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The story of St John the Baptist in The Gospel According to St Matthew incorporates all
of the elements of the conflicting senses of dharma. John the Baptist had been preaching to
and baptising all the people of Jerusalem and Jordan, and was surprised finally to see Pharisees
and Sadducees coming to confess their sins and be baptised. He said to these men, who
represented the ancient canon which he considered inadequate for the new kingdom which he
heralded, ‘O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring
forth therefore fruits meet for repentance’. John warns them not to claim the authority of their
heritage, saying ‘And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I
say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.’ He reiterates
the closure of the ancient authority in favour of a new righteousness: ‘And now also the axe is
laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down, and cast into the fire.’ Jesus then arrives to be baptised according to Old Testament
prophecy, but once this is fulfilled the birth of God on earth is proclaimed, and the new law of
virtue and righteousness commences.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and,
lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven,
saying, ‘This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.’ (St Mathew,
3:1-17)
The Gospels are bringing the new covenant of God to men, which fulfils but replaces the
old covenant, and the problem of the evolution of the human sense of virtue and righteousness
was so closely paralleled in the East. While most of Koch’s structures, symbols and metaphors
are of Eastern origin, some of the most important are Western, and it is the mutual heritage of
East and West which fascinates Koch and from which he draws his messages. The shared
clash of ancient and new attitudes of universal righteousness gives meaning to Billy Kwan’s
struggles and actions. When Jesus showed himself to the Apostles after the Resurrection, he
confronted Peter three times with the question if he loved him more than the others or not,
reflecting Peter’s three denials of Jesus after his arrest. Each time Peter answers, ‘Yea, Lord;
thou knowest that I love thee’, and Jesus replies, ‘Feed my lambs’ and ‘Feed my sheep’. This
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