The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 220 -
The Flesh Is Under The Debt Of Sin
DURING THIS DISCOURSE of the little Child, Jonathan, impelled his ardent feeling of love, fell down in front of the little Child and wept in his extreme joy and gratitude.
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And the little Child said to the others, 'Do you see how mighty Jonathan's love to Me is?
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Truly I tell you: From every tear which now quells from his eyes, a world shall come into being for him in My kingdom!
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I have in fact already shown you the value and the difference between tears - but here I tell you once more:
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No tear is valued more highly by Me than that which is like the tear of Jonathan.'
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At these words of the little Child the huge Jonathan took hold of himself and declared,
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'O You almighty Lord of my life! How can I, a great sinner, really be worthy of such infinitely great compassion and grace from You?'
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And the little Child affirmed: 'Jonathan, ask yourself how you can possibly love Me so mightily in your heart when you are such a great sinner?
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Is love toward Me not holy in itself, as I am holy in My divine Being?
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How then can you, as so great a sinner, be capable of enduring such holy love in your heart?
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Does not every man become sanctified and wholly newborn by means of love toward God in his heart?
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Now if you are filled with this love, say, what accordingly is in you that you call sin?
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'See, every man's flesh is in fact a sin in itself; therefore every man's flesh must also die.
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Yes, I say to you: even this flesh of My body is under the debt of sin and therefore will have to die just like yours.
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But this sin is after all not voluntary, but only one under judgment and is no debt whatever for your free spirit.
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For that reason your worth is determined not according to your flesh, but entirely according to your love - which is free.
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And it will not be said in the world of the spirit: How was your body, but: How was your love?
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'Behold, if you throw a stone into the air, it does not remain in the air but soon falls back to the earth again.
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Why so? - Because it is attracted by the matter of the earth as a love under judgment, which wholly constitutes the stone itself.
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Why then do not the clouds and the stars fall from heaven? - Because they are attracted by the love of heaven!
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Consequently, if your heart is full of love toward God, the eternally Living, where indeed will this love draw you, since it alone is free and alive in itself?'
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This last question filled all those present with the greatest bliss, and they all knew where they stood.