The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Der Herr in der Stadt am Nebo
- Chapter 201 -
The changed region at Mount Nebo.
The supreme judicial city officer stood up and looked at the environment in every direction and did not recognize it anymore, for he saw a great number of very luxurious, completely ripe grain fields. Also pastures with densely grown grass which extended almost beyond vision. And around the city big gardens that were full of the noblest fruit trees. Also Mount Nebo, on which we were, had become completely green and the most beautiful fig trees and vineyards grew around it. He also saw, somewhat below the city, a rather big pond out of which streamed several brooks in different directions.
2
When the supreme judicial city officer saw all this, he slapped his hands out of amazement above his head, as well as all the others - the innkeeper, the 3 Apollo priests, the Pharisees and the Jews - and he said: "O Lord, this is almost infinitely too much, and it really goes beyond all my imaginations. What will the people, who live in this city and in the rather vast region around it, say about this phenomenon? Impossibly another thought can come up in them except that one or the other god, who became merciful, had done all this by the prayer of one of his priests. But I will very soon inform the people as to how and by what all this came into being.
3
But now I ask You, o Lord, not to perform a second sign, not for me, neither for this whole region, for this sign made me, apart from my great amazement, also very embarrassed. And probably even today and tomorrow there will be so many questions about this, coming from every direction, that we will not be able to give them the right answer."
4
I said: "This will of course be the case, but I will also take care that you will not lack the right answers, and all the people of this vast region will return home with joy and gratitude and will gather what has grown on each one his land. But with the help of your many subordinates you can make a law yourself to seriously urge the people not to make a sensation about it, because by that they will attract many greedy, jealous people from faraway regions, and they finally will have to take up arms to keep the greedy enemies away from the blessed borders of this region.
5
And also you, My disciples and you Jews, should not make a sensation about it in the Promised Land, for many would not believe you but rather laugh at you and persecute you. Many others, weak Jews, would believe you, and through you, also believe in Me, but that belief would not have a firm basis for them because firstly by their own additions they would all too soon make it more sensational, just like they are doing with all their superstition, and secondly such manner of spreading it further would look much like the old superstition and would therefore only bring about a very doubtful belief, for when in the course of time, they later will come into this region to convince themselves of the miracle, they would say that also the true diligence and zeal of men can accomplish that.
6
But later you can mention it in a wise manner to those who already completely accepted My teaching and have by that entered My Kingdom. Those will believe you, but will also say: 'Yes, what can be impossible for the Almighty? If we have Him, we have everything through Him.'
7
So remain in the first place with My teaching, and only after that you can proceed to My signs, which will in the course of time hardly be believed, no matter how true they are, because the reason of men will only stop criticizing these things when they can be initiated in the fundamental cause of its existence, and that initiation can for many not happen here on Earth but only in the beyond.
8
Follow this advice of Mine, then you will by that make good progress on even roads. Otherwise you can come across many stumbling blocks. So good is good, but better is also eternally better, and the best is that which I am telling you."
9
Then they all gave their word that they would loyally follow that advice, and the supreme judicial city officer asked Me if he also should inform the emperor about it.
10
I said to him: "Leave the emperor out of this for the moment, but in a year you can inform My friend Agricola in Rome about it, and at the right time he will also pass it on to the emperor to your advantage. But for the moment it is sufficient to only instruct your district. And if a neighbor from the northern cities will come to you, he himself will tell you who has done this. You can inform the commander Pellagius about it, for in military aspect he is also in authority over this city, and he knows Me."