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 158 -
Affliction as a means of education.
1
(The Lord:) "Everything that accordingly has been allowed once must exist as a driving force for the improvement of mankind. Every being, however, presupposes an activity, and this, the motive and the lever, which naturally must always fully correspond to the activity.
2
Thus everything which one describes as against moral laws, and so also as terrible and bad, is to be seen only as a permitted lever, and everything is pure and good to the pure. To the weak and impure everything is and must be different, because he still needs some levers of action
3
When the children of Abraham rejoiced in a visible divine leadership, unlimited wisdom and thereby a very greatest earthly well-being in the days of Moses, Aaron, Joshua and also under the first judges, they became lethargic like the polyps and oysters at the bottom of the sea. I encouraged them through the mouths of the prophets to activity and vigilance and even summoned them; but their answer was: If we do something, we could commit a sin which would destroy all the good we have done; but if we do nothing, we cannot sin and then stand free of sins justified before You, oh Lord! Thus they philosophized themselves more and more into all kinds of lethargy. The consequence of it was increasing affliction and in time physical and finally also moral atony.
4
In such circumstances they then turned back to Me and praised Me for being active in the correct ordinance of life. For a time things went fairly well again and progressed well; but when the blessed well-being set in again as a fruit of activity, the old lethargy began again from the beginning. They were rich in everything and wanted to shine and demanded an earthly king as the representative of physical wealth and well-being.
5
A king was given to them and anointed. But as the contract between king and nation did not remain undone, the evil that the nation demanded and received was again nothing more than a painful lever for the people to a newer and higher necessary activity.
6
When the king soon fell into lethargy along with the people, it was immediately necessary to waken external, very threatening enemies in the form the crude and powerful Philistines. Then war and all sorts of the same accompanying afflictions penetrated the land of My people, woke it, made it active and therefore strong.
7
In great affliction and need they found their way back to Me and increased in mercy, wisdom and wealth to a hardly conceivable degree. This, however, caused an important exhaustion of the previous activity in the days of Solomon's rule, and the kingdom literally collapsed under the first descendents of Solomon. And so this nation had constantly to be forced through all sorts of misery and affliction to keep them active.
8
It is now once again generally way below the animal kingdom, particularly in respect of the class of the priests and teachers. But for that reason I came Myself in the flesh in order to prepare the greatest embarrassment and confusion for the most lethargic part of the people; and they therefore seek to catch me and to kill Me, because they fear losing their bread for the lazy through My most active actions and stimuli. But their effort is of course in vain.
9
The seed of fullest laziness has already set roots in them that are too strong. Therefore the feeling of lethargy must be first taken from them and they must scatter themselves to the four winds and lead a nomadic life or enter the new covenant of life and activity just established by Me, in which no one will be allowed to let his hands lie inactive in his lap in order to be able to live.
10
Whoever will not do that will hunger and thirst and have to take up the most worthless and dirtiest job of begging, and people will call to them with hard hearts: Whoever does not work shall not eat! For every worker is worth his reward.
11
Oh, then everyone will strive to be as active as possible! If however someone nonetheless becomes lethargic and lazy, he will begin to show wearing the rod immediately as an example for many others.
12
And I tell you: Every nation that becomes lazy and namby-pamby, just like every person individually, will get to carry the constant rod on his back and for ever lose his name from the Book of Life and also his greatness, power and reputation! That will make the people more and more perplexed and drive them on to all sorts of orderly deeds, which will be good. Have you understood this well now?"