father were like our parents, and He was a man.
But the Christ, the Word, who was in the beginning, the Spirit who would
have us live our fuller life, came unto Jesus and was with Him.
And the Spirit was the versed hand of the Lord, and Jesus was the harp.
The Spirit was the psalm, and Jesus was the tune thereof.
And Jesus, the Man of Nazareth, was the host and the mouthpiece of the
Christ, who walked with us in the sun and who called us His friends.
In those days the hills of Galilee and her valleys heard naught but His
voice. And I was a youth then, and trod in His path and pursued His
footprints.
I pursued His footprints and trod in His path, to hear the words of the
Christ from the lips of Jesus of Galilee.
Now you would know why some of us call Him the Son of Man.
He Himself desired to be called by that name, for He knew the hunger and
the thirst of man, and He beheld man seeking after His greater self.
The Son of Man was Christ the Gracious, who would be with us all.
He was Jesus the Nazarene who would lead all His brothers to the Anointed
One, even to the Word which was in the beginning with God.
In my heart dwells Jesus of Galilee, the Man above men, the Poet who
makes poets of us all, the Spirit who knocks at our door that we may wake
and rise and walk out to meet truth naked and unencumbered.
A YOUNG PRIEST IN CAPERNAUM
HE WAS A MAGICIAN, WARP AND WOOF, AND a sorcerer, a man who bewildered
the simple by charms and incantations. And He juggled with the words of
our prophets and with the sanctities of our forefathers.
Aye, He even bade the dead be His witnesses, and the voiceless graves His
forerunners and authority.
He sought the women of Jerusalem and the women of the countryside with
the cunning of, the spider that seeks the fly; and they were caught in
His web.
For women are weak and empty-headed, and they follow the man who would
comfort their unspent passion with soft and tender words. Were it not for
these women, infirm and possessed by His evil spirit, His name would have
been erased from the memory of man.
And who were the men who followed Him?
They were of the horde that are yoked and trodden down. In their
ignorance and fear they would never have rebelled against their rightful
masters. But when He promised them high stations in His kingdom of
mirage, they yielded to His fantasy as clay yields to the potter.
Know you not, the slave in his dreaming would always be master; and the
weakling would be a lion?
The Galilean was a conjuror and a deceiver, a man who forgave the sins of
all the sinners that He might hear HAIL and HOSANNA from their unclean
mouths; and who fed the faint heart of the hopeless and the wretched that
He might have ears for His voice and a retinue at His command.
He broke the sabbath with those who break that He might gain the support
of the lawless; and He spoke ill of our high priests that He might win
attention in the Sanhedrim, and by opposition increase His fame.
I have said often that I hated that man. Ay, I hate Him more than I hate
the Romans who govern our country. Even His coming was from Nazareth, a
town cursed by our prophets, a dunghill of the Gentiles, from which no
good shall ever proceed.
A RICH LEVI
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF NAZARETH
HE WAS A GOOD CARPENTER. THE DOORS HE fashioned were never unlocked by
thieves, and the windows he made were always ready to open to the east
wind and to the west.
And He made chests of cedar wood, polished and enduring, and ploughs and
pitchforks strong and yielding to the hand.
And He carved lecterns for our synagogues. He carved them out of the
golden mulberry; and on both sides of the support, where the sacred book
lies, He chiseled wings outspreading; and under the support, heads of
bulls and doves, and large-eyed deer.
All this He wrought in the manner of the Chaldeans and the Greeks. But
there was that in His skill which was neither Chaldean nor Greek.
Now this my house was builded by many hands thirty years ago. I sought
builders and carpenters in all the towns of Galilee. They had each the
skill and the art of building, and I was pleased and satisfied with all
that they did.
But come now, and behold two doors and a window that were fashioned by
Jesus of Nazareth.
They in their stability mock at all else in my house.
See you not that these two doors are different from all other doors? And
this window opening to the east, is it not different from other windows?
All my doors and windows are yielding to the years save these which He
made. They alone stand strong against the elements.
And see those cross-beams, how he placed them; and these nails, how they
are driven from one side of the board, and then caught and fastened so
firmly upon the other side.
And what is passing strange is that that laborer who was worthy the wages
of two men received but the wage of one man; and that same laborer now is
deemed a prophet in Israel.
Had I known then that this youth with saw and plane was a prophet, I
would have begged Him to speak rather than work, and then I would have
overpaid Him for his words.
And now I still have many men working in my house and fields. How shall I
know the man whose own hand is upon his tool, from the man upon whose
hand God lays His hand?
Yea, how shall I know God's hand?
A SHEPHERD IN SOUTH LEBANON
IT WAS LATE SUMMER WHEN HE AND THREE other men first walked upon that
road yonder. It was evening, and He stopped and stood there at the end of
the pasture.
I was playing upon my flute, and my flock was grazing all around me. When
He stopped I rose and walked over and stood before Him.
And He asked me, "Where is the grave of Elijah? Is it not somewhere near
this place?"
And I answered Him, "It is there, Sir, underneath that great heap of
stones. Even unto this day every passerby brings a stone and places it
upon the heap."
And He thanked me and walked away, and His friends walked behind Him.
And after three days Gamaliel who was also a shepherd, said to me that
the man who had passed by was a prophet in Judea; but I did not believe
him. Yet I thought of that man for many a moon.
When spring came Jesus passed once more by this pasture, and this time He
was alone.
I was not playing on my flute that day for I had lost a sheep and I was
bereaved, and my heart was downcast within me.
And I walked towards Him and stood still before Him, for I desired to be
comforted.
And He looked at me and said, "You do not play upon your flute this day.
Whence is the sorrow in your eyes?"
And I answered, "A sheep from among my sheep is lost. I have sought her
everywhere but I find her not. And I know not what to do."
And He was silent for a moment. Then He smiled upon me and said, "Wait
here awhile and I will find your sheep." And He walked away and
disappeared among the hills.
&nb
sp; After an hour He returned, and my sheep was close beside Him. And as He
stood before me, the sheep looked up into His face even as I was looking.
Then I embraced her in gladness.
And He put His hand upon my shoulder and said, "From this day you shall
love this sheep more than any other in your flock, for she was lost and
now she is found."
And again I embraced my sheep in gladness, and she came close to me, and
I was silent.
But when I raised my head to thank Jesus, He was already walking afar
off, and I had not the courage to follow Him.
JOHN THE BAPTIST TO ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES
I AM NOT SILENT IN THIS FOUL HOLE WHILE THE VOICE OF
Jesus is heard on the battlefield. I am not to be held nor confined while
He is free.
They tell me the vipers are coiling round His loins, but I answer: The
vipers shall awaken His strength, and He shall crush them with His heel.
I am only the thunder of His lightning. Though I spoke first, His was the
word and the purpose.
They caught me unwarned. Perhaps they will lay hands on Him also. Yet not
before He has pronounced His word in full. And He shall overcome them.
His chariot shall pass over them, and the hoofs of His horses shall
trample them, and He shall be triumphant.
They shall go forth with lance and sword, but He shall meet them with the
power of the Spirit.
His blood shall run upon the earth, but they themselves shall know the
wounds and the pain thereof, and they shall be baptized in their tears
until they are cleansed of their sins.
Their legions shall march towards His cities with rams of iron, but on
their way they shall be drowned in the River Jordan.
And His walls and His towers shall rise higher, and the shields of His
warriors shall shine brighter in the sun.
They say I am in league with Him, and that our design is to urge the
people to rise and revolt against the kingdom of Judea.
I answer, and would that I had flames for words: if they deem this pit of
iniquity a kingdom, let it then fall into destruction and be no more. Let
it go the way of Sodom and Gomorrah, and let this race be forgotten by
God, and this land be turned to ashes.
Aye, behind these prison walls I am indeed an ally to Jesus of Nazareth,
and He shall lead my armies, horse and foot. And I myself, though a
captain, am not worthy to loose the strings of His sandals.
Go to Him and repeat my words, and then in my name beg Him for comfort
and blessing.
I shall not be here long. At night 'twixt waking and waking I feel slow
feet with measured steps treading above this body. And when I hearken, I
hear the rain falling upon my grave.
Go to Jesus, and say that John of Kedron whose soul is filled with
shadows and then emptied again, prays for Him, while the grave-digger
stands close by, and the swordsman outstretches his hand for his wages.
JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA
YOU WOULD KNOW THE PRIMAL AIM OF JESUS, and I would fain tell you. But
none can touch with fingers the life of the blessed vine, nor see the sap
that feeds the branches.
And though I have eaten of the grapes and have tasted the new vintage at
the winepress, I cannot tell you all.
I can only relate what I know of Him.
Our Master and our Beloved lived but three prophet's seasons. They were
the spring of His song, the summer of His ecstasy, and the autumn of His
passion; and each season was a thousand years.
The spring of His song was spent in Galilee. It was there that He
gathered His lovers about Him, and it was on the shores of the blue lake
that He first spoke of the Father, and of our release and our freedom.
By the Lake of Galilee we lost ourselves to find our way to the Father;
and oh, the little, little loss that turned to such gain.
It was there the angels sang in our ears and bade us leave the and land
for the garden of heart's desire.
He spoke of fields and green pastures; of the slopes of Lebanon where the
white lilies are heedless of the caravans passing in the dust of the
valley.
He spoke of the wild brier that smiles in the sun and yields its incense
to the passing breeze.
And He would say, "The lilies and the brier live but a day, yet that day
is eternity spent in freedom."
And one evening as we sat beside the stream He said, "Behold the brook
and listen to its music. Forever shall it seek the sea, and though it is
for ever seeking, it sings its mystery from noon to noon.
"Would that you seek the Father as the brook seeks the sea."
Then came the summer of His ecstasy, and the June of His love was upon
us. He spoke of naught then but the other man-the neighbor, the
roadfellow, the stranger, and our childhood's playmates.
He spoke of the traveller journeying from the east to Egypt, of the
ploughman coming home with his oxen at eventide, of the chance guest led
by dusk to our door.
And He would say, "Your neighbor is your unknown self made visible. His
face shall be reflected in your still waters, and if you gaze therein you
shall behold your own countenance.
"Should you listen in the night, you shall hear him speak, and his words
shall be the throbbing of your own heart.
"Be unto him that which you would have him be unto you.
"This is my law, and I shall say it unto you, and unto your children, and
they unto their children until time is spent and generations are no
more."
And on another day He said, "You shall not be yourself alone. You are in
the deeds of other men, and they though unknowing are with you all your
days.
"They shall not commit a crime and your hand not be with their hand.
"They shall not fall down but that you shall also fall down; and they
shall not rise but that you shall rise with them.
"Their road to the sanctuary is your road, and when they seek the
wasteland you too seek with them.
"You and your neighbor are two seeds sown in the field. Together you grow
and together you shall sway in the wind. And neither of you shall claim
the field. For a seed on its way to growth claims not even its own
ecstasy.
"Today I am with you. Tomorrow I go westward; but ere I go, I say unto
you that your neighbor is your unknown self made visible. Seek him in
love that you may know yourself, for only in that knowledge shall you
become my brothers."
Then came the autumn of His passion.
And He spoke to us of freedom, even as He had spoken in Galilee in the
spring of His song; but now His words sought our deeper understanding.
He spoke of leaves that sing only when blown upon the wind; and of man as
a cup filled by the ministering angel of the day to quench the thirst of
another angel. Yet whether that cup is full or empty it shall stand
crystalline upon the board of the Most High.
He said, "You are the cup and you are the wine. Drink of yourselves to
the dregs; or else remember me and you shall be quenched."
And on our way to the southward He said,
Jerusalem, which stands in pri
de upon the height, shall descend to the
depth of Jahannum the dark valley, and in the midst of her desolation I
shall stand alone.
"The temple shall fall to dust, and around the portico you shall hear the
cry of widows and orphans; and men in their haste to escape shall not
know the faces of their brothers, for fear shall be upon them all.
"But even there, if two of you shall meet and utter my name and look to
the west, you shall see me, and these my words shall again visit your
ears."
And when we reached the hill of Bethany, He said, "Let us go to
Jerusalem. The city awaits us. I will enter the gate riding upon a colt,
and I will speak to the multitude.
"Many are there who would chain me, and many who would put out my flame,
but in my death you shall find life and you shall be free.
"They shall seek the breath that hovers betwixt heart and mind as the
swallow hovers between the field and his nest. But my breath has already
escaped them, and they shall not overcome me.
"The walls that my Father has built around me shall not fall down, and
the acre He has made holy shall not be profaned.
"When the dawn shall come, the sun will crown my head and I shall be with
you to face the day. And that day shall be long, and the world shall not
see its eventide.
"The scribes and the Pharisees say the earth is thirsty for my blood. I
would quench the thirst of the earth with my blood. But the drops shall
rise oak trees and maple, and the east wind shall carry the acorns to
other lands."
And then He said, "Judea would have a king, and she would march against
the legions of Rome.
"I shall not be her king. The diadems of Zion were fashioned for lesser
brows. And the ring of Solomon is small for this finger.
"Behold my hand. See you not that it is overstrong to hold a sceptre, and
over-sinewed to wield a common sword?
"Nay, I shall not command Syrian flesh against Roman. But you with my
words shall wake that city, and my spirit shall speak to her second dawn.
"My words shall be an invisible army with horses and chariots, and
without ax or spear I shall conquer the priests of Jerusalem, and the
Caesars.
"I shall not sit upon a throne where slaves have sat and ruled other
slaves. Nor will I rebel against the sons of Italy.
"But I shall be a tempest in their sky, and a song in their soul.
"And I shall be remembered.
"They shall call me Jesus the Anointed."
These things He said outside the walls of Jerusalem before He entered the
city.
And His words are graven as with chisels.
NATHANIEL
THEY SAY THAT JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS HUMBLE
and meek.
They say that though He was a just man and righteous, He was a weakling,
and was of ten confounded by the strong and the powerful; and that when
He stood before men of authority He was but a lamb among lions.
But I say that Jesus had authority over men, and that He knew His power
and proclaimed it among the hills of Galilee, and in the cities of Judea
and Phoenicia.
What man yielding and soft would say, "I am life, and I am the way to
truth"?
What man meek and lowly would say, "I am in God, our Father; and our God,
the Father, is in me"?
What man unmindful of His own strength would say, "He who believes not in
me believes not in this life nor in the life everlasting"?
What man uncertain of tomorrow would proclaim, "Your world shall pass