Jesus often traveled from place to place, and various people tended to accompany him for parts of his journey. On one occasion, as he was leaving a small village, a young man began to follow him. Not long after they had set out, the young man spotted the bones of some anonymous creature in a ditch. His curiosity was raised, and, believing that he had discovered an abandoned human skeleton, he started to poke the bones with this stick.
“Are you not the greatest prophet on the on the face of the earth?” he asked Jesus. “Then you must know the secret of bringing back the dead!”
Jesus ignored his comment, but the man persisted: “Please great prophet, teach me how to give life to these useless bones so that I too can say that I’ve accomplished a worthy deed.”
Jesus was annoyed and continued to ignore the young imbecile, but the man wouldn’t relent and repeated his request again and again. Jesus was beginning to lose patience, and, sure enough, he eventually snapped: “Be quiet, this is no task for a fool! This work requires a soul purer than rainwater, a self more sentient than angels. You must live many holy lives before you can even be considered a candidate for such a job. Let's just imagine for argument’s sake that you found a suitable staff, but where now is Moses to achieve the miracle?” Jesus tried his best to make the simpleton grasp the importance of the issue.
“All right, since you think that I’m not good enough to know the secret prayer, then you do it. You give these bones life!” he repeated unrelentingly.
Utterly puzzled, Jesus wondered why this apparently ego- ridden man was so bent on bringing these dead, forsaken bones back to life. He turned to God, imploring him to divulge the reason for this challenge, and soon he heard a voice in his head:
“The piteous always drive the pictures always drive themselves into a rueful state. They plant seeds but so thorns. And those who sow thorns have no place in the divine garden. In their hands, every rose will become a thorn. If they fall in love, their beloved will turn into a venomous, for their spirit is dark and nasty. Their talent is in creating poison, unlike the true alchemist who turns everything into precious gold!”
Quite curious by now, Jesus decided to fulfill the young man demand, hoping to discover the purpose of this predicament that he found himself in as well as ridding himself off the fellow’s exasperating company. Thus, he uttered the prayer to raise the dead and blew it onto the shattered bones.
Unbeknown to Jesus and the young half- wit, the bones were not those of a man but of a fierce black lion. In no time, the lion, raised from the dead, snapped the young man's head off, broke his arms and legs, and shredded his body. Standing a few paces away, Jesus witnessed the attack in awe. Cautiously he approached the lion: “Why did you tear this poor man apart. He just made me give you back your life!”
“I decimated his body because he made you angry, O great prophet!” said the lion obediently “Then why don't you eat his flesh?” inquired Jesus.
“It's not my fate today to be nourished by his body!” replied the grateful lion, who then turned around and walked toward the distance.
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