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 166 -
The Pharisees' conversion.
1
(Cyrenius) "Well, my friend, can you deny to me that you spoke thus beforehand to old Mark word for word and also thought in yourself the same, but then under necessity spoke quite differently?! What is now your word and your opinion?"
2
Here the Pharisee stands as if turned to stone facing Cyrenius and does not know a single syllable to answer him with.
3
But Mark is standing behind him and says to him, "Well, you highly wise philosopher of nature, wouldn't you like to explain this miracle to me in a very natural way? I would truly be very curious to hear from you, which secret ploy the clever Romans may have used in order to even empower themselves with your most secret thoughts!"
4
After a short while the Pharisee finally says: "Yes, that truly cannot happen in a natural way! I did not want to speak about those things that I said to Mark openly at the harbor "for someone might indeed have very sharp hearing, to hear our conversation from further away -; but even to hear what I thought to myself in the deepest secret, that rises far over the horizon of all human knowledge however deep! That is a miracle; but where one miracle of the highest type is possible, then there is also the possibility of everything else, and I am now beginning to seriously believe that this magnificent house was created in a miraculous way! I cannot say anything more for the moment. But if all that happened and happens through the power of the famous Nazarene, then he must obviously be a higher being, a God in all seriousness, whom all the spirits of the air, the Earth, the water and the fire obey most subserviently, and no human power can ever contradict him.
5
But we Pharisees are done and will soon have nothing more to do than to lie down in our graves and then pass away like an animal! What should we do with all our old stuff for deception, when such present truths begin to topple the mountains upon us from all sides? We will be chased and persecuted like the beasts of the forest and will be destroyed in the slime of our night and darkness! It came thus, and we can do nothing about the fact that night and day constantly replace one another. As the day consumes the night, likewise the night then consumes the day, and soon after a long night only a very short and cold day follows "and soon again vice versa. The summer follows the winter, and then the winter follows again; everything on the dear Earth is subject to constant change. Whoever laughs today can grieve, cry and moan tomorrow!
6
That is how things go and it will never be otherwise on this Earth. If a man has had for a long time something magnificent, good and eminent, in the end it will be as indifferent to him as one can ever be about something that one has always had in abundance. But if one finally loses the long-possessed property, only then one knows what one had, and learns to appreciate its value.
7
We people are foolish and still do not understand how and why everything happens and exists, and therefore we are never fully satisfied with anything, not with good things "and even less with the bad things! The grave seems to me a true harbor of happiness; in it nothing changes any longer, and its inhabitants do not feel any need any longer and so the comfort remains for us worms of the Earth after all the thousand losses that also we will become soon very satisfied inhabitants of the grave, and those who pass our graves will say: Here they are resting in peace!
8
Yes, as I see, feel and believe, here there is a great light never seen before, but likewise the great night, which follows such a light, will not stay away! Happy are they who on this day will be able to bathe in the sun; but all the more woe to those who will be overtaken by the night following this day! They will raise a great cry for light, they will wake the spirits of night with it and be badly treated. I have now spoken, and your rulers have of course the right to sentence me according to your will!"
9
Cyrenius says, "I have found nothing in your speech that could be brought before a judge. The fact that you spoke for all your house is a very understandable thing; but here you came, even if with some effort, nonetheless to a better conviction and stopped being an enemy and persecutor of Him whom you would willingly have destroyed previously. And I did not want anything more from you and your companions, and thus you may move on again from here in peace! But if you want more, then you have only to say so and it shall all be granted to you!"
10
The Pharisee says: "What should we do now? We have had to lay an oath into the hands of the high priest at home in the temple saying not to move or return home before we have made the Nazarene fully harmless. Well, that has now become impossible many times over! Firstly you powerful Romans, as we have all heard only too clearly, are his friends, against whom we cannot and will not undertake anything; secondly He himself is so indefeasible in all things and in all His paths according to everything that shows His power here, so that no power on Earth could touch Him; and thirdly we have all become His friends ourselves through the innermost bottom of life because of His so incomparably high and unique characteristics, so that there can be no talk among us any longer of further persecuting his person.
11
But what can we do now? Most of all we would like to be His disciples, so that we would also get to see the day whose morning redness we saw here in its fullness and could walk the track in His path! Well, that will hardly be allowed for us! But we also may not return directly home! What can we do then? We must nonetheless immediately at least remain outward persecutors of this man if we want to provide for our stomach and skin, Whom we would rather carry around on our hands! Here good advice, even if very expensive, is greatly in need!"
12
Says Cyrenius: "If you mean that seriously, which I now hardly doubt any longer, then advice will soon be given. Whether you can now become His disciples, that is obviously alone His affair and not mine. But since you, as I have heard from your speech, are otherwise very clever and experienced people, then I myself can make use of you and use your service, and all the more so since you also speak the Greek and Roman languages. I however have written His teachings in a book from which you can learn all His will! There will once again be a time in which you will be able to make His acquaintance more closely, and indeed in more worthy clothes than these. He does not love the tunic of the Pharisees because it has been anointed with the bad and foul oil for the practice of deception. Thus is my active advice. If you want to accept it, so tell me and you shall be helped!"
13
The leader said to his companions, "You have all heard it as well as I! If you are satisfied with this extremely friendly offer, so make yourselves heard, since every one of you has a perfectly free will! I personally have nothing to say against it."
14
They all say, "We neither; only, if is it decent, we would first like to get to know the eminent Nazarene personally!"
15
Cyrenius says, "Not this time; but if you become more knowledgeable in His teaching, then yes! But for now my servant will take over; follow him and he will bring you safely to Sidon, where you will receive other clothes and a position suitable to your knowledge! Go and follow him!"
16
With these words a servant of Cyrenius came up to them, of whom he had many, gave them a procured them a good opportunity and left with them immediately to Sidon.