The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
In the little Galilean village of hunger
- Chapter 132 -
The little village of misery, a work of the tyrant Herod. The Lord's profound speech about allowing this.
There was much misery to be found among the people languishing under all kinds of oppression, especially in the markets and villages. Physically and psychically they were scattered and dying like sheep among the wolves without any shepherd. (Matt. 9:36) Since I deeply regretted the poor people's desperate plight, I spoke as I did in Sychar at the well, 'The crop is heavy, but labourers are scarce. (Matt. 9:37) Therefore, beg the Lord to send labourers to harvest His crop. For these poor people are ripe for the Kingdom of God and the field where they are is large. They languish and thirst for light, truth and salvation. But labourers, labourers! Where are they?' (Matt. 9:38)
2
Says the disciples, 'Lord, if You should consider us capable, could we not spread out and each of us take a town or a market?' Say I, 'We are now on the way to an extremely poor village. Once we have reached it I shall select the most capable and strongest among you and send you out into the different regions and places, and then you will be doing all that which I am doing and have done in your presence. But now let us hurry towards the village.'
3
In less than half an hour we had reached the little village where we found truly indescribable misery. Parents and children were walking about literally naked, covering their nakedness with foliage. When the people saw us approaching everybody, big and small, young and old, came hurrying towards us begging for alms, for they suffered great want. Children were crying, holding their hands over their tummies, for they were very hungry having had nothing to eat already for two whole days. The parents were in despair, partly from their own pangs of hunger, but even more so because their little children were asking for bread and milk.
4
Peter, who was very deeply moved by this sight, asked a staunch-looking old man, 'Friend, who has made you so extremely miserable? How did you get into this plight? Did some enemy come and rob you of everything, even disgracefully ruining your houses as I notice? For I see only walls and no roofs and lofts above them and your granaries, which I knew, are completely destroyed. How did this happen?'
5
Says the man in a tearful voice, 'Oh you dear and no doubt good people. This was done by the harshness and greed of the tributary king Herod. His father was Satan's left - and he is his right arm. We could not raise the taxes which he had demanded of us ten days earlier. His bailiffs gave us a deadline of six days. But what were six days? During this time the bailiffs consumed almost all our better provisions and on the seventh day - since we could not possibly raise and pay the exorbitant tax - they took everything we had and we only barely escaped with this miserable life. O friends, this is hard, immensely hard! If God does not help, we shall still today die of starvation together with our children. Do help us in whatever way you can! If only the wicked servants of Herod had not taken all our clothes we could have gone begging, but where could we go in this state? For our children it is too far in all directions and as you can see we are as naked as in the womb. O God, O God, why did we have to be made so terribly miserable? Which one of all our sins before You, O Jehovah, has brought such punishment upon us?'
6
Here I step up to the old man and say, 'Friend, the cause for this is not your sin, which before God is the most insignificant in all Israel, but God's love.
7
You were the purest in all of Israel, but some worldly desires were still clinging to your soul. God, however, who loves you, wanted to free you all at once from the world to make you fully capable of absorbing your heavenly Father's grace. This has now happened and you are now safe from Herod for all times, for from those who have been completely robbed by his greed he never again collects taxes because those subjects who have been made beggars are struck off the tax register.
8
And so you see, you have been freed from the world at a single stroke. That is God's greatest blessing for you and you can now begin to care for your soul in all earnest.
9
However, I tell you: Do not in future build wealthy looking houses, but erect for yourselves scanty huts, and no one will demand taxes of you, except the exclusively privileged king of Rome; and he demands only two to three percent. If you have something, you can give it; if you have nothing, you are free. But we shall speak about that later.
10
Now go to your roofless houses; there you will find food and clothes. Refresh yourselves, put on clothes and then come back here and I shall discuss further things with you.'