The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
New events in Kis
- Chapter 239 -
Continuation of the court scene. The eleven Temple scoundrels cornered. They plead for mercy. Offer of further cave treasures as ransom.
Thereupon Faustus turns to the eleven saying, 'Well now, where is the ruin with which you threatened me in such domineering fashion? What do you anointed servants of God say to this story? Verily, it must be heinously bitter for purported, would-be anointed servants of God to stand there as state villains. Nevertheless, just wait, as worse is yet to come over you; this was only an easy prelude!
2
Verily, you can be grateful to but one, for my not having you now stripped, pronouncing the Emperor's curse over you and then handing you over to the henchmen thirsting for justice. And this 'One' is at my side, the godly Jesus of Nazareth, Whom you have been cursing now for a long time, persecuting Him from place to place, and that for taking the supremely honest liberty of enlightening you in front of the poor people, deluded through you.
3
Turn within yourselves and say whether, next to your Satan, can there be anything more evil than yourselves?
4
You make the people believe in a God you yourselves never believed in. For, were you to believe in a God, in Jehovah, Whom also Moses clearly proclaimed, and in Whom your forefathers vividly believed and hoped, then you would not be playing a game of jeering mockery and brazen shame with Him.
5
As purported anointed servants of the Most High, you receive godly honor from your spiritually killed people, on top of that demanding exorbitant sacrifices, so as to then block with bolted steel doors their way to the portals of God's light and life-filled kingdom.
6
Ask yourselves whether there can be anywhere greater criminals against God, Emperor and poor mankind, than yourselves.
7
Oh for the incomprehensible patience and long-suffering of the great God. Had I but a spark of divine power over the elements, then heaven would not have enough of the fire that I would rain over you day and night.
8
Lord, why were You so hard on the ten cities of Sodom and Gomorra in Abraham's time, and yet their inhabitants, but for their lust of the flesh, evidently were angels compared to these goblins whose numbers throughout Judaism now are greater than those of the ten cities?
9
You call yourselves God's children, saying that God is your Father. Verily, I shall not eternally be able to make out a God Who sets down such children into the world; for with us Romans, such God, in accordance with the myth of Pluto, is named Satan or Beelzebub - that is your father!
10
You are the live, wicked seed that your father always casts among God's wheat, that it may suffocate the divine seed, yet you call yourselves the anointed servants of God? You servants, you are of Satan; he anointed you for the destruction of everything godly upon earth.
11
If you were only a trifle less devilish than you are, then on account of the one who is here, I would have pronounced the lightest possible sentence over you. But because you are too exceedingly and devilishly evil, I don't want to sully my name with you, handing you over to the Judicio criminis atri (trial of a black transgression) at Sidon. There every Judex Honoris (Judge of Honour) washes his hands seven times.'
12
Hearing such words from Faustus, they start getting apprehensive, begging for mercy, promising to completely change their ways to betterment, and wanting to make a hundredfold restitution of all the damage they ever inflicted on anyone.
13
Says Faustus, 'But wherewith? The rich cave is now in our hands. Wherefrom will you get more money and treasure? Do you have other caves bristling with gold, silver and pearls?'
14
Say the eleven, 'Lord, we have another, the other side of Chorazim, where old treasures rest, which were moved there from the Temple and other houses of God during the Babylonian captivity. Nobody knew about it down to our time. About seven years ago, we went hunting for woodland birds and forest bees and honey. There, some thirty fields away, quite close to the Greek regions in the vicinity of a rising mountain chain, we found a spot where honey and wax literally flowed from a steep and vertical wall about eight metres in height. At the top was an opening the height of a boy of twelve.
15
Another wall of about a hundred and forty meters in height rose above this entrance, so that without a ladder, the presumably honey and wax-rich opening, swarming with bees, would have been inaccessible. A ladder was soon put together and also straw and diverse grasses for bring out the bees, which operation soon had been successfully completed except for a few bee stings. We recovered several hundred pounds of the purest honey and a similar amount of wax, for quite a number of hives numbering some one thousand cells each were already empty.
16
Busying ourselves with the removal of the ground wax, we hit upon Temple tools of metal, and on closer examination the metal turned out to be gold and silver. We moved deeper into the widening cave and in its depths continued to find ever greater hoards of priceless treasures. We left all the treasures in the cave intact, and blocked the cave entrance off with stones and moss, putting it under the watch of sworn guards from the hour of discovery to the present moment. And behold, all these treasures we put in your charge if you deal with us mercifully, remitting us the terrible punishment you pronounced over us.'
17
Says Faustus, 'I intend to consult about it. But now tell me also conscientiously what there is to the cave in Kisjonah's mountains. Did you also discover this during another chase for honey, and already filled, or did you fill it. And if the latter, wherefrom did you obtain the treasures and how long has this cave been filled?'
18
Say the eleven, 'We earned same over a course of fifteen years through lawful trading. But because, owing to the recent Temple regulations, we are allowed to have only a certain minimum sum to cover our basic needs, and to hand every excess over to the Temple then if those of us placed in the country during annual checks are found to possess substantial excess, we are ruthlessly and mercilessly punished as deceivers of God. To escape the punishment and yet posses enough for certain eventualities, we have chosen the most concealed cave in Kisjonah's mountains and therein preserved our considerable excess. This is all there is to the secret attaching this cave.'
19
Says Faustus, 'Does the road you laid down lead right up to the cave?'
20
Say the eleven, 'No, your honour, only as far as the densest scrub, through which one can reach the cave, detectable only to us, by a path known only to ourselves.'
21
Says Faustus, 'Good, then you shall be our guides tomorrow. For today - tonight - this court now retires in this matter, because for the present we know enough.'
22
The eleven plead for mercy on their knees before Faustus. Faustus says, 'This is no longer up to myself, but Someone entirely different. If He forgives you, then so shall I, Amen!' With that we leave the court chamber and head for a desirable rest for the body.
23
Lydia awaits Myself and Faustus, now her husband, at the entrance to the dwelling, greeting us and voicing regrets that it probably caused us a couple of hours heated debate.
24
Faustus returns his young wife's greeting, saying to her, 'Yes, dear Lydia, this was indeed a heated contest, but one obtaining a desirable and most brilliant solution, owing to the purely godly help of this equally godly Friend Jesus, to Whom be all praise. But let us leave that for tomorrow; much shall yet be dealt with.'
25
All save the necessary guards now went to take their rest.