Jotham of Nazareth to a Roman
On Living and Being
MY FRIEND, YOU like all other Romans would conceive life rather than
live it. You would rule lands rather than be ruled by the spirit.
You would conquer races and be cursed by them rather than stay in Rome
and be blest and happy.
You think but of armies marching and of ships launched into the sea.
How shall you then understand Jesus of Nazareth, a man simple and alone,
who came without armies or ships, to establish a kingdom in the heart
and an empire in the free spaces of the soul?
How shall you understand the man who was not a warrior, but who came with
the power of the mighty ether?
He was not a god, He was a man like unto ourselves; but in Him the myrrh
of the earth rose to meet the frankincense of the sky; and in His words
our lisping embraced the whispering of the unseen; and in His voice we
heard a song unfathomable.
Aye, Jesus was a man and not a god, and therein lies our wonder and our
surprise.
But you Romans wonder not save at the gods, and no man shall surprise
you. Therefore you understand not the Nazarene.
He belonged to the youth of the mind and you belong to its old age.
You govern us today; but let us wait another day.
Who knows that this man with neither armies nor ships shall govern tomorrow?
We who follow the spirit shall sweat blood while journeying after Him.
But Rome shall lie a white skeleton in the sun.
We shall suffer much, yet we shall endure and we shall live. But Rome
must needs fall into the dust.
Yet if Rome, when humbled and made low, shall pronounce His name, He will
heed her voice. And He will breathe new life into her bones that she may
rise again, a city among the cities of the earth.
But this He shall do without legions, nor with slaves to oar His galleys.
He will be alone.
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