Jesus the Son of Man, Page 3

and the scentless blossoms breathed fragrance into my nostrils. I became

  a woman without a tainted memory, and I was free, and my head was no

  longer bowed down.

  RAFCA THE BRIDE OF CANA

  THIS HAPPENED BEFORE HE WAS KNOWN TO THE PEOPLE.

  I was in my mother's garden tending the rose-bushes, when He stopped at

  our gate.

  And He said, "I am thirsty. Will you give me water from your well?"

  And I ran and brought the silver cup, and filled it with water; and I

  poured into it a few drops from the jasmine vial.

  And He drank deep and was pleased.

  Then He looked into my eyes and said, "My blessing shall be upon you."

  When He said that I felt as it were a gust of wind rushing through my

  body. And I was no longer shy; and I said, "Sir, I am betrothed to a man

  of Cana in Galilee. And I shall be married on the fourth day of the

  coming week. Will you not come to my wedding and grace my marriage with

  your presence?"

  And He answered, "I will come, my child."

  Mind you, He said, "My child," yet He was but a youth, and I was nearly

  twenty.

  Then He walked on down the road.

  And I stood at the gate of our garden until my mother called me into the

  house.

  On the fourth day of the following week I was taken to the house of my

  bridegroom and given in marriage.

  And Jesus came, and with Him His mother and His brother James.

  And they sat around the wedding-board with our guests whilst my maiden

  comrades sang the wedding-songs of Solomon the King. And Jesus ate our

  food and drank our wine and smiled upon me and upon the others.

  And He heeded all the songs of the lover bringing his beloved into his

  tent; and of the young vineyard-keeper who loved the daughter of the lord

  of the vineyard and led her to his mother's house; and of the prince who

  met the beggar maiden and bore her to his realm and crowned her with the

  crown of his fathers.

  And it seemed as if He were listening to yet other songs also, which I

  could not hear.

  At sundown the father of my bridegroom came to the mother of Jesus and

  whispered saying, "We have no more wine for our guests. And the day is

  not yet over."

  And Jesus heard the whispering, and He said, "The cup bearer knows that

  there is still more wine."

  And so it was indeed-and as long as the guests remained there was fine

  wine for all who would drink.

  Presently Jesus began to speak with us. He spoke of the wonders of earth

  and heaven; of sky flowers that bloom when night is upon the earth, and

  of earth flowers that blossom when the day hides the stars.

  And He told us stories and parables, and His voice enchanted us so that

  we gazed upon Him as if seeing visions, and we forgot the cup and the

  plate.

  And as I listened to Him it seemed as if I were in a land distant and

  unknown.

  After a while one of the guests said to the father of my bridegroom, "You

  have kept the best wine till the end of the feast. Other hosts do not

  so."

  And all believed that Jesus had wrought a miracle, that they should have

  more wine and better at the end of the wedding-feast than at the

  beginning.

  I too thought that Jesus had poured the wine, but I was not astonished;

  for in His voice I had already listened to miracles.

  And afterwards indeed, His voice remained close to my heart, even until I

  had been delivered of my first-born child.

  And now even to this day in our village and in the villages near by, the

  word of our guest is still remembered. And they say, "The spirit of Jesus

  of Nazareth is the best and the oldest wine."

  A PERSIAN PHILOSOPHER IN DAMASCUS

  I CANNOT TELL THE FATE OF THIS MAN, NOR CAN I SAY

  what shall befall His disciples.

  A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible. Yet

  should that seed fall upon a rock, it will come to naught.

  But this I say: The ancient God of Israel is harsh and relentless. Israel

  should have another God; one who is gentle and forgiving, who would look

  down upon them with pity; one who would descend with the rays of the sun

  and walk on the path of their limitations, rather than sit for ever in

  the judgment seat to weigh their faults and measure their wrong-doings.

  Israel should bring forth a God whose heart is not a jealous heart, and

  whose memory of their shortcomings is brief; one who would not avenge

  Himself upon them even to the third and the fourth generation.

  Man here in Syria is like man in all lands. He would look into the mirror

  of his own understanding and therein find his deity. He would fashion the

  gods after his own likeness, and worship that which reflects his own

  image.

  In truth man prays to his deeper longing, that it may rise and fulfil the

  sum of his desires.

  There is no depth beyond the soul of man, and the soul is the deep that

  calls unto itself; for there is no other voice to speak and there are no

  other ears to hear.

  Even we in Persia would see our faces in the disc of the sun and our

  bodies dancing in the fire that we kindle upon the altars.

  Now the God of Jesus, whom He called Father, would not be a stranger unto

  the people of Jesus, and He would fulfil their desires.

  The gods of Egypt have cast off their burden of stones and fled to the

  Nubian desert, to be free among those who are still free from knowing.

  The gods of Greece and Rome are vanishing into their own sunset. They

  were too much like men to live in the ecstasy of men. The groves in which

  their magic was born have been cut down by the axes of the Athenians and

  the Alexandrians.

  And in this land also the high places are made low by the lawyers of

  Beirut and the young hermits of Antioch.

  Only the old women and the weary men seek the temples of their

  forefathers; only the exhausted at the end of the road seek its

  beginning.

  But this man Jesus, this Nazarene, He has spoken of a God too vast to be

  unlike the soul of any man, too knowing to punish, too loving to remember

  the sins of His creatures. And this God of the Nazarene shall pass over

  the threshold of the children of the earth, and He shall sit at their

  hearth, and He shall be a blessing within their walls and a light upon

  their path.

  But my God is the God of Zoroaster, the God who is the sun in the sky and

  fire upon the earth and light in the bosom of man. And I am content. I

  need no other God.

  DAVID ONE OF HIS FOLLOWERS

  I DID NOT KNOW THE MEANING OF HIS DISCOURSES OR HIS parables until He was

  no longer among us. Nay, I did not understand until His words took living

  forms before my eyes and fashioned themselves into bodies that walk in

  the procession of my own day.

  Let me tell you this: On a night as I sat in my house pondering, and

  remembering His words and His deeds that I might inscribe them in a book,

  three thieves entered my house. And though I knew they came to rob me of

  my goods, I was too mindful of what I was doing to meet them with the

  sword, or even to sa
y, "What do you here?"

  But I continued writing my remembrances of the Master.

  And when the thieves had gone then I remembered His saying, "He who would

  take your cloak, let him take your other cloak also."

  And I understood.

  As I sat recording His words no man could have stopped me even were he to

  have carried away all my possessions.

  For though I would guard my possessions and also my person, I know where

  lies the greater treasure.

  LUKE

  JESUS DESPISED AND SCORNED THE HYPOCRITES,

  and His wrath was like a tempest that scourged them. His voice was

  thunder in their ears and He cowed them.

  In their fear of Him they sought His death; and like moles in the dark

  earth they worked to undermine His footsteps. But He fell not into their

  snares.

  He laughed at them, for well He knew that the spirit shall not be mocked,

  nor shall it be taken in the pitfall.

  He held a mirror in His hand and therein He saw the sluggard and the

  limping and those who stagger and fall by the roadside on the way to the

  summit.

  And He pitied them all. He would even have raised them to His stature and

  He would have carried their burden. Nay, He would have bid their weakness

  lean on His strength.

  He did not utterly condemn the liar or the thief or the murderer, but He

  did utterly condemn the hypocrite whose face is masked and whose hand is

  gloved.

  Often have I pondered on the heart that shelters all who come from the

  wasteland to its sanctuary, yet against the hypocrite is closed and

  sealed.

  On a day as we rested with Him in the Garden of Pomegranates, I said to

  Him, "Master, you forgive and console the sinner and all the weak and the

  infirm save only the hypocrite alone."

  And He said, "You have chosen your words well when you called sinners

  weak and infirm. I do forgive them their weakness of body and their

  infirmity of spirit. For their failings have been laid upon them by their

  forefathers, or by the greed of their neighbors.

  "But I tolerate not the hypocrite, because he himself lays a yoke upon

  the guileless and the yielding.

  "Weaklings, whom you call sinners, are like the featherless young that

  fall from the nest. The hypocrite is the vulture waiting upon a rock for

  the death of the prey.

  "Weaklings are men lost in a desert. But the hypocrite is not lost. He

  knows the way yet he laughs between the sand and the wind.

  "For this cause I do not receive him."

  Thus our Master spoke, and I did not understand. But I understand now.

  Then the hypocrites of the land laid hands upon Him and they judged Him;

  and in so doing they deemed themselves justified. For they cited the law

  of Moses in the Sanhedrim in witness and evidence against Him.

  And they who break the law at the rise of every dawn and break it again

  at sunset, brought about His death.

  MATTHEW THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

  ONE HARVEST DAY JESUS CALLED US AND His other friends to the hills. The

  earth was fragrant, and like the daughter of a king at her wedding-feast,

  she wore all her jewels. And the sky was her bridegroom.

  When we reached the heights Jesus stood still in the grove of laurels,

  and He said, "Rest here, quiet your mind and tune your heart, for I have

  much to tell you."

  Then we reclined on the grass, and the summer flowers were all about us,

  and Jesus sat in our midst.

  And Jesus said:

  Blessed are the serene in spirit.

  Blessed are they who are not held by possessions, for they shall be free.

  "Blessed are they who remember their pain, and in their pain await their

  joy.

  "Blessed are they who hunger after truth and beauty, for their hunger

  shall bring bread, and their thirst cool water.

  Blessed are the kindly, for they shall be consoled by their own

  kindliness.

  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall be one with God.

  "Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be in their portion.

  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for their spirit shall dwell above the

  battle, and they shall turn the potter's field into a garden.

  "Blessed are they who are hunted, for they shall be swift of foot and

  they shall be winged.

  "Rejoice and be joyful, for you have found the kingdom of heaven within

  you. The singers of old were persecuted when they sang of that kingdom.

  You too shall be persecuted, and therein lies your honor, and therein

  your reward.

  "You are the salt of the earth; should the salt lose its savor wherewith

  shall the food of man's heart be salted?

  "You are the light of the world. Put not that light under a bushel. Let

  it shine rather from the summit, to those who seek the City of God.

  "Think not I came to destroy the laws of the scribes and the Pharisees;

  for my days among you are numbered and my words are counted, and I have

  but hours in which to fulfil another law and reveal a new covenant.

  "You have been told that you shall not kill, but I say unto you, you

  shall not be angry without a cause.

  "You have been charged by the ancients to bring your calf and your lamb

  and your dove to the temple, and to slay them upon the altar, that the

  nostrils of God may feed upon the odor of their fat, and that you may be

  forgiven your failings.

  "But I say unto you, would you give God that which was His own from the

  beginning; and would you appease Him whose throne is above the silent

  deep and whose arms encircle space?

  "Rather, seek out your brother and be reconciled unto him ere you seek

  the temple; and be a loving giver unto your neighbor. For in the soul of

  these God has builded a temple that shall not be destroyed, and in their

  heart He has raised an altar that shall never perish.

  "You have been told, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say

  unto you: Resist not evil, for resistance is food unto evil and makes it

  strong. And only the weak would revenge themselves. The strong of soul

  forgive, and it is honor in the injured to forgive.

  "Only the fruitful tree is shaken or stoned for food.

  "Be not heedful of the morrow, but rather gaze upon today, for sufficient

  for today is the miracle thereof.

  "Be not over-mindful of yourself when you give but be mindful of the

  necessity. For every giver himself receives from the Father, and that

  much more abundantly.

  And give to each according to his need; for the Father gives not salt to

  the thirsty, nor a stone to the hungry, nor milk to the weaned.

  "And give not that which is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before

  swine. For with such gifts you mock them; and they also shall mock your

  gift, and in their hate would fain destroy you.

  "Lay not up for yourselves treasures that corrupt or that thieves may

  steal away. Lay up rather treasure which shall not corrupt nor be stolen,

  and whose loveliness increases when many eyes behold it. For where your

  treasure is, your heart is also.

  "You have been told that the murderer shall be put to the sword, that the

  thief shall b
e crucified, and the harlot stoned. But I say unto you that

  you are not free from the wrongdoing of the murderer and the thief and

  the harlot, and when they are punished in the body your own spirit is

  darkened.

  "Verily no crime is committed by one man or one woman. All crimes are

  committed by all. And he who pays the penalty may be breaking a link in

  the chain that hangs upon your own ankles. Perhaps he is paying with his

  sorrow the price for your passing joy.

  Thus spake Jesus, and it was in my desire to kneel down and worship Him,

  yet in my shyness I could not move nor speak a word.

  But at last I spoke; and I said, "I would pray this moment, yet my tongue

  is heavy. Teach me to pray."

  And Jesus said, "When you would pray, let your longing pronounce the

  words. It is in my longing now to pray thus:

  "Our Father in earth and heaven, sacred is Thy name.

  Thy will be done with us, even as in space.

  Give us of Thy bread sufficient for the day.

  In Thy compassion forgive us and enlarge us to forgive one another.

  Guide us towards Thee and stretch down Thy hand to us in darkness.

  For Thine is the kingdom, and in Thee is our power and our fulfilment."

  And it was now evening, and Jesus walked down from the hills, and all of

  us followed Him. And as I followed I was repeating His prayer, and

  remembering all that He had said; for I knew that the words that had

  fallen like flakes that day must set and grow firm like crystals, and

  that the wings that had fluttered above our heads were to beat the earth

  like iron hoofs.

  JOHN THE SON OF ZEBEDEE

  YOU HAVE REMARKED THAT SOME OF US CALL Jesus THE CHRIST, and some THE

  WORD, and others call Him the NAZARENE, and still others the SON OF MAN.

  I will try to make these names clear in the light that is given me.

  The Christ, He who was in the ancient of days, is the flame of God that

  dwells in the spirit of man. He is the breath of life that visits us, and

  takes unto Himself a body like our bodies.

  He is the will of the Lord.

  He is the first Word, which would speak with our voice and live in our

  ear that we may heed and understand.

  And the Word of the Lord our God builded a house of flesh and bones, and

  was man like unto you and myself.

  For we could not hear the song of the bodiless wind nor see our greater

  self walking in the mist.

  Many times the Christ has come to the world, and He has walked many

  lands. And always He has been deemed a stranger and a madman.

  Yet the sound of His voice descended never to emptiness, for the memory

  of man keeps that which his mind takes no care to keep.

  This is the Christ, the innermost and the height, who walks with man

  towards eternity.

  Have you not heard of Him at the cross-roads of India? And in the land of

  the Magi, and upon the sands of Egypt?

  And here in your North Country your bards of old sang of Prometheus, the

  fire-bringer, he who was the desire of man fulfilled, the caged hope made

  free; and of Orpheus, who came with a voice and a lyre to quicken the

  spirit in beast and man.

  And know you not of Mithra the king, and of Zoroaster the prophet of the

  Persians, who woke from man's ancient sleep and stood at the bed of our

  dreaming?

  We ourselves become man anointed when we meet in the Temple Invisible,

  once every thousand years. Then comes one forth embodied, and at His

  coming our silence turns to singing.

  Yet our ears turn not always to listening nor our eyes to seeing.

  Jesus the Nazarene was born and reared like ourselves; His mother and