The Six Messiahs - Mark Frost [99]
"A rabbi makes no such claim, my dear; that is far too important a job to be entrusted to professionals. If God speaks to anyone it is only through the voice of the human heart and everyone you meet has one of those."
"Theatrical producers aside."
"Not to mention certain neighborhoods in New York," said Jacob. "My people have a belief that the existence of the world is sustained by the righteousness of a small number of perfectly ordinary people who attract no attention to themselves and very quietly go about their business."
"Like saints, then."
"Hidden saints, you might call them, seeking no reward or recognition for what they do. Pass them in the street, you'd hardly notice them; not even they have the slightest idea they are performing such essential service. But they carry the weight of the world on their shoulders."
"Sounds more like a job for the Messiah," she said.
"This whole Messiah business is so terribly overemphasized. ..."
"You don't believe in the Messiah?"
"There is a tradition in Judaism that if someone tells you the Messiah has come and you are planting a tree, first finish planting the tree and then go see about this Messiah."
"Hmm. I guess if a fellow actually was the Messiah, the last thing he'd do is run around announcing it to people."
"Not if he wants to live until suppertime. If you look at the subject historically, this idea began because the Jews in Israel wanted a man with supernatural powers to fly down from heaven and rescue them; quite a natural response to a thousand years of slavery, wouldn't you agree?"
"I'd wish for a squadron of them."
"Then Jesus came along and, regardless of who you believe he was, the rest is history. But ever since in Western culture when we approach the end of a century, as we are now, a terror that the Judgment Day is at hand awakens in us this hunger for a savior to appear and set things right. And with it the strange notion that there can only be one of these persons."
"More than one Messiah?" asked Eileen. "But he's one of a kind, isn't he, by definition?"
"In Kabbalah there is an alternative idea that has always struck me as infinitely more reasonable: Within each generation that passes through this life there are a few people alive at all times—without any self-awareness that they possess such a quality—who, if events called upon them to do so, could assume the role of the Messiah."
"The 'role' of the Messiah?"
"In the same way we are all playing a part in our own lives: strutting and fretting our hour upon the stage, full of sound and fury, signifying God knows what. If you look at it from this perspective, in the great pageant of life the Messiah is simply one of the more interesting characters."
"So what sort of events might bring these Messiahs forward?"
"I suppose the usual calamities: cataclysm, pestilence, apocalypse. Our hero needs a good entrance. Although according to this theory, He would have been standing in front of us the entire time without anyone noticing."
"What happens to these people when they don't become the Chosen One?" she asked.
"They live out their days and die in peace, the lucky creatures."
"Never knowing about the part they might otherwise have played."
"For their sake let's hope so. Messiah; what a dreadful job. Everyone throwing themselves at your feet, asking you to cure their rheumatism. Pearls of wisdom expected to fall with every utterance. All pain and suffering and never a kind word in the end."
"Speaking of being nailed to a cross, would you mind if I moved? I'm on the verge of a crippled neck."
"Not at all. Nearly finished," he said, the tip of his tongue tickling his lip in concentration.
Eileen relaxed and turned to face the other direction, looking past Jacob out the far window. "Tell me: I've always been unclear on exactly what the Messiah is supposed to do for us if He does come back."
"There is a remarkable division of opinion on this subject. One school of thought has Him riding down from the sky in the nick of time to save the