A Man at Arms

by Steven Pressfield

“The man came up directly before me. His eyes were dark and filled with such compassion as I have never seen before or since. ‘Do not fear,’ the man said. I knew without speech that he, like me and those of my vision, had experienced crucifixion and had been transformed by it. “The man did nothing but look into my eyes, yet such a force of love coursed from him to me that I staggered and could not keep my feet. I fell to my knees before the man. I perceived, again without words, that I was bound not only to him and to the others who had suffered upon the cross, but to all mankind, and that the remainder of my days must be spent in service to them all.

Those who have ridden the cross and survived possess a certain ‘look.’ This is unmistakable.

Paul wrote, in the girl’s recitation, that he knew the members of the fledgling church were under extraordinary duress. He implored them to be true to the spirit of hope and faith and love that had led them to hazard everything to follow the man they called their savior. For without such transcendent love, nothing else was possible, nor indeed could any other thought or action possess meaning.