The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Back in Nazareth
- Chapter 110 -
Judas offended. The Lord's hint on him. Judas the glutton and trader in pots. The Lord and the three Pharisees, including Jairus of Capernaum.
We sit down to start enjoying the meal cheerfully, when Judas enters, reproaching us good and proper for not letting him know, since we know how busy he is and not able to constantly find out when we have meals, even whilst counting himself as one of us. Thomas gets furious at such talk, saying, 'Lord, here my moderation is at an end! It's time for him to taste my fists again!'
2
Say I, 'Let that go! Have you not heard that where twelve angels dwell under one roof, the twelfth is a disguised devil?! Let him be; because him you cannot change!' Thomas is seated and Judas goes off without a meal.
3
As we thereupon continue with the well prepared meal, Judas returns, soft-pedalling us and asking for a meal; because nothing was obtainable in town, as the many visitors had consumed everything!'
4
Say I, 'Give him to eat then!' And brother Jacob gave him bread and salt and a whole well-cooked fish. And Judas consumed the whole fish, weighing about seven pounds, and thereafter much water, whereupon he began to feel somewhat unwell. Then he started complaining, maintaining that the fish had been off, which always gave him trouble.
5
Thomas however got angry again, saying to Judas, 'You sure still are the same old hulking and crude man you always were; go to the larder and see whether our fish are off! If you voraciously consume a seven pound fish like a wolf, swilling it down with a jug full of water sufficient for twenty people and on top of that eat a loaf of bread none too small, then you have to feel congested in your stomach! If then you are aching so much, we have the best Doctor in our midst; ask Him and He surely shall help you!'
6
Says Judas Iscariot, 'You all are dead set against me and call me a devil, how would you believe me as a devil that I'm suffering and how help?!'
7
Says Thomas, 'Were you not with us at the Gergenseans (Gadarenes), seeing how the Lord heard even the devil's request, consenting to it?! If you earnestly take yourself for a devil, then ask like a devil and some herd of swine shall be found for you to possess, after the Lord has heard your request!'
8
Says Judas Iscariot, 'Oh, you certainly mean me quite well; I never thought you such a great friend! Behold, I nonetheless shall ask Jesus, the son of this house, for proper help and shall see whether like you he shall send me into a herd of swine!' Here Judas turns to Me, voicing his plight. But I say, 'Go to your pots; there it shall be better with you!'
9
Judas goes, remarking to Thomas on the way out, 'Not a herd of swine after all!' Replies Thomas, 'But not all that much better! Because your pots are as much a tool of usury to you as the pigs for the Gergenese!' - Judas says no more and quickly departs.
10
But soon thereafter three Pharisees from Capernaum arrived, asking if I were home. Upon being told that I was home indeed, they at once enter the dining room, asking around for Me, since they didn't know Me personally.
11
But I say with full force, 'I am He! What is it that I should do for you?'
12
But they are too terrified by My address to dare asking anything at all; because My powerful Word had the effect of lightning within their heart! - And I asked them yet again what they were after.
13
One of them steps up, speaking timorously, 'Good master!'
14
But I say, 'How are you calling Me good?! Do you not know that none besides God is good?!' Says the Pharisee, 'I beg you not to be so hard on me; for I have need of your well-tested help!' - Say I, 'Don't start holding Me up, because I have to go down to sea this afternoon to catch fish. You shall find Me down there!'
15
With this information the three left. The one who spoke to Me however was a principal of the school and Synagogue at Capernaum, by the name of Jairus.