Mortals

by Norman Rush

  “But as we saw when you spoke, it was a Son of Man who would rule, riding on clouds. We cannot say if Jesus was saying he was this Son of Man. Very likely he thought, yes, I am that man, because he was saying often to the apostles that he would sit on the right hand of his father, God. So, but perhaps that Son of Man can be Elijah. We cannot say, only that he rides about on clouds at times. But I must study these laws of Noah because to Batswana if you say Rra, Jesus says if you have eaten blood, Jesus of old, in his true doctrine before he was stolen by the Christians, if you taste blood you are going to the pit of hell, well, my word, all Batswana have tasted blood, as in puddings of blood, and other ways at the cattle post, expressly when they are ill. So you can see it will raise their eyes on this matter. They will listen.”

  “Themba, we have to be very careful with this. I would leave it alone.”

  “No, because you see up to this day at the butchery where they say they are halal, ‘we are halal,’ they say, ‘and our meat is drained, you must eat this or you will be condemned someway’ … it is from these same words of Noah and it is a curse on the Batswana … These Muslims say your meat is not clean, rra, except as you eat what is halal.”

  “No, but this would be the wrong way to approach it. At the Muslim butcheries … No. Maybe at some future time, Themba. But your point is correct. But just not now.”

  “Ehe, rra.”

  “So we are in the messianic age and they have finished judging. God’s judges have. Then what?”

  “Em, ah, oh yes, you must have a new kind of body to last forever and ever. The dead are all raised, I believe, and they, well, I believe they would be most in need. They would be rotten, rra. Ai! E bodile …”

  “No, no,” Morel said, to one or two people who were laughing.

  “So, but rra, you must have a new body of spirit or electric or whatsohaveyou because it must be such as to let you fly and repose in the blue sky. Em, and as to the dead gentiles, nothing is said, if they are brought up, the saved ones, for new bodies or no, so it is confusing.”

  Morel made a reproving sound. Themba was playing to the crowd, which was not wanted. Ray knew what Morel, that asshole, was after—when you destroy some poor bugger’s belief system, become a technician, neutral, like a doctor bringing sad news but not being involved yourself, Ray thought. You had to have the demeanor of a funeral director.

  “And then, in heaven, what happens? The Jewish heaven.”

  “At all times you are not to work.”

  “What else?”

  “At all times you must not play after young ladies. At all times you must wear a crown and sit upon a throne. It is one man, one throne …”

  Morel was making Themba wait. This last little thrust had earned him a touch of the silent treatment. No levity allowed, Ray thought. Morel was strict.

  “And when the Jewish Sabbath comes, Themba, how should we understand it?”

  “Ehe, for one day you are to live as it will be in heaven, with no work to do, no amusements …”

  “Themba, let me read from our great scholar, Vermes, you have this, page 125 … On the Sabbath ‘abstinence from all work of the occupations of the children of men, and a total devotion to worship by means of offering incense, gifts and sacrifice in the sanctuary, symbolize and mystically achieve God’s reign on earth.’ ”

  “Ehe, and you must sit and receive from God his shining forth.”

  “See if you remember what we call that, or rather the Jews did.”

  “I forget what.”

  “Shekinah. Radiance of God.”

  “Ehe, and, em, whilst you receive this shekinah you must in no way look straightaway at God. Even if you are in your new body, it can kill you to see his face.”

  “Such is the Kingdom of Heaven, Themba. Not much moving around unless there is some scheme to shift thrones so that all can have a chance to sit near God.”

  There was a ripple of amusement among the hearers. Morel is not playing by his own rules, Ray thought.

  Themba said, “I think the Batswana can never be Jews, if there shall be no cows in heaven.”

  Someone in the audience said “Ke dunetse,” meaning he agreed.

  “So this heaven you describe is the great, final end that the Jew Jesus was urging all his people to work and die for, we see. And we are talking only about what we can tell were the beliefs of Jesus himself, in the time before Paul, and before the four Gospels were written—beginning about how many years after the death of Jesus, would you say?”

  “We say Mark is written down about the year seventy, rra. Paul was writing earlier but still it was fifteen years after Jesus was killed, but Paul tells nothing of the life of Jesus and he tells only some few words of the beliefs of Jesus, which is strange.”

  “Right! This is the important thing to emphasize. Great feats of scholarship have taken place in the last thirty or forty years, so we can now extract and separate, this is the point, the original ideas and beliefs and instructions of the Jew Jesus, take them out of the books of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew and Luke, where we find other beliefs and interpretations alongside them, coming from Paul for the most part, added to and plastered across them, obscuring them. And Themba, all of you … it is from these encrustations and superadditions and plasterings that Paul and his followers turned a dead Jew into a God for the gentiles, a new God, at the same time twisting, Paul was twisting the sacred writings of the Jews to make them say that they prophesied the coming of a divine Savior for the Gentiles … for everyone. And that way lies Christianity, invented by Paul.

  “But we are not coming to that, yet. No. People do not like to hear any of this, really. So we must first make clear to them that we are talking about the original and pure beliefs of the Jew Jesus. And the first thing you must make clear is the answer to the question of how Jesus came to believe that the world was to come to an end at the hands of Yahweh. He thought he knew what had to be done to make Yahweh bring an end to the world as it was and create his kingdom. And other Jews of Palestine were also seeking ways to make God descend. But they were saying there were other ways to make him come, three ways. You remember the three ways?”

  “Ehe, rra. Em, in Palestine the Romans were oppressing the Israelites very much. And the Jews were saying it must cease. This must cease. And they had from their scriptures stories telling of God coming to their aid, as when they came to the promised land and found it stuffed fat with enemies and vipers, and God helped them to kill their enemies …”

  Morel said, “Yes, you remember we said that such a God might be called a serial killer, in fact. But this is among ourselves. When we discuss this, we say only that he killed many opponents of the Jews.”

  Themba said, “In Palestine in past times, some victories would come when Yahweh would strengthen the captains of the Jews but would cause the walls and towers of their enemies to fall down. Or he would send angels to aid in the killing. So in their belief they ask how can we make Yahweh come to us once again.

  “The Romans were their enemies. So they were saying, if we take up arms against the Romans, Yahweh will come down to help us. But the priests of the temple were saying they must not bother the Romans. These priests were in the pay of the Romans, of course, much as like the Zed CC saying we must not bother the Boers.”

  Morel was quick. “Well, but rra, it would be best not to make overmuch of that. We have many Zed CC followers in this country and they would be, well, aggravated if they saw us criticizing their brothers in South Africa when they themselves are blameless, you see. So it would be very much the best not to make such a comparison.”

  “They are tiresome,” Themba said.

  “I know, but they must not see us attacking them. This is what we must do, remember. We try to enlighten about beliefs, but we must let the holders of those beliefs see for themselves what our criticism means about their churches, you see? Do you see what I mean? And as to taking one denomination and saying you are particularly in error … no.” Morel was b
eing very deliberate.

  Themba said, “Still, it is true. They are tiresome. They will listen to you less than anyone else, and when you finish they say if you only will drink salt water you will change and see God. This is what they stated to me, rra.”

  “Proceed, Themba.”

  Themba said, “The worst were the daggermen.”

  “Who were called … by what other names?”

  “Sicarii.”

  “Yes, and they were called Zealots, also. And they, the daggermen, would assassinate not only Romans but Jews as well … Jews who were helping the Romans …”

  Themba said, “And those men were for war against the Romans and they would say that when the Jews made an uprising, at that time God would come down as with Joshua and give them the victory over the Romans.”

  “And what ways were some other Jews proposing for bringing divine intervention?”

  “Ehe … at the Dead Sea lived some Jews in caves. Essenes they were named.”

  “Well, no, rra … They lived in camps, and in regular buildings as well. Their writings were found in caves where they had been hidden, found only in recent years, you remember.”

  “Yes, rra. And these Essenes were quite fools, who said if only they might become as clean as angels, God could come. The Zealots believed war would bring God, the Essenes believed cleanliness would bring God. Every rule of cleanliness these men would observe many times over, as to washing and putting women to the side. And in their thoughts they would be pure. As well they would be training as an army at the ready, to join with the angel-army God was sure to send when at last they have become clean enough. And so the Romans would be thrown down. So this way was through cleanliness …”

  “Okay, good. But I don’t think we want to call any particular groups we discuss fools, do we?”

  “But rra, they are long dead. There are none to offend.”

  “Just the same, Themba. It’s best to avoid those words.”

  “Yes, for fear they will give offense at times. My word, I would not do it. But here we are free, isn’t it?”

  “Within these walls, yes. But we must train ourselves here to be always prudent. So. Now. So far we have violence and purity. What other means did Jewish believers propose to bring God to intervene on earth?”

  Themba said, “So we come up to the followers of John the Baptist, who is stating God will come only if many Jews repent of past sins.”

  “And, if you remember, there was a name for this repentance.”

  “It is …”

  “You may consult your study cards. And Themba, as I recommended to you, the best place to keep your study cards is in your Bible, as bookmarks, your Bible, which you will be consulting in any case. And that way you avoid having to search your pockets for them. And then as you search out things in the Bible you pass your eyes over this material and are helped to retain it.”

  “Ke itumetse, rra. I will do that. And when you repent it is called teshuvah. Teshuvah is saying sorry. And Jesus was for a time following John the Baptist. And it is teshuvah when you are pushed into the water and washed, when you are baptized. But in fact, there was no coming down of God from all these teshuvahs of John the Baptist, and time was passing by. And so Jesus turned away from John. He was impatient. And then the king put John the Baptist to death, so as to teshuvah, it was the end.”

  “And then what did Jesus do?”

  “Jesus said if you cannot summon God down by means of war—although these daggermen were still raising up from time to time, if you cannot summon God by washing and bathing, and if you cannot summon God by repenting all past sins you have made and going into the water for a sign, then perhaps, he said, the Jews can summon God down by emunah.”

  “Okay, good, and does Jesus continue with baptizing?”

  “No, we do not see that. Only in one place in the Bible does it say so, but we think that is wrong.”

  “And how would you explain what emunah is and what it meant among the Jews of that time? I know you have this in large letters on your study cards. It is important. In fact you may feel free to read off the definition anytime until you have it in your memory,” Morel said.

  “Ehe, rra. Emunah is complete trusting faith, complete trusting faith, as children have it. It is becoming as a child in every way. It is to never question but only always believe. You take no thought for yourself, and in that way you show your trust in God to care for you. I remember very well what is in this book of Vermes. Emunah demands the total commitment of the soul to God. You must do away with all things in yourself that would make God hate you, were you a child, bothering him. You must wish him to be left in peace even when his eye falls on you. You do not pester him with oaths in his name, because when you take the name of God in an oath you are forcing him to become a party in some little disputes you have with your neighbors. So as well, you must avoid ill-doing because all people stand as your brothers under God, and God the father is best pleased when there is no fighting in his home. He hears everything, the God of Jesus, so we can see why these oaths pelting him like rain must be displeasing, very much. And when it comes to stories told by Jesus, we see that so many of them are about God, and are saying he is above everything a father who is greatly pleased, most pleased, when one of his lost sheep or sons who has been erring is returning home. And these he loves much more than those who have stayed in the fold and been obedient toward him for the most part. But that is the nature of a father, Jesus is saying to us …”

  Morel said, “Well, but stop there because we are going to go through the proverbs and parables later, to see how they show this craze for childish devotion, for emunah, every one of them. Maybe that will be after we eat something.”

  There was a sound of chair feet scraping and then of boot heels knocking on the hard floor as Morel commenced pacing back and forth in front of his audience. Morel was partial to cowboy boots. The refreshments to come included maize porridge and chicken stew. Morel wanted refreshments served at all Apostles of Reason occasions, he told the new cadres. He explained that they were a draw. They should be served not sooner than three-quarters of the way through an event.

  “Emunah is what, above all, we must understand and make others, the ones trammeled and trapped and stumbling in the nets of Christianity, understand, because it is the whole heart and soul of the message of the Jew Jesus. Everything that he taught is secondary to emunah, including every rule and regulation of his religion. All the six hundred and fifteen rules and regulations of the Torah, which Jesus continues to accept with all his heart and being, are made subordinate to the one goal of building up emunah, and emunah is what? Is being as a child, becoming childlike, in absolute faith, unquestioning faith. We all remember that the chief commandment of the Torah, the one held by Jesus to be a summary of all the other commandments, the commandment that you must love God with all your mind, heart, and soul, is no more than a formulation of emunah, and the commandment that stands second to this, that you must love your neighbor as yourself, is aimed to stop all strife displeasing to a father, as Themba has just said. So with Jesus, emunah is all, namely that the trust, the emunah, of a child is the conditio sine qua non for access to the kingdom.

  “Think about what this means. All of you. Think. It means that being like a child, a boy instead of a man, is the most basic condition you must meet for salvation!”

  Feeling had come into Morel’s voice, true urgent feeling. His register was lower.

  “So but can we not see what we have in these beliefs of Jesus the Jew, in this early branch of Judaism, which we must never forget his religion was, and remains forever, since he never changed it?

  “When we tell Christians that the closer they are to the original Jesus the more they should consider themselves Jews, they jump, they want to scream, because they have been poisoned by the hatred of the Jews spoken in the Gospels. The new sect of Christian Jews defamed their rivals, the other Jews, and put their lies in the mouth of Jesus the Jew.

&nb
sp; “No, it drives Christians crazy to be told that if they truly love Jesus, they’re Jews. So we have to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves when we blast them with this news.”

  Morel was continuing. “This is what I wanted to say. We have to see that what we have before us in the religion of Jesus is as clear a crystallization or distillation of what is going on in all religions, one way or another, as we could pray for. That is, the falling back into the status of a child before some figure or idea identifiable as a version of the all-powerful lawgiving father, a patrimorph, as I proposed we call it, a patrimorph, a thing in the shape of a father.

  “Go back to your notes and see that I called religion organized regression, and the falling back is to that time when we were coming to consciousness of the world during our helpless infancy and childhood, a period longer for us than for any other animal. This period is called neoteny, the scientific name for it is neoteny. I hate these names but we need them, patrimorph and neoteny … And this falling back into a time when our father was a god to us strikes us when we are in pain and suffering, with nowhere to turn, as can happen. As does happen.

  “And then we fall back and become a thing like a child, a pedomorph, just to give the last of these technical names, a thing like a child, and we feel, again and again, with the help of the costumed liars of whatever church, we feel safer, happier, secure in the shadow of our father. And then they do what they like with us, of course. We fall back and we feel rejuvenated, notice the word. We are a species cursed with the shadows of fathers, and false fathers. This weakness is the abyss that is always at our heels, that we drag about with us, that follows us, dogs us. The abyss is sweet. There is real comfort there. We are made so that we wish to pitch ourselves into it. That act releases sweet chemicals that infuse us, our brains. The abyss. It is the common sand every church is built on, all churches and temples are built upon.

  “Our task is to become fatherless … khutsana.”

  Morel stopped for something, a glass of water, probably.