The
Legend of the Bamboo
A
Chinese Lord was pleased with his fine garden. He was delighted with
its towering bamboo tree. Every time he passed it by the bamboo would
sway and bow down low in homage.
One
day the Lord spoke to the tree: "Bamboo, I have a favor to ask
of you." The bamboo bowed even lower: "I am your servant.
I will do whatever you ask." And the Lord asked it to surrender
its branches and leaves - "they are shading too much of the sunlight
from my other shrubs and flowers." "But Master, if you cut
them away I shall not be so grand, and I will not be able to offer
you such homage." "You must trust me," declared the
Lord. and the bamboo consented.
A
few days later, the Lord stopped again before the tree: "Bamboo,
I have another favor to ask of you. I want you to surrender your coat
of bark. It will make excellent gutters for water to reach my other
shrub and flowers." "But master, if you take it away I shall
not be so strong, and I will not be able to offer you such homage."
"You must trust me," declared the Lord. And the bamboo consented.
A
few days later, the Lord stopped again before the tree: "Bamboo,
I have a final favor to ask of you. Let me cut you down very low,
then there will be more nourishment of the soil available for my other
shrubs and flowers." "But master, if you cut me I shall
not be so tall, and I will not be able to offer you such homage."
"You must trust me," declared the Lord. And the bamboo consented.
Some
weeks later, the Lord stood before the small bamboo. "Thank you,
my trusting bamboo," he said. "All my other shrubs and flowers
are thriving because of your dedication. You have paid me your greatest
homage. And I notice new buds shooting from you already."
Our
Gospel today opens with some Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem to
worship. Philip brings them to Andrew and he brings them to Jesus.
Jesus brings them right away into the heart of paradox and into the
heart of truth.
"Unless
the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it remains alone: but
if it dies it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life destroys
it, and whoever despises his life in this world keeps it for everlasting
life."
The
Greeks are taught the paradoxical wisdom of the Gospel - which is
also enshrined in the Chinese story with which I began.
In
all spheres of life the secret of deeper joy is in delayed satisfaction.
The psychologist Karl Jung says that most mental sickness comes from
the avoidance of legitimate suffering. The neurotic maneuvers we make
to avoid the legitimate suffering that is part of our reality become
much more painful than the original suffering would have been.
Christ
is an example of his own message. "When I am lifted up from the
earth - on the cross - I shall draw all things to myself." From
a human point of view he was a total failure. Everything he started
seemed to collapse. His disciples betrayed or abandoned him. He was
executed as a criminal. Yet, he was the one who rose from the dead
and whose Reign still continues.
The
paradox of the life of Christ, the paradox of selfgiving - and then
sprouting new life as experienced by the bamboo - is also the experience
of the Christian meditator. To spend 20 to 30 minutes twice daily
trying to repeat a word that is always being lost in a forest of distraction
seems to be a futile and useless exercise. Yet, the Christian experience
shows that from this death life comes. The person who meditates may
feel that it is loss all the way. But then from time to time little
sprouts - the little sprouts of what St. Paul calls the higher gifts
of patience, understanding, forbearance, love - will begin to appear
and give a deeper joy than the much desired success that we all crave
for.
