The Gospel of Barnabas

192.

'In that book it is not found that God eateth the flesh of cattle or sheep; in that book it is not found that God hath locked up his mercy in Israel alone, but rather that God hath mercy on every man that seeketh God his creator in truth.

'All of this book I was not able to read, because the high priest, in whose library I was, forbade me, saying that an Ishmaelite had written it.'

Then said Jesus: 'See that thou never again keep back the truth, because in the faith of the Messiah God shall give salvation to men, and without it shall none be saved.

And there did Jesus end his discourse. Whereupon, as they sat at meat, lo! Mary, who wept at the feet of Jesus, entered into the house of Nicodemus (for that was the name of the scribe), and weeping placed herself at the feet of Jesus, saying: 'Lord, thy servant, who through thee hath found mercy with God, hath a sister, and a brother who now lieth sick in peril of death.'

Jesus answered: 'Where is thy house? Tell me, for I will come to pray God for his health.'

Mary answered: 'Bethany is the home of my brother and my sister, for my own house is Magdala: my brother, therefore, is in Bethany.'

Said Jesus to the woman: 'Go thou straightway to thy brother's house, and there await me, for I will come to heal him. And fear thou not, for he shall not die.'

The woman departed, and having gone to Bethany found that her brother had died that day, wherefore they laid him in the sepulchre of their fathers.