Word of Jesus

One day, Jesus was walking in the desert with a group of self-seeking people. They begged him to tell them the Secret Name by which he restored the dead to living. Jesus said, If I tell you, you will abuse its power. The people promised they would use the knowledge wisely and begged him again.

You do not know what you ask, he said, but he told them the Word.

Soon after, the group was walking in a deserted place when they saw a heap of whitened bones. Let us try out the Word, they said to each other, and they did.

The moment the Word was pronounced, the bones became clothed with flesh and transformed into a wild beast, which tore them to shreds.

– Rumi

This story is from Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart by Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield.