For many years I have been haunted by this paragraph from the novel The Samurai by the Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo.
The samurai and his retainer have finally returned to their cold village in the swamps of rural Japan – their mission a devastating failure. The samurai reflects:
I’ve always believed that I became a Christian as a mere formality. That feeling hasn’t changed at all. But… sometimes I find myself thinking about that man. I suppose that somewhere in the hearts of men, there’s a yearning for someone who will never betray you, never leave you – even if that someone is just a sick, mangy dog. That man became just such a miserable dog for the sake of mankind… Yes. That man became a dog who remains beside us. That when he was on the earth, he said to his disciples that he came into the world to minister unto men. (245)
