Zacchaeus
On the Fate of Jesus
YOU BELIEVE IN what you hear said. Believe in the unsaid, for the silence
of men is nearer the truth than their words.
You ask if Jesus could have escaped His shameful death and saved His followers
from persecution.
I answer, He could indeed have escaped had He chosen, but He did not seek
safety nor was He mindful of protecting His flock from wolves of the night.
He knew His fate and the morrow of His consant lovers. He foretold and
prophesied what should befall every one of us. He sought not His death;
but He accepted death as a husband-man shrouding his corn with earth,
accepts the winter, and then awaits the spring and harvest; and as a builder
lays the largest stone in the foundation.
We were men of Galilee and from the slopes of Lebanon. Our Master could
have led us back to our country, to live with His youth in our gardens
until old age should come and whisper us back into the years.
Was anything barring His path back to the temples of our villages where
others were reading the prophets and then disclosing their hearts?
Could He not have said, "Now I go east with the west wind," and so saying
dismiss us with a smile upon His lips?
Aye, He could have said, "Go back to your kin. The world is not ready
for me. I shall return a thousand years hence. Teach your children to
await my return."
He could have done this had He so chosen.
But He knew that to build the temple invisible He must needs lay Himself
the corner-stone, and lay us around as little pebbles cemented close to
Himself.
He knew that the sap of His sjy-tree must rise from its roots, and He
poured His blood upon its roots; and to Him it was not sacrifice but rather
gain.
Death is the revealer. The death of Jesus revealed His life.
Had He escaped you and His enemies, you would have been the conquerors
of the world. Therefore He did not escape.
Only He who desires all shall give all.
Aye, Jesus could have escaped His enemies and lived to old age. But He
knew the passing of the seasons, and He would sing His song.
What man facing the armed world would not be conquered for the moment
that he might overcomethe ages?
And now you ask who, in very truth, slew Jesus, the Romans or the priests
of Jerusalem?
Neither the Romans slew Him, nor the priests. The whole world stood to
honor Him upon that hill.
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