The Paradox Par excellence
Great souls loved and still love the country side. The poet, eager to create, the saint moved to prayer and meditation the sinner craving purification take refuge on mountains and in green meadows. Jesus also loved the country. He loved the limpid water and its sound. He liked to be in the midst of fields which perfume heaven, or on steep desert hills parched by the sun. He took His language from the country. Seldom did He use learned words, abstract conceptions and generalizing terms. His talk blossoms with colours. It is perfumed by colours of the field and of the orchard. It is peopled by the figures of familiar animals. The figs swelling and ripening under the great, dark leaves in His Galilee enraptured Him. He enjoyed the tendrils of the leafy wind. The mournful rustle of the needs shaken by the wind along the ditches did never make Him unhappy. The seed of grain, buried in the earth and its resurrection in the form of a full ear brought to His mind the “parable of the seed”. He saw the beautiful red, yellow and purple lilies in the midst of the tender green of the wheat. The fresh tufts of grass, luxuriant today and dried and cast into the oven tomorrow brought to His mind the ‘perishableness’ of things. He enjoyed the sight of the eagle swooping down with its widespread wings upon its prey. His realization was that not even a sparrow will fall down without the Father’s (also His and the Holy Spirit’s) knowledge and consent. He loved the cooing of the dove on the roof. He closely observed the serpent writhing through the grass stealthily and the dark viper hiding among the scattered stones of the tombs. No wonder Jesus clearly told His disciples: “Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mat. 10:16).
Certainly, Jesus was born among the shepherds. No wonder, He was to become the shepherd of men: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he is working only for the money and does not really care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd: I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep” (John 10:11-15)
He knew and loved the ewes, searching for the lost lamb. The lambs bleating weakly and sucking, almost hidden under their mother’s woolly body. He look many of His images and parables from such incidents and the flocks sweltering on the thin hot pastures of their hills. He loved with equal love the tiny seed and the ancient fig tree, casting its shadow over the poor man’s house.
The open, many-coloured book of nature was not the only source of study for Him. He knew very well that the Father spoke to men also through the angels, the patriarchs and the prophets of old. He knew the thoughts and memories of olden times. He knew the story of His people, the will of the Father, the vision of the prophets. He knew them in their letter and spirit much better than the proud scribes and the doctors of the law. Indeed, He is the greatest ‘guru’ ever lived on the earth.
