The Great Gospel of John
Volume 2
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
First journey of the Lord: Kis - landing place at Sibarah - Nazareth
- Chapter 87 -
Chiwar and Korah discussing Sarah's awakening from death.
As all were enjoying their lunch amid diverse spiritual discussions, Borus enters the dining room greeting all and introducing his wife Sarah with the request that they would register his rightful wife, since he belonged to the Jewish faith.
2
And Chiwar at once fetches the large marriage register, entering both as spouses rightful before God and all the world.
3
But the Chief asks Chiwar whether this can be done here, since Borus is known to be a Greek.
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Says Chiwar: "Friend with us here everything is possible and it would be foolish to refuse joining a couple which God had joined long since!"
5
Says the Chief: "How do you actually know this?"
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Says Chiwar: "Just as I know quite a few other things which you won't know for a long while yet, just so do I know this, even if you don't know it yet! Therefore be at ease, for here things are done differently from the Temple!"
7
The Chief smiles satisfactorily.
8
Borus pulls out a heavy pouch of gold from his bag, paying the required fee, which of course was far lower than what he put in the pouch, taking his leave therewith.
9
As Borus leaves the dining room, the Chief lifts the pouch, saying: "There are over five pounds of gold in the neatest Augustan coinage, as well as a few Tiberiases among them! Is this the practice here? In the Temple one pound of gold would already be an honorarium!"
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Says Chiwar: "Such gifts are not rare here; but Borus, after Jesus probably the most prominent physician in the world is too much a man of honour and wealth besides for him to ever show himself lousy!"
11
Asks the Chief again: "Who was this exceedingly beautiful and personable little woman?"
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Says Chiwar: "It is the Chief Jairus" daughter, of whom I already told you that she was twice in succession awoken from the dead by the miraculous healer Jesus."
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Says the Chief: "Maybe she was only in an acute swoon, which is not unusual for such delicately charming beings!"
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Says Chiwar: "Sure, sure, after one has festered in the grave for over four days, making any ever so imperceptive nose only too acutely aware of a fetid corpse - as we all perceived, notwithstanding every ointment, when escorting her to the tomb, singing hymns of mourning - with such there is no further trace of swoon! But to Jesus, the good Saviour, it was most miraculously possible, that which can be possible only to God, to nonetheless call her back to beautiful life with just one word and no other means, instantly; and she is now more vivacious and healthy than in her entire life previously, for she still is very young and hardly sixteen!"
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Asks the Chief: "How long is it since she was awakened from the dead?"
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Says Chiwar: "Six to seven days at the most! I would not be able to say exactly, but this much is certain, that she was awakened from death to life at the beginning of last week."
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Says the Chief, completely beside himself with astonishment: "This really is something that has not been experienced on earth before! The sheer cheerful freshness of this most lovable maiden, yet in the grave as a corpse for four days already!? Verily, this is unheard of, provided you are telling me the full truth, what I no longer intend to question for this place seems to be put together from nothing but miracles!"
18
Says Chiwar: "Indeed, that is so! More particularly, the said Saviour Jesus attracts all attention to Himself. His deeds surpass to an indescribable degree everything ever written about the forefathers by Moses and all that we know about the great prophets. For nothing like this has ever been before. You shall not find a sickness that He does not heal instantly through the mere word, without seeing or touching the sick - whatever else He wants happens instantly!
19
Jairus" resignation for instance four days ago and its simultaneous notification at the Temple in the same moment to the High Priest at Jerusalem surely is more than just a wonder. In a natural way this notification would have hardly been handed to the High Priest today. As things are, you were able to arrive in Capernaum already two days ago, and then here from over the latter in the early hours of this morning - yet nothing by way of protocol was overlooked. In this most marvellous manner you have now become High Priest in fact, over all of Galilee, and Jairus" resignation with all its addendum and explanations is in the Temple's High Priest's hands, and this all took just one and the same moment. Reliable witnesses also told us that this self-same Jesus a few weeks ago threatened a raging storm, and sea and wind instantly obeyed the Saviour's words. I could tell you many more anecdotes like that, but this is not the right occasion for it. One could thus surmise that this person is in Satan's pay if his words, doctrines and amicable admonitions did not teach us otherwise!
20
I say unto you frankly and of a truth: incomprehensibly marvellous are His deeds which become non-essential compared to the power of His words and teaching. There you hear truths of which no prophet has dreamt yet. He presents human life in a way after which no man can wonder in the least about whether his soul is mortal or immortal. Immortality is presented in such a lucid way that you cannot for a moment doubt that after physical death the life of the soul everlastingly continues on account of the divine spirit indwelling it.
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In short, this Jesus is a person of capabilities so extraordinary that one has to say in the best of conscience: such a human the earth has not had as an inhabitant since Adam! All the elements obey Him, myriads of spirits are constantly ready to serve Him, and I also found out from several of his disciples that on this journey from Sychar to Cana, in broad daylight He instantly caused a total eclipse of the sun, then a few moments later made it shine as before!
22
Roban and several hundred other witnesses told us upon probing them that at Sychar, He restored two ruined old castles; the old house of Joseph and Benjamin, and the old castle of Esau, belonging to the wealthy merchant Jairuth in such a fashion that all the resident builders testified openly that to restore such castles in all diligence in the normal way would have taken them at least a full ten years. But on top of that, the spacious building of a most solid material did not just stand there suddenly completed but filled out with all amenities, and that with such practicality and exceeding beauty as one would no longer be able to meet with on this earth at the hands of builders.
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Besides that a certain Greek from Cana in Samaria by the name of Philopold told me some well-nigh unbelievable things which nevertheless I had to believe because he introduced me to a thousand witnesses.
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If by my own estimation a person is able to carry out such, then I take him for more than a human and more than the greatest prophet. He certainly said a few days ago - I think during some fishing at sea - which too can be classified as a fully miraculous one, that such could be accomplished by every man of firm and undoubting faith. But I would add that such faith would have to be as miraculous as the greatest miracle itself, for such faith would have to be the result of a conscious ability, which presupposes every imaginable success.
25
Whoever is familiar with his powers has to also trust them in carrying out something or any work at all, which much experience makes him aware as being sufficient. If man is called upon to have faith in success exceeding his conscious powers then such faith shall in my opinion immediately be accompanied by doubts, just as when seeing a weight to be lifted for whose mastery he is only too consciously deficient.
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If for instance I see a stone of several pounds in my way upon the road then I shall not doubt for a moment that I can get the stone out of my way; but if a rock of perhaps a hundred-thousand pounds weight lies upon the road, then undoubting faith shall show mighty little for itself. Regardless of how much I firm up my will, it shall probably be of no use, because I shall totally lack the subjective conviction to master a weight of one thousand pounds with a lifting capacity of two hundred pounds at the most.
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To this Jesus however, everything is possible as to a god! To His will a mountain is the same as a speck of dust! Earth, air, wind, water and fire obey Him as the lambs their shepherd, and lightning he guides a thousand times more accurately than the bowman his arrow. What does this amount to? As our Chief, I implore you for your opinion!"