The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 21 -
Joseph Tells How God Respects Free Will
JOSEPH WAS also quite taken aback at this utterance of Cornelius and admitted to him, 'How great this wonder is, I do not know myself,
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but you can believe me that great and mighty things are behind it, for on behalf of small matters all the powers of the eternal heavens of God would not thus assert themselves!
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But for all that no man is hindered in his free will and can do as he pleases. That I can see from the command which the two angels of the Lord gave you.
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See, the Lord could bind our free will in this instance, as He binds the will of the animals, and we would have to act according to His will!
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But that He does not do, and instead He gives only a free commandment, from which we can learn His holy will.
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Therefore you are not in the least bound in any fiber of your being and can do as you please! If you want to be my guest today, then stay, but if you would rather not or do not dare to do so, then you have your altogether free will there also.
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But if I were to advise you, I would say: Oh friend, stay, for you surely could not be in better hands anywhere in the whole world than here under the visible protection of all the powers of heaven.'
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Cornelius answered, 'Yes, you just man before the gods and before your God and before all men, your advice is good, and I shall heed it and will remain with you until tomorrow.
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I shall be gone with my landlady for only a short time, so I can make arrangements that all of you - although here in this cave - shall have better lodging.'
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Here Joseph said, 'Good man, do as you please. The Lord God will someday reward you!'
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Hereupon the captain went into the town with the midwife and first had it announced in all the lanes that this day was a holiday from official duties, then took thirty warriors, gave them bedding, tents and firewood and told them to carry all this out to the cave.
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The midwife took food and drink with her in sufficient quantity and had still more brought after her.
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Once back in the cave, the captain promptly had three tents set up: a soft-textured one for Mary, one for himself, Joseph and his sons and one for the midwife and her sister.
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In Mary's tent he had a fresh and very soft bed set up and also provided the tent with other necessary accommodations. Thus he also provided for the needs of the other tents, then had his soldiers build a cooking hearth in all haste, placed wood on it himself and made a fire to warm the cave, in which it normally was quite cold at this time of the year.