Apocraphyal Story from Jesus

edited November 2021 in Faith Issues
Hello, 

I hope this is the right place to ask this question. I recently came across this story of Jesus healing a donkey. I haven't been able to find the source of the story, the footnote cites the "coptic bible", which I have no access to. Have any of you heard, come across, or seen this story and can anyone help me track down where it comes from? Its quite a beautiful story and I would be very impressed to find out that it goes back to an early tradition: 

It happened that the Lord left the city and walked with his disciples over the mountains. And they came to a mountain, and the road that led up it was steep. There they found a man with a pack-mule. But the animal had fallen, because the man had loaded it too heavily, and now he beat it, so that it was bleeding. And Jesus came to him and said, ‘Man, why do you beat your animal? Do you not see that it is too weak for its burden, and do you not know that it suffers pains?’ But the man answered and said, ‘What is that to you? I may beat it as much as I please, since it is my property, and I bought it for a good sum of money. Ask those who are with you, for they know me and know about this.’ And some of the disciples said, ‘Yes, Lord, it is as he says. We have seen how he bought it.’ But the Lord said, ‘Do you then not see how it bleeds, and do you not hear how it groans and cries out?’ But they answered and said, ‘No, Lord, that it groans and cries out, we do not hear.’ But Jesus was sad and exclaimed, ‘Woe to you, that you do not hear how it complains to the Creator in heaven and cries out for mercy. But threefold woes to him about whom it cries out and complains in its pain.’ And he came up and touched the animal. And it stood up and its wounds were healed. But Jesus said to the man, ‘Now carry on and from now on do not beat it any more, so that you too may find mercy.’


Comments

  • This website cites it as from the Pseudo-Gospel of Matthew. The full text of the book can be found here, including 2 prefaces attributed to Jerome that are definitely worth reading.
  • edited November 2021
    I would like to make known that these writings are not part of any "coptic bible" canon. They simply happen to be in the Coptic language as the sect who used these writing was established in Egypt.
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