The New Prophet!

From the inspiration of Christmas...

We knew him gentle and mild... his heart overflowing with love... the lights of peace radiating from his eyes.

And we knew him great in everything... in his soul... his spirit... and his heart, whose innermost folds widened to hold every human being.

And we touched in him a harmonious beauty... a captivating splendor... a consummate sweetness...

And we saw on his shoulder a cross... and in his right hand a green olive branch.

And we heard him speak words which, had we taken them to heart, we would have grasped the secrets of divinity!

That was in olden times...

Then he vanished from our earth... and left us to interpret his sayings as we pleased... and as our wise men fancied...

And we were told: Your Christ has returned—rejoice!

And we turned, and we saw him and heard him... and bewilderment and astonishment seized us...

We saw him a giant colossus... black, grim of feature... yellow of fang... huge of hand... his voice like the roaring of the sea, his laugh like the cackling of devils, and his speech with the taste of evil...

And we saw around him followers and partisans rubbing themselves against his garments... seeking blessing from his hems, and memorizing his sermons for their great trumpets to broadcast...

And behold, he is now among us... never ceasing to circle and roam... he knocks at the palaces and sits enthroned at their tables... he repairs to the haunts of pleasure and abides there in revelry and play...

Yesterday we heard him say, as he preached on a mount:

Whoever strikes you on your right cheek—storm through his life... and whoever takes your cloak, take his soul...

And yesterday we saw him, when the sinning woman fled to him for refuge, begging his protection from that raging crowd chasing after her and pelting her with stones... take up a great stone to crack her head open...

And we heard him say to that broken, abject man who implored him to have pity on him and heal his sick boy: And what of it, you fool, if your boy should die?!

And we heard him in the temple whispering in the ear of the usurers and the money-changers: If you give me a share of your profits, I shall never brandish my whip in your faces...

And we watched him steal into one of the circles of children... he did not stroke their hair... he did not kiss their cheeks... he did not say, of such is the kingdom of heaven... rather he spread out to them his palm, in which lay a sharp instrument, and said: Follow me, you little wretches, and I will teach you how to shoot!!

And he saw the dead man borne on shoulders... his father behind him wailing... and he said to the mourners: Quicken your pace to the graveyard... the world has not lost much by the death of this idler!!

And he looked at the blind man and mocked his blindness... and at the paralytic and said... survival is for the fittest!!

Yes, behold, he is now among us... circling and circling and speaking many words that issue from his mouth like a tempest, a cannon on his shoulder and a gleaming blade in his right hand.

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Bells ring and hymns rise... incense burns and perfumes are poured out...

And in a moment of my soul's lucidity I disowned all of that, and lifted toward heaven two eyes in which bewilderment stirred and sorrow churned...

And from behind a cloud of transparent weave I glimpsed the old face looking down on me, sweet and gentle... and sad...

And I noticed on the lips a parting from which came a deep, moving voice:

O children of darkness... I poured light into your darkness and opened my paradise to you... and I asked you to tear off your masks and strip yourselves of your hypocrisy... but you refused, and it was too hard for you to give up the worn and familiar...

I taught you mercy, and you said it is the sister of weakness... and contentment, and you said it is the creed of the dull-witted... and forbearance, and you said it is the plea of the defeatist... and love, and you said our hearts are narrower than your world...

I dwelt among you for a time, during which I suffered in my estrangement... and was tormented by my hunger, and pained by my failure... and I found myself a stranger even in temples which, I see, you raised only to worship your own selves in them...

I gave you my message and sealed it with my wounds, and you mocked my teachings... my spilled blood did not move you... nor the mark of the nails in my palms and the crown of thorns on my brow...

No—my place is not among you... you are not of me and I am not of you...

Here is your new Christ... the Christ of violence and force... of arrogance and selfishness... the Christ of greed and fornication... the Christ of the atom... follow him... and enter his religion in throngs...

As for me, my place is among the broken of heart... the crushed of feeling... and the tormented of soul—and I see no place for these in your land... O children of darkness!!