The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Second day in Sychar
- Chapter 75 -
At Sychar. The drawbacks to being good. Zoological example. About redemption from evil. The new Way to freedom for children of God. About dealing with criminals. Parable of the lion. About apostolic ministry.
Says Simon Peter, 'Yes, Lord, we have indeed understood it profoundly; yet this thing has its drawback in that, in my opinion and in line with Your teaching, if all punishment is to be abolished, then the transgressors would soon multiply like the grass on earth and sand in the sea. Wherever a law is given it has to be sanctioned with a corresponding punishment, or it should be as good as no law at all. - Or can a law prevail without sanction?'
2
Say I, 'My beloved, here you judge like one blind judges the colour of light! Go and look at the zoos of the dignitaries; there you shall see all kinds of animals: tigers, lions, panthers, hyenas, wolves and bears. If such beasts were not kept in powerful cages, what life should be safe in the vicinity?! But what folly to cage also the gentle lambs and pigeons!
3
Hell of course requires most severe laws, coupled with the most painful sanctions; but My kingdom, which is heaven, requires neither law, let alone any sanction.'
4
I have not come to educate you for hell through the sanctioned severity of the law, but for heaven through love, meekness and truth. If I now liberate you from the law by My new teaching from the heavens, showing you the new path through the heart to the true, everlasting freest life, who do you want to live always judge and condemned under the law without considering that it is better to die a thousand times bodily in the freedom of love than to walk in the death of the law just for one day?
5
It goes without saying that thieves, robbers and murderers must be caught and imprisoned, for they are like the wild, ferocious beasts that as images of hell live in holes of the earth, day and night on the lurk for prey. To properly hunt for these is even a duty for the angels in heaven, but no one shall destroy them. They must be kept imprisoned to be calmed and tamed, and only in cases of violent resistance shall they be wounded and, if quite unyielding, their body may also be slain, for then a dead hell is better than a live one.
6
But whoever will go on to judge and put to death an imprisoned thief, robber and murderer will once have to face My wrath, for the more severely men judge and punish their offenders, the more cruel, careful, furtive and hard the still free criminals will become, and when they break into a house at night they will not only take whatever they find, but will also murder and destroy all who could betray them.
7
If, however, you abolish the severe judgement and wisely suggest to all people to give the one who should ask someone for a shirt also the coat, then thieves would still come to you asking for this and that, but they will not rob or murder.
8
Once men will out of true love for their brothers and sisters, resulting from their love for Me, cease to amass the transient goods of this earth and instead imitate Me, then there will soon no longer be any thieves, let alone robbers and murderers.
9
Whoever thinks that through severe laws and increasingly harsher judgement all offenders will eventually be eliminated is grossly mistaken. Hell has never yet lacked those. What use is it to you to kill a devil if instead of the one killed hell sends ten, each of whom is worse than ten of the previous kind would have been? If the evil one when he comes finds that he is opposed again by evil, he becomes enraged and turns into a complete Satan, but if he finds nothing but love, meekness and patience, he desists from his evil act and continues on his way.
10
When a lion sees a tiger or another enemy approaching him, he soon gets enraged, leaps at him with all force and destroys his enemy, but he will allow a weak little dog to play with him and becomes quite gentle. And if a fly comes and settles on his strong paws, he will hardly look at it and let it fly away unhindered, for to catch gnats and flies is beneath a lion. That will also be every powerful enemy's attitude towards you unless you oppose him with force.
11
Therefore, you should rather bless your enemies than catch, judge and imprison them, and you will gather live coals over their heads and thus prevent them from harming you.
12
With love, meekness and patience you will succeed everywhere, but if you judge and condemn people, who notwithstanding their blindness are still your brothers, you will, instead of the blessing of the gospel, sow only curse and discord among men on this earth.
13
Hence you have to be fully My disciples in word, teaching and deed, if you want to be and become My servants in the spreading of My kingdom on earth! If you don't want this however, or if it seems too much effort or not right to you, then it is better for you to return home; I nevertheless am able to raise disciples from stones for Myself!'