrighteousness; He had called mean -souls to holiness and He had fallen into the hands of vilifiers and -demons. He had brought life, and in return they gave Him the most -ignominious death. - -All this was necessary that men should learn again the road to the -earthly Paradise; that they should mount above drunken bestiality and -attain the exaltation of the saints; that they should be resurrected -from their sluggish folly which seems life and is death, to the -magnificence of the Kingdom of Heaven. - -The mind may bow before the dreadful mystery of this necessity, but the -heart of men can never forget the price exacted as payment of our debts. -For nineteen hundred years, men born again in Christ, worthy to know -Christ, to love Christ, and to be loved by Him, have wept, at least once -in their lives, at the memory of that day and of that suffering. But all -our tears gathered together like a bitter sea do not compensate for one -of the drops which fell, red and heavy, on Golgotha. - -A barbarous king of barbarians pronounced the most vigorous words ever -spoken by Christian lips about that blood. They were reading to Clovis -the story of the Passion, and the fierce King was sighing and weeping -when suddenly, no longer able to contain himself, clapping his hand to -the hilt of his sword, he cried out, “Oh, that I had been there with my -Franks!” Ingenuous words, words of a soldier and of a violent man, -opposed to Christ’s words, spoken to Peter among the olives, but words -beautiful with all the naïve beauty of a candid and virile love. For it -is not enough to weep over Christ who gave more than tears; we must -fight, fight in us everything that divides us from Christ, fight in our -midst all of Christ’s enemies. - -For, although millions of men have since wept when thinking of that day, -on that Friday around the cross, all except the women were laughing, and -those men who laughed have left sons and grandsons, many of them -baptized, and they still laugh and their descendants will continue to -laugh until the day when One alone will be able to laugh. If weeping -cannot cancel that blood, what punishment can ever expiate that awful -laughter? - -Look at them therefore once more, those who are laughing about the cross -where Jesus hangs pierced by the most agonizing pain. There they are, -clustered on the slopes of Golgotha, dehumanized by hate! Look at them -well, look them in the face, one by one; you will recognize them all, -for they are immortal. - -See how they thrust out their twitching muzzles, their scrawny necks, -their noses humped and hooked, their rapacious eyes, gleaming under -their bristling eyebrows. See how hideous they are, branded with the -mark of Cain. Count them over well, for they are all there, just like -the men whom we now know, brothers of the men whom we meet every day in -our streets. Not one is missing. - -In the front row there are the priests, with crammed paunches, with arid -hearts, with great hairy ears, with thick-lipped, gaping mouths, craters -of blasphemy. And elbow to elbow with them, the arrogant Scribes, -blear-eyed and scrofulous, their faces of an excremental yellow, -piecers-together of lies, belching out pus and ink. And the Epulones, -thrusting out before them the obscene heaviness of their stuffed -bellies, brutes who trade on hunger, who fatten on famines, who convert -into money the patience of the poor, the beauty of virgins, the sweat of -slaves. And the money-changers, expert in illicit traffic and in -oppression, who live to wrest unlawfully from others; and the knotty -lawyers skillful at turning the law against the innocent. And behind -these high pillars of society, there is the mob of cheating scullions, -of overbearing rascals, of foul-mouthed rogues, of whining beggars, of -filthy knaves, the lower dregs of the population, famished hounds who -eat under the tables and snarl between the legs of whoever does not give -them either a mouthful or a kick. - -They are the eternal enemies of Christ—they who celebrated on that day -their infamous Saturnalia; and they have vomited out on Christ’s face -their poisonous saliva, the muddy lees of their souls. This miry dross -of humanity, foul and polluted, vomited out from their filthy hearts -their hatred for Him who was saving them; they howled against Him who -was forgiving them; they insulted Christ who was agonizing for them, -Christ who was dying for them. The antithesis of good and evil, -innocence and infamy, light and darkness, was never presented with such -a dramatic and utter contrast as on that irreparable day. - -Nature itself seemed to wish to hide the horror of that sight: the sky, -which all the morning had been clear, suddenly grew dark. A thick cloud, -dark as though it came from the marshes of hell, rose above the hills -and little by little spread to every corner of the horizon. Black clouds -gathered about the sun, that sweet, clear April sun, which had warmed -the hands of the murderers, encircled it, laid siege to it, and finally -covered it with a thick curtain of darkness ... “and there was a -darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.” - - - LAMA SABACHTHANI - - -Many, alarmed by the falling of that mysterious darkness, fled away from -the Hill of the Skull, and went home, silenced. But not all; the air was -calm; no rain fell as yet, and in the obscurity, the three pallid bodies -shone out whitely; many of the spectators wished to sate themselves to -the very last on His agony; why go away from the theater until the -tragedy is finished to the last scream? - -And those who remained listened in the darkness to hear if the hated -protagonist would break by some word His groaning death-rattle. Christ’s -sufferings constantly became more intolerable. His body, sensitive and -delicate by nature, exhausted by the tension of these last days, -convulsed by the struggle of the last night, worn out by the tortures of -the last hours, could endure no more. And His spirit suffered even more -than the tortured body which still for a short time was its prison. It -seemed to Him that His divinely youthful soul had become suddenly aged, -and that He was old beyond memory. Everything seemed far-distant from -Him, the companions of His happy days, the confidants of His tenderness, -the poor who looked lovingly at Him, the children whose heads He had -caressed, the healed men and women who could not bring themselves to -leave Him, His Disciples for whom He had created a new soul—they were -all far away. Close to Him there were only a gang of cannibals, -possessed by the devil, eager for Him to die. - -Only the women had not deserted Him. On one side at some distance from -the cross, through fear of the howling men, Mary, His mother, Mary -Magdalene, Mary of Cleofa, Salome, mother of James and John—and perhaps -also Joanna of Cusa, and Martha—were present, terrified witnesses of His -death. He still had the strength to confide to John, the dearest and -most sacred inheritance which He left on earth—the Virgin of Sorrows. -But after this, through the veil of His suffering, He saw no one and -believed Himself alone with death, as He had ever been alone at the most -solemn moments of His life. Even the Father seemed suddenly remote, -inexplicably absent. Where was that loving Father to whom He was wont to -speak, sure that He would be answered, would be helped? Why did the -Father not help Him, give some sign of His presence, or at least show -Jesus the mercy of calling Him to God without cruel delay? - -And then there was heard in the thick air, in the silence of the -darkness, these words, “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?” that is to say: “My -God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” - -This was the first verse of a psalm which He had repeated to Himself -many times because He had found there so many presages of His life and -of His death. He no longer had the strength to cry it all aloud as He -had in the desert, but now into His troubled spirit those sorrowing -invocations came back one by one, “My God, my God, why hast thou -forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of -my roaring?... Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted and thou didst -deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: ... but I am a -worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All -that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the -head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him -deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me -out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s -breasts. Be not far from me: for trouble is near; for there is none to -help. Many bulls have compassed me: ... they gaped upon me with their -mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, -and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in -the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd: and my -tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of -death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have -enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet ... they look and stare -upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my -vesture. But be thou not far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee -to help me.” - -The supplications of this prophetic psalm, which recall so closely the -Man of Sorrows of Isaiah, rose from the wounded heart of the crucified -Man as the last expression of His dying humanity. But certain of the -brutes nearest to the cross thought that He was calling Elias, the -immortal prophet, who in the popular imagination was to appear with -Christ. “Behold, He calleth Elias.” - -One of the soldiers now took a sponge, soaked it in vinegar, put it on a -reed and held it to the lips of Christ. But the Jews said, “Let alone; -let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.” - -The legionary, not wishing to make trouble, laid down the reed. But -after a little—and the time seemed infinitely long in that darkness, in -that suspense, that painful tension—Christ’s voice came down as if from -a great distance, “I thirst.” - -The soldier took up the sponge again, dipped it once more in the vessel -full of the mixture of water and vinegar and once more held it to the -parched mouth which had prayed for his forgiveness. And Jesus when He -had taken the vinegar said, “It is finished.” - -Christ, who had satisfied so many times the thirst of others, and who -left in the world an ever-springing fountain of life, where the weary -find strength, the corrupt find their youth, and the restless find -peace, Christ had always suffered with an unsatisfied thirst for love. -And even now in the terrible burning of His fever, His thirst was not -for water but for a pitying word which would break the oppression of His -desolate solitude. Instead of the pure water of the Galilean brooks, -instead of the heart-warming wine of the Last Supper, the Roman soldier -gave Him a little of his acid drink, but the prompt and kindly act of -that obscure slave quenched His thirst, because, although reeling in the -darkness of death, He felt that a human heart had pitied His heart. - -If a stranger who had never seen Him before that day had done this, -although so small a thing, through compassion for Him, it was a sign -that the Father had not abandoned Him. The cup was finished: all the -bitterness was drunk. Eternity began. With His last strength He cried -with a loud voice in the darkness: “Father, into thy hands I commend my -spirit!” - -I called Thee because it seemed to me in the darkness of my suffering -that Thou hadst left me. But now Thou hast answered. Thou hast answered -by means of this poor soldier; Thou hast answered with the peace which -dulls the last pangs of my death, the death which brings me to my -awakening with Thee. It is not true that Thou hadst abandoned me. When I -called Thee it was not I who spoke but that human blood burning in my -veins, and dropping from the nails. I know that Thou art present with -me, one with me to all eternity: Thou art my Father and I Thy Son. Into -what dearer and surer hands could I commend my soul? - -And Jesus, after he had cried out with a loud voice, bowed His head and -gave up the spirit. That loud cry, so powerful that it freed the soul -from the flesh, rang out of the darkness and lost itself in the -furthermost ends of the earth. Matthew tells us that “the veil of the -temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did -quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened, and many bodies -of the saints which slept arose, and appeared unto many.” But the hearts -of the spectators were harder than rocks; none of those dead souls who -wore the outward aspect of life were reanimated at that supreme summons. - -Nineteen hundred years have passed from the day when the earth echoed to -that cry, and men have intensified the tumult of their lives that they -may drown it out. But in the fog and smoke of our cities, in the -darkness, ever more profound where men light the fires of their -wretchedness, that despairing cry of joy and of liberation, that -prodigious cry which eternally summons every one of us, still rings in -the heart of every man who has not forced himself to forget. - -Christ was dead. He had died on the cross in the manner which men had -willed, which the Son had chosen, to which the Father had consented. The -death-struggle was over and the Jews were satisfied. He had expiated all -up to the last, and now He was dead. Now our own expiation begins—and it -is not yet finished. - - - WATER AND BLOOD - - -Christ was dead, as the leaders of His people had wished, but not even -His last cry had awakened them. Some of them, says Luke, went away -smiting their breasts; but were there within those breasts hearts which -truly felt for the great heart which had stopped beating? They did not -speak, they hurried home to their supper,—perhaps it was more terror -than love which they were feeling. - -But a foreigner, the Centurion, Petronius, who had been the silent -witness of the execution, was moved, and from his pagan mouth came the -words of Claudia Procula, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” - -He did not even know the true name of the man who was dead, but he was -sure at least that He was no evildoer. He was the third Roman witness in -favor of the innocence of Christ, who was to become, through the -Apostles, eternally Roman. - -The Jews had no thought of recantations. What was in their minds was the -thought that the Passover would be spoiled if the bloody corpses were -not carried away at once. Evening was close at hand and with the setting -of the sun the great Sabbath began. Therefore they sent word to Pilate -to have the condemned men’s legs broken at once and to have them buried. -The breaking of the legs was one of the cruel discoveries of cruelty to -shorten the sufferings of crucified men,—a sort of grace useful in cases -of haste. The soldiers, when they had received the order, came up to the -bad thief, who, more robust than his companions, was still alive, and -they broke his legs with a club. - -They had seen Jesus die, and they could save themselves the trouble of -using the club, but John says that one of them, to make quite sure, -pierced His side with a spear, and saw with astonishment that water and -blood came out from the wound. The name of this soldier according to an -old tradition was Longinus, and it is said that some drops of that blood -fell upon his eyes which had been infected, and immediately cured them. -The history of martyrs tells of him that Longinus believed in Christ -from that day on, and was a monk for twenty-eight years at Cæsarea until -he was murdered because of his faith. Claudia Procula, the pious -legionary, who for the last time wet the lips of the dying man, the -Centurion, Petronius, and Longinus were the first Gentiles who accepted -Jesus on the very day when Jerusalem had cast Him out. - -But not all the Jews had forgotten Him. Now that He was dead, really -dead, now that He was cold like all dead men, and motionless like any -other corpse, now that He was a silent, harmless, quiet corpse, a body -with no soul, a silent mouth, a heart which beat no more, see how they -come out from the houses where they had shut themselves in, the friends -of the twenty-fifth hour, the tepid followers, the secret disciples, the -anonymous admirers, who at night hide their light under a bushel, and -when the sun shines, disappear. We have all known friends like these, -cautious souls, trembling at the idea of what people will say, who -follow you but from afar; receive you—but when no one can see you -together; esteem you—but do not so much as admit this esteem to others; -love you—but not so much as to lose a single hour of sleep or a single -miserable penny to help you! But when death comes, even when it comes -through the fault or the avarice, or the cowardice of such despicable -men, then their celebration begins. They are the ones who weep more -tears and more glittering tears than any one else. They are the ones who -weave together with busy hands the flowers of the wreaths and the -flowers of funereal rhetoric; and with enthusiasm and ardor become -necrologists, epitaph writers, and memorialists. To see them you would -think that the deceased had had no more faithful, no more loving -companions than they, and good-hearted people are moved to compassion -for those unfortunate survivors who seem to have lost a half, or at the -very least, a quarter of their souls. - -To His sorrow in life and in death Christ had many friends of this sort, -and two of them stepped forward in that Good Friday twilight. They were -two serious and worthy citizens, two notables of Jerusalem and of the -Council, two rich lords, in short two members of the Sanhedrin; Joseph -of Arimathea and Nicodemus. - -In order not to stain their hands with the blood of Jesus, they had kept -away from the meeting of the Sanhedrin and had hidden themselves in -their houses, heaving regretful sighs, perhaps, and thinking that they -could thus save their reputation and their conscience. But they did not -reflect that even passive complicity was active help to the assassins, -and that to abstain from opposition, not even to voice their opposition, -was equivalent to consenting. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had -therefore taken part in the murder of Christ, although they had been -absent and invisible, and their posthumous grief can diminish but by no -means cancel their responsibility. - -But in the evening when they ran no risk of offending their colleagues, -when the Elders had received full satisfaction and had left Golgotha, -when there was no danger of compromising themselves in the eyes of high -clerical and middle-class society, since the dead man was dead and could -harm no one, the two nocturnal disciples, hidden, “for fear of the -Jews,” thought that they would diminish their remorse by providing for -the burial of the executed man. - -The bolder of the two, Joseph, “... went in boldly unto Pilate” (Mark -noted the fact as remarkable for that toga-clad rabbit) and asked for -the body of Jesus. Pilate was astonished that He should already be dead, -since crucified men often lived for two days—and called in Petronius, -who had been charged with the execution. After Pilate had heard his -report, he “gave” the body to the Sanhedrist. The Procurator was -generous on that day because as a rule the Roman officers forced the -families of condemned men to pay for the corpses. He could not say no to -a person so respectable, and rich into the bargain. Possibly, too, this -free gift came as much from weariness as from generosity. They had -annoyed him all the morning with that troublesome King, and now he had -no peace even when He was dead! - -When Joseph had received permission he took a fine white winding-sheet -and linen bands, and went towards the Hill of the Skull. There, or on -the way there, he met Nicodemus, who, having the same character, may -have been his friend, and who had come with the same thought. Nicodemus -also had not spared expense, and had brought with him on the shoulders -of a servant a hundred pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes. - -And when they came to the cross, while the soldiers were taking down the -two thieves to throw them into the common grave of condemned men, they -prepared themselves to take down the body of Jesus. - - - PERFUMES IN THE ROCK - - -What little light had penetrated the dark cloud disappeared with the -setting of the sun. The darkness was thick and sinister. A black night -was shutting down on the world which on that day had lost the only Being -which could give it light. Against the scarcely visible whiteness of the -Hill of the Skull, the naked corpses glimmered dimly. They were obliged -to work by the red light of torches, flaming without smoke in that -windless air, and by that blood-red light they could see clearly, even -to the long streaks of blood which had run down the foot of the cross, -to the newly stirred earth. - -Joseph, aided by Nicodemus and by a third helper, was scarcely able to -draw out the deep-driven nails which held the feet. The ladder was still -there. One of them, climbing up on it, took out the nails from the -hands, supporting the loosened body with his shoulder. The others helped -him to lower down the corpse, and the body was placed on the knees of -the Virgin of Sorrows who had borne Him. Then they all made their way -towards a garden near by where there was a sepulcher destined for Jesus. -The garden belonged to the rich Joseph, who had had the sepulcher hewn -out of the stone for himself and his family, for in those days every -well-to-do Jew had a family sepulcher far from all the others, and the -dead were not condemned to the promiscuity of our administrative -cemeteries; temporary, geometric, and democratic like all our modern -magnificent barbarisms. - -As soon as they had arrived at the garden, the two bearers of the dead -had water brought from the well, and washed the body. Until then the -women, the three Marys—the Virgin Mary, the contemplative Mary, the -liberated Mary—had not moved from the place where He whom they loved had -died. Now, defter and more skillful than men, they began to help in -order that this burial, performed thus at night and in haste, would not -be unworthy of Him for whom they wept. They lifted from His head the -insulting crown of Pilate’s legionaries, and plucked out the thorns -which had penetrated the skin: they were the ones to smooth and arrange -the hair clotted with blood; and to close the eyes into which they had -looked so many times with pure tenderness, and that mouth which they had -never kissed. Many loving tears fell upon that face where in the calm -paleness of death the old sweetness shone once more, and their tears -washed it with water purer than that from Joseph’s well. - -All His body was sullied with sweat, with dust, with blood; bloody serum -oozed out from the wounds of the hands, of the feet, of the chest. When -the washing was finished, the corpse was sprinkled with Nicodemus’ -spices, and that without sparing, for they were abundant; even the black -wounds left by the nails were filled with spices. The body of Jesus had -received nothing but insults and blows after the evening when the -sinning woman with a premonition of this day had poured nard upon the -feet and upon the head of the Pardoner. But now, as then, the murdered -white body was covered with perfumes and with tears sweeter than -perfumes. - -Then, when the hundred pounds of Nicodemus had covered Jesus with a -fragrant pall, the winding sheet was tied about the body with long linen -bands, the head was wrapped in a napkin and another white cloth was -spread over the face, after they had all kissed Him on the forehead. - -There was space but for one body in the open sepulcher. Recently made, -it had never been used. Joseph of Arimathea, not able to save Christ -alive in any of his houses, now that the fury of the world had died -down, gave up to Him the dark subterranean habitation hewn in the rock, -and intended for his own dead body. According to the ritual the two -Sanhedrists recited aloud the mortuary psalm, and finally, after they -had placed the white-wrapped body in the cave, they closed the opening -with a great stone and went away silently, followed by the others. - -But the women did not follow them. They could not bring themselves to -leave that rock which separated them forever from Him whom they loved -more than their beauty. How could they leave Him alone in the darkness, -doubly black, of the night and of the tomb, He who had been so -desperately alone in His long death agony? They whispered prayers, and -recalled to each other the memory of a day, or a gesture, or a word of -the loved one, and if one of them tried to comfort another, the second -but sobbed more bitterly. Sometimes they called Him by name as they -leaned against the rock, and spoke lovingly to Him now that His ears -were closed in death, as they had not dared while He was alive. They -poured out, at last in the damp black shade of the garden, that love -greater than love, which their poor, limited human hearts could no -longer hold back. - -Then finally, chilled and terrified by the night’s blackness, they too -went away, their eyes burning, stumbling amid the bushes and the stones, -promising one another to return there as soon as the feast-day had -passed. - - - HE IS NOT HERE - - -The sun had not yet risen on the day which for us is Sunday, when the -women once more drew near to the garden; but over the eastern hills a -white hope, light as the distant reflection of an earth clothed with -lilies and silver, rose slowly in the midst of the throbbing -constellations, vanquishing little by little the sparkling brilliance of -the night. It was one of those calm dawns, suggesting innocents asleep, -and the clear benign air seemed stirred as by a recent stir of angels’ -wings. It seemed one of the virginal days, ushered in with transparent -pallor, shy and cheerful with cool breezes. - -In the half light, the women advanced, breathed upon by wandering airs, -lost in their sadness, under the spell of an emotion they could not have -explained. Were they returning to weep upon the rock? Or to see Him once -more, He who had captured their hearts without laying them waste? Or to -put about the body of the Immaculate One spices stronger than those of -Nicodemus? And speaking among themselves, they said, “Who shall roll us -away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” - -There were four of them, since Joanna of Cusa and Salome had joined Mary -of Magdala and Mary of Bethany, but they were women and weakened by -their sorrow. - -But when they came to the rock they stood still, astounded. The opening -into the sepulcher showed black against the darkness. Not believing her -eyes, the boldest of them touched the sill with her trembling hands. In -the daylight, brightening now with every moment, they saw the stone -there beside them, leaning against the rocks. - -The women, struck into silence by their fright, turned around as if -expecting some one to come to tell them what had happened in those two -nights which had passed. Mary of Magdala feared at once that the Jews, -not satisfied with what they had made Him suffer when He was alive, had -stolen away the body of Christ; or perhaps, unwilling to have the -honorable sepulcher used by a heretic, they had thrown Him into the -shameful common grave used for men stoned and crucified. - -But this was no more than a presentiment. Perhaps Jesus was still lying -inside in His perfumed wrappings. Enter they dared not, yet they could -not bear to go away, not knowing what had happened. As soon as the sun, -risen at last above the summit of the hills, shone into the opening of -the sepulcher, they took courage and entered. - -At first they saw nothing, but they were shaken by a new fear. At their -right, seated, was a young man clothed in a long white garment, showing -in that darkness like snow. He seemed to be awaiting them. - -“Be not affrighted: he is not here: for he is risen. Why seek ye the -living among the dead? Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in -Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of -sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” - -The women listened, terrified and trembling, not able to answer, but the -youth went on, “Go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from -the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye -see him.” - -All four of them, quivering with terror and joy, left the grotto to -hasten where they had been sent. But after a few steps, when they were -almost outside the garden, Mary of Magdala stopped, and the others went -along the road towards the city without waiting for her. She herself did -not know why she had remained behind. Perhaps the words of the unknown -youth had not convinced her, and she remembered that they had not even -made sure that the sepulcher was really empty; perhaps the youth in -white was an accomplice of the priests who wished to deceive them? - -Suddenly she turned and saw a man near her, outlined against the green -of the garden, and the sunlight; but she did not recognize Him even when -He spoke. “Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” - -Mary thought that it might be Joseph’s gardener come early to his work. -“Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have -laid him. Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast -laid him, and I will take him away.” - -The unknown man, touched by this impassioned candor, by this child-like -simplicity, answered only one word, spoke only one name, her name, -pronounced longingly, wistfully in the touching and unforgettable voice -which had called her so many times: “Mary!” - -At this, as if awakened with a start, the despairing woman found her -lost Master: “Rabboni, Master!” And she fell at His feet in the dewy -grass and clasped in her hands those bare feet still showing the two red -marks of the nails. - -But Jesus said to her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my -Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my -Father, and your Father; and to my God, and to your God.” - -And at once, He withdrew from the kneeling woman, and moved away among -the plants, crowned with sunshine. - -Mary watched Him until He had disappeared; then she lifted herself up -from the grass, her face convulsed, wild, blind with joy, and ran after -her companions. - -They had but just come to the house where the Disciples were in hiding -and they had told hastily and breathlessly the incredible news: the -sepulcher opened, the youth clad in white, the things which he had said, -the Master risen, the message to His brothers. - -But the men, still stunned by the catastrophe, and who in these -dangerous days had shown themselves more torpid and passive than the -weaker women, were not willing to believe this wildly improbable news. -Hallucinations, women’s dreams, they said. How could He be risen from -the dead after only two days? He had said that He would return, but not -at once: so many terrible things were to be seen before that day of His -return! - -They believed in the resurrection of the Master, but not before the day -when all the dead would rise again, and He would come in glory to rule -His kingdom. But not now: it was too soon, it could not be true: waking -dreams of hysteric women! - -But in the meantime, Mary of Magdala rushed in, breathless with haste -and agitation. What the others had said was all true. But there was -more: she herself had seen Him with her own eyes, and He had spoken to -her, and she had not known Him at once, but had recognized Him as soon -as He had called her by name: she had touched His feet with her hands, -had seen the wounds on His feet; it was He, alive once more; and He had -told her, as had the unknown youth, to go to His brethren, so that they -should know that He had risen from the dead as He had promised. - -Simon and John, finally aroused, rushed out of the house and began to -run towards Joseph’s garden. John, who was younger, outran Peter and -came first to the sepulcher. He looked through the door, saw the linen -cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon came up panting and -rushed into the grotto. The linen cloths were lying on the ground, but -the napkin which had been about the head of the corpse was folded and -wrapped together in a place by itself. John also went in, saw, and -believed. And without another word they returned in all haste towards -the house, still running, as if they expected to find the Risen One in -the midst of the others whom they had left. - -But Jesus, after He had left Mary, withdrew from Jerusalem. - - - EMMAUS - - -After the solemn interval of the Passover, plain, ordinary everyday life -began again for all men. - -Two friends of Jesus, among those who were in the house with the -Disciples, were to go that morning on an errand to Emmaus, a hamlet -about two hours’ journey from Jerusalem. They left as soon as Simon and -John had returned from the sepulcher. All these amazing tales had shaken -them somewhat, but had not really convinced them of an event so -portentous and unexpected. Serious-minded men, they could not understand -or believe what they had heard: if the body of the Master was no longer -there, might it not have been taken away by men’s hands? - -Cleopas and his companion were good Jews, men who left a place for the -ideal in their minds, burdened with many material cares. But this place -for the ideal was not to be too large, and this ideal must be -commensurate with their own natures if it were not to be expelled as an -unwelcome guest. Like almost all the Disciples, they too expected the -coming of a Liberator, but of one who would come to liberate Israel -first of all,—a Messiah, in short, who should be the son of David rather -than the Son of God, a warrior on horseback rather than a poor -pedestrian, a scourge of His enemies and not a lover of sick people and -children. The words of Christ had almost given them a glimpse of higher -truths, but the crucifixion disheartened them. They loved Jesus, and -they suffered in His suffering, but this sudden, shameful ending without -glory and without resistance was too great a contrast to what they had -expected, and especially to much of what they had hoped. They could -understand that He might be a humble Saviour, riding on gentle asses -instead of on warlike chargers, and a little more spiritual and gentle -than they would have liked; they could understand this, although with -difficulty, and endure it although grudgingly. But that the Liberator -had not known how to free either Himself or others, that the Messiah of -the Jews should have died through the will of so many Jews on the -scaffold of murderers and parricides, was too great a disappointment,—an -inexcusable scandal. They pitied the crucified leader with all their -hearts, but at the same time they were tempted to believe that they had -been deceived about His real nature. His death—and what a death!—looked -to their narrow, practical minds sadly like a failure. - -They were reasoning together of all these things as they went along -under the warm noonday sun and at times the discussion grew hot, for -they did not always agree. Then suddenly they caught a glimpse of a -shadow on the ground near them. They turned around. The shadow was that -of a man who was following as if he wished to hear what they were -saying. They stopped, as was the custom, to greet him, and the traveler -joined them. His did not seem an unknown face to the two men, but look -at him as they might, they could not think who it was. The newcomer, -instead of answering their silent questions, asked them, “What manner of -communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk?” - -Cleopas, who must have been the older, answered with a wondering -gesture, “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the -things which are come to pass there in these days?” - -“What things?” asked the unknown man. - -“Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and -word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our -rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. -But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: -and beside all this, to-day is the third day since these things were -done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, -which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, -they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which -said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to -the sepulchre and found it even so as the women had said: but him they -saw not.” - -“O fools, and slow of heart,” exclaimed the stranger, “to believe all -that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these -things, and to enter into his glory?” Do you not remember how He was -predicted from Moses down to our own time? Have you not read Ezekiel and -Daniel? Do you not even know our songs of the Lord and His promises? - -And almost indignantly He recited the old words and the prophecies, -recalled the description of the Man of Sorrows given by Isaiah. The two -listened, docile and attentive, without answering, because the newcomer -spoke with so much heat, and the old admonitions in His mouth took on -new warmth and a meaning so clear that it seemed almost impossible that -they had not understood them before. The talk of the newcomer gave them -the impression of being the echo of other talks like those heard in -times past, but confusedly, like a voice from the other side of a wall. - -In the meantime they had arrived at the entrance of Emmaus, and the -pilgrim made as though He would have gone further. But now the two -friends were not willing to part with their mysterious companion, and -they begged Him to stay with them. The sun was going down, throwing a -warmer golden light on the countryside, and their three shadows had -lengthened on the dusty road. - -“Abide with us,” they said, “for it is toward evening, and the day is -far spent.” Also thou art tired and it is the hour for food. And they -took Him by the hand and made Him come into the house where they were -going. - -When they were at table, the guest who sat between them took bread, and -broke it and gave a little to one of His friends. At this action, the -eyes of Cleopas and the other man were opened, as when we are suddenly -wakened and find the sun shining. Both of them sprang to their feet, -trembling with emotion, pale, amazed, and finally knew Him, the murdered -man whom they had misunderstood and slandered. But they had no time even -to run to kiss Him, for Jesus vanished out of their sight. - -They had not recognized Him when they had seen Him, not even by His -speech, although that was so like His speech in His lifetime; they had -not recognized Him even by the light of His eyes while He spoke, nor by -the sound of His voice! But when He took the bread in His hands, like a -father who shares it with His children in the evening after a day of -work or of travel, in that loving action which they had seen Him perform -so many times in their hastily arranged intimate suppers, they had -recognized His hands, His blessed and wounded hands, and the cloud -lifted and they found themselves face to face with the splendor of -Christ risen from the dead. In His first life when He was their friend -they had not understood Him; when on the road to Emmaus He had taught -them, they had not recognized Him, but at the moment when He became the -loving Master, serving His servants and giving them bread which is life -and the hope of life, then for the first time they saw Him. - -And tired and fasting as they were, they went back over the road which -they had come, and after nightfall arrived at Jerusalem. - -And as they went along they said almost shamefacedly, “Did not our heart -burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened -to us the scriptures?” - -The Disciples were still awake. Without drawing breath the newcomers -told of their encounter and what had been said along the way, and how -they had recognized Him only at the moment when He broke the bread. And -in answer to this new confirmation, three or four voices cried out -together, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon!” - -But not all the Apostles were convinced even by these four appearances, -by the fourfold testimony. To some, this prompt, this extraordinary -resurrection, which had taken place by night in a secret and suspicious -manner, seemed more the hallucination of grief and of yearning than -actual truth. Who were the people who claimed to have seen Him? A -hysterical woman who had been possessed by a devil; a distraught man who -had not seemed himself from the moment when he had denied his Master; -and two plain fellows who were not even His real Disciples, and whom -Jesus had thus chosen, no one knew why, in preference to His closer -friends. Mary might have been deceived by a phantom; Simon, to win back -his self-respect after his baseness, was determined to do no less than -Mary; the others were perhaps impostors or, at the most, visionaries. If -Christ were really risen, would not He have been seen by them all while -they were together? Why these preferences? Why this appearance at -three-score furlongs from Jerusalem? - -They believed in His resurrection, but they thought of it as one of the -signs of the ending of the world, when everything would be fulfilled. -But now that they found themselves confronted with the fact that He -alone had risen from the dead while everyday life went on as usual, they -realized that the return into life of human flesh (and of human flesh -which had not gone to sleep peacefully in the last sleep, but whose life -had been torn away by violence), that this idea of rising from the dead -not in the distant future but in the immediate present, contradicted all -the other concepts which made up the tissue of their minds. They -realized that this contradiction had always existed, but their doubt had -not risen to consciousness until this brusque encounter of two -impossible elements: a remote miracle and an actual fact. - -If Jesus had risen from the dead, that would mean that He was really -God; but would a real God, a Son of God, ever have been reconciled to -allow Himself to be killed, and in so shameful a way? If He could -conquer death, why had He not stricken down the judges, put Pilate to -confusion, paralyzed the arms of those about to nail Him to the cross? -Through what paradoxical mystery had the Omnipotent allowed Himself to -be dragged through the ignominy of the weak? - -They were reasoning thus among themselves, some of the Disciples who had -heard but had not understood. Prudent like all sophists, they did not -venture openly to deny the resurrection in the presence of those exalted -hearts, but they reserved judgment, turning over in their minds the -reasons for its possibility and impossibility, wishing for a manifest -confirmation, but unable to hope for one. - -In the excitement of the day no one had eaten. But the women had -prepared supper, and now all sat down to the table. Simon remembered the -Last Thursday: “This do in remembrance of me.” - -And a flood of tears dimmed his eyes while he broke the bread and gave -it to his friends. - - - HAVE YE HERE ANY MEAT? - - -They had scarcely eaten the last mouthfuls when Jesus appeared in the -doorway, tall and pale. He looked at them one by one, and in His -melodious voice greeted them: “Peace be unto you.” - -No one answered. Their astonishment overcame their joy, even for those -who had already seen Him since His death. On their faces the Man risen -from the dead read the doubt which He knew they all felt, the question -which they did not dare express in words, “Art Thou really Thyself a -living man, or a spirit which comes from the caverns of the dead to -tempt us?” - -“Why are ye troubled?” said the Man who had been betrayed, “and why do -thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is -I, myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as -ye see me have.” - -And He stretched out His hands towards them, showed them the marks still -bloody left by the nails, opened His garment over His breast so that -they could see the mark of the lance in His side. Some of them, rising -from their couches, knelt down and saw on His bare feet the two deep -wounds, each with its livid ring around it. - -But they could not bring themselves to touch Him, for they feared to see -Him disappear suddenly as He had come suddenly. If one of them had -embraced Him, would he have felt the warm solidity of a body, or would -his arms have passed through the emptiness of a mere shadow? - -It was He with His face, with His voice, with the irrefutable traces of -the crucifixion, and yet there was something changed in His aspect which -they could not have described, even if they had been calm. The most -reluctant were forced to believe that the Master stood before them with -all the appearance of life begun anew, but their thoughts whirled in the -last of their doubts and they were silent as if they were afraid to -believe in their senses, as if they expected to wake up, from one moment -to another. Even Simon was silent. What could he have said without -betraying himself by tears to Him who had looked at him with those same -eyes in the courtyard of Caiaphas while he swore that he had never known -Him? - -To make an end of their last doubts, Jesus asked, “Have ye here any -meat?” - -He needed no longer any food except that for which He had vainly asked -all His life. But these men of the flesh needed a fleshly proof, a -material demonstration as was befitting those who believed only in -matter and nourished themselves only on matter. They had eaten together -on their last evening; this evening also, now that they were again -together, He would eat with them. “Have ye here any meat?” - -A piece of broiled fish was left in a dish. Simon put it before the -Master, who sat down at the table and ate the fish with a piece of bread -while they all stared at Him as though it were the first time they had -ever seen Him eat. - -And when He had finished, He raised His eyes towards them, and, “Are you -convinced now, or do you still not understand: does it seem possible to -you that a spirit can eat as I have eaten here in your presence? So many -times I have been forced to reprove your hardness of heart, and your -little faith! And behold you are still as you were at first, and you -were not willing to believe those who had seen me, and yet I had hid -nothing of what was to happen in these days. But you, deaf and -forgetful, hear and then forget, read and do not understand. When I was -with you, did I not tell you that all things which were written and -which I announced must be fulfilled; that it behooved Christ to suffer -and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and -remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, -beginning at Jerusalem? Now you are witnesses of these things, and -behold I send the promise of my Father upon you. Go ye into all the -world and preach the gospel to every creature. All power is given unto -me in heaven and on earth, and as the Father sent me, I send you. Go ye -therefore and teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things -whatsoever I have commanded you. He that believeth and is baptized shall -be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. I will remain here -a little and we shall meet again in Galilee, but I am with you always -even unto the end of the world.” - -Little by little as He spoke, His Disciples’ faces lighted up with a -forgotten hope, and their eyes shone with exaltation. This was the hour -of consolation after the gloom of those dreadful days just passed. His -indubitable presence showed that the impossible was assured, that God -had not abandoned them and never would abandon them. Their enemies, -apparently victorious, were conquered; the visible truth bore out all -the prophecies. It was true that they had known already everything He -was then saying, but those truths really lived in them only when His -lips repeated them. - -Their King had come back, the Kingdom was near at hand, and His -brothers, instead of being derided and persecuted, would reign with Him -through all eternity. These words had fired again the most tepid, had -brightened the memory of other words, of other sunnier days, and -suddenly they felt an exaltation, an ardor, a greater desire to embrace -each other, to love each other, never more to be separated from each -other. If the Master was risen from the dead, they themselves could not -die; if He could leave the sepulcher, His promises were the promises of -a God and He would fulfill them to the uttermost. Their faith was not in -vain, and they were no longer alone: the crucifixion had been the -darkening of one day in order that the light might shine out more -splendidly for all the days to come. - - - THOMAS DIDYMUS - - -Thomas, called Didymus, was not present when Jesus appeared, but the day -after, his friends ran to seek him, still agitated by what Jesus had -said. “We have seen the Lord!” they said. “It was really He. He talked -with us. He ate with us like a living man.” - -Thomas was one of those who had been profoundly shaken by the shame of -Golgotha. He had said once that he was ready to die with his Master, but -he had fled away with the others when the lanterns of the guard had -appeared on the Mount of Olives. His faith had been darkened by the -gloom which had shut down on Golgotha. In spite of Christ’s warnings, he -had never once thought that the end of his Master could be thus. To -think of the shame into which Jesus let himself be led, with the -passivity of a feeble sheep, made him suffer, almost more than the loss -of Him who had loved him. This disappointment of all his hopes had -shocked him almost as though he had discovered that he had been cheated, -and in his eyes his disappointment excused even the shame of their -abandoning Him. Thomas, like Cleopas and his comrades, was a sensualist, -whom the exalted example of Christ had lifted high into a world which -was not his own. Faith had taken him unawares, like a contagious fervor. -But as soon as the flame which had kindled him anew every day was -buried, or seemed buried, under the shameful stoning of hate, the light -of his soul burned low, and grew cold. He took on again his first -character, his real character, which sought tangible things with the -senses, hoped for material changes in matter, and expected to find only -in material things material certainties and consolations. His eyes -refused to look at the things which his hands could not touch, and for -this he was condemned never to see the invisible,—a grace reserved only -for those who believe it possible. He hoped for the Kingdom, especially -when the words and the presence of Jesus brightened his earthly heart -with the light of Heaven, but not for a purely spiritual Kingdom -floating in the firmament among the unsubstantial islands of the clouds, -but a kingdom where living, warm-blooded men might have eaten and drunk -at solid and tangible tables, might govern with new laws a fairer earth -assigned to them by God. - -Thomas, after the scandal of the crucifixion, was not at all disposed to -believe a hearsay report of the resurrection. He had seen his first -beliefs too roughly disabused to put any faith now in his equally -deceived companions. And he answered to those who joyfully brought him -the news, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and -put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his -side, I will not believe.” - -He had said at first, “Except I shall see.” But he corrected himself at -once: even his eyes could deceive him, and many men were cheated by -visions. And his thoughts went on to a material test, to the coarse, -brutal proof of fact,—to put his finger there where the nails had been, -to put his hand, his whole hand, where the lance had penetrated. To do -as a blind man does who sometimes is less mistaken than men who see. - -He rejected faith which is the higher vision of the soul. He even -refused to have faith in the sight of his eyes, the most divine of our -bodily senses. He put his faith only in his hands, flesh handling flesh. -This double denial left him in the dark, groping like a blind man, until -the Light made Man, through a supreme loving concession, gave him back -light for his eyes and for his heart. - -But this answer of Thomas has made him one of the most famous men in the -world: for it is Christ’s eternal characteristic to immortalize even -those men who affronted Him. All those afraid to touch spiritual -concepts for fear of breaking them, all cheap skeptics, all the misers -in academic chairs, all tepid half-wits stuffed with prejudices, all the -faint-hearted, sophists, the cynics, the beggars and the retort-cleaners -of science; in short all rush-lights jealous of the sun, all geese -hissing at the flight of soaring falcons, have chosen for their -protector and patron Thomas called Didymus. They know nothing of him -except this: he does not believe in what he cannot touch. This answer -seems to them the sum-total of perfect good sense. Let anybody who -wishes claim that he sees in the darkness, hears in the silence, speaks -in solitude, lives in death; the followers of Thomas can get no such -idea into their thick, dense heads. So-called “reality” is their -stronghold, and they will not budge from it. They prefer to fill their -lives with gold which satisfies no hunger, with land in which they will -occupy so small a cavity, with glory so fleeting a whisper in the -silence of eternity, with flesh which is to become worm-eaten -corruption, and with those noisy, magic discoveries which after -enslaving men hurry them towards the formidable discovery of death. -These and other things like them are “real things,” beloved by the -devotees of Thomas. But perhaps if they had ever had the idea of reading -what happened after that answer made by Thomas, they would have their -doubts even of him who doubted the resurrection. - -A week later, the Disciples were in the same house as on the first -occasion and Thomas was with them. He had hoped all that week that he -also might be permitted to see the risen Master, and sometimes he had -trembled, thinking that his answer might be the reason for Christ’s -absence; but suddenly there came a voice at the door, “Peace be unto -you.” - -Jesus entered, his eyes seeking out Thomas: He came for Thomas, for him -alone, because Christ’s love for him was greater than any affront. And -He called him by name and came up to him so that he could see Him -clearly, face to face, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; -and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not -faithless, but believing.” - -But Thomas did not obey Him. He dared not put his finger in the nail -print nor his hand in the wound. He only said to him: “My Lord and my -God.” - -With these words which seemed an ordinary greeting, Thomas admitted his -defeat, fairer than any victory; and from that moment he was wholly -Christ’s. Up to that time he had revered Him as a man more perfect than -others, now he recognized Him as God, as his God. - -Then Jesus, who could not forget Thomas’ doubt, answered, “Thomas, -because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that -have not seen, and yet have believed.” - -This is the last of the Beatitudes and the greatest: blessed are they -that have not seen and yet have believed, for in spite of the theories -of the dissectors of corpses, the only truths which have an absolute -value in reality are those which the eyes of the flesh cannot see and -hands of flesh and blood can never handle. These truths come from on -high and reach the soul directly: the man whose soul is locked shut -cannot receive them, and will see them only on the day in which his -body, with its five limited doorways, is like a shabby worn-out garment -left upon a bed, in the interval before men hide it underground like a -noisome afterbirth. - -Thomas is one of the saints and yet he was not one of those blest by -that Beatitude. An old legend relates that up to the day of his death -his hand was red with blood, a legend true with all the truth of a -terrible symbolical meaning, if we understand from it that incredulity -can be a form of murder. The world is full of such assassins who have -begun by assassinating their own souls. - - - THE REJECTION OF THE RESURRECTION - - -Christ’s first companions were at last convinced that His second and -eternal life had begun. He who had been killed, who had slept as a -corpse sleeps, covered with the perfumes of Nicodemus and the -winding-sheet of Joseph, had after two days awakened like a God. But how -long it took them to admit the reality of His return! - -And yet the enemies of Christ, to make an end to the greatest obstacles -in the way of their other negations, have accused those very astonished, -perplexed Disciples with having willingly or unwillingly invented the -myth of the resurrection. Caiaphas and his followers claimed that the -Disciples carried off the body by night and then spread around the news -of the empty sepulcher in order that weak-headed mystics might more -readily believe that Christ was risen and thus allow those cheats to -continue their pestiferous trickery in the name of the dead Trickster. -And Matthew says that the Jews bought some witnesses with “large money” -that if needful they should report that they had seen Simon and his -accomplices violate the sepulcher and carry away on their shoulders a -heavy burden wrapped in white. - -But His modern enemies, through a last remnant of respect for those who -founded with their blood the indestructible Church, or rather through -their profound conviction of the simple-mindedness of the first martyrs, -have given up this idea of deceit. Neither Simon nor the others could -have acted out such a deception; they never could have kept such a piece -of trickery straight in their poor thick heads. But if they were not -consciously deceiving, they were certainly stupid victims of their own -fancy or of the knavery of others. - -These enemies of Christ affirm that the Disciples hoped so vividly to -see Jesus rise from the dead as He had promised, and that the -resurrection was so urgently needed to counteract the disgrace of the -crucifixion, that they were induced, almost forced, to expect it and to -announce it as imminent. Then in that atmosphere of superstitious -suspense, the vision of a hysterical woman, the hallucination of a -dreamer, the delusion of an unbalanced man sufficed to spread the news -of the appearance of Christ about the little circle of the desolate -survivors. Some of them, unable to believe that the Master had deceived -them, easily put their faith in the affirmations of those who claimed to -have seen Him after His death. And, by dint of repeating the fantasies -of these wild dreams, they ended by taking them seriously themselves and -by convincing the more candid souls. Only on condition of such a -posthumous confirmation of the divinity of the dead man was it possible -to hold together those who had followed Him and to create the first -stable organization of the universal Church. - -But those who with their accusations of stupidity or fraud try to -undermine the certainty of the first Christian generation, forget too -many things and too many essential things. - -First of all is the testimony of Paul. Saul the Pharisee had been to -school to Gamaliel, and might have been present, even though at a -distance and as an enemy, at Christ’s death, and certainly knew all the -theories of his early teachers, the Jews, about the pretended -resurrection. But Paul, who received the first Gospel from the lips of -James, called the brother of the Lord, and from Simon, Paul famous in -all the churches of the Jews and the Gentiles, wrote thus in his first -letter to the Corinthians: “Christ died for our sins according to the -scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day -according to the scriptures; and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the -twelve: After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; -of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen -asleep.” The Letter to the Corinthians is recognized as authentic even -by the most disdainful and suspicious nosers-out of falsification. The -first Letter to the Corinthians cannot have been written later than the -spring of the year 58, and hence it is older than the oldest Gospel. -Many of those who had known the living Christ were still living at that -time and could easily have contradicted or undeceived the Apostle. -Corinth was at the gates of Asia, inhabited by many Asiatics, in close -relation with Judea; Paul’s letters were public messages which were -publicly read at gatherings, and copies of them were made to send to -other churches. The solemn and specific testimony of Paul must have come -to Jerusalem, where the enemies of Jesus, many of them still alive, -would have found some way to controvert them by other witnesses. If Paul -could have thought a valid confutation possible, he never would have -dared write those words. That he was able therefore, so short a time -after the event, publicly to affirm a prodigy so contrary to ordinary -beliefs and to the interests of Christ’s watchful enemies, shows that -the resurrection was not merely a phantasy of a few fanatics, but a -certainty denied with difficulty, easily proved. We have no other record -except this letter of Paul’s of the appearance of Christ to the five -hundred brothers, but we cannot even for a moment imagine that Paul, one -of the greatest and purest souls of early Christianity, could have -invented it,—he who had so long persecuted those who believed in the -reality of the resurrection. It is extremely probable that the -appearance of Christ to the five hundred happened in Galilee on the -mountain spoken of by Matthew, and that the Apostle had known one of -those who had been present at that memorable meeting. - -But this is not all. The Evangelists, who set down with some -incoherence, but with the greatest frankness, the recollections of -Jesus’ first companions, admit, perhaps without wishing to, that the -Apostles themselves did not expect the resurrection and found it hard to -believe. When we read the four Gospels with attention we see that they -continued to doubt even with the risen Christ before them. When on -Sunday morning the women ran to tell the Disciples that the sepulcher -was empty and Christ alive, the Disciples accused them of raving. When -later He appeared to many in Galilee: “And when they saw him, they -worshipped him:” said Matthew; “but some doubted.” And when He appeared -at evening in the room where they were taking supper, there were some -who could not believe their own eyes and hesitated until they had seen -Him eating. Thomas still doubted after this, until the moment when his -Lord’s body was actually before his own. - -So little did they expect to see Him rise again that the first effect -upon them of His appearance was fright. “They were affrighted and -supposed that they had seen a spirit.” They were therefore not so -credulous and easily fooled as their defamers would have them. And they -were so far from the idea of seeing Him return a living man among the -living that when they first saw Him they mistook Him for another. Mary -of Magdala thought that He was the gardener of Joseph of Arimathea; -Cleopas and his companions were not able to recognize Him all along the -road; Simon and the others when He came to them upon the shore of the -lake, “knew not that it was Jesus.” If they had really been expecting -Him, Himself, their minds on the alert, burning with longing, would they -have been frightened, would they not have known Him at once? When we -read the Gospels, we get the impression that Christ’s friends, far from -inventing His return, accepted it almost because they were forced, by -external coercion, and after much hesitation; the exact contrary, in -short, of what is desired to be proved by those who accuse Christ’s -friends of being deceived or of having deceived. - -But why this hesitation? Because the warnings of Christ had not been -able to dislodge from those slow and indocile minds the old Jewish -repugnance to the idea of immortality. The belief in the resurrection of -the dead was for centuries and centuries foreign to the wholly material -mentality of the Jews. In a few prophets like Daniel and Hosea there are -some passing traces of the idea, but it does not appear explicitly -except in one passage of the story of the Maccabees. At the time of -Christ the common people had a confused idea of it as a distant miracle, -a part of the conceptions of the Apocalyptic writers, but they did not -think it possible before the final upheaval of the great day: the -Sadducees denied it firmly and the Pharisees admitted it as the remote -and common reward of all righteous men. When the superstitious Antipas -said that Christ was John risen from the dead, he meant to say with a -vigorous figure of speech that the new Prophet was like a second John. - -Reluctance to admit such an extraordinary infraction of the laws of -death was so profoundly rooted in the Jewish people that the very -Disciples of Christ were not disposed to admit the possibility of the -resurrection without reiterated proofs, although they had seen Him raise -others from the dead and had heard Him predict His own resurrection. And -yet they had seen Him bring to life with His powerful summons the son of -the Widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, the brother of Martha and -Mary: the three sleepers whom Jesus had awakened because of His -compassion for the grief of a mother, of a father, of a sister. But it -was the habit and the fate of the Twelve to misunderstand and to forget. -They were too set upon their material thoughts to be ready to believe at -once such a victory over death. But when they were convinced, their -certainty was so firm and strong that from the sowing of those first -enforced witnesses has sprung up an enormous harvest of men born again -in the faith of the resurrected One—which the centuries have not yet -mowed down. - -The calumnies of the Jews, the accusations of false witnesses, the -doubts of the Disciples, the plots of implacable enemies, the fallacious -sophistry of the progeny of Thomas, the fantasies of heresiarchs, the -distorted conceptions of men eager to prove Christ definitely dead, the -turns and twists of the myth-spinners, the mines and assaults of the -higher and lower criticism have not availed to wrench from the millions -of human hearts the certainty that the body taken down from the cross of -Golgotha reappeared on the third day to die no more. The people chosen -by Christ condemned Him to death, hoping to have done with Him, but -death refused Him as the Jews had refused Him, and humanity has not yet -finished its accounting with that assassinated Man who came out from the -sepulcher to show that breast where the Roman lance had forever made -visible the heart which loves those who hate Him. - -The cowardly souls who will not believe in His first life, in His second -life, in His eternal life, cut themselves off from true life: from life -which is generous acceptance, spontaneous love, hope in the invisible, -certainty of the truth which passeth understanding. They themselves are -dead, although they seem living, those who refuse Him, as death refused -Him. Those who drag the weight of their still warm and breathing corpses -over the patient earth laugh at the resurrection. The second birth in -the spirit will not be granted to those who reject life, but an -appalling and inevitable resurrection will be granted to them on the -last day. - - - THE RETURN BY THE SEA - - -When the tragedy had drawn to a close with its greatest sorrow, its -greatest joy, every one turned again to his own destination, the Son to -the Father, the King to His Kingdom, the High Priest to his basins of -blood, the fishermen to their nets. - -These water-soaked nets, with broken meshes, torn by the unaccustomed -weight of the great draughts, so many times mended, patched, knotted -together again, which had been left by the first fishers of men without -one backward look, on the shores of Capernaum, had finally been mended -and laid on one side, by some one with the prudence of the stay-at-home -who knows that dreams are soon over and hunger lasts for all one’s -lifetime. The wife of Simon, the father of James and John, the brother -of Thomas, had saved the casting nets and the drag-nets as tools which -might be useful, in memory of the exiles, as if a voice had said to -those who had remained at home: “They too will come back; the Kingdom is -fair, but far distant, and the lake is fair now, to-day, and full of -fish. Holy is holiness, but no man lives by the spirit alone. And a fish -on the table now is worth more to a hungry man than a throne a year from -now.” - -And for a time the wisdom of the stay-at-homes, taken root in their -native countryside like moss on a stone, was vindicated. The fishermen -returned. The fishers of men appeared again in Galilee and once more -took the old nets into their hands. They had received the order of Him -who had drawn them away from there that they should be witnesses to His -shame and to His glory. They had not forgotten Him and they could never -forget Him: they always talked of Him among themselves and with all -those who were willing to listen to them. But Christ on His return had -said, “We will meet again in Galilee.” And they had gone away from -ill-omened Judea, from the mercenary city ruled by its murderous -masters, and they had trod once more the road back to their sweet, calm -fatherland, whence the loving ravisher of souls had snatched them away. -The old houses had a mellow beauty, with the white banners of newly -washed linen, and the young grass greening along the old walls, and the -tables cleaned by humble old hands, and the oven, which every week spat -out sparks from its flaming mouth. And the quiet fishing-town had -beauty, too; with its tanned naked boys, the sun high over the level -market-place, the bags and baskets in the shadow of the inns, and the -smell of fish which at dawn was wafted over it, with the morning breeze. -But more beautiful than all was the lake: a gray-blue and slate-colored -expanse on cloudy afternoons: a milky basin of opal with lines and -patches of jacinth on warm evenings; a dark shadow flecked with white on -starry nights: a silvery, heaving shadow in the moonlight. On this lake -which seemed the very spirit of the quiet, happy countryside, the -fishermen’s eyes had for the first time discovered the beauty of light -and of water, nobler than the heavy unlovely earth and kinder than fire. -The boat with its slanting sails, its worn seats, the high red rudder, -had from their childhood been dearer to them than that other home which -awaited them, stationary, whitened, four-square on the bank. Those -infinitely long hours of tedium and of hope as they gazed at the -brilliant water, the swaying of the nets, the darkening of the sky, had -filled the greater part of their poor and homely lives. - -Then came the day when a Master, poorer and more powerful than they, had -called them to Himself to be workers with Him in a supernatural, -perilous undertaking. The poor souls uprooted from their usual -surroundings had done their best to be lighted by that flame, but the -new life had trodden them out like grapes in the wine-press, like olives -in the olive crusher in order that their rough hearts should yield up -tears of love and pity. - -It was only after the Cross had been raised on Golgotha that they had -wept with true sorrow: and only after the Crucified Leader had returned -to break bread with them that they had been kindled anew to hope. - -And now they had come home, bringing back only a few recollections, and -yet those recollections were enough to transform the world. But before -beginning the work which He had commanded, they were waiting to see Him -whom they loved in the place which He had loved. They were different men -from the men who had gone away, more restless, sadder, almost estranged, -as if they had come back from the land of the lotus-eaters and saw from -beyond with purer eyes a new earth indissolubly united with Heaven. But -the nets were there, hung up on the walls, and the boats at anchor -swayed up and down on the water. Once more the fishers of men, perhaps -out of nostalgia, perhaps out of material need, began to be lake -fishermen. - -Seven Disciples of Christ were together one evening in the harbor of -Capernaum, Simon called Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana, -James, John and two others. Simon said, “I go afishing.” - -His friends answered, “We also go with thee.” - -They went into the boat and put off, but all that night they caught -nothing. When day came, a little depressed because of the wasted night, -they came back towards the shore. And when they were near they saw in -the faint light of the dawn a man standing on the shore, who seemed to -be waiting for them. “But the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.” - -“Children, have ye any meat?” called the unknown man. - -And they answered, “No.” - -“Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” - -They obeyed and in a moment the net was so full that they were scarcely -able to draw it in. And they all began to tremble because they had -guessed who it was awaiting them. - -“It is the Lord,” said John to Simon. - -Peter answered nothing, but hastily drew on his fisher’s coat (for he -was naked), and cast himself into the sea that he might be first on -shore. The boat was scarcely two hundred cubits from the land and in a -few moments the seven Disciples were about their Lord. And no one asked -Him, “Who art thou?”—because they had recognized Him. - -On the shore there were bread and a lighted brazier with fishes broiling -on it, and Jesus said, “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.” - -And for the last time He broke the Bread and gave to them and the fish -likewise. After they had finished eating Jesus turned to Simon and under -His look the unhappy man, silent till then, turned pale: “Simon, son of -Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” - -The man who had denied Him, when he heard this question full of -tenderness, but for him so cruel, felt himself carried back to another -place beside another brazier with other questions put to him, and he -remembered the answer he had made then, and the look from Christ about -to die and his own great lamentation in the night. And he dared not -answer as he wished: “Yes” in his mouth would have been boasting and -shamelessness: “No” would have been a shameful lie. - -“Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” - -He made no claim for himself but “thou knowest that I love thee,” Thou -who knowest all and seest into the most hidden hearts. “I love thee”: -but he had not the courage to add “more than these” in the presence of -the others, who knew what he had done. - -Christ said to him, “Feed my lambs.” - -And for the second time He asked him: “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou -me?” - -And Peter in his trouble found no other answer than, “Yea, Lord; thou -knowest that I love thee.” - -Why dost Thou still make me suffer? Dost Thou not know without my -telling Thee that I love Thee, that I love Thee more than at first, as I -have never loved Thee, and that I will give up my life to affirm my -love? - -Then Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” - -And for the third time He insisted, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou -me?” - -He was drawing from Peter three affirmations, three new promises to -cancel his three denials at Jerusalem. But Peter could not endure this -repeated suffering. Almost weeping, He cried out, “Lord, thou knowest -all things; thou knowest that I love thee!” - -The terrible ordeal was over, and Jesus went on, “Feed my sheep. Verily, -verily I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and -walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt -stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry whither -thou wouldest not.” - -That is, to the cross, like the cross where they nailed me. Know, -therefore, what it means to love me. My love is brother to death. -Because I love you, they have killed me: for your love for me, they will -kill you. Think, Simon, son of Jonas, what is the covenant which you -make with me, and the fate which is before you. From now on, I shall not -be at hand to take you back, to give you the peace of forgiveness, after -coward fallings from grace. From now on defections and desertions will -be a thousand times more serious. You must answer for all the lambs -which I leave in your care and as reward at the end of your labors you -will have two crossed beams, and four nails as I had, and life eternal. -Choose: it is the last time that you can choose and it is a choice for -all time—irrevocable. For an account will be asked of you as a servant -left in the place of his master: and now that you know all and have -decided, come with me. - -“Follow me!” - -Peter obeyed, but turning about saw John coming after him and said, -“Lord, and what shall this man do?” - -Jesus said to him, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to -thee? follow thou me!” - -For Simon the primacy and martyrdom; for John immortality and endless -waiting. He who bore the same name as the precursor of Christ’s first -coming was to prophesy His second coming. The historian of the end was -to be persecuted, a solitary prisoner, but he was to live longer than -all the others and to see with his own eyes the crumbling of the stones, -not one left upon another, of the ill-omened hill of Jerusalem. In his -sonorous blue desert, in the midst of the blinding light and the immense -blackness of the midnight sea, in his vision of the great deeds of the -last day he will rejoice and suffer. Peter followed Christ, was -crucified for Christ and left behind him the eternal dynasty of the -Vicars of Christ: but John was not permitted to find rest in death: he -waits with us, the contemporary of every generation, silent as love, -eternal as hope. - - - THE CLOUD - - -Once more they returned to Jerusalem, leaving their nets, this time -forever, travelers setting out upon a journey, the stages of which were -to be marked by blood. - -In the same place where He had gone down to the city glorified by men, -in the shade of blossoming branches, He was to rise again after the -interval of His dishonor and His resurrection, in the glory of Heaven. -He remained in the midst of men, for forty days after the resurrection, -for as long a time as He had remained in the desert after His symbolic -death by water. Although His body seemed human, His life was -transfigured into the ultimate sublimination of humanity and He was -ready to enter as pure spirit, into the spirit of the Father from whom -He had been separated thirty years before, that He might cast a gleam of -heavenly light upon the shadow-darkened world. - -He did not, as before, lead a life in common with the Disciples, because -He was separated now from the life of living men; but He reappeared to -them more than once to confirm His great promises, and perhaps to -explain to those most capable of receiving them those mysteries which -were not written down in any book but were passed on, under the seal of -secrecy, through all the apostolic period and the following periods, and -were imperfectly set down later under the title of Arcana Disciplina. - -The last time they saw Him was on the Mount of Olives, where before His -death He had prophesied the ruin of the Temple and of the city and the -signs of His return, and where, in the darkness of night and of anguish, -Satan, before his final defeat, had left Him wet with sweat and blood. -It was one of the last evenings of May and the clouds in that golden -hour, like golden celestial islands in the gold of the setting sun, -seemed to rise from the warm earth towards near-by Heaven, like incense -from great fragrant offerings. In the fields of grain, the birds began -to call back the fledglings to the nests, and the cool breeze lightly -shook the branches and their drooping, unripened fruit. From the distant -city, still inact, from the pinnacles, the towers and the white squares -of the Temple rose a smoky cloud of dust. - -And once again the Disciples asked Jesus the question which they had put -to Him in the same place on the evening of the two prophecies. Now that -He had come back as He had promised, what else were they to await? - -“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” - -They may have meant the Kingdom of God, which in their minds, as in the -minds of the Prophets, was one with the Kingdom of Israel, since the -divine restoration of the earth was to begin with Judea. - -Christ answered: “It is not for you to know the times or the season, -which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, -after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses -unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto -the uttermost parts of the earth.” - -And having said this, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while -they beheld, He was taken up from the earth and suddenly a shining cloud -as on the morning of the Transfiguration wrapped Him about and hid Him -from their sight. But they could not look away from the sky and -continued to gaze steadfastly up in their astonishment, when two men in -white apparel spoke to them: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up -into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, -shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” - -Then having prayed in silence, they returned to Jerusalem, glowing with -melancholy joy, thinking of the day just begun: the first day of a task -which, after two thousand years, is not yet accomplished. They were -alone now, alone against that innumerable enemy called the World. But -Heaven is not so cut off from the earth as before the coming of Christ; -the mystic ladder of Jacob is no longer a lonely man’s dream, but is set -up on the earth, on this earth which we tread, and above there is an -Intercessor who does not forget the ephemeral beings destined to eternal -life who, for a time, were His brothers. “Lo, I am with you alway, even -unto the end of the world” had been one of His last promises and the -greatest. He had ascended into Heaven, but Heaven was no longer merely -the barren dome where swift, tumultuous storm-clouds appear and -disappear; where the stars shine out silently, like the souls of saints. - -He is still with us, the Son of Man, who to be nearer Heaven ascended -mountains, who was light made manifest, who died, raised above the earth -towards the blackness of Heaven, and rose from the dead to ascend into -Heaven in the peacefulness of evening, and who will return again on the -clouds of Heaven. He is still present in the world which He meant to -free. He is still attentive to our words, if they truly come from the -depths of our hearts, to our tears if they are tears of blood in our -hearts before being salt drops in our eyes. He is with us, an invisible, -benignant guest, never more to leave us, because by His wish our earthly -life is an anticipation of the Kingdom of Heaven, and is a part of -Heaven from this day on. Christ has taken to Himself as His eternal -possession that rough foster-mother of us all, that sphere which is but -a point in the infinite and yet contains hope for the infinite; and -to-day He is closer to us than when He ate the bread of our fields. No -divine promise can be blotted out: the May cloud which hid Him from -sight, still hovers near the earth, and every day we raise our weary and -mortal eyes to that same Heaven from which He will descend in the -terrible splendor of His glory. - - - - - INDEX - - - Abba, Father, 302 - - Abnegation, 309 - - Abraham, 42 - - Achilles, 100; - Priam and, 117, 120 - - Adam, 127 - - Adulteress, 223 - - Adultery, 101, 210 - - Adversary. _See_ Satan - - Agrapha, 12 - - Aim of this book, 13, 14, 17, 20 - - Ajax of Sophocles, 118 - - Alabaster box, 224 - - Alms, 109 - - Andrew, 82 - - Angels, 62, 74, 212 - - Anger, 100 - - Animality, 98, 123 - - Animals, 22 - - Annas, 251, 313 - - Anointing, 224 - - Anti-Christ, 4 - - Anxiety for the morrow, 109 - - Apostles, 85, 178. _See also_ Disciples - - Aquinas, Thomas, 185 - - Arcana Disciplina, 406 - - Aristophanes, 198, 199 - - Aristotle, 119, 136 - - Art, 124 - - Ascension, 241, 405, 407 - - Asking and receiving, 156 - - Ass, 22, 116; - Jesus riding on, 244 - - Augustus, 204 - - Author of this book, his coming to Christ, 18 - - Authority, 13 - - Avarice, 111 - - Awakened one, 30 - - - Babylon, 44 - - Balaam, 22, 23 - - Banks and bankers, 250 - - Banquet of the Kingdom, 153, 154 - - Baptism, of blood, 300; - of Jesus, 57, 60; - John the Baptist, 54; - second baptism of Jesus—the tears of the woman who was a sinner, 228 - - Barabbas, 341 - - Barns, new, 174 - - Beatitudes, 87, 93; - last and greatest, 395 - - Beauty, 15 - - Beggars, 80, 154, 193 - - Behold the man!, 346 - - Belief, 73, 74, 395 - - Benevolence, 113 - - Bestiality, 62, 73, 92, 323 - - Bethany, 140 - - Bethlehem, 24, 25; - babies, 28 - - Bethpage, 244 - - Betrayal, 281 - - Betrayal of women, 102 - - Birth of Jesus, 21 - - Blasphemy, 322 - - Blindfolding Jesus, 325 - - Blindness, 133 - - Blood, scourging of Jesus, 345; - sweat and blood of Jesus in Gethsemane, 306; - water and, from body of Jesus, 375; - wine and, 298 - - Blood-offering, 29 - - Boyhood, 32 - - Bread, as the body of Christ, 296, 298; - breaking, 297; - eating, as communion with God, 295; - fishes and, 146; - material and spiritual, 66, 133, 146; - unleavened, 295, 297 - - Bridegroom, 155 - - Brothers, 161, 168, 207; - anger toward, 100; - love for, 114 - - Buddha, 95, 198 - - Buddhism, 114 - - Burial of Jesus, 379 - - Business as a God, 250 - - Business men, 79 - - But I say unto you, 100 - - - Cæsar, faith, 148; - images, 327; - things which are Cæsar’s, 202, 204, 330 - - Cæsarea, 233 - - Cain, descendants of, 255 - - Cainites, 282 - - Caiaphas, 243, 251, 278, 287, 310, 315, 318, 348; - adjuration of Jesus, 321; - rends his garment, 322 - - Caligula, 270, 271 - - Camel and needle’s eye, 181 - - Cana, 141 - - Canaan, 43 - - Capernaum, 74, 76 - - Capital punishment, 356 - - Carpenter, 35; - Jesus as, 36 - - Catalepsy, 139 - - Catholic Church, 12 - - Celibacy, 211 - - Centurion, 352, 355, 356 - - Cerinthus, 268 - - Chaldea, 24 - - Charity, 173, 265 - - Chastity, 211, 212 - - Children, 216; - Bethlehem, 28; - Jesus’ love of, 217; - Moses and, 215; - old law and its reversal by Jesus, 218 - - - Christ, Jesus declares himself, 247; - living to-day, 6, 408; - memory, 5; - modern opinion of, 19; - second coming, 259, 262; - Thou art the Christ, 235. - _See also_ Jesus; - Second coming - - Christian era, 6, 71 - - Christian martyrs, 269 - - Christianity, precedents for, 119 - - Christs, false, 260, 267 - - Church, 396; - Catholic, 12; - Peter and, 237 - - Circe, 122 - - Claudia Procula, 333, 376 - - Cleopas, 384, 385, 387 - - Cloud, Jesus’ glorification, 405 - - Clovis, 369 - - Cock crow, 315, 317 - - Commerce, 250 - - Communion with God, 295 - - Confucius, 113 - - Conversion, 73; - in Jesus’ life, 58 - - Converted sinner, 59 - - Corinthians, letter to the, 397 - - Cost, counting, 153 - - Country, 39 - - Courage, 106 - - Court of the Gentiles, 248 - - Courtesy, 113 - - Covenants, 40 - - Crates, 198, 199 - - Criticism, 8, 12 - - Cross, 304, 305, 352; - Jesus and the two thieves carrying, 353; - Jesus nailed to, 360; - superscription, 351. - _See also_ Crucifixion - - Crown of thorns, 346 - - - Crucifixion, 359, 367 - - Crucify him!, 338, 340, 343, 347 - - Cynics, 198 - - Cyrenian, 353, 355 - - - Daniel, 271 - - Darkness, at the crucifixion, 367, 370; - Jesus’ hour of, 310 - - David, 43, 116 - - Day of the Lord, 262 - - Dead, raising, 138 - - Death, 133; - Egypt’s obsession, 31; - Jewish views, 399 - - Death of Jesus, authors and accomplices, 242, 243; - foreknowledge, 241; - His prayer, Abba, Father, 302. - _See also_ Crucifixion - - Deborah, 43 - - Debts, forgiving, 171, 230 - - Defilement, 104 - - Demons, 137, 175 - - Desert, 61, 68, 69 - - Devil. _See_ Satan - - Didymus, 392 - - - Disciples, 176; - duty, 189; - earliest, 75; - first four, 82; - foretold of Jesus’ death, 242; - instructions to, 188; - mystic identity with Jesus, 192; - persecutions, 268; - reappearance of Jesus to, after the resurrection, 403; - at resurrection of Jesus, 388, 389; - speaking in the light, 190; - warnings to, 180 - - Discord, 206 - - Dismas, 363, 367 - - Divinity, 123 - - Divorce, 210 - - Doing versus hearing, 158 - - Dositheus, 268 - - Doubt of Thomas, 392 - - - Earthly kingdoms, 63, 65, 67, 72 - - Earthquakes, 270 - - Easter, 243, 295 - - Edification, 14 - - Education of the human race, 98 - - Egypt, character, 31; - death and mud, 31; - exile in, 32; - flight into, 30; - Jews in, 42 - - Egyptians, 114 - - Elder son, 167, 169 - - Elders, 242 - - Elias, 240, 373 - - Eloquence, 16 - - Elxai, 268 - - Emmaus, 384 - - End of the world, 262, 266 - - Enemies, Egyptians and, 114; - Greeks and, 117; - hatred of, 126; - Jewish treatment of, 115; - love of, 121 - - Ennœa, 267 - - Entreaty, 156 - - Epileptics, 135 - - Erudition, 13 - - Eternal life, 264, 400 - - Eternal punishment, 264 - - Eternity, 71 - - Evangelists on the Resurrection, 398 - - Evil, flight from, 105; - root of, 100 - - Evil for evil, 105 - - Exaggeration, 100 - - Exile in Egypt, 32 - - Expiation, 279 - - - Faith, 132, 133, 136, 148 - - False Christs, 260, 267 - - False witnesses, 319 - - Family, 103 - - Farmers, 79 - - Father, real, 34; - universal, 45 - - Fatherhood of God, 37 - - Father’s business, 33 - - Fathers and sons, 213 - - Fatted calf, 167 - - Feast, 153 - - Feed my sheep, 404 - - Feet, washing of, 292 - - Fig tree, accursed, 144 - - Fire, 207; - from heaven, 184; - prophet of fire, 54 - - First and last, 180 - - First covenant, 40 - - Fishermen, 78; - earliest disciples, 82, 84; - return to the sea, 400 - - Fishers of men, 83 - - Flesh, conquest of, 212; - one flesh, 209 - - Flight from evil, 105 - - Flight into Egypt, 30 - - Flogging, 343, 344 - - Flood, 41 - - Florence, 20 - - Forgive them, 356, 358, 363 - - Forgiveness, 170; - of sin, 231 - - Forsaken, on the cross, 372 - - Forty days, 62 - - Fourth Covenant, 43 - - Frankincense, 25 - - Friends, Jesus and Judas, 285; - laying down life for, 294; - posthumous, 376 - - Friendliness, 75 - - Fulvia, 334 - - - Galilee, 69, 71, 401 - - Gardeners, 78 - - Garments of Jesus, division, 361 - - Gate, narrow, 156 - - Gentiles and Jerusalem, 262 - - Gethsemane, 181, 183, 302 - - Gnostics, 268 - - God, 122; - as Father, 37; - imitation of, 123; - likeness to, 123; - reign of, 71; - will of, 309 - - Gods of Greece, 64 - - Gold, frankincense and myrrh, 25 - - Golgotha, 357 - - Good Friday, 350 - - Good thief, 363 - - Good tidings, 74 - - Gospel, 74 - - Gospels, 6; - authenticity, 11 - - Greatness, 177 - - Greek gods, 64 - - Greeks, treatment of enemies, 117 - - - Happiness, 95, 97, 154 - - Harvest, 175 - - Hasmonæans, 27 - - Hatred, of enemies, 126; - of others, 111; - of ourselves, 124, 125 - - He is risen, 381 - - Health, 134, 138; - of soul, 102 - - Hearing versus doing, 158 - - Heaven, 73, 407. - _See also_ Kingdom of Heaven - - Heights, 130 - - Heresies, 267 - - Hermon, Mount, 238 - - Herod Antipas, 335; - Jesus before, 337 - - Herod the Great, 27, 325 - - Herodias, 336 - - High Priests, 242; - plot against Jesus, 277, 278 - - Hillel, 117 - - Holiness, 122, 205 - - Horace, 26 - - Hosannas, 246 - - Hosea, 274 - - House on a rock, 158 - - Human nature, mystery, 234 - - Human race, education, 98 - - Humility, 125, 172, 293 - - Hungering after justice, 90 - - Husbandman, good, 175 - - Hypocrites, 255 - - - Ideas of Jesus, antiquity of, 112 - - Imagination, 15, 16 - - Immortality, 399 - - Inasmuch, 264 - - Incest, 336 - - Inferno, 35 - - Inheriting the earth, 88 - - Injustice, 91 - - Innocents, slaughter of, 28 - - Insults, 92, 314, 324, 354 - - Intellectualism, 124 - - Intelligence, 87 - - Introduction, 3 - - - Jairus’ daughter, 139 - - James, 83, 183, 184 - - Jericho, 172 - - Jerusalem, desolation, 261; - destruction, 44, 45, 271, 272; - last journey to, 244; - Passover 32; - worldly, 69 - - - Jesus, attempts on his life, 241; - baptism of, 57, 60; - birth, 21; - blindfolded, 325; - as the Christ, 233; - condemnation, 322; - crucifixion, 359, 367; - deeds, 130; - foreknowledge, 49; - foreknowledge of death, 241; - friendliness, 75; - hatred and condemnation for, 275; - healer, 138; - Herod Antipas and, 334; - liberator, 299, 384; - nailed to the cross, 360; - nature, 233; - Pilate and, 329, 338; - Pilate’s question, 330, 332; - poverty, 193; - prosecution, 315; - resurrection, 381; - road to Emmaus, 384; - second crucifixion, 3; - sinlessness, 58; - spat on and struck, 324; - under the cross, 353; - the wanderer, 75, 76; - what men said of him, 233, 235. - _See also_ Christ - - Jewish State, reëstablishment, 274 - - Jews, dispersal, 44, 272; - history, 40; - in Egypt, 42; - wanderings, 43 - - Job, 116 - - John, 83, 183, 184, 185, 315, 318; - at the crucifixion, 371; - at the sepulcher, 383 - - John the Baptist, 54; - beheading of, 336; - imprisonment and death, 69; - Jesus’ answer to him in prison, 137, 138 - - Jonah, 131 - - Jordan and John the Baptist, 54 - - Joseph, 34, 286 - - Joseph of Arimathea, 318, 377 - - Joshua, 43 - - Judas, 186, 202, 243; - Jesus’ understanding of, 284; - kiss of, 311; - at the Last Supper, 290, 301; - mystery of, 281; - sinning woman and, 229; - wasted ointment and, 232 - - Judea, outbreak, 270 - - Judging others, 110 - - Judgment Day, 263, 265 - - Justice, 118, 122, 124, 155; - hunger for, 90 - - - King of the Jews, 330, 346, 351 - - - Kingdom of Heaven (of God), 66, 68, 71, 93; - chief places in, 157, 184; - children—of such is the Kingdom, 217; - definition, 72; - force and, 205; - like mustard seed, 151 - - Kingdom of Satan, 72, 196 - - Kingdoms of the earth, 63, 65, 67, 72 - - Kings, at the birth of Jesus, 25; - of the nations, 204 - - Kiss of Judas, 311 - - Knowledge, 25 - - - Lama sabachthani, 372 - - Lamps, 156 - - Land of Promise, 42 - - Lao-Tse, 113 - - Last and first, 180 - - Last judgment, 263, 265 - - Last Supper, 288 - - Last things, 259 - - Law, 122, 124; - old and new, 99 - - Lazarus, 140, 220 - - Lazarus, the beggar, 173 - - Legs, breaking, 366, 375 - - Leopardi, Giacomo, 95 - - Lepers, 135 - - Liberator, 299, 384 - - Life, 5; - eternal, 264, 400; - Jesus’ knowledge of, 60; - revaluation of, 93; - true, 110 - - Light, Jesus’ Transfiguration, 239 - - Lives of Christ, kind we need, 10; - two kinds, 7 - - Logia, 12, 186 - - Longinus, 375 - - Lord’s Prayer, exposition, 128 - - Losing one’s soul, 196 - - Lost found, 32 - - Lost sheep, 170 - - Love, antiquity and, 111-121; - Christ’s command, 121; - Christ’s for sinners, 59; - experiment of, 125; - filial, 103; - mutual and universal, 113; - for one another, 294; - perfect, 37; - self, 111, 125; - woman who loved much, 229 - - Lovest thou me?, 403 - - Luke-warmness, 188 - - - Malchus, 311 - - Mammon, 193, 196; - Temple at Jerusalem and, 249 - - Man, early rules, 98; - perfectibility, 97 - - Manger, 21 - - Maranatha, 243 - - Mariamne, 27 - - Mark, 313 - - Marriage, 142, 209; - Cana, 141, 143 - - Martha, 138, 140, 219 - - Martyrs, 269 - - Mary (of Bethany), 138, 140, 219, 379 - - Mary (Virgin Mother), 13, 222, 371, 378, 379; - flight into Egypt, 30 - - Mary Magdalene, 220, 224, 379; - risen Lord and, 382 - - Masons, 78 - - Massacre of the Innocents, 29 - - Matthew, 185, 186, 282 - - Meander, 268 - - Meekness, 88 - - Memory of Christ, 5 - - Mental diseases, 136 - - Merciful, 90 - - Mercy, 263, 265 - - Messiah, 183; - material, 53, 65 - - Messiahship, 49 - - Messianic prophecies, 50 - - Metals, 189, 201 - - Miracles, 66, 67, 131, 136 - - Money, banks, exchange, etc., 250; - curse of, 220; - Jesus and, 201, 202; - Judas and, 282 - - Money-changers, 249 - - Mosaic law, 115 - - Moses, 30; - deliverance of Jews from Egypt, 42; - law and love, 115; - sprinkling of blood, 299; - with Christ on Hermon, 240 - - Moslems, 274 - - Mount, Sermon on the, 85, 94, 186 - - Mountain, Jesus praying on, 239 - - Mourning, 89 - - M’-Ti, 112, 113 - - Mud, 31 - - Murder, 100 - - Mustard seed, 151 - - Myrrh, 25 - - Mysteries, 406; - Gethsemane, 306; - human nature, 234; - of the Kingdom, 149 - - - Nails, four, 359, 361 - - Names, secret and real, 234 - - Nard, 224 - - Narrow gate, 156 - - Nathaniel, 186 - - Nature, 95; - antagonism of Jesus and, 109; - Jesus and, 38; - overturning, 108 - - Nazarene, 351 - - Nazareth, any good thing out of?, 186; - boyhood of Jesus, 32; - foreknowledge of Jesus, 49; - Joseph’s shop, 34 - - Nazir, 54 - - Negative command, 117 - - Neighbor, 172 - - Nero, 269 - - New Covenant, 71, 299 - - Nicodemus, 187, 278, 318, 377 - - Nicolatians, 268 - - Nirvana, 114 - - Noah, 41 - - Nomads, 41 - - Nonresistance, 104, 107 - - - Oaths, 103 - - Octavius Augustus, 26 - - Old Adam, 59, 125 - - Old Covenant, 40, 299 - - Old ideas, 112 - - Old law, 117 - - Old Testament morality, 116 - - Older son, 167, 169 - - Olives, Mount of, 244, 245, 252, 259, 302 - - Ophir, 44 - - Opinion of Christ, modern, 19 - - Other cheek, 105, 106 - - Overturnings of opinion, 94 - - Ox, 22 - - - Paganism, 169 - - Palazzo Vecchio, 20 - - Palm branches, 246 - - Parables, 131, 149, 151 - - Paradise, 40, 43, 127, 213, 219; - for the penitent thief on the cross, 356 - - Paradox, 93 - - Parasceve, 352 - - Parusia, 259, 262, 267, 273 - - Passion, beginning, 243 - - Passover, 32, 288, 295; - night before, 352 - - Paternoster, 128, 215 - - Patriarchs, 41 - - Paul, 269; - testimony as to the resurrection, 397 - - Peace, 208 - - Peace and war, 190, 205 - - Peacemakers, 91 - - Peasants, 79 - - Persecutions, 26, 91, 260, 268 - - Peter, 268, 269; - the Rock, 181, 237. - _See also_ Simon Peter - - Petronius, 375 - - Pharaoh, 42 - - Pharisees, 55, 104, 147, 253; - condemnation in the Temple, 255; - at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, 246; - prayer of, and Publican, 171 - - Philip, 186 - - Philo, 117 - - Pilate, Pontius, 243, 325; - fate, 350; - Jesus before, 329, 338; - last recorded words, 351; - personality, 326; - subterfuges, 342, 347, 348, 349; - washing of hands, 346, 349; - wife’s dream, 333 - - Pitcher, man with, 288, 289 - - Pity, 171, 265, 354 - - Plato, 118, 198, 199 - - Pluto, 198, 199 - - Poet, Jesus as, 150 - - Poetry, 15 - - Poor, the, Jesus’ love of, 200; - Jesus’ teaching, 77; - rich and, 173, 189, 194; - in spirit, 87. - _See also_ Poverty - - Possession by devils, 136 - - - Poverty, 79, 109, 174; - disciples, 189; - Jesus, 193; - voluntary, 197 - - Prayer, 128; - Father, forgive them, 356, 358, 363; - Jesus in Gethsemane, 303, 309; - Jesus on the mountain, 239; - Lord’s prayer, 128; - Pharisee and Publican, 171 - - Priam, 117, 120 - - Priestly caste, 276 - - Primacy, 405 - - Prodigal son, 160-169 - - Prophecy of Jesus on Last Things, 259, 266 - - Prophets, 44, 45; - character, 47; - definitions, 47, 48; - description, 46 - - Prostitutes, 230 - - Proverbs, 116 - - Psalms, imprecations on enemies, 116 - - Publicans, 56; - prayer of Publican and Pharisee, 171 - - Punishment, eternal, 264 - - Pure in heart, 90 - - Purification, 104 - - Purity, 110; - of Jesus, 58 - - - Rabboni, 382 - - Readiness, 155 - - Reed, 346, 373 - - Religion, as a business in Jerusalem, 276; - Roman, 327 - - Religions for the irreligious, 4 - - Renan, J. E., 9 - - Renunciation, 152, 180, 196, 200, 201 - - Repentance, 59, 73, 363, 366 - - Resurrection, 381; - doubts about, 388; - Evangelists’ testimony, 398; - Paul’s testimony, 397; - rejection, 395 - - Resurrections from the dead, 138 - - Retaliation, 90, 99; - Jesus’ repudiation of the old law, 105 - - Revenge, 105 - - Rich and poor, 173, 189, 194 - - Rich man, 194 - - Righteousness, 114 - - Risen from the dead, 381 - - Rock, Caiaphas and Peter, 318; - house built on, 158; - Peter, 237 - - Roman Emperor, 327 - - Roman Empire, 204; - upheaval, 269 - - Roman soldiers, 344, 356 - - Rome and the Christian martyrs, 269 - - - Sabbath, Jesus and, 254; - Jesus at Capernaum, 77 - - Sacrifice, of the innocent for the guilty, 279; - pagan examples, 279 - - Sadducees, 55, 147 - - Saints, 256, 351 - - Salome, 336 - - Salvation, 194 - - Samaritan, the good, 172 - - Samaritans, 172, 184 - - Sanhedrin, 187, 278; - Jesus before, 318 - - - Satan, Jesus and, 63; - Jesus and—Gethsemane, 303 - - Saul, 43, 116 - - Savonarola, 20 - - Scarlet cloak, 346 - - Scourging, 343, 344 - - Scribes, 242, 253; - condemnation in the Temple, 255 - - Second birth, 73, 187, 188 - - - Second coming, 259, 262, 267; - date, 273; - imminence, 274 - - Second covenant, 41 - - Secret name, 234 - - Secretiveness, 149 - - Self-justification, Socrates and Jesus, 320 - - Self-love, 111, 125, 126 - - Self-preservation, 110 - - Sell all, 197 - - Selling Jesus, 286 - - Seneca, 119 - - Sepulcher, Jesus and, 378 - - Sepulchers, 257 - - Sermon on the Mount, 85, 94, 186 - - Sermon on the Mount, second, 259 - - Sermons, 17 - - Servant of all, 109 - - Service, 185 - - Sheba, Queen of, 44 - - Sheep, lost, 170 - - Sheep and goats, 260, 263 - - Shepherds, 23, 79 - - Sickness, 134 - - Signs, 131 - - Simon of Cyrene, 353, 355 - - Simon Magus, 267 - - Simon Peter, 82, 148, 180; - confession of Christ, 236; - contradictory acts, 311, 312; - denial, 315; - primacy and martyrdom granted to, 403, 405; - at the sepulcher, 383; - sinning woman and, 229 - - Simplicity, 110, 178, 219 - - Sin, 101, 126; - against the spirit, 255; - forgiveness of, 231; - he that is without sin, 223; - in Jesus’ life, 58; - parables of, 170; - sacrifice of the innocent for, 279 - - Sinlessness of Jesus, 58 - - Sinners, 175; - converted, 59 - - Skull, Hill of the, 357, 359, 371 - - Sleep, 181; - infant Jesus and, 30; - of the three disciples on the Mount of Olives, 306, 310 - - Smiths, 78 - - Snow and sun, 238 - - Socrates, 320; - on enemies, 118 - - Solitude, 61; - of Jesus, 307 - - Solomon, 44 - - Son of David, 246 - - Son of God, 236, 238; - question put to Jesus, 321 - - Son of Man, 236, 238, 262, 263, 273, 274 - - Sons, 160; - fathers and, 213 - - Sons of Thunder, 183 - - Sonship, 37 - - Soul, losing, 196 - - Sower, parable of, 158 - - Spinoza, 185 - - Spirit, 62, 196, 406; - sin against, 255; - victory over the flesh, 308 - - Spitting on Jesus, 324 - - Sponge soaked in vinegar, 373 - - Stable, 21 - - Stephen, 268 - - Steward, 160, 174 - - Stoics, 198 - - Stones, crying out, 247; - disciples compared to, 266; - not one upon another, 258 - - Suffering, 134 - - Sun and snow, 238 - - Sunday, 380 - - Superiority, 185 - - Supper, last, 288 - - Swearing, 102 - - Sweat of Jesus, 306 - - Swine-herds, 164 - - Sword, fire and, 205, 208; - not peace but a sword, 206 - - - Talents, parable of, 159 - - Talitha qumi, 138 - - Tares and wheat, 175 - - Teachers of Jesus, 34 - - Teaching of Jesus, at Capernaum, 77; - earliest, 71, 74 - - Tebutis, 268 - - Temple, 45; - description, 247; - destruction, 272; - destruction foretold, 258, 261; - Jesus’ entry and purpose, 248; - Jesus lost and found in, 33; - place of business in Jewish life, 275; - ramification, 250; - veil, 374 - - Temptations of Jesus, 64, 303 - - Ten Commandments, 43 - - Theology, 12, 25 - - Theudas, 267 - - Thief on the cross, penitent, 363 - - Thieves, two, 352, 356, 363 - - Third Covenant, 42 - - Thirst of Jesus on the cross, 373 - - Thomas, 133, 185; - doubts, 392 - - Thomas Aquinas, 185 - - Thorns, 346 - - Tiberius, 326, 331 - - Time, fullness of, 71 - - Titus, 272 - - Too late, 155, 156 - - Transfiguration, 182, 183, 239, 241 - - Transformation of soul, 73, 74, 95, 97, 108, 189 - - Truth, 15; - sin against, 255; - what is truth?, 329, 332 - - Turning the other cheek, 105, 106 - - Twelve, the, 176. _See also_ Disciples - - - Ulysses, 118 - - - Vaddhamana, 198 - - Vagabondage of Jesus, 76 - - Vanity, 109, 177 - - Veil of the temple, 374 - - Vespasian, 272 - - Vinegar, 373 - - Vineyard, laborers in, 155 - - Violence, 205, 208; - possible ways of meeting, 105; - solving the problem, 107 - - Vipers, 252, 256 - - Virgil, 26, 27 - - Virgin Mother, 13, 222, 371, 378, 379 - - Virgins, wise and foolish, 156 - - - Walking on the water, 182 - - Wandering Jew, 76 - - War, 91, 122, 206, 209; - wars and rumors of wars, 269 - - Warnings, 260 - - Washing of the feet, 292 - - Washing of the hands, 346, 349 - - Watch and pray, 307 - - Water, blood and, from body of Jesus, 375; - of truth, 192; - turned into wine, 143; - walking on, 182 - - Wealth, 124, 174, 194; - ancient feeling toward, 199 - - Weddings, 141 - - What I have written, 351 - - Wheat and tares, 175 - - White cloak, 335, 337, 344 - - Whited sepulchers, 257 - - Who am I?, 233 - - Will of God, 309 - - Wind and sea obedient, 147 - - Wine, 143, 295, 301; - as the blood of Christ, 299; - mixture offered Jesus on the cross, 358 - - Wise men, 24 - - Witnesses, false, 319 - - Women, Jesus and, 219; - with Jesus on Golgotha, 371; - old law and, 222; - Roman, 334; - at the sepulcher, 380; - woman who was a sinner, 224 - - Woodworker, 34 - - Work, 35 - - Writing on the sand, 223 - - - Ye have heard, 98 - - Yeast, 151 - - - Zarathushtra, 5, 114 - - Zealots, 268, 271, 272, 341 - - Zebedee’s sons, 83 - - Zeus, 120, 121 - - - - - THE EUROPEAN LIBRARY - Edited by J. 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