Chapter 16 — The Miracle of the Donkey Ears and the Living Donkey

DTT.01_016,01 Barnabe asked the leading Pharisees for permission to speak to Me, saying that a good idea had occurred to him. They granted it, and he began:

DTT.01_016,02 “Listen, my dear little Lord-God Messiah from Nazareth in Galilee, which of course is not saying much! You have given us a few little proofs, and even with our ears stopped and our eyes blindfolded we are beginning to hear and see that you may be the promised Messiah after all. But now that we see this, we stand like oxen yoked at the foot of a hill. What shall we do? What are we supposed to do?

DTT.01_016,03 “The day is drawing to a close, and tomorrow is the last day for which you have paid for the right to speak, Messiah though you are. Now that we have recognised you, I think it is time for you to say what is to happen to us and the Temple. Is everything to remain as it is, or is everything to be made new? You are the promised Messiah who came whispering in among us. We can no longer deny it, but what now? Speak and act, you young divine and human Messiah, from above, of course!”

DTT.01_016,04 I said, “For a joke as poor as that, you really need not have opened your mouth so wide and shown how badly you wish to achieve something for which you have neither the material nor the spiritual means. Do you understand, you bearer of Balaam? But since you have asked Me what is to happen to you and the Temple from now on, I shall give you a proper answer.

DTT.01_016,05 “See, it is written, ‘When the Messiah comes, He will not abolish the law, not even its smallest stroke, but will Himself fulfil it most exactly.’ He will abolish neither the Temple nor its servants, but will discipline its lawless perversity. As for Levites who parade their supposed wisdom, He will mark them in grateful recognition of their ill-judged jokes.

DTT.01_016,06 “Do you think it folly for Me to discuss the passages of Scripture that concern Me and that undeniably refer to Me? Or prove to Me that I am not precisely the One of whom all the prophets prophesied! If you truly cannot do so, why do you presume to mock Me? Just wait. I shall now put a question to you, and you shall answer it. If you do not answer it to My satisfaction, I shall make you a true Midas of the Gentiles!

DTT.01_016,07 “Tell Me, you shallowest of wits, what does the name ‘Jerusalem’ mean? What is contained in it? As a Levite and a prospective Varisar, or Pharisee, you must know it from the books of Moses and from the book of Enoch, which Noah brought through the Flood under the title ‘The Wars of Jehovah’. I have every right to demand an explanation, for much depends on understanding the name correctly. Speak now!”

DTT.01_016,08 The young Levite had not the faintest notion of the ancient Hebrew tongue. He asked for a little time and patience, and I granted it. He slipped over to an old scribe to see whether he knew. The scribe did not know either and referred him to Joram the Kabbalist, who shrugged doubtfully and after a while said to him quietly:

DTT.01_016,09 “Well, there is a kind of explanation of the name’s origin in the very old books, and the Kabbalah also makes some mention of it by way of explanation. But the propositions are so mystical that Solomon’s Song of Songs is child’s play by comparison! I have understood neither, so I cannot possibly help you out of your difficulty.

DTT.01_016,10 “I must also say that you ought to have spoken much more gently to the boy, both because of his exceptionally sharp mind and because of the standing of his eminent Roman protector. You yourself, after all, gave us a more credible account of his remarkable nature.

DTT.01_016,11 “Did you not notice earlier how he knew word for word everything we discussed about him in the strictest secrecy that night? I said nothing, but to me it was a mighty sign that a spirit is present in this boy for whom it seems no great thing to search people’s hearts and innermost thoughts.

DTT.01_016,12 “I advise you to ask the extraordinary boy’s forgiveness for plainly insulting him. Otherwise I truly cannot answer for whether he will play some troublesome trick on you. Go and take my advice!”

DTT.01_016,13 Barnabe said, “Well, he certainly has the right to speak, and he takes no joke either, so I suppose I must ask his forgiveness. But it really is strange that none of us Temple officials can explain the parts of the city’s name!”

DTT.01_016,14 Barnabe returned to Me and said with a friendly expression, “Dear, lovely boy, I see the gross wrong I did you with my wretched and ill-timed joke. I ask your forgiveness with all my heart. I also beg you to explain the name ‘Jerusalem’ to us, for none of us can make anything of it. It is translated as ‘Holy City’ or ‘City of God’, but scarcely any of us knows how that meaning is contained in the word ‘Jerusalem’.

DTT.01_016,15 “It is said that there was once a place here called ‘Salem’, where the great and mighty king lived, to whom all the rulers of the earth at that time had to give a tenth. For King Melchizedek was also the one true high priest of Jehovah for all people on earth. Otherwise we know little or nothing of this high priest, his teachings and deeds or his person. If, as I am sure, you know more than all of us, please tell us!”

DTT.01_016,16 I said, “It is fortunate for you that you came to Me in this way. Otherwise you would have been marked in a way you would not have liked! The marks that would have adorned your head now lie at your feet. Pick them up and learn that I discipline the wanton love of mockery in anyone. Where what matters is the gravest concern of every life on earth for all eternity, there is no place for a wretched and worthless joke! First look at the joke I would have played on you for your poor jest. Then I shall grant your second request!”

DTT.01_016,17 Barnabe bent down and picked up two fully formed, completely natural donkey’s ears that lay at his feet. He was all the more appalled because they bore no sign of having been cut from a real donkey for the purpose.

DTT.01_016,18 Some of those present, especially our Simon and the Roman judge, burst out laughing. But all the Temple officials felt very uneasy and began asking one another how such a thing could happen naturally. They put forward one idea after another, but could not arrive at an explanation that was in the least plausible.

DTT.01_016,19 Barnabe said, “What good is all our guessing? This is a sheer miracle. If the boy had procured the ears beforehand, he would have had to know in advance that I was going to make a poor joke at his expense. And that would be an even greater miracle!

DTT.01_016,20 “He has already given us a remarkable demonstration of that ability. He recounted our secret nocturnal discussions to me word for word and was about to speak the high priest’s most secret thoughts openly and aloud. Anyone who can do one thing may be able to do another in the same way, incomprehensible though it is to us.

DTT.01_016,21 “There is surely something extraordinary behind this boy. For my part I think he may yet become a wholly perfect Messiah!”

DTT.01_016,22 The chief priest said, “You speak just as a blind man would of the splendour of colours! How often have Persian magicians surprised us with their tricks? And guessing thoughts is nothing new to us. Who does not know the Greek oracles? They were so practised at guessing thoughts that eventually almost no one dared go near them.

DTT.01_016,23 “My dear fellow, on a matter of such importance one must look with quite different eyes and judge what one sees much more deeply. Only after examining everything most closely may one cautiously begin to take a more favourable view. There can be no question of full belief until all the circumstances and signs are established so firmly that they leave nothing to be desired.

DTT.01_016,24 “Take that as a lesson, my dear Barnabe. For all your admirable knowledge, your old fault is that you believe too readily!”

DTT.01_016,25 Barnabe said, “No, I never have! If I were credulous, I should never have acquired the varied and thorough knowledge that credulity can never bring. I know how to examine a thing or an appearance, and I can certainly tell Alpha from Omega. But here my understanding has failed me, and all my varied experience has fallen into the Jordan!

DTT.01_016,26 “I know the arts of the Persian magicians and many others besides. But none can call a pair of wholly intact donkey’s ears into being out of thin air. I know the carefully calculated pronouncements and feats of thought-reading of both the oldest oracle at Dodona and the one at Delphi. Yet I have never encountered anything to compare with this boy repeating to me, and to Joram too, word for word what we discussed in the strictest secrecy.

DTT.01_016,27 “So I stand by what I said and repeat it quite openly. There is more behind this boy than all of us will ever be able to grasp. I would not say that his extraordinary qualities make him certainly the Messiah we await. But plainly he is more likely to be the one than anyone else gathered here.

DTT.01_016,28 “Now, my dear young countryman, before evening comes I should like to hear your promised explanation of ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Melchizedek’!”

DTT.01_016,29 I said, “You shall have it, for you have spoken so well for Me. But first take the two donkey’s ears by their very tips and hold them up a little between your fingers. We shall see whether the Persian magicians can do this too!”

DTT.01_016,30 Barnabe did so, and I said, “Let these ears be joined by a living and perfectly healthy donkey’s body!”

DTT.01_016,31 At once a well-formed donkey stood in the midst of the company.

DTT.01_016,32 They were all so alarmed at My power to work wonders that they made as if to flee.

DTT.01_016,33 But the Roman judge and Simon would not allow it. They said, “We must keep to the appointed time. The wonder-working boy has still to explain the two words!”

DTT.01_016,34 The Temple officials sat down again and stared in bewilderment at the newly created donkey. Not one of them could utter a syllable or imagine how it could have been done.