Jesus In India — Page 92
82 JESUS IN INDIA The suggestion that Jesus, may peace be on him, might well have sustained some injuries before being commissioned as a Prophet or at some time later during his ministry, and not as the result of crucifixion, is nothing but an absurd and meaningless tale. It is simply absurd to say that his hands and feet might have been injured through some other cause, that he might have fallen from a roof, and the ointment might have been prepared for the treatment of the injuries he had thus suffered. It is absurd because before he was commissioned as a Prophet there were no disciples and the accounts of the ointment speak of disciples. The term Shalikha, which is Greek for twelve, is still there in these books even till today. Before being commissioned as a Prophet, moreo- ver, Jesus, the Messiah, was not considered important enough for the events of his life to be recorded. His ministry lasted only three- and-a-half years, and during this time no historical record can be cited as proof of there having occurred any accident or injury, to Jesus, the Messiah, may peace be on him, except for the trauma of the cross. And if someone thinks that perhaps such injuries could have been sustained by Jesus, may peace be on him, in some other way, then the onus of proof lies with him, for the event of the cross, to which we have referred, is a proved and established his- torical fact; neither the Jews nor the Christians deny it. The idea that Jesus, the Messiah, may peace be on him, received his injuries through some other cause is also not supported by the annals of any nation. To entertain such an idea is, therefore, tantamount to deliberately abandon the path of truth. The evidence we have produced cannot be rejected on the basis of such meaningless objections. These manuscripts are in existence even today and for my part,