The Mourning Thing from “The Adventures of the Teen Jesus”
After the poor and the hungry, the next group Abba singled out for blessing was the mourning.
Mourning was all over. Not just after people were dead. Often when people were dying, mourning began.
It was heart-rending. It was wracking. It was pain. It was seemingly transported from the dead or dead-bound to the mourners.
It was much louder and more obtrusive than anything vouchsafed the living.
“Abba what is the point in blessing those who mourn?” Jesus asked.
“How many people do you know who die after a long life, Jesus?”
“I don’t know many — if you mean really old.”
“One of the huge reasons you will eventually be teaching as many as you can is that if people heed you, everyone will live much longer. Death is not just bodies piled up in battles. It is children. Even babies. Almost everyone dies before they have time to really live. Do you know why?”
“Of course not. Why?”
“Of course not. Of course you do.”
“Why?”
“What makes people able to overcome anything. What makes the poor prosper? What feeds the hungry.”
“Knowing you? I know that. Still, why will I not survive?”
“Jesus, you will be hounded to death. But your teachings will help others to live. Now. Let’s answer the question. I’ll answer it. Knowing me, really knowing me, will turn people to the study of reality as it truly is. Once that starts, people will be able to cure themselves. And others. They will keep infants from dying. They will escape disease.”
“I’m sorry, Abba. But — “
“I am the one who is sorry, Jesus. I am already in mourning. I know the evil in many hearts. It is the evil of prejudice, bias, hatred, violence. selfishness, mindlessness. Anyone who speaks truth to evil is marked. The only way change can start is for this truth to be told. Truth is beauty, Jesus? Truth-tellers die. I am in mourning for you.”
“Blessed those who mourn,” Jesus whispered, gripped by the certainty of early death.
“We shall be comforted,” Abba said. “All shall be. All who see and hear and understand.”
Jesus walked slowly home. He made a pledge. He would live to the fullest. He would harm no one. He would hurt no one, unless the truth he told should somehow cause hurt to someone. He would eat and drink and reach out in love. He would find a Rachel to hold close. He would not die never having lived.
