Jairuth does wish Me to spend the whole day with him, but I show him that there are still several sick people in this area whom I wish to visit along the way. Jairuth then asks instead whether he may at least accompany Me back to the city, and I allow him to do so. He immediately sets out and also asks the two young men at the same time to accompany him.
But the young men say, ‘It is better for you that we remain here, for the guests in the garden hall have reported you to the Romans as a rebel! And without us things would go badly for your house. Do you understand this?’
Jairuth nearly loses his senses at such news and asks in the greatest agitation, ‘What satan of a man reported this to the Romans, and what can have moved him to do it?’
One young man says, ‘Look, in Sychar there are merchants who are not as fortunate as you. They cannot build themselves mansions, and still less buy a whole great tract of land, as you have bought yourself a substantial tract in Arabia by the Red Sea. Such merchants therefore envy your earthly good fortune and greatly long to ruin you. This time they would succeed too if we were not with you; but since we protect you in the Lord’s name, not a hair of your head will be harmed on this occasion. Only see that you remain away from home for at least three days.’
This reassures Jairuth, and he quickly sets out to continue with Me from the mansion.
As we are crossing the mansion’s courtyard, a troop of Roman mercenaries and bailiffs comes toward us at a measured pace, halts before us and threatens us, telling us to go no farther. But I Myself step forward and show them Nicodemus’ certificate. Yet the commander says, ‘That is of no use where there is a well-founded suspicion of rebellion against Rome!’
I say, ‘What do you want of us? A brazen and shameless lie from a band of envious people has driven you to take this step. But I tell you that not a true word attaches to it. Yet if you were willing to lend your ear to the lie, then lend it all the more willingly now to the most open truth as well, for which you find more witnesses here than in the city for the shameless lie of a few malicious, envious people!’
The commander says, ‘Those are empty evasions and count for nothing with me. Only before the court, confrontaliter, can the truth be established. So now come with us to court immediately and quite willingly, or we shall use force!’
I say, ‘There is the mansion; its master alone has been reported to you as a rebel. Go there and investigate whether you can discover anything of a rebellion! But if you wish to compel us by force to follow you before your most unjust court, we too shall be able to oppose you with real force, and it will become clear who gets the worse of it! So do as you wish. My time has not yet come; I have said that there is no guilt here. But whoever is in the right should also defend the right through every kind of struggle in word and deed.’
The commander surveys My numerous company and orders that we all be seized and bound at once. First his mercenaries and bailiffs fall upon the young men and try to seize them; but the young men always slip away so skillfully that they cannot seize even one. As the mercenaries and bailiffs wear themselves out trying to catch the young men and they had scattered widely, because the young men pretend to flee in all directions, I say to the commander, ‘It seems to Me that you are finding it hard to catch us!’ The commander tries to strike Me with his sword, but at that moment a young man snatches the sword from him, hurls it visibly far up into the air and thus destroys it.
I say to the commander, ‘Well, what will you strike or stab Me with now?’ The commander, raging with anger, says, ‘So this is how Rome’s power is respected here! Very well, I shall know how to report this to Rome, and after a short time look at this area again and then say whether it is still the same! Not one stone shall be left upon another.’
But I show him how the young men are just now driving all the mercenaries and bailiffs before them, bound with ropes! When the commander sees this, he begins to call upon Zeus and Mars and even the Furies to protect him from such disgrace.
But I tell the young men to release the mercenaries and bailiffs again; they do so immediately. Then I say to the commander, ‘Well, do you still wish to try your force further against us?’ The commander says that these young men must be gods; otherwise it would not be possible to defeat his most excellent warriors so completely with bare hands.
I say, ‘Yes, yes, they will indeed be gods to you and your kind; so now let us continue on our way, and conduct your investigation in the mansion, or something worse will happen to you!’
The commander says, ‘I therefore acknowledge you as innocent and permit you to continue on your way. You, my troops, go into the mansion, investigate everything, and let no one escape from the mansion until you have investigated it all; I shall wait for you here!’ The deputy commander says, ‘Why do you not wish to lead the investigation in the mansion yourself?’ The commander says, ‘You can see that I have lost my sword; but without a sword such an investigation is invalid!’ The deputy commander says, ‘We are not a hair better off; what will become of the validity of our investigation without swords?’ The chief commander says, ‘What! So you too are without weapons? That is bad! Without weapons we can do nothing. Hm, but what do we do now?’
I say, ‘There to the south, beneath the tall cedar, lie your weapons. Go and fetch them, for we fear you with weapons just as little as without them.’ After these words they go to where their weapons lie.