And he asked God, “Have you forsaken me?” But then immediately he understood – he was a man of intelligence, tremendous intelligence. Immediately he understood that whatsoever he has said is wrong. How can God forsake him? The very idea that God can forsake him is negative, is ugly; it is not trust.

If God shows miracles, then it is very easy to trust. If he is proving your power then it is very easy to trust; anybody will be able to trust. No intelligence is needed to trust, no special understanding is needed to trust; any fool would have trusted.

But nothing was happening and the last moment has arrived. Jesus immediately understood the point – this is the time to understand. He surrendered. He said: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Don’t listen to me, you simply go on doing whatsoever you want to do. Who am I to suggest? I am no more, I am in your hands.

This was real powerlessness. This is Tao. Ko Hsuan would have understood it; the Jews could not understand it. And the whole gathering was of Jews, friends or enemies. And they had always believed in achievement, in power, in ambition – all their prophets had been doing miracles. If they were angry with Jesus the reason was that he was not coming up to the mark: he was not proving himself to be really a prophet, because the ancient prophets had done so many miracles.

And my feeling is that he never did any miracles. If he had done any miracles, all the Jews would have converted; they would not have crucified him. It is enough proof that he never did any miracles. And all the miracles that are propounded by the Christians are invented. These Christians are also of the same mind, the same desire, the same ambition: “How can our Lord be without miracles? If ordinary prophets were doing so many things, how can our Lord be without miracles?” So they have invented even better miracles, greater miracles than those of all the prophets.

But my feeling is that Jesus was a man of Tao. He was really a man who can be called religious.

I have heard a beautiful story. It is not recorded anywhere. It must have gone from one master to another, just by word of mouth: that Moses, Abraham, Ezekiel, three ancient prophets, were sitting under a tree in heaven talking about great things, talking about the Old Testament. Then suddenly Abraham said, “We know everything about the Old Testament. Had Jesus been here he would have told us something about the New Testament.”

Moses laughed and he called a boy who was sitting just by the side of the tree and said, “Jesus, please go and bring three cups of coffee for us.”

Abraham was shocked. This is Jesus? And Jesus went to bring three cups of coffee for the old prophets.