The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
At the Sea of Galilee (John 6)
- Chapter 171 -
The Pharisees and Nicodemus
When the servants were gone, the pharisees turned to the senior Nicodemus - who was a great wise and was moved by My teaching when he came at night to Me the first time when I openly travelled through Jerusalem with My twelve disciples - and asked him what should be done.
2
And Nicodemus said to them: "You were quite annoyed about the perky contradiction of our servants; but I myself must openly confess here, that they were quite right. Since investigate yourself whether it is written in any law, that one should judge a person before he was interrogated from which it was recognized what punishable deed he has committed! I as a scribe does not know such a law; according to which law do you want to judge a person before you have interrogated him?"
3
Said the pharisees: "You are one of the best scribes what nobody can deny you, and therefore you are a senior among the scribes; but you are nevertheless a Galilean and therefore also a friend of this Galilean! However, go and study the scriptures, where it is written: 'No prophet will rise from Galilee!'
4
Said Nicodemus with a smile: "This is true indeed, and you do not need to refer the scriptures to me, since I truly know them better from alpha to omega than all of you together; but I refer you to something else, namely the circumcision protocol of the year of the first population census of the emperor Augustus, and there you will find that this current Galilean is not born in Galilee but in the city of David, Bethlehem, and that both his parents are direct descendants of David!
5
Therefore your quoted remark of the scriptures cannot be applied to this Galilean even in the remotest sense, and this even less so since it says explicitly in the law: Every Jew has his lifelong native country there where he was borne and circumcised, and the society must provide for him if he gets weak and unfit for work. A heathen however, receives his native country there, where he was circumcised and registered as a Jew, and must be regarded and accepted as a member of such society.
6
See, friend, if we cannot repeal this law and it otherwise is undeniably confirmed by the Augustian circumcision- and registration protocol, that this peoples teacher is no born Galilean, the people have in truth no reason, not to regard this person as a true prophet!"
7
Said the pharisees: "We should however possess that much worldly cleverness, to get rid of the protocols!"
8
Said Nicodemus: "O yes, those which are in our archives, - however not those which are in the archives of the Romans! And they revise annually, by critical comparison, the protocols of the temple! Woe us if there is anything missing or found as changed! I truly do not want be stuck in one of our skins!"
9
Said the pharisees: "Hm, hm, this is of course nasty!"
10
Thereupon they did not know what to say and very quietly left the temple and the feast, and each of them went home quite calmly.
11
While this scene between the servants, pharisees and Nicodemus took place in front of the temple, which was given here faithfully and in all detail without omission of what has happened and what was said, I taught the people without any interruptions and also showed them clearly the empty and totally unlawful doubletalk and deceptions of the clerics. And there was not one who tried to counter state that I have spoken anything untrue about the clerics, and the people asked Me to come again the following day, the after festive day, to the temple and to refresh them with the most enliven words of the most tangible truth.
12
And many said: "Master, we thank you for this divine drink; since we are for a long time already thirsty for such truth, and you now have satisfied our great thirst in such a way, that in eternity we will not get thirsty again, like we were thirsty at this very hour! You are truly a descendant from David and are the promised anointed of God!"
13
I however, look at them most friendly and promised them to come to the temple the next day and to give them an even bigger light, for which the people called: "O come, come and illuminate for us the night of the temple!"
14
Thereupon I left with Lazarus and all the disciples the temple.