The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in two additional towns
- Chapter 143 -
The Lord in the poor inn of the basalt city.
Then we peacefully continued our trip, reached the city 1 hour before sunset and were welcomed by a traditional Jew who possessed an inn. At once we received bread and some wine which the inhabitants of this city itself knew how to prepare from wine grapes that were wildly growing and which was also very suitable for drinking.
2
The innkeeper saw that the wine was for a few disciples not very tasteful, and therefore he said: "My dear friends, I surely can see that our wine is not very tasteful to you, but I nevertheless cannot give you another wine than the one which is the produce of our meager region. We do not have the means to let better wine be brought to this place, and so we thank the Lord that He gave us such wine with which we can better lessen our thirst on hot days than the people in the big cities who only drink the best wine to please their pampered palate. We live here in this city that is far from Jerusalem, not in the manner of lustful gluttons, but in the manner of poor shepherds, and with that we are healthier and more satisfied than the rich in the big worldly cities who think for the whole day as to how they can guzzle more abundantly but do not have time to think about God and to give the honor only to Him. So drink our wine, it will really not harm you."
3
When the disciples heard this from our innkeeper, they praised his faithfulness to God, ate then the barley bread with pleasure and drank the wine with great joy, which was of course a little sour.
4
When we had quickly strengthened ourselves in this way, the innkeeper asked us if we were perhaps businessmen from some region, what we were trading and how long we planned to stay here for our business.
5
I said: "Friend, we are indeed some kind of businessmen, but we are trading in some merchandise that you cannot see now with your eyes, and so you might think that I am joking to you, but this is not the case but it is exactly as I have told you.
6
My merchandise is truly invisible, and yet it has the highest value for every human being who wants to accept it from Me with a faithful and pure heart and will.
7
But so that you can see of what My invisible merchandise consists, you should now bring to Me that one son of yours who is blind and lame. Then I will make him seeing and his limbs straight in one moment."
8
When the innkeeper heard that from Me, he said: "Then You are a Savior, and making sick people healthy is Your invisible merchandise? Yes, if this is the case with You and Your companions You certainly will do good business here, for we are not lacking all kinds of sicknesses that cannot be cured by our doctors. I will immediately bring my blind and lame son here myself."
9
Then the innkeeper went, brought the son that was asked and put him before Me.
10
When he was on a bed before Me, I asked him if he wanted to be seeing and be no more lame.
11
The son said: "Master, if You can do that - which I do not doubt - then give me such mercy of Yours.
12
I said: "Then I will that you become seeing and straight at this moment."
13
As soon as I had said that, the son was already seeing, and his whole body completely straight.
14
And the innkeeper, hitting his hands on his chest, said: "No, this is not a normal way of healing. You must have done this by the Spirit of Jehovah, and You must therefore be a great prophet."
15
On this, the healed son, who was very well acquainted with the Scripture, and especially the prophets, said: "Father, as far as I know, the prophets, who also performed miracles from time to time, never said: 'I will that this or that happens', but always: 'The Lord says, and it is His will that this or that happens, and it will take place if the people of Israel will not turn away from their sins'. But this Savior said: 'I will that you become seeing and straight', and look, in one moment I became seeing and straight in all my limbs of which the whole paralysis tormented me already for several years and partly also since my youth.
16
If this Savior can accomplish all that by the power of His word and will, He obviously must be more than a prophet.
17
The miracle which He performed now makes me really think of the meaningful word of a prophet who said from the Spirit of Jehovah like this: 'When the great Hero, the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings, the Lord of all the hosts will come into this world, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the cripple will be made straight, and the lame will jump around like a deer, and all this He will accomplish by His power, and He will establish a Kingdom that will not end.'
18
Well now, all this corresponds with the manner of doing and speaking of this miraculous Savior, and I think that I am not mistaken when I declare that in Him is hidden the so often promised Savior who is expected by all true Jews with fervent desire.
19
Already His first words that He said to me when I was still blind and lame in my bed made me so excited that I could not doubt anymore that He would heal me, and so I also do not doubt that He is the promised One. And since He came to us, a great salvation came to our house, and with that also to this whole place. The future will tell if I was wrong or not."
20
The innkeeper, the father of the healed one, said: "My son, you could be very right, for this idea came also in me. But let us not come to a conclusion too soon, for this good miraculous Savior will surely not withhold to truthfully tell us more about Himself."
21
I said: "I also will do that, and then you will greatly rejoice about that. But now, innkeeper, go and look into your storeroom to see if you still have a few fishes in reserve. You should let them be prepared in your manner and put them before us on the table, and you and your son will also satiate yourselves with them."
22
When the innkeeper heard My desire, he became very sad and said: "O wonderful Savior, we already were without fish for a long time, for from here to the Lake of Galilee is too far, as well as to the river Jordan, and not less to the Euphrates. Our 2 little brooks - we gather their water in a pond for our house animals - are not suitable to keep fish, and so, honestly speaking, we have not even one fish in this city.
24
I said: "But in the big inner court of your house you have a well that contains sweet water, and next to it a rather big pond that is cut out in rocky ground and that keeps the water well. Why do you not cultivate fish therein?"
25
The innkeeper said: "That You know about everything in my housekeeping I concluded from the fact that when You came into my house You immediately knew about the sickness of my son. And so this is also the case with the well and the pond of stone which is indeed capable to contain a large quantity of fish. But from where should I bring the fishes to put them in the pond? In all directions it is too far to bring living and completely healthy, fresh fish to this place and put them in the pond to further cultivate them. So since this would clearly be a useless effort, my pond remained the whole time without fish, and so for understandable reasons also my storeroom."
26
I said: "If you can believe, then go and look in your storeroom anyway. Then there certainly will be so many fishes that are already slaughtered and cleaned that there will be sufficient for tonight. And from now on your pond will always have a good quantity of noble fishes."
27
On this, the innkeeper was very surprised, and he went to see about the fishes.