The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Der Herr im Jordantal
- Chapter 231 -
The Lord predicts the arrival of a caravan to the innkeeper.
Now also the wife and his 2 daughters came to us in the guest room, and the wife asked the innkeeper: "Do those guests take no hot meal, no fish and no meat?"
2
The innkeeper said: "If they wanted I would have told you. These guests are satisfied with bread and wine, so you and your children can go to bed now."
3
The lady innkeeper said: "We will not be able to sleep much tonight for we have only 2 loaves of bread left, and as I can see, there are many guests here who will not have enough with 2 loaves of bread."
4
The innkeeper said: "Then go to work and provide good bread for tomorrow."
5
On that, I said: "As far as we are concerned, you can refrain from baking bread, for as long as we stay here we will not lack bread. But take a few pieces of bread from the table and give them to your wife and your 2 daughters, and fill also 3 cups with My wine and give them to drink."
6
This was done, and the wife and the 2 daughters could not stop being amazed about the quality of the wine and asked the innkeeper from where it came from, for they did not know anything about such good wine in the cellar of the innkeeper.
7
The innkeeper said: "We will talk about that tomorrow - the guests brought the wine - but now, tell my helpers that they must provide fresh fish for tomorrow."
8
When the wife and the daughters heard that, they thanked for the wine and also for the bread. But the wife could really not understand from where we got so many breads since the whole big table was still full of bread, and the wife thought that the innkeeper had perhaps borrowed the bread from a neighbor.
9
But the innkeeper said: "All this is no concern to you. You will hear about it tomorrow. But now do what I told you."
10
Then the wife and her 2 daughters left us, and we did not hear further questions of the wife and we had peace.
11
When the innkeeper became really pleasant by the wine, he asked Me from where I and My companions came and to where I was about to travel.
12
I said to him: "You also will hear about that tomorrow, but this you may know: that I came from above and that I will now travel close to Jerusalem via the Jordan Valley.
13
The innkeeper was satisfied with that answer and asked Me if I and My companions would soon go to rest.
14
I said: "Your chairs around this table are very comfortable. That is why all of us will remain sitting at this table and take our nightly rest in this way."
15
The innkeeper said: "You will receive as you wish. However, I also have very good resting beds, but if you prefer the chairs, then this is also good to me."
16
I said to him: "I surely know that you also have resting beds, and in sufficient quantity, but you will need these today, for over 1 hour a little caravan will come over from Jericho, and these will also take accommodation here. So you can prepare for it, for I do not tell you an untruth."
17
When the innkeeper heard this from Me, he quickly went to the kitchen and told his wife. And his wife became desperate because of the lack of bread.
18
Soon the innkeeper came back and said to Me that his wife was really embarrassed because she only had 2 loaves of bread in reserve.
19
But I said to the innkeeper: "Then go to your bread storeroom and see if you do not have more than 2 loaves of bread in reserve."
20
Then the innkeeper left the room hastily, for he suspected that I might have multiplied his 2 loaves in the same manner as the bread on the table. And when he came into the bread storeroom, he saw that it was completely filled with excellent bread.
22
The innkeeper said: "You just ate the same bread in the room with your 2 daughters, and it did not hurt you, neither me nor the remarkable guests who all ate and are still eating from that miraculous bread. So do not worry. But go to the next second big guest room and prepare everything there for the guests who will soon arrive. Illuminate lights, so that the arrivals can immediately enter a well illuminated guest room. And when they will sit at the table serve them correctly, for I will not be able to associate much with the new arrivals because I will stay with the first guests and will serve them as necessary."