The Great Gospel of John
Volume 4
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi (cont.)
- Chapter 131 -
A Sadducee's criticism of Roman punishments.
1
(Mathael:) "We ourselves had an arch Sadducee with all his family as a neighbour, who was as a person quite civilized, good and tolerant, but with whom one never could speak a word about God and the immortality of the soul. He regarded everyone as highly limited minded who believed in such things and about me he said that I had the best talents to become a poet, since I had such a living imagination. In short, by times my father spend a lot of effort on him, but it was all in vain.
2
This time my father asked him if he did not want to come with us to Golgotha. And he said: 'Not for the whole world! I cannot look at an animal dying or even been slaughtered, not mentioning humans, despite they had committed even more atrocities than those seven. If tearing beasts come close to us, good, you hunt them down to put them out of action, and by doing so you have served humanity well! One should also do it with such people who are not good anymore for a peace loving human society! One should simply kill them, - but they should not be tortured; since they can't help it in the least that they have become tearing beasts! Nature, temperament, complexion and upbringing are always the causes for such degenerations.
3
But if one says that this is done as a deterrent example, I can only start laughing about it; since we peaceful and properly educated people do not need an deterrent example, and for those who are targeted will not be any fools, to come here, to quite comfortably look at the seven deterrent examples!
4
But most certainly will these examples have the praiseworthy effect, that the other criminals who are not yet caught - perhaps a thousand in number - will subsequently inflict a lot more cruelty to those falling into their hands than until now! Especially a Roman can be congratulated who easily can be lucky enough to become a victim of the still free criminals! Truly, for all the treasures of the world I do not want to be in his skin! This can be the only advantage of such too martial law!
5
Who cannot remember the times before the Romans?! The laws were always of a serious nature, - but at least reasonable, and one never heard something about great cruelties. But now the wise heathens have blessed us with the most sharpest political and martial laws, those high pompous improvers of worlds and conquerors of countries and cities, and despite the tenfold reenforced roman guards, on the roads of our promised land cruelties are committed, which a civilized person cannot be told anymore, without fainting ten times! Therefore just go alone and look at the seven examples of the true roman cruelty, which will soon have a seventy-fold response from the other side as a result!
6
People should stay people since everlasting nature has raised them as humans above itself! But if man with all his so high praising mind in the end becomes an even by far more gruesome animal than all the most tearing beasts of the woods, than man has lost it all, and it is high time that we go to the wild and tearing beasts in the woods, to learn from them natural humanity! Just go to Golgotha, to this most cursed place on earth, which is saturated with the blood of people like a butcher's booth with the blood of cattle, lambs and goats! What you will learn there, will truly not be of any good reputation!
7
You recognize a God and believe in the immortality of the soul and still can light heartedly look at, how spoilt and deeply lost people are tormented namelessly painfully for the whole day until their death by even greater brutes! Believe me, these seven would never become so evil without the Roman severity, as they of course were, shuddering to the skin! But who made them like that? Those, who torture them with pleasure for the whole day!
8
And you as holy and in God believing Jews can look at, how the most despicable torment and torture the despicable?! You are rather nice people and neighbours! Truly, in my donkey stable it looks by far more humane and civilized as in your God believing house! Understood?' - With that he left and we went our way."