Jesus the Son of Man

grave crime.”

And he sat down there, upon that bench, and he was as still as a stone.

But I walked to and fro in the room, and once more I said: “You have committed a great sin.”

But Judas said not a word. He remained as silent as the earth.

And after a while he stood up and faced me and he seemed taller, and when he spoke his voice was like the sound of a cracked vessel; and he said: “Sin was not in my heart. This very night I shall seek His kingdom, and I shall stand in His presence and beg His forgiveness.

“He died a king, and I shall die a felon. But in my heart I know He will forgive me.”

After saying these words he folded his wet cloak around him and he said: “It was good that I came to you this night even though I have brought you trouble. Will you also forgive me?

“Say to your sons and to your sons’ sons: ‘Judas Iscariot delivered Jesus of Nazareth to His enemies because he believed Jesus was an enemy to His own race.’

“And say also that Judas upon the selfsame day of his great error followed the King to the steps of His throne to deliver up his own soul and to be judged.

“I shall tell Him that my blood also was impatient for the sod, and my crippled spirit would be free.”

Then Judas leaned his head back against the wall and he cried out: “O God whose dreaded name no man shall utter ere his lips are touched by the fingers of death, why did you burn me with a fire that had no light?

“Why did you give the Galilean a passion for a land unknown and burden me with desire that would not escape kin or hearth? And who is this man Judas, whose hands are dipped in blood?

“Lend me a hand to cast him off, an old garment and a tattered harness.

“Help me to do this tonight.

“And let me stand again outside of these walls.

“I am weary of this wingless liberty. I would a larger dungeon.

“I would flow a stream of tears to the bitter sea. I would be a man of your mercy rather than one knocking at the gate of his own heart.”

Thus Judas spoke, and thereupon he opened the door and went out again into the tempest.

Three days afterwards I visited Jerusalem and heard of all that had come to pass. And I also heard that Judas had flung himself from the summit of the High Rock.

I have pondered long since that day, and I understand Judas. He fulfilled his little life, which hovered like a mist on this land and enslaved by the Romans, while the great prophet was ascending the heights.

One man longed for a kingdom in which he was to be a prince.

Another man desired a kingdom in which all men shall be princes.

Sarkis, an Old Greek Shepherd, Called the Madman

In a dream I saw Jesus and my god Pan sitting together in the heart of the forest.

They laughed at each other’s speech, with the brook that ran near them, and the laughter of Jesus was the merrier. And they conversed long.

Pan spoke of earth and her secrets, and of his hoofèd brothers and his hornèd sisters; and of dreams. And he spoke of roots and their nestlings, and of the sap that wakes and rises and sings to summer.

And Jesus told of the young shoots in the forest, and of flowers and fruit, and the seed that they shall bear in a season not yet come.

He spoke of birds in space and their singing in the upper world.

And He told of white harts in the desert wherein God shepherds them.

And Pan was pleased with the speech of the new God, and his nostrils quivered.

And in the same dream I beheld Pan and Jesus grow quiet and still in the stillness of the green shadows.

And then Pan took his reeds and played to Jesus.

The trees were shaken and the ferns trembled, and there was a fear upon me.

And Jesus said: “Good brother, you have the glade and the rocky height in your reeds.”

Then Pan gave the reeds to Jesus and said: “You play now. It is your turn.”

And Jesus said: “These reeds are too many for my mouth. I have this flute.”

And He took His flute and He played.

And I heard the sound of rain in the leaves, and the singing of streams among the hills, and the falling of snow on the mountaintop.

The pulse of my heart, that had once beaten with the wind, was restored again to the wind, and all the waves of my yesterdays were upon my shore, and I was again Sarkis the shepherd, and the flute of Jesus became the pipes of countless shepherds calling to countless flocks.

Then Pan said to Jesus: “Your youth is more kin to the reed than my years. And long ere this in my stillness I have heard your song and the murmur of your name.

“Your name has a goodly sound; well shall it rise with the sap to the branches, and well shall it run with the hoofs among the hills.

“And it is not strange to me, though my father called me not by that name. It was your flute that brought it back to my memory.

“And now let us play our reeds together.”

And they played together.

And their music smote heaven and earth, and a terror struck all living things.

I heard the bellow of beasts and the hunger of the forest. And I heard the cry of lonely men, and the plaint of those who long for what they know not.

I heard the sighing of the maiden for her lover, and the panting of the luckless hunter for his prey.

And then there came peace into their music, and the heavens and the earth sang together.

All this I saw in my dream, and all this I heard.