Jesus lays out a few ground rules to Judas whom, it seems, could have done with a dose of quinuituq. I loved this lesson in patience, and the idea that men and trees are bound by the same laws of God.

“If you love me, be patient.  Look at the trees.  Are they in a hurry to ripen their fruit?”

“I’m not a tree, I’m a man,” the redbeard objected, coming closer.  “I’m a man, and that means a thing which is in a hurry.  I go by my own laws.”

“The law of God is the same, whether for trees or men, Judas.”

The redbeard ground his teeth.  “And what is that law called?” he asked sarcastically.

“Time.”

See also Mervyn Peake’s evocation of the wisdom of trees in the eyes of a child. 

Source: Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation, trans. P.A. Bien (London: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 252

Photo credit: Cleverpix at pixabay.com