PHASE NINE
THE DENIAL
Section I--A Restorer Denied
(The Sabbath even, the twenty-fifth day of March)
ND on the even of the same Sabbath, I entered into a synagogue of Chorazin, one of the three houses of God in the province of Capharnaum, and laughing them to scorn, the pharisees who had followed me from Levi's house thinking that I was the lamp of Israel [who is king David], watched me to see whether or not I would steal bread on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse me publicly and then deny my baptism by John.
02 And there was sitting there Matthew, [who is Matthias,] a scribe of the pharisees who had an arthritic hand. And I saith unto the man with the arthritic hand: Stand up in the midst of the congregation, for I wish to give to you a gift from God.
03 And confounded by this new aspect of salvation, straightaway, I asked Jesus the rabbi, the chief priest and ruler of that synagogue, saying: Rabboni: Is it not lawful to eat on the Sabbath days, or shall we obey the pharisees and fast instead? Is it lawful to restore a life, or to destroy it?
04 But with an achy heart, Jesus the rabbi held his peace and did not answer me. For he was forewarned by the devouring priests who had sat in my mother's house not to think of me as the 'restorer of life'.
05 And knowing that miraculous healings were an accepted and commonplace occurrence at prayer meetings, looking round about on the priests and pharisees with anger, being grieved for their blindness of hearts, I saith unto Matthew the arthritic: Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: And touching him, the use of his hand was restored unto him.
06 And for the very first time, I performed a miracle inside the house of God, a thing most pleasing to the eyes of the Lord indeed and to the entire congregation as well. [And for this reason, he became known as God's Gift, but he did not follow David].
07 And immediately upon seeing that a miracle had just taken place, the priests going outside, made an impatient consultation with the pharisees about my state of health, how they might help destroy me. Because they now said: I was a doctor of medicine who healed on the Sabbath.
08 For they were zealous Herodians. (That is to say, they were materialist opportunist and men without a conscience). And reversing their original positions, they like Jezebel now feared that I was Elias the Returner, a contender to Ahab's throne; while the pharisees now feared that Herod was right and that I was the incarnation of king David, a contender to Herod's Sauline throne.
