The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Second day in Sychar
- Chapter 94 -
About money. Judas Iscariot's worldly intellectual objections. Trust in God - the greatest treasure. Why Moses did not reach the promised land. The Lord's testimony about Himself. About the curse and the dangers of money in the hereafter and now. The redeeming fire from above. Judas' impudent praise of money. An earnest answer. 'What one loves one knows how to praise'.
But Judas Iscariot, standing next to him says, 'But I maintain that a small amount of money on a journey surely can harm no one?'
2
But I say, 'He who knows Me the way this host does, having been with Me also at Sychar, knows that one can do quite well at My side also without money. Behold, I have neither pockets in My coat, and even less any trace of money, yet I led many hundreds through Judea and Samaria to here! Ask them how much this journey cost everyone!
3
On top of that I tell you that shortly I shall be feeding many thousands, whilst having no more on Me than now.
4
I tell you, a proper trust in God is worth more than all the treasures of the world, with which you can help your flesh indeed for a short time, but not your soul! But if you have ruined and therefore lost your soul, what can you give later to ransom your soul?!'
5
Says Judas, 'Yes, yes, You are right indeed, but man has to have money for some things!'
6
I reply, 'How much money did Moses have when he led the Israelites out?' Judas says, 'He was in possession of gold, silver and precious stones aplenty!'
7
Say I, 'That he had indeed. But this also held him back from entering the promised land. Can you actually grasp this?!'
8
Says Judas, 'Here I should think that with Moses, the prophet of all Jehovah's prophets, not the gold and silver which he had to bring from Egypt on Jehovah's prompting was responsible, but that in a weak moment he failed to build upon Jehovah's faithfulness sufficiently!'
9
Say I, 'And what was the reason for his weakening one day? He Who caused Moses to weaken due to his thought about the gold and silver now stands before you telling you this! It is indeed written allegorically, but in reality it is as I now explained it to you.'
10
Says Judas, 'All right, I believe You that it was once so! But now, half way around the world, through the Roman empire money has been introduced as a lawful means of exchange for the expedient intercourse among mankind, and we are obliged to make use of same, and thus I think that if it is not a sin to drop money in God's offertory, it neither is a sin to give such money to some destitute, that he may provide for himself for a few days; and hence even for the benefit of the poor it is already proper to carry money, once lawfully introduced by the state, and so the host Roban could have hung unto his few silver groshen!'
11
Say I, 'You do indeed carry with you a well-stocked purse, yet you refused to give any alms to the three destitutes who begged off you yesterday, and hence I don't think you make that commendable use of money for which you extolled its virtues to Me!
12
But regarding the money in God's offertory, I tell you plainly, this is a ravaging abomination, not so much on account of some spiritually deprived who think to have secured heaven therewith, but for those who remove the money from the chest for squandering on harlots at night time! So long as there was no money, there were no public whores, as it is now! But since there is money now in all sorts of word to come there also are now at Jerusalem as in all other cities whores without number, with the men sinning with them day and night! And after those who possess much money lose taste for the local ones, they let them be brought from the uplands, buying them in Greece, to then carry on in Judea the most ignominious harlotry with them. And this add a thousandfold more is the blessing of your highly praised money!
13
But this is only the start of the curse hanging over money.
14
But there shall come worse times than when Noah built his ark, and they shall have to attribute their misery to gold and silver, and nothing short of a fire from the heavens which shall consume all that excrement from hell shall save mankind from that tribulation of all tribulations!'
15
Says Judas, 'Yes, yes, You are a prophet without equal and are capable of knowing that, but if money is used correctly then surely it can do no harm?'
16
Say I, 'I say unto you, indeed, if applied correctly, just as one can use everything else on earth the right or wrong way! But the big difference consists in, when you go to a city, you have to carry all sorts of things on your back, either tools or foods, and you shall obtain other things or foods therewith, in accordance with your requirements. This of course is a bit inconvenient, - yet at the same time hard or being seduced into sin! Because if you arrive with junk and bundle, or pulling a cart, and come to a whore to sin, in exchange for a few pots and pans, she will deride and laugh at you, and you shall be saved from sin! Coming to her with gold and silver however, she shall neither deride nor laugh at you, but guide you to her brothel and seduce you to sin, with all sorts of attractions, in order the more to relieve you of your gold and silver! Hence money is a most convenient object, yet also seductive and convenient for sinning!
17
And for this reason Satan introduced it into the world, so it is easier to sin in the world! - Are you not aware of how opportunity breeds thieves?!'
18
Says Judas, 'Sure, sure, this is true! But if all this is just to discourage thieves from finding anything around men for arousing their fancy, then immense changes would have to be introduced among mankind! Firstly, all men should have to be equally poor in worldly goods, secondly resemble each other like male and female sparrows, and thirdly not be wiser than anyone else. So long as this is not the case however all talking, teaching and working of signs is in vain! Many shall of course reform, but ten times that many shall remain the same in spite of all teaching and signs, if not worse, and quite easily ten times so. Because surely, every man has self-love and likes to be reasonably well-provided. Hence, quite naturally, every man first thinks of himself and only then of others! And this surely cannot be held against him! House and land not everyone can have, otherwise God would have to bring house and land into the world with every new-born, to grow up with him. Since this is not the case however, with all the previously born already taking possession of every spot of land, making it impossible for newly-born to possess even a foot-wide piece of land, then nothing remains for them to do in the end but to either make themselves indispensable to the lazy owners through all sorts of education and service, or turn to thievery in order not to be reduced to beggary. If then the more advantaged part of those without land and home receive nothing but money, and then save as much as possible for the old days, then I find nothing wrong therewith, and discover a new creation therein of land and soil, for all those born unto this earth through procreation and birth without the least landed hope. And I must openly maintain that God, being either unable or unwilling to create land for every new-born, has given the rulers the idea of coinage, whereby children of the landless can acquire a necessary living, often better than that consisting in land ownership. And surely it cannot be God's will that children of the landless should perish?! For surely it is not their fault to be born into the world with the same needs as those landed gentry!
19
Even if You may be the greatest prophet that ever walked this earth and I concede everything You have taught and are still to teach, this Your appraisal of me regarding the harmfulness of money I cannot concede. Because however harmful money can be in Your view, so can everything else be harmful. If I possessed all the sheep, oxen, cows, calves, donkeys, poultry and pigeons, and all the fruit and bread, stolen in our country just since David, then I would be the wealthiest man in all Israel! -And fornication was carried on as badly and worse than today when there was no money, such as in Sodom and Gomorrah and Babylon.
20
I do not want to say that You are altogether wrong in what you said about money, but where, on this poor earth, is there an object with which thousandfold wickedness has not already been committed?! But if God does not altogether condemn such mis-use, why should He suddenly be so angry and cursing about money?!
21
Say I, 'Whatever someone loves, that he also has the intellect to commend; you love money excessively and hence well know how to praise it. Hence I shall say no more about it to you, because what one loves, one also knows how to praise! But you nevertheless shall in the not too distant future learn about the curse of money! - But now no more about it! The road to Capernaum is long and we must get there before dark and look for an inn.'