Chapter 6 — The High Priest’s Scornful Speech about the Carpenter’s Son

DTT.01_006,01 A young Pharisee, who was in fact still a Levite, stepped forward and asked permission to say a few words. The judge gave him leave, asking him to speak calmly and sensibly.

DTT.01_006,02 The Levite then took the floor and said, “I come from Galilee, from near Nazareth, and I remember hearing a good many things about that wonder-working boy whom this boy has just told us about. What he has told us is certainly worth our attention. I cannot claim to have met the boy myself, but I have often heard stories about him, and there have been many of them.

DTT.01_006,03 “I made what enquiries I could about his parents. I heard that his father was a carpenter named Joseph, that his second wife was called Mary and that both were descended directly from David through the line of firstborn children. That, then, would agree with what the prophets said.

DTT.01_006,04 “I therefore think it would be worth investigating this matter more closely, since it concerns us Jews in particular. I have no authority to order anything. I can only offer my opinion in all humility, because I see it as my duty. Whatever is done next is a matter for the high council of the Temple alone. I have spoken in all humility.”

DTT.01_006,05 A high priest rose and said, “What weight should the Temple give to the testimony of a deranged boy? The Temple must be given stronger evidence than this! Such talk has often been heard among the Jewish people. Even manifest miracles have occurred, and yet afterwards there was no trace of a Messiah to be found.

DTT.01_006,06 “How long is it since Zacharias presided over the Temple as high priest? His wife Elizabeth, though already advanced in years, bore him a son. An angel announced it to him as he was offering sacrifice in the Temple. Zacharias could not believe the announcement, because his wife was too old. For this he was struck dumb until she gave birth. When news reached him in the Temple one day that his wife had borne him a son and he was asked what the son should be called, his tongue was loosed and he said, ‘John!’ And that was the very name the angel of the Lord had given him ten moons earlier.

DTT.01_006,07 “Zacharias asked the angel, ‘What is to become of the boy? Let me know the Lord’s will!’

DTT.01_006,08 “The angel said, ‘This is the one of whom Isaiah spoke in these words: “He will be the voice of a preacher in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord and make His paths straight! Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and what is crooked shall be made straight. What is uneven shall become a smooth road, and all flesh shall see the Saviour sent by God.”’

DTT.01_006,09 “The matter was investigated more closely at the time. It was soon found that the domineering Zacharias had merely meant to found a hereditary spiritual dynasty with the secret help of the Essenes. The arm of justice therefore seized him, and he was put to death for such an outrage.

DTT.01_006,10 “What has become of that great hope of the Messiah? No one thinks of it any more! Before the Temple, sanctified by Jehovah for all time, it all vanished into nothing, like a faint mist rising from a puddle before the power of the sun. And yet the story came from the high priest himself. Since it was dishonest and threatened to defile God’s sanctuary, the Lord did not delay in punishing the offence at the proper time.

DTT.01_006,11 “If even that seemingly momentous story came to such an end, how will the carpenter Joseph’s story about the Messiah fare before the Temple? There is nothing behind it but trickery by Essenes and Indian magicians. Let the boy perform his miracles before our all-seeing eyes. We shall know how to explain them to the foolish people and expose their supposed Messiah.

DTT.01_006,12 “When the Messiah comes, great signs will first appear in the heavens before the eyes of all the world. Only then will the long-awaited One come, armed with all the power of heaven, to deliver His people from the power of the Gentiles. From then on He will be Lord and King over all the lands of the earth, and the children of Abraham will be His people and remain so for ever.

DTT.01_006,13 “Anyone who knows these things, as we do, from the books of the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah’s coming cannot possibly believe that God, who on every previous occasion manifested His coming most magnificently before the eyes of humankind and all creation, would now come into this world so inconspicuously, even as a child born out of wedlock, a weak human being subject to death just as we are.

DTT.01_006,14 “For we know that Mary, Joachim’s daughter, became pregnant before she was married to Joseph in the Temple. The young woman had originally been placed in the care of the well-known master builder of the house of David. It was only to spare him ruin that he was kindly advised to take her as his wife before word reached the people and so cover up the disgrace.

DTT.01_006,15 “Nevertheless, the boy was born out of wedlock and remains so. That makes it all the less possible that he could ever be the promised Messiah, even if the magic arts he has learnt enabled him to move every mountain.

DTT.01_006,16 “From all this, I trust, even the dullest person can see what is possible and what, by the very nature of the case, is and must be utterly impossible!”