The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Golan
- Chapter 78 -
The captain speaks about how one should seek God.
One of the two said: "High commander, we see that you are really very right. And happy and blissful can every man be praised who can firmly believe and trust like you, because he certainly will very well bear every discomfort that can happen to him on this Earth, and he is always fully comforted in his mind.
2
But how can we obtain such faith and such trust? Look, up there on the largest part of our main road are our first priests of Zeus and Apollo, and not far away from them, 2 Jewish rabbis. Our priests show us through their conduct how little value they attach to the gods for their own salvation, and so also the Jewish priests show that their faith and trust in their one and only true God is not one hair better than that of our priests.
3
Oh, as soon as all danger of a possibly following nightly storm is over they will immediately appear and will dynamically begin to preach about the gods who are angry because our faith in them is weak, and that our offerings are much too little, and they will say that if we will persevere in our unbelief and will continue to bring too little expensive offerings in the temples of the gods, the gods will become even more angry and will make a dessert of this whole country.
4
Maybe even today they will begin to wail in this manner in their temples, and they probably would already have started if a clear morning would have shown them that they do not have to be afraid for a returning storm, but the very hazy and still threatening morning is still holding them back.
5
And it is also the same with the priests of the Jewish God. They also must already keep loud preachings for repentance and offerings if the very dark and ominous morning would not have kept them away from entering their synagogues to only wail to their own advantage.
6
Look, high commander, we can very clearly see the already long existing deceits of our and the Jewish priests, and with every somehow dangerous opportunity we experience that the priests are the first who run away and are clearly showing by that how little faith and trust they possess regarding the gods they praise so highly. If in the army the generals run away for the enemy, from where should their soldiers obtain their courage? But if the gods, seen in light of the reason, mean as good as nothing to the priests, then what must and can they mean to us?
7
And so, high commander, it is really very difficult for us, even impossible to obtain a firm faith and trust in our gods, or in the one God of the Jews. And therefore we cannot be blamed for our old proverb according to which everyone should help himself, and if he cannot do that then the gods as well as his fellowmen will let him down.
8
But you, high commander, have spoken a good and true word to us, and after all, a God as you described to us must exist. But where is He? How can one truly find the way to Him?"
9
The captain said: "For a worldly person this is of course not as easy as so many worldly intelligent people might think, and they say: 'If one or several gods exist, they should make it easy for us people to find them if they want to be known and honored by us - as all the priests are strictly imposing on the people everywhere. And if the gods will not let themselves be found by the people, quickly and easily, then they do not want to be known and honored at all, or they do not exist at all, and then all searching is useless.'
10
But I say to you that this is not so. For firstly, there is since eternity only one, sole true God, and that God wants people to search Him, find Him, be known and honored by strictly keeping His commandments that He gave to us for our salvation. And secondly, since there is a God who can very well be perceived in His works by everyone who somehow wants to make the effort to search, man should also zealously search that God with a true love's desire, but not from today until tomorrow like thoughtless children, but from day to day with an ever increasing zeal and diligence and with a growing desire to love Him, and then God will let Himself be found by such seeker as He let Himself be found by me and many others.
11
And when He let Himself be found by one or more people who search for Him in the right manner, He will tell such faithful seekers what they further should do according to His extremely wise will and how they should live in order to stay in His love and mercy and to be awakened for the eternal life of their soul.
12
And such a person will even under the most threatening circumstances on this material world of trials not become weak or waver in his truly living faith and trust, but he will endure everything without much fear or fright, with all patience and in full dedication to the divine will that he knows. And finally he will thank God for everything because he can see that God has decreed all circumstances in this world only for the real salvation of men. And the one who has found God in such manner has certainly found his highest and most valuable treasure of his life.
13
And since that is the highest and most valuable treasure of a human life - which you can understand now - it is certainly well worth to search for such treasure with the greatest zeal and seriousness until it is found.
14
People are making every effort to pursue and seek worldly, perishable treasures and goods. The one drills into the mountains to find gold, silver and precious stones. Another one dives into the deepest of the sea to find a few pearls. A third one sails on a bad ship over the wide, stormy sea to sell his goods from his own country in a foreign country for a few pennies more. And so the one is busy with this and the other one with that, and no trouble is too great for it as long as he can get hold of some perishable advantage for his life. But why do people not also want to take the trouble to search for the highest treasure of life while they know that those who sought that treasure with true zeal have also faithfully and truly found it?"