THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 139 -
The rightful use of common sense and prudence.
At this Cyrenius asks Me, "Yes, what is that then all at once? Roklus was until now already like a true foundation stone for the holy city that should be built anew, and now all of a sudden he seems to have turned around, despite the fact that You have promised him all help!"
2
I say, "That he is and remains, despite the fact that he hasn't quite understood Me! But I saw that still in him and put him in the position to get it out of him. But things will now immediately take a very different face, as you will immediately convince yourselves!"
3
At this I turned very friendly to Roklus and said, "But, My dear friend, if you understand things almost completely wrong, no god can help you then, as long as you oppose your own understanding from before to a more recent higher insight! The best, however, is that you claim exactly that very seriously which I actually want to have from you! If I Myself have recommended to you before the cleverness of the snakes and foxes, how could I now forbid it you now?!
4
I showed yesterday in sufficient detail how the children should be treated and instructed; and although you were not present all the time, you have it nonetheless in your hands written by my fast scribe! There is certainly nothing else which could confuse you in some issue about which, as far as just any education is concerned, someone could say: Look there, that is incomprehensible! Or: It does not apply for this or that person!
5
Thus also, if you want to heal a sick person with natural medicine and even could, but the patient often has a decided aversion against a medicine and will not take it for any price in the world, but you are completely convinced that only this medicine will provide the patient only with certain and fast healing. In this case it goes without saying that you then could take such a medication without any further ado and mix it with something else so that the patient will not recognize it and push it away from himself to his great disadvantage.
6
But further as far as the teaching of this divine teaching of Mine for life is concerned, there I will add to you all: Be externally everything with everyone what they are in order to make them trust you and to win them over for My kingdom! Be Jews with the Jews, heathens with the heathens, laugh with those who laugh, and cry with those who cry, be weak and full of patience with the weak, and show the strong one that you are also strong, so that the awareness of his strength will not blow him up and make him arrogant! Well, that will satisfy you, My dear friend, in order to know what God's very highest wisdom, as the creator of your pure common sense, wants to have from you!
7
Believe Me, My wisdom is never against the quite healthy, sober and non-judgmental common sense of a person! For this must judge what is perfectly correct!
8
A truth, however veiled it may be, is and remains in itself nonetheless forever a truth and will as such be revealed one day. Friend, a truth, if it demands necessity somehow, you can cover and clothe however you may and can; it all depends on the mental capacity of the person to whom the truth is preached. Children are satisfied with milk and honey and with very soft bread, while the man can already be given a firmer fare. Then everything is in the best order, if only there is inner truth; very little attention is paid to the necessary cover, or none at all. That would truly be highly unwise and against all better reason, if some person needed My help and I knew well that he is honest, but nonetheless would not look at him because he wears a Persian tunic! To hide a truth in necessity is not a sin; but an open lie and a most obvious fraud placed in the clothes of truth is a sin and is frowned upon by Me for eternity!
9
If you now observe your previous reanimations from the dead, then despite you good will they were a great, but very well-hidden lie, since in this way there was no trace of a reawakening from the dead, and likewise other numbers from your institute. You have learnt from the Egyptians and Arabs to calculate when a solar or a lunar eclipse can appear; alone that remained a secret to the people. But you then said to the people: Because you, people, do not want to hear our voice, the leader "who you are now! "beg the gods to darken the sun or the moon on that day! The people immediately fell into a great fear, prayed and sacrificed crazily, and you gave them in the end only the comfort that the threat would go in any case forward, yet one would try to make it as harmless as possible. Do you see, that was then a very sheerest lie, clothed in an honest dress of the fullest truth!"