Speaking of Bill & Ted references: that top right panel is good a translation of the Greatest Commandment as you’ll get. (It‘s recorded as the second-greatest in Matthew 22:35-40, but in the BICP universe, that was a misprint.)
Harp Lake = the Sea of Galilee.
Saxon’s reference to “standing orders” not to donkey-kick any humans seems to suggest that Josh had to give the order verbally, instead of having it built directly into the Contract. But in the present-day storyline, there’s no indication the Donkey has the same freedom that the Wolf does. Maybe Josh went back in and finessed the code later.
Nahumville, and other sites around Harp Lake. Increasingly crowded sites.
Josh: Imagine you had a really great gift, okay, and part of it fell off . . .
Look, you wouldn’t build a house on sand, would you? It would collapse the first time a big storm came by.
What I’m trying to say here is — be excellent to each other!
Audience member: He has such a way with words . . .
Disciple: He takes us aside afterward and explains what the metaphors mean. Yeah, we’re totally in on all the secrets. It’s pretty cool.
María: Aren’t you tired of this sermon by now, Saxon?
Saxon: Tired? No! Shh, my favorite part is up next!
Wait, what’s he stopping for?
María: It looks like not everybody’s a fan.
Saxon: Who does that guy think he is, harassing my Lord?! I would so go kick him in the stomach if I didn’t have standing orders not to do that.
There’s several possibilities, from what I know and remember:
1. This could be prior to when the no harm rules were crafted. Not being a violent person, Josh even didn’t think about it until Saxon was being all defensive of him.
2. Saxon *does* have the inhibition against actually hurting people, but that doesn’t stop him from going up to someone, raising his foot, and touching their clothing over their belly with said foot. It’s not painful to be on the receiving end of it, but it *does* kind of give away that Saxon’s a bit different. It especially shows he’s different when he’s really angry and does it real fast, just stopping right before he hurts them.
3. The restriction against hurting people is not a restriction on their actions, but rather on their effects. This would look like the swift kick but then really slow, it just wouldn’t require them to produce the force to stop their hit.
It’s quite obvious that the “no harm” rules along with the battles was later addition, originally the beings were supposed to be protectors. It’s possible that Josh or Maria was the one who wrote that change.