The Saint 81
see his strength but also sense his limits? Jesus sees clearly, one
might conjecture, because he has elevated himself above desires. He
does not want or need anything from anyone else. If people will feed
him and his disciples, very well. If they will give them shelter, good.
Jesus is grateful. But if these gifts do not come readily, well then they
will come in time. If people want to listen to what Jesus says, he is
not displeased. He is confi dent that he off ers the key to joy. But if
they do not care to listen to him that is their aff air; they can go their
ways. To any number of people he utters what may be the most beau-
tiful words in the Gospels, come and follow me. But if they do not
follow, he seems un- distressed. He wants joy for them, not eleva-
tion for himself. Because he is beyond desire and committed to
hope, Jesus can see into the hearts of those who are tormented by
desire, or who, having spent a life desiring the paltry things of this
earth, now hunger to break free.
Jesus deals with the Pharisees and the other high priests of what
he feels has become a hierophantic religion by laughing at them. He
shows repeatedly that he can outsmart them in debate, while at the
same time demonstrating that debate doesn’t matter much. An ex-
cessive reliance on the mind makes men ignore the spirit and ignore
the needs of their fellow men and women. When they criticize him
for healing on the Sabbath because it breaks the commandment to
“keep holy the Lord’s day,” Jesus seems to become genuinely angry.
“Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or
to kill?” (Mark 3.4). Jesus is here in behalf of life and the restoration
of life, and they matter every day of the week.
Jesus has a par tic u lar affi nity for those who have not been over-
come by the full force of the Self hood. In the spiritual philosophies
of Confucius and of Buddha, there is no salient place for the child.
The ideal there is the adult who has evolved to a high degree of
intellectual prowess but has also developed (or sustained) a ca-
pacity for humane feeling. For Jesus, the child is a crucial image of