The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
First day in Sychar
- Chapter 41 -
The high priest's further criticism of the rigorous teaching of the Lord; his parable of the sealed water jar and the thirsty man.
Says the High Priest, 'Yes, yes, you may be right therein to, and I will not, and at this stage also cannot, contest whether - and what kind of - spiritual is contained in your educational metaphors. One thing, however, you cannot dispute that if I, for instance, wish to pass a teaching to someone which I want him to understand and practice as my disciple, I must surely give the teaching in such a way that my disciple will understand it in its true sense. Once I know that my disciples has fully grasped the inner truth of my teaching, I have every right to demand of my disciple to act according to my teaching.
2
If I give someone a teaching in metaphors, which as such are impossible to practice, and if my disciple then asked me: "What does that mean? How am I to take my own life in order to win life? How am I to kill myself, so that as a dead man I may receive a new, even an eternal life, out of death?", then I shall say to him, "Look, friend, you must understand this in such and such a way. For, behold, between the given metaphor and the truth it contains there is this and that spiritual correspondence, and you have to arrange your life in accordance with this correspondence, not with the external picture.
3
Look, Master, then the disciple will understand it and, as already mentioned, I have then every right to demand of him to become active in the spirit of the truth of my teaching. But can I, without being a fool, expect him to act according to my harsh metaphor? And if I in all earnest did demand that, I would appear to all thinking people as a man who carried water in a sealed up vessel and when a thirsty man came to him requesting a drink, the water carrier promptly passed him the sealed up jar, saying: "There you have the jar, - drink!" The thirsty man then tried to drink, but could not find an opening and asked the carrier: "I can I drink from it since the jar is sealed up from all sides?" - and the carrier told him: "If you are blind and cannot find the opening, swallow the whole jar and you will thus also swallow the water with it."
4
Tell me, you otherwise dear and wise Master, what the thirsty man would have to say to such a carrier? I think he could in this case justly call such a water carrier a fool.
5
This does not mean that I want to call you exactly a fool, but if you say that because of our spiritual blind-and-deafness we cannot grasp the spirit of your teaching, your teaching would still be like the water in a sealed up jar with the thirsty man would in fact have to swallow together with the water, a demand which could only come from a prophet who has escaped from an asylum. - Regard this matter as you please. As long as you do not add a sufficient explanation to your teaching, which in some of its points holds much that is good and true, I and many clearer thinking people abide by what I have expressed, You will never live to see that, because of your teaching, we shall promptly begin to cut off our hands and feet and tear out our eyes. We shall also continue to work as before and gain our bread by the sweat of our brow, and the one who will deceitfully offend against us, shall not be spared a just punishment.
6
To the thief who steals a shirt from us we shall not give our coat too, but he shall be seized and thrown into prison, where he will be given sufficient time to repent of his wrong action and live a better life. If you are truly a wise man gone forth from God, you must also be convinced of the sacred need to preserve the Mosaic Law, which God Himself proclaimed under lightning and thunder to the Israelites in the desert. If, however, you want to break the law with your teaching, take care that you can face Jehovah!'
7
Say I, 'I am of the opinion that the lawgiver is entitled to either leave the law alone and fulfill it himself according to the spirit and truth or abolish it completely under certain conditions.'
8
Says the High Priest, 'This now sounds peculiar from your mouth. This morning I would have revered such a word from your mouth, for then it really seemed to me that you were indeed the Promised. But after the teaching you give us you have in my eyes become a madman, whom it pleases to present his fixed idea to us as the promised Messiah's wisdom. Therefore, you had now rather explain your harsh teaching, as without sufficient explanation no one could ever grasp it and act according to it.'
9
Say I, 'So tell me then what confounds you so much in My teaching, and I shall solve the problem for you.'
10
Says the High Priest, 'I have already mentioned that several times, but to show you that I am very reasonable and moderate, I tell you now that I accept all the other points of your teaching as good and wise, but I cannot possible accept the tearing out of eyes and the cutting off of hands and feet. Think it over yourself whether it is possible to tear out one's eyes. Also, will not the one who himself cuts of one of his hands or feet soon bleed to death? And once he is dead, what fruits of betterment will he then be able to produce?
11
Look, that is the impracticable point of your teaching which can never be reasonably complied with and if there ever should be any fools who do comply with such teaching, they will not achieve any betterment thereby. For if someone should survive, who will not praise God because of the misery such a teaching claimed to be from God has caused him.'
12
Say I, 'Very well, your request is fair enough and it tell you: Among all the priests since Samuel you are the wisest, for you have an honest heart and do not basically reject My teaching, but only wish to have it explained. Therefore, I will also give you a light. This light will not come from My mouth, but from the mouth of one of My disciples. Do now turn to one of My disciples, which will prove to you that My teaching is already understood by people without My explanation.'