The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 154 -
Stahar converts his colleagues.
Stahar's colleagues however are for the most part spread along the shore, but several were going around in the courtyard. But Stahar called them all to the shore and said to them when they were all together, "Friends! Have you heard that youth speaking and seen him acting?"
2
The colleagues say, "Some things, but not everything; for it seemed to us to be too well arranged by the governor, in order to pull us into his web, and we thought: The further away, the better! We have anyway lost everything that we had - we are beggars! The city is still burning! What should we do? The Romans know who we are to the people; without our favor, which is hard to achieve, their rule in Africa will cost them dearly! Oh, a Roman such as Cyrenius, who has at his disposal the richest means of all the three continents, can do everything!
3
Just give me a lot of gold and silver and I will also become a miracle-worker, perhaps not in the way of that young conjuror - but I will perform miracles of the most amazing type!"
4
Stahar says, "Friend, you are crazy if you speak like that and don't even know how to tell the difference between a genuine and a false miracle! I have already offered every objection and contradiction that comes with good reason, but I failed shamefully with all my contradictions when the boy began to read my most secret thoughts! Only then I recognized my old, great mistake and now I come to you to tell you what I have seen and heard!
5
The boy is unmistakably an angel of God, and he bore witness that the promised Messiah is already in the world and makes the blind see and the deaf hear and understand, and that it is even possible that we will get to see and speak to Him here.
6
I now believe everything, and all of you will also believe it! For I am certainly not one to accept and believe everything; I have to be thoroughly convinced of something in detail before I accept it; but once I have the conviction, then it remains as solid as granite, and no-one can take it away from me again!
7
But since things are so, you can believe me without any further consideration! For all of you together are not capable of bringing any greater doubts to this issue than I did; but all my objections were belied! And since I finally began to accept the case of the Messiah as well as I accept that 1 and 1 are 2, then you can also fully believe me now!"
8
The colleagues say, "Everything is correct; but there is now only the matter of what we should believe from you!"
9
Stahar says, "Are you deaf then?! Didn't I tell you that that youth is an angel of God in all truth, that the Messiah is in the world, and that we will soon see Him and speak to Him?! That and nothing else is what you have to believe!"
10
The colleagues say, "Very good! If you believe it and are even mathematically convinced of this, then we cannot doubt it; but with such new, previously unheard-of events one must always consider that often the bet swimmers drown first, the most daring climbers fall from the mountain and the so-called firm believers in the end begin to have all sorts of doubts before someone who did not understand something incomprehensible very quickly and therefore placed no great faith in it!
11
You have never believed things lightly, as we know, and as such we accept your word as true; but some reserved care never hurts! For we know from the Scriptures how some miracle-working prophets became quite simple, weak people towards the end of their lives! The consequence only shows what sort of spirit the prophet had. That should also be taken into consideration here."
12
Stahar says, "I take responsibility for all that. Truly I know that we are not allowed to approach the temple with this, but we will know how to protect ourselves! On the outside we remain - only a little more reasonably, however - what we were, and pay the determined tribute; but in our insides things must become quite powerfully different, and in time we want to introduce the people into something better as well.
13
If you now share my opinion and my belief, let us now go over to where the governor and the boy are; there we shall be given more light!"
14
The colleagues agree and go over to Cyrenius, and when they arrive, Stahar says, "Here we are now, and stand one and all at your disposal; whatever you want, we will do and be, and no-one will ever go against you! But may the dear, all-powerful messenger of God strengthen these, my brothers, in their belief in everything that I myself found difficult to believe!"
15
Cyrenius says, "Look now, we Romans are not as strict judges as you have long thought; but we want strict justice and full truth! Whoever is satisfied with that is our friend, receives the right to Roman citizenship, and no court except the court of Rome can ever pass judgment on him.
16
The first thing that I will do for your well-being is that I will give each of you a Roman letter of citizenship! You are fifty in number along with your leader; you shall immediately be served with these! Once you have it, then we will see everything that can be done for you!"
17
At this Cyrenius ordered his servants to bring fifty rolls of parchment. The servants went to Cyrenius? bags and quickly brought the demanded rolls. Once these were on the table, Stahar asked Cyrenius, "High lord, we will surely have to give you all our names?"
18
Cyrenius says, pointing at the angel, "Look, he is my swift scribe, he has already known for some time what he has to do and he also knows your names; he will complete the letters in your presence!" At this Cyrenius requests Raphael to do this.
19
Here Raphael quickly stepped up to the table on which the fifty rolls were lying, spread them as well as was possible on the table, then took a pen which was filled with black ink, moved across the rolls with lightning quickness and then said to Cyrenius, "Here, friend, are the demanded letters in Roman, Greek and Jewish language; now pass them out among those concerned!"
20
When Cyrenius now began to distribute the letters, horror seized all the fifty. For this miracle was too great and powerful for the fifty, and, trembling, they all began to see that they were in the presence of God. They thanked Cyrenius for such double mercy; but no-one dared to speak or to ask anything.