A very short time after these events there came two soldiers to the
Jordan, not to have the water poured over their heads, but to arrest
the desert preacher and take him to Jerusalem to Herod. Herod received
him politely, and said: "I have summoned you here because I am told
that you are the preacher."
"They call me preacher and Baptist."
"I want to hear you. And, indeed, you must refute what your enemies
say against you."
"If it was only my enemies, it would be easy to refute them."
"They say that you insult my royal house, that you say the prince lives
in incest with his brother's wife. Did you say that?"
"I do not deny it."
"You have come to withdraw it?"
"Sire," said the prophet, "I have come to repeat it. You are living in
incest with your brother's wife. Know that the day of reckoning is at
hand. It will come with its mercy, and it will come with its justice.
Put away this woman."
Herod grew white with rage that a man of the people should dare to
speak thus to him. Royal ears cannot endure such a thing, so he put
the preacher in prison.
But the next night the prince had a bad dream. From the battlements he
saw the city fall stone by stone into the abyss; he saw flames break
out in the palace and temple, and the sound of infinite wailing rang
through the air. When he awoke the words came into his mind: You who
stone the prophets! and he determined to set the preacher free.
It was now the time when Herod should celebrate his birthday. Although
Oriental wisdom advised that a birthday should be celebrated with
mourning, a prince had no reason for so doing. Herod gave a banquet in
honour of the day, and invited all the most important people in the
province in order that while enjoying themselves they might have the
opportunity of doing homage to him. He enjoyed himself royally, for
Herodias, his brother's wife, was present, and her daughter, who was as
lovely as her mother. She danced before him a series of dances which
showed her beautiful figure, set off by the flowing white gown confined
at the waist with a girdle of gold, to every advantage. Intoxicated by
the feast and inflamed by the girl's beauty, the prince approached her,
put his arm, from which the purple cloak had fallen back so that it was
bare, round her warm neck, and held a goblet of wine to her lips. She
smiled, did not drink, but said: "My lord and king! If I drank now
from your goblet, you would drink at my lips. Those roses belong to my
bridegroom."
"Who is the man who dares to be more fortunate than a king?" asked
Herod.
"I do not yet know him," whispered the girl. "He is the man who shall
give me the rarest bridal gift."
"And if it was Herod?"
The girl raised her almond eyes to the prince and said nothing. He
almost lost his head with the sweetness of the shining eyes. "You are
an enchanting witch, you!" he whispered. "Desire of me what you will."
The beauty had been primed by her mother, who wished to be revenged on
John, whose prophecies might tear her from her kingly lover. The
daughter breathed the words: "A dish for your table, O king!"
"A dish of meat? Speak more plainly."
"Let your bridal gift be a dish of rare meat on a golden charger."
"I do not understand what you want."
"The head of the Baptist."
The king understood, turned aside, and said: "Horror, thy name is
woman!"
Then she wept and murmured between her sobs: "I knew it. A woman is
nothing to you but a flower of the field. You cut it down so that it
turns to hay. And hay is for asses. You care more for the man who has
mortally insulted yourself and my mother than you do for me."
"Indeed, I do not! If he deserves death, you shall have your desire."
"When does he whom the king loves deserve death?" groaned the girl, and
sank into a swoon. He lifted her up, drew her to his breast, and what
her words could not accomplish the embrace did--it cost the Baptist his
life.
The banquet was most sumptuous. The most delicious viands, gathered
from every quarter, and sparkling wines graced the table. Harp players
stood by the marble pillars, and sang praises to the king. Herod, a
garland of red roses round his head, sat between the two women. He
drank freely of the wine, and so hurriedly that the liquid dripped from
his long, thin beard. Was he afraid of the last course? It appeared
at midnight. It was covered with a white cloth, and only the
beautifully-chased edge of the charger was visible. Herod shuddered
and signed that the dish should be placed before the young woman who
sat on his left. She hastily pulled off the cloth, and behold! a man's
head; the black hair and beard, steeped in the blood that ran from the
neck, lay in the charger. It stared with open eyes at the woman who,
filled with voluptuous horror, leaned closely against the prince. Then
the mouth of the head opened and spoke the words: "The Kingdom of God
is near at hand!"
Horror and confusion filled the banqueting hall. "Who dared to say
that?" shouted several voices. "'Twas the head of the prophet who
prophesies even in death!"
Then a tumult arose in the palace, for this was the most terrible
horror that the golden halls had ever seen. Long-restrained fury
suddenly burst forth--the town was in flames, the men of Jerusalem
rioted. The women were torn from Herod's side, and flung into the
streets to the mercy of the mob. The prince was forced to fly. The
story goes that in his flight he fell into the hands of the Arab king,
who avenged his despised daughter in a terrible manner. Thus were
godless hands stretched forth from Herod's house against him who bore
witness to the coming One.
* * * * * *
After the act of baptism was accomplished, Jesus wandered for a long,
long while--indeed, he paid no heed to time--along the banks of Jordan.
Then he climbed the rocks, and when in the twilight he came to himself
again and looked about, he saw that he was in the wilderness. The
revelation vouchsafed at his baptism had snatched him from the earth.
In that mysterious vision he had opened to him the new path which he
had chosen to follow. What eternal peace surrounded him. Yet he was
not alone among the barren rocks; never in his life had he been less
lonely than here in the dim terrors of the wilderness. A deep silence
prevailed. The stars in the sky sparkled and sparkled, and the longer
he gazed at them the more ardently they seemed to burn. Gradually they
seemed to sink downwards, and to become suns, while fresh legions
pressed ever forward from the background, flying down unceasingly, the
large and the small and the smallest, with new ones ever welling up
from space--an inexhaustible source of heavenly light.
Jesus stood up erect. And when he lifted up his face it seemed as if
his eye was the nucleus of all light.
So he forgot the world and remained in the wilderness. Each day he
penetrated deeper into it, past abysses and roaring beasts. The stones
tore his feet, but he marked it not; snakes stung his heels, but he
noticed it not. Whence did he obtain nourishment? What cleft in the
rocks afforded him shelter?--that is immaterial to him who lives in
God. Once he had regarded the world and its powers as hard
taskmasters, and now they seemed to him to be as nothing, for in him
and with him was eternal strength. The old traditional Jehovah of
Jewish hearts was no more; his was the all-embracing One, who carried
the heavens and the earth in his hand, who called to the children of
men: Return! and who stooped down to every seedling in order to awaken
it. He himself became conscious of God--and after that, what could
befall him?
One day he descended between the rocky stones to the coast of the Dead
Sea that lay dark and still, little foam-tipped waves breaking on the
shore. The expanse of water was lost in darkness in the distance, and
stretched away heavy and lifeless. Cleft blocks of stone were
scattered along the beach, and their tops glowed as red as iron in the
forge. It was the hour of sunset. The towering stones stood like
giant torches, and the bright colour was reflected on the bare pebbles
on which the water lapped. For many thousands of years the fine yellow
sand had drifted down from the walls of rock, and lay over the wide
sloping plains of the shore. It was like dry, light "stone-snow," and
Jesus, who strode over it, left his footprints in it. The next gust of
wind disturbed it, the "stone-snow" was whirled about, and the dark
stones were laid bare. Men are engulfed in those sand-fields, which,
broken by blocks of stone, stretch away into infinity. Witness the
bones which may be seen here and there, remains of dead beasts, and
also legs and skulls of men who perished as hermits, or became the prey
of lions. Such skulls with their grinning teeth, warned the traveller
to turn back as he valued his life. Here is death! Jesus laid his
hands over his breast. Here is life! The greater the loneliness, the
more keenly may the nearness of God be realised.
Jesus preferred the rocky heights to the plain. He could see the wide
expanse of the sky, and the clouds which wandered over its face and
then disappeared like nations of nomads.
One day, in such a spot, he met an Arab chief. He was of gigantic
stature, dressed in the dark cloak of the Bedouins, with a wild, grey
beard, and a snub nose in a bony face. Beneath bushy eyebrows were a
pair of unsteady eyes. His belt was full of weapons, his head was
adorned with an iron band which kept his wild hair in some sort of
order. The man looked at the young hermit not unkindly and called him
a worm who should pray that he might be mercifully trodden under foot.
He must either swear allegiance to the desert chief, or be burned up by
the hot stones.
Jesus scarcely heeded the impertinent speech. He only saw in the
stranger a man on whom he would like to bestow all the happiness that
was triumphant in his soul. So full of love was he that he could not
bear it alone. And he said: "I am no worm to be trodden under foot. I
am that Son of Man who brings you the new kingdom."
"Ah! the Messiah! Jesus of Nazareth, are you not? I have heard of
you. Where are your soldiers?"
"I shall not conquer with the sword, but with the spirit."
The Arab shook his head mockingly. "Who will conquer with the spirit!
Well, I won't play the scoffer. You are an orator, and that's
something. Listen, son of man; I like you. I, too, desire the new
kingdom; let us go together."
And Jesus replied: "Whoever wishes can go with me. I go with no one."
"My friend, don't you know me?" asked the stranger. "I am Barabbas,
king of the desert. Three thousand Arabs obey my behests. Look down
into the valley. There is the key to the kingdom of the Messiah."
What the chief called the key to the kingdom of the Messiah was an army
which, scattered over the plain, resembled a dark spot spreading out in
the desert, as busy and animated as an ant-hill. The chief pointed
down to it and said: "Look, there is my weapon. But I shall not
conquer with that weapon, nor will you conquer with your words. For my
weapons lack words, and your words lack weapons. I need the prophet
and you the army. Warrior and orator allied, we shall take Jerusalem.
I have made a mistake. For many years it has been my illusion that all
strength lay in the body. And so I have cared for their bodies, fed
and nourished them that they might become strong. But instead of
becoming strong and daring, they have become indolent and cowardly.
And now that I wish to use this army to free Judaea from the yoke of
the Romans, they laugh in my face and answer me with words I once
taught them. We have only this life, they cry, and we will not risk it
any more. And when I ask, 'Not even for freedom?' they reply, 'Not
even for freedom, because what is the use of freedom to us if we are
slain.' Indolent beasts! they lack enthusiasm. And now I find you.
You are a master of oratory. You say that you will conquer with the
spirit. Come with me! Descend into the valley and inspire them with
ardour. The legions are ours, our weapons are of perfect temper,
nothing is wanting but fire, and that you have. The king must be
allied with the zealot, otherwise the kingdom cannot be conquered.
Come down with me. Tell them that you are the prophet. Incite them
against Jerusalem, and exclaim: 'It is God's will!' If only fire can
be made to burn within them, they will march like the very devil,
overcome the foreigners, and you will instruct them in Solomon's Temple
about the Messiah. You can tell them that he is coming, or that you
yourself are he, just as you please. Then, according to your desire,
you can establish your kingdom, and all the glory of the world will lie
at your feet as at those of a god. Come, prophet, you give me the
word, and I'll give you the sword!"
"Begone, you tempter of hell!" exclaimed Jesus and his eye shot forth a
ray of light that the other could not bear.
And then Jesus was once more alone among the rocks, under the open sky.
It was under the sacred sky of the desert where his Father came down to
him that his spirit became quite free--his heart more animated, glowing
with love. And thus was Jesus perfected. Leaving the desert, he then
sought out the fertile land; he sought out men.
His earthly task stood clear and fixed before him.