The Light of Truth — Page 181
PARABLE OF THE CHRISTIANS AND THE ATONEMENT who loses her child, they fell to the ground as though they were dead and hung their heads, weeping. They realized that they had been deceived and humiliated and, in essence, expelled from society. So they took to slapping themselves on the face, crying out, 'Woe to us! We were robbed and deceived!' Then they poured the desert sand onto their heads. As their screams reached the heavens, people gathered around them because of their great state of panic, concern, and crying. Having hastened to them, the people inquired as to what calamity had befallen them; what injury they had suf- fered; what tribulation caused their hearts to waste away; and as to what catastrophe caused them such grief. They sought a detailed explanation of the calamity and the particulars of the case. However, the townspeople chose not to explain, fearing the ridicule of the people and humiliation before the masses and the elite. And yet, they continued to cry out. So the peo- ple asked: 'What is the matter with you that your tears do not stop and your sighs do not abate? Have you been wronged by an unjust people? Why do you hide the truth and increase our consternation? Do you not see the anguish resulting from your friends' concerns?' On this, they cried the cry of the aggrieved and, despite the embarrassment of disclosing their secret grief, they proceeded to relate their story and revealed their sorrow. They had resolved not to make it public, but they relented due to the persistence of determined people. Thereafter, every intelligent person crit- icized them, and the arrows of reproach rained down on them from every direction, until they hung their heads low in great embarrassment. The reproachers said to them: O foolish people and leaders of the ignorant! Did you not realize that the person who came to you was a pauper, plainly forsaken, wearing naught but two tattered garments like molted feathers? So how could he who was himself in rags give you robes of splendour, and grant you relief from privation and need? Did you not see that he 181