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 212 -
The confession of Peter and his request to explain the parable of the sower.
When I finished this teaching, Simon Judah, who was named Peter, stood up and said: "Lord, we all thank You also for this great lesson, for only now I feel deep in my mind that for what Your body is concerned, You are the Son of God and therefore also really the Christ about who the prophets frequently prophesied, but also already before Moses, starting with Abraham, the great enlightened first grand patriarch of men. I really do not know anymore with what other question I could bother You, for everything seems to clearly float now like a great image before my eyes."
2
Then I said: "Simon Judah, you have spoken rightly because it is so, but nevertheless you will flee with the other sheep when the Shepherd will be hit, because man must first show many proofs of his faith before he will be perfected and be like his Master. Remember therefore My words that it will also happen to you that you will completely deny Me before the world. You will repent again and strengthen your weak faith, but not out of yourself but out of My Spirit in you that will strongly pull you by the hair to it."
3
On this, Simon Judah said: "Lord and Master, it is remarkable of You that You can never predict something really nice about us, while we were with You from the beginning, and for Your sake we left everything, like our fields, houses, wives and children."
4
I said: "If I would have created and called you only for this world, I also could predict good worldly things to you, but since I called you only for Me and for My Kingdom in the beyond, why do you care when I cannot predict anything good or nice about you for what this world is concerned? Because you know that the actual bad and dark world will only love and make happy those who are like it. But when they are not like that, it will persecute and condemn them.
5
But just like Me, you are not from this world but from above. Therefore, the world persecutes and hates us. And since this is so and not otherwise, I cannot predict for you, My dear Simon Judah, for what this world is concerned, anything else but the same as I have always predicted for you. Do you understand that?"
6
On this, Simon Judah said: "O Lord and Master, I do understand it, but it is the same with me as with our friend the supreme judicial city officer - we are completely destroyed by Your infinite perfection and Your personal presence.
7
But now that I am speaking anyway, I would like to ask You for a further explanation about a parable of the Kingdom of God that You once gave us near Besetha . You gave us an explanation at that time that was very good, but the image itself, even with the best of my will I could not really understand it.
8
The image or parable sounded like this: that the Kingdom of God, which is the same as the Kingdom of Heaven, is like a sower who went out to sow wheat on his field. While he was sowing, a part fell on the paths and roads. Soon this was partly trampled down and partly eaten by birds. So they did not germinate and did not produce any fruit. Another part fell on rocks and stones, germinated as long as they still had moisture, but this was soon not the case anymore, so that the seeds had no more food, withered and did also not produce any fruit. A part of the seeds of wheat fell between thorns and bushes, germinated, but were soon overgrown by the thorns and bushes, suffocated and did therefore produce no fruit either. Only a part fell in good soil and produced fruit a hundredfold.
9
That was the image, o Lord and Master, that You told us. And when we asked You: Where and how?, You said to us: To you it is given to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but not the others, as it is written in the Scripture: 'They will look and still not see anything, listen and still not hear or understand.'
10
After that, You explained the image to us and we were all very satisfied with the explanation, but till now not completely with the image itself.
11
If You, o Lord and Master, meant us who are appointed to spread among the people Your teaching, which is the actual Kingdom of God on Earth, and the sower represented us, then Your image would be completely correct, but if You represented Yourself as the sower, the image seems again very strange to me, for I really cannot imagine a wise sower who would sow three quarters of his noble seed where experience teaches him after a very long time that paths and roads, rocks and stones, thorns and bushes are absolutely not suitable to sow noble wheat on it since such places can never produce any fruit. And the sower will certainly be wise enough to prepare first a field that is suitable for sowing before he will sow his wheat on it, so that it will produce a hundredfold fruit to him.
12
But You, o Lord and Master, are as sower infinitely much wiser than all of us will ever be, and so I think that I would commit a big sin if I would take You for such unwise sower. But if You represented us, Your disciples, as that unwise sower, then, as said, Your image is completely correct, for there is still much foolishness and ignorance in us.
13
Besides, You already warned us several times that we should not throw Your pearls - which are the same as the pure wheat and therefore also the same as the Kingdom of God - to the swine. And I think that with this image You also meant to say that we should not sow Your wheat on paths and roads, on rocks and stones and between thorns and bushes, because they will not produce any fruit there. Lord and Master, did I clear up Your parable in the right manner?"