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 174 -
The miracle-working faith.
I say to the fisherman, "Aziona, you have a new jug in your house; have it filled with water and bring it here!"
2
Aziona raises high his eyebrows as I speak to him thus, and says, very amazed, "You could certainly have learnt my name somewhere "but how do you know then that I possess a new jug, which is truly my greatest wealth? Not even my neighbors know that, and you, as a complete stranger, know it? Ah, permit me, that is now something out of a fairy tale! Did perhaps my children reveal my jug to you in secret? There is nothing special about the jug itself "it is of stone, as there are countless many among us in this land; but it means enormously much that you know that there is a new jug being kept safe in my apartment!"
3
I say, "Nor is there anything special about it, since one can find out such a thing! But it matters more that you go and fulfill My demand for a thirsty person!"
4
Now Aziona goes quickly and brings the jug full of fresh water. The jug however was one of the great sort and contained a good quarter bucket of water, so that one had to lift it in order to bring it to one's mouth. When the filled jug stood before us on a stone plate, I blessed the water and it became wine.
5
I drank from it, passed it then to the disciples, and when they had drunk, I also passed the jug to Aziona and said, "Drink from this too, so that you will perceive the goodness of the water that you have brought to us in your new jug!"
6
Aziona says, "Should it be bad and foul?! I have swirled out the jug three times, and my rock spring delivers the purest and best water in the whole area! But nonetheless I will taste it to see whether it has perhaps taken on the taste of the new jug!" "He tastes it, makes a number of strong draughts, and then says quite amazed, "Yes, but what sort of witchcraft is that then?! That is no water, that is the very best wine, as I have never had a better one pass over my tongue! Tell me how you have done this! No, making water into wine, ah, that has never been done! You are truly no Galileans, but instead either Egyptians or Persians; for among all the Jews there has never been such a magician who was able to turn water into the best wine. Oh do tell me how such a thing is possible! I will be your slave for twenty years for that!"
7
John, whom I gave a sign to speak, says, "My friend, all you need is a very firm faith and will. He who has such a faith and never doubts in the least can say to that high mountain there: 'Rise and plunge into the sea!', and what he believed and said will happen. Here you have the whole true explanation and instruction which tell you by what means such things can be accomplished. It is impossible to give a different one because there is none other."
8
Here Aziona raises his eyebrows even more and says, "Friend, I do not know at all what faith is "how could I then believe in something?! What do you call faith then?"
9
Says John: "When, in dealing with a very truthful man who tells us many a thing of which we have never heard and learned before, we accept his statement as true, never doubting any of his words, we then believe the very truthful man. Since what we believe is certainly the full truth, we put it into practice and this, then, is the activated, marvelous faith to which nothing that comes within the sphere of this truth is impossible; and this has to be put into practice at all times. - Do you now know what faith means?"
10
Aziona says, "Well yes, now I know it well, - but how can I know that the man who presents something for me to believe is also in all seriousness a most truthful man? Simply to believe that he is, because he looks more or less so, would be foolish and would reveal a punishable gullibility, which in my opinion would be a lot worse than no faith at all! How does one therefore look at a person in order to realize that the man whom one should and would believe is a most perfect truthful person and that one can believe without any doubt everything that comes out of his mouth?"
11
John says, "For that everyone of only some better volition has enough reason and common sense in order to make an appropriate test with this man; for only an idiot can buy a cat in a sack! You ask me for the means of testing "and you use it yourself on me! I have long in advance been convinced that you will not buy any cat in a sack!"
12
Aziona says, "Yes, yes, friend! That is all very true and very fine, and a person truly has nothing but his intellect, with which he tests his surroundings; but where is the measuring stick with which I previously could recognize my reason as being good and sharp enough to test my surroundings?"
13
John says, "There we have hit the most contentious point! Whoever thinks that he possesses a clearest intelligence is most of all wrong in everything; but whoever sees that his intelligence is still somewhat lacking will soon learn through practice that he will be able to judge with great severity everything that is around him and happens!
14
An imagined high intelligence resembles a mountain top which juts very flauntingly in its dizzying heights and the higher it juts into the vain air, the more often it is surrounded by all sorts of clouds and mists. The small point of a needle with which one keeps clothing together is almost nothing as far as size and appearance is concerned; but it penetrates through everything, and one could pin together so many mats that the whole mountain peak would be deeply covered by them. "A garment will certainly never be able to be pinned together by the great and proud mountain tops!
15
This comparison is indeed somewhat extreme; but it nonetheless describes the relationship of an intellect which thinks itself to be high and wise above everything and that of a humble one, which seems quite unassuming before the eyes of the highly wise and prudent humanity. But while the high intellect stares far into the air and is surrounded equally thickly by mists of its purest view, the humble intellect performs immediately good things and becomes brighter and finer after every task and more serviceable for the future. Among you, as it seems to me, intellect seems to have a great resemblance with the highest mountain peaks, which are only very seldom free of clouds, and therefore it should be somewhat difficult for you to test the full truth of this exactly, of which you should accept one truth as the full and undoubted truth! "Of which opinion are you?"