God's New Bible

The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3

Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi

- Chapter 8 -

The conditions of the Lord when accepting the disciples.

After such words the young Pharisee rises and comes over to Me and says, "Lord, Master and unique Savior Who I and my 29 brothers are, you certainly know very well, and exactly who you are we have also heard from the great master Julius; so we don't need much introduction. But since we have heard that you take disciples at times, so we would like - even if it is only for a short while, if it cannot be for longer - to be your disciples!"
2
I say, "That would be fine, but you see: The birds have their nests and the foxes their dens; but I have nowhere to lay my head!
3
Whoever wants to be or become my disciple must take a heavy burden onto his back and follow Me like that! Earthly advantages for my disciples there are none; on the contrary in My name and for the sake of My love they have to leave their earthly advantages and property not only for a time, but for ever; even wives and children must not hinder them if they want to become true disciples of the Kingdom of God.
4
They are not allowed to have money or other worldly treasures, not even two tunics, no shoes unless necessary, sacks to fill or a stick or hiking staff to defend themselves against a possible enemy.
5
They are not allowed to have anything on Earth but alone the hidden secret of the Kingdom of God. If you can bring yourself to accept this, then you can be My disciples!
6
Every one of My disciples must also be full of love, gentleness and patience towards every man, just as I am. He must bless his worst enemy just as much as his best friend and must, when the opportunity arises, do good to him who has done him harm beforehand, and pray for those who persecute him.
7
Anger and revenge must be far from the heart of anyone who wants to be My disciple; he must not complain about the bitter events on this Earth or even begin to grumble about it in annoyance.
8
He must flee all the pleasures of sensual life like the plague, but summon up everything to create a new spirit in his heart through My living word and finally for eternity live on completely in this spirit in the fullness of all spiritual power.
9
Think about these conditions and tell Me if you agree to them, and whether you want to bind yourself to all of them!"
10
The young Pharisees began to scratch behind their ears at My presentation, and no-one knew what he should say in return. The young Pharisee however who normally talks with Julius but who is now standing beside me says after a while, half jokingly, "Dear, good and unsurpassable Master! The conditions set us may be good in themselves in consideration of the achievement of even one of your extraordinary, divine characteristics; but there will surely be few who can accept them and live by them! And in general such a demand can never have any value; for if every man finally wanted to become your disciple then the Earth would soon look as it did after the second or third of Moses" days of creation, namely barren, void and empty! Do you know, you will find very few proselytes (new converts) on this path! A few yes, which obey this so-called contemplative life and already in a certain way want to achieve on Earth what they will first achieve in the afterlife, will probably be able to accept this; but all people? O God, what is the world coming to?
11
The old teaching of Moses is still the most exhaustive and in every aspect of the creation the most serviceable for the physical and moral sphere of every man! There one can be a respected man before God and before the world just like David, which is extremely necessary for the maintenance of order on Earth. If you make all people equal, you will soon convince yourself of where humanity will come to very soon! A few should be in possession of the secret of the Kingdom of God on Earth; but for all people this is as if either sheer equal-ranking commanders found themselves in an army, or sheer common, rough fighters without any knowledge of the waging of war, that is, without a leader. Truly, in the end even a few well-led old women would be a match for such an army!
12
I for my own self nonetheless want to become your disciple, even if you had asked even more difficult conditions; but whether all my comrades can accept this, that is a very meaningful question! For you see, the temple truly demands very much, but you demand everything - and to that, friend, very few will agree!"

Footnotes