THE SERMON
179
dote, with consequences as grave, as far-reaching as can be ... I'm
speaking of the belief
in
the Messiah. That's a typical Jewish fan–
tasy, the most typical of all! Isn't it? ... A single myth, all that is
left of the whole past, the closing speech of all that great drama,
after the Judges, the Prophets, and the
Kings,
after the First Temple
and the Second, after the wars and wonders-well, and all the rest
of it.... And that's what we are left with: a single, simple legend,
and no more. Not much, you say? You are mistaken. On the con–
trary, it is a great deal. It is far too much. You might think, it's no
more than a trifle, a kindergarten legend. But it's not so. It's by no
means so innocent. It has such a cunning, do you know, like that
of well-tried, ancient men, a cunning of utmost subtlety, so ill-starred,
so
podlaya-that
is, so corrupt a cunning.... Let me add, by the
way, it's a wonderful legend, a tale of genius, although-apart from
the philosophy and symbolism in it-not free of caricature, you know,
not without a biting Jewish wit and humor; he comes on an ass!
A great, a colossal, a cosmic image-not on a snorting steed, but
precisely on a donkey, on the most miserable and insignificant of ani–
mals.... And this was enough to determine a people's fate and chart
its course in the world for endless ages, for all eternity, this, and not
the disputes of the schools of Shammai and Hillel. I'm not familiar
with these things, I never learned Talmud, but it's quite clear. . . .
It's an obvious thing, a certainty that if not for this myth it would
all have been different. For then, they would finally have had to go
right back to Palestine or somehow or other pass on out of the world.
At any rate, they would have had to think of something or do some–
thing, somehow or other, to bring it all to an end...."
Once more the chairman thought of making him bring his
speech to an end, for it seemed to him that the whole discussion was
out of place in that committee. He turned to both sides, consulting
the committee members with a glance: "What do you think?" They
signed to him to let him go on. He accepted it and settled back.
Yudka did not notice the exchange of signals at
all,
but went
on: "Now there is no need. Now they needn't think about anything
or do anything, not a single thought or the slightest action. King
Messiah will do it all for them, and they have nothing to do but
sit and wait for his coming. In fact, it's forbidden to get involved
in the whole matter, to force the end. Forbidden! What can this
