Chapter 7 — The Boy Jesus Answers the High Priest

DTT.01_007,01 The judge said to Me, “Well, dear boy, what do you say to this admittedly very forceful speech of the high priest?”

DTT.01_007,02 I said, “What else can I say? Either the high priest is right and the prophet is a liar and therefore wrong, or the high priest is wrong and the prophet is right after all. Both cannot possibly be right, since the high priest asserts precisely the opposite of what the prophet foretold about the coming of the Messiah.

DTT.01_007,03 “The prophet says, ‘Behold, a virgin, not a wife, is with child and will bear a son. She will call him Immanuel, that is, God with us.’ How, then, can the high priest claim that the Messiah will come down to the people of this earth straight from heaven, accompanied by the grandest signs in the heavens and in all the pomp of heavenly glory, as an all-powerful warrior and the already established king of all the peoples of the earth? If that were so, what would the poor and weak gain from it? More than half of them would perish from sheer terror at what they saw coming.

DTT.01_007,04 “I would almost say that such an arrival of the Messiah would be most inconvenient even for the rulers of the Temple. In the end they too would prefer Him to come in the modest and wholly unassuming way the prophet Isaiah described.

DTT.01_007,05 “The high priest said a moment ago that the somewhat wondrous story of the son of Zacharias is over and no one thinks of it any more. Zacharias, as you know, was strangled by the priests between the great altar of sacrifice and the Holy of Holies.

DTT.01_007,06 “But I tell you the story is far from over, whatever these gentlemen may think. The time will come very soon when that same John will strike among them like a mighty bolt of lightning and hold a great judgement among them. His words will cut you more sharply than the sharpest arrows.

DTT.01_007,07 “And as with this John, but as a still more severe judgement, that wonder-working boy from Nazareth will come upon you and show you His full divine glory. It will be for your downfall, however, rather than for your rising again.”

DTT.01_007,08 The high priest glared angrily and said, “How do you know that, you deranged boy? Who has put such confusion into your head, and who are you to dare say such things to us so boldly?”

DTT.01_007,09 “I am who I am, and you have written down where I came from. Why do you keep asking who I am and where I come from? Besides, I have already told you that I came from Galilee, from Nazareth itself, and therefore know the boy in question extremely well. I am quite capable of distinguishing the deeds of a magician, even one from India, from those of the wonder-working boy.

DTT.01_007,10 “Let one of you make Me twelve sparrows out of clay and bring them to life by the word alone, so that they fly away, start looking for food like other sparrows and go on living.

DTT.01_007,11 “Which of you could instantly bring a boy back to life by the word alone after he had fallen to his death and been completely shattered, and restore his body to perfect health?

DTT.01_007,12 “Which of you can command lightning to strike just where you tell it and kill a hyena that has snatched a mother’s only child and is running towards the forest with it?

DTT.01_007,13 “Which of you can summon a storm, as that boy did, on a perfectly still night? Several towns and villages were then in great danger from a large band of murderous robbers. About two hundred of them, armed to the teeth, were approaching Capernaum at night in a large ship.

DTT.01_007,14 “The boy in question happened to be in Capernaum with his father at the time and saved the whole place. At his word one of the most terrible storms suddenly rose on the lake and drove the ship away from shore into open water as fast as an arrow. There the waves broke it to pieces, and it went down with all two hundred robbers.

DTT.01_007,15 “That boy has done this and many deeds like it, always for the good of people in distress. No one has ever known him to ask anyone for payment in return. To establish the full truth of what I am telling you and see that I have invented none of it, call all Nazareth and Capernaum to bear witness.

DTT.01_007,16 “If this is so, is that boy merely a trained magician, or does He do it all through the divine power that dwells in Him in all its fullness? Tell Me now how and by what means, according to your knowledge and wisdom, the boy accomplishes these things.

DTT.01_007,17 “You gave Me a poor answer to My opening question. We shall now see how you answer this main question, and then we shall return to the opening question and make it a main question in its own right. But speak promptly, for the day is drawing to a close and we shall soon be looking for supper!”