The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 166 -
Why Jonathan Carried More Than The Whole World
JONATHAN GAVE the three containers of fish over to Joseph, with which he made him very happy, for Joseph was very fond of fish.
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He then inquired of Joseph: 'My very dear childhood friend, do tell me what sort of a Child you have.
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Surely, He is at the most two to three years old, but He speaks as sensibly as if He were a grown man!
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And see here, I, who after all am able to carry two oxen under my arms like you can carry two lambs, wanted to keep James and the little Child with me for the whole day and wanted to bring them home to you in the evening by wading through the inlet with them.
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'When I made this wish known to James, the little Child spoke to me and said to my not small surprise:
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Jonathan, your intention is good; but what if we get too heavy for you? -
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That I in the knowledge of my strength had to smile at this question of childish concern is obvious!
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But the little Child said thereto, that remained to be seen. I should attempt to carry Him alone across and back through the inlet to convince myself if He might not become too heavy for me!
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'With the permission of James I took the little Child on my arm and carried Him through the water.
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The way across was still bearable - but on the way back I had to take a pole on which I supported myself, and only with the greatest difficulty in the world did I get to the opposite shore.
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'For truly, dear friend, you can believe me, the Child was so terribly heavy that I actually believed the weight of a world lay on my arms!
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When I reached the shore and had quickly given the little Child over to James and was recovering a bit,
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I then asked James how it was that this Child weighed more than a world.
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Here the Child again said unasked,
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that I now had carried more than if I had carried a whole world! -
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Friend, your James has been a witness to all that. Now I am asking you about it and declare:
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What in Jehovah's name kind of a Child do you have? Truly, that belongs to the supernatural!'
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Here Joseph cautioned Jonathan, 'If you could be as silent as a stone wall - contrariwise your life would be in great danger! - I would indeed tell you something, my old, most upright friend.'
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And Jonathan took an oath and exclaimed, 'By God and all the heavens, I would rather die in the fire a thousand times than to ever betray you with a syllable!'
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At this Joseph took him along on his favorite hill and told him the whole truth in the matter concerning the little Child, of which Jonathan did not know a syllable up to then.
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And Jonathan, as soon as he had heard this presented in a brief manner, fell down on his knees and from the hill worshiped the little Child who just then was romping about in the center of the other eight children,
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and declared at the end of his long prayer: 'Oh blissful joy of joys! My God, my Maker has visited me! I have carried Him who carries all the world and all the heavens, upon my arms! Oh endless grace of graces! Oh earth, are you then worthy of such grace? Yes, now I understand the words of the Child of God: You have carried more than a world!' - Thereupon Jonathan fell silent and for an hour long could not bring forth a word from his mouth in his great happiness.