The Saint 89
The rich man cries out for a touch of water to cool his tongue. No.
He asks to return to earth if only for a moment to warn his sinning
bro th ers there about what awaits them. No, Abraham tells him.
You’ve had your chance and will live in eternal torment (Luke
16.19 –31).
Jesus informs his disciples that when they come to a town to
preach the word they should seek out the worthy and abide with
them. But he also tells them that if anyone denies them welcome,
they must take a certain sort of revenge. “If anyone will not welcome
you or listen to your words,” Jesus says, “shake off the dust from
your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of
judgment than for that town” (Matthew 10.14–15).
Here Jesus echoes Yahweh, both in voice and values.
But at his most original and provocative Jesus tries to change the
existing sense of who and what God is. He tells his followers that
God is a loving father who will nurture and care for them. He points
to the birds in the fi elds and he tells the people that God loves each
one of them. And if God cares so much for a mere sparrow, imagine
how much he cares for creatures made in his image. “Are not fi ve
sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten
in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do
not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke
12.6–7).
Jesus tells his followers the story of the lost sheep. A shepherd
has a hundred sheep in his fl ock and he loses one. What does the
shepherd do? Does he stay where he is protecting the ninety- nine?
No, he goes in pursuit of the wandering lamb. “The Lord is my
shepherd,” the great psalm says— but it is hard to imagine anyone
in the Hebrew Bible saying or believing that the Lord God is so full
of loving- kindness that he will go far out of his path for just one
commonplace being. “Just so, I tell you,” Jesus says, “there will be