“Then said the Rabbi Eliezer, That boy is certainly a Mamser. But Rabbi Joshua, son of Levi, said, He is a Ben-hannidda. And the Rabbi Akiba said also, He is a Ben-hannidda.[123]Therefore the Rabbi Akiba went forth out of the school, and asked Jeschu in what city he was born. Jeschu answered, I am of Nazareth; my father's name is Mezaria,[124]and my mother's name is Karchat.
“Then the Rabbis Akiba, Eliezer and Joshua went into the school of the Rabbi Joshua, son of Perachia, and seized Jeschu by the hair and cut it off in a circle, and washed his [pg 104]head with the water Boleth, so that the hair might not grow again.”
Ashamed at this humiliation, according to the Toledoth Jeschu of Huldrich, the boy returned to Nazareth, where he wounded his mother's breast.
Probably the author of this counter-Gospel saw one of those common artistic representations of the Mater Dolorosa with a sword piercing her soul, and invented the story of Jesus wounding his mother's breast to account for it.
When Jeschu was grown up, there assembled about him many disciples, whose names were Simon and Matthias, Elikus, Mardochai and Thoda, whose names Jeschu changed.
“He called Simon Peter, after the word Petrus, which in Hebrew signifies the First. And Matthias he called Matthew; and Elikus he called Luke, because he sent him forth among the heathen; and Mardochai he named Mark, because he said, Vain men come to me; and Thoda he named Pahul (Paul), because he bore witness of him.
“Another worthless fellow also joined them, named Jochanan, and he changed his name to Jahannus on account of the miracles Jeschu wrought through him by means of the incommunicable Name. This Jahannus advised that all the men who were together should have their heads washed with the water Boleth, that the hair might not grow on them, and all the world might know that they were Nazarenes.
“But the affair was known to the elders and to the King. Then he sent his messengers to take Jeschu and his disciples, and to bring them to Jerusalem. But out of fear of the people, they gave timely warning to Jeschu that the King sought to take and kill him and his companions. Therefore they fled into the desert of Ai (Capernaum?). And when the servants of the King came and found them not, with the exception of Jahannus they took him and led him before the King. And [pg 105]the King ordered that Jahannus should be executed with the sword. The servants of the King therefore went at his command and slew Jahannus, and hung up his head at the gate of Jerusalem.[125]
“About this time Jeschu assembled the inhabitants of Jerusalem about him, and wrought many miracles. He laid a millstone on the sea, and sailed about on it, and cried, I am God, the Son of God, born of my mother by the power of the Holy Ghost, and I sprang from her virginal brow.
“And he wrought many miracles, so that all the inhabitants of Ai believed in him, and his miracles he wrought by means of the incommunicable Name.