Forseight

It is now Shlomo’s turn to speak: “May I tell you about my meeting with Yeoshua? Do you remember him? The innocent preacher who had only one word on his lips: Love.
Poor man. I saw him the day he was crucified. Not far from here.

“I remember it clearly. I went over to him and said: ‘it is not you I shall be waiting for.’ He seemed serene, at peace with himself and the whole creation. I tried to make him understand that this was not the first time a Jew was dying for his faith. There were other martyrs before him. But they had gone to their death crying, screaming with pain. For them, for us, no death is worthy of being invoked or sanctified. All life is sacred, irreplaceable; it is inhuman for any person to renounce it joyfully, it is blasphemous to abandon it without remorse.

“’Are you angry with me?’ He asked.
“’No’ I answered. ‘Not angry. Just sad.’
“’Because of me?’
“’Yes, because of you. You think you are suffering for my sake and for my brothers’, yet we are the ones who will be made to suffer for you, because of you.

Since he refused to believe this, I began to describe what actions his followers would undertake in his name to spread his word. I painted a picture of the future which made him see the innumerable victims persecuted and crushed under the sign of his law. Thereupon he burst into tears of despair: ‘No, no! This is not how it will be! You are wrong, you must be! This is not how I see the reign of my spirit! I want my heritage to be a gift of compassion and hope, not a punishment in blood!’

His sobs broke my heart and I sought to comfort him. I begged him to retrace his steps, to return to his people. ‘Too late’, he answered. ‘Once the stone is thrown, it can no longer be stopped. Once the spark is lit, it must burn itself out.’ I was overcome by pity and ended up weeping not only for us but for him as well.”

-A beggar in Jerusalem.