4umi Khalil Gibran : Jesus, The Son Of Man / Assaph called the Orator of Tyre

Assaph called the orator of Tyre

On the speech of Jesus

What shall I say of His speech? Perhaps something about His person lent power to His words and swayed those who heard Him. For He was comely, and the sheen of the day was upon His countenance.

Men and women gazed at Him more than they listened to His argument. But at times He spoke with the power of a spirit, and that spirit had authority over those who heard Him.

In my youth I had heard the orators of Rome and Athens and Alexandria. The young Nazarene was unlike them all.

They assembled their words with an art to enthral the ear, but when you heard Him your heart would leave you and go wandering into regions not yet visited.

He would tell a story or relate a parable, and the like of His stories and parables had never been heard in Syria. He seemed to spin them out of the seasons, even as time spins the years and the generations.

He would begin a story thus: “The ploughman went forth to the field to sow his seeds.”
Or, “Once there was a rich man who had many vineyards.”

Or, “A shepherd counted his sheep at eventide and found that one sheep was missing.”
And such words would carry His listeners into their simpler selves, and into the ancient of their days.

At heart we are all ploughmen, and we all love the vineyard. And in the pastures of our memory there is a shepherd and a flock and the lost sheep.

And there is the plough-share and the winepress and the threshing-floor.

He knew the source of our older self, and the persistent thread of which we are woven.

The Greek and the Roman orators spoke to their listeners of life as it seemed to the mind. The Nazarene spoke of a longing that lodged in the heart.

They saw life with eyes only a little clearer than yours and mine. He saw life in the light of God.

I often think that He spoke to the crowd as a mountain would speak to the plain.

And in His speech there was a power that was not commanded by the orators of Athens or of Rome.

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 Khalil Gibran Introductory biography Spirits Rebellious The Broken Wings A Tear and a Smile The Madman The Forerunner The Prophet The New Frontier Sand and Foam Jesus, The Son Of Man James the son of Zebedee Anna the mother of Mary Assaph called the Orator of Tyre Mary Magdalen Philemon, a Greek Apothecary Simon who was called Peter Caiaphas Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Rafca A Persian Philosopher in Damascus David, one of his followers Luke Matthew John the son of Zebedee A young priest of Capernaum A rich levi in the neighborhood of the Nazarene A shepherd in South Lebanon John the Baptist Joseph of Arimathea Nathaniel Saba of Antioch Salome to a woman friend Rachael, a woman disciple Cleopas of Bethroune Naaman of the Gadarenes Thomas Elmadam the Logician One of the Mary's Rumanous, a Greek poet Levi, a disciple A widow in Galilee Judas the cousin of Jesus The man from the desert Peter Melachi of Babylon, an astronomer A philosopher Uriah, an old man of Nazareth Nicodemus the poet Joseph of Arimathea Georgus of Beirut Mary Magdalen Jotham of Nazareth to a Roman Ephraim of Jericho Barca, a merchant of Tyre Phumiah, the high Priestess of Sidon Benjamin the scribe Zacchaeus Hannah of Bethsaida Manasseh Jephtha of Caesarea John the beloved disciple Mannus the Pompeiian, to a Greek Pontius Pilatus Bartholomew in Ephesus Matthew Andrew on prostitutes A rich man on possessions John at Patmos Peter on the neighbor A cobbler in Jerusalem Suzannah of Nazareth Joseph surnamed Justus Philip Birbarah of Yammouni Pilate's wife to a Roman lady A man outside of Jerusalem Sarkis, an old Greek shepherd Annas the high priest A woman, one of Mary's neighbors Ahaz the portly Barabbas Claudius a Roman sentinel James the brother of the Lord Simon the Cyrene Cyborea The woman in Byblos Mary Magdalen thirty years later A man from Lebanon The Earth Gods The Wanderer Al-Nay The Garden of the Prophet Lazarus and His Beloved Satan My Countrymen I Believe In You Your Thought And Mine You Have Your Lebanon History and the Nation The Vision Visual art