The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 86 -
Helena, the noble daughter of the wise Greek.
At this the daughter Helena steps up to Me somewhat shyly and asks, "Lord, you incomprehensibly great Master and Savior! Oh, do not hold it against my old father; for you see, I as his daughter have known him my whole life long and can bear the truest witness that he is a good, gentle and very accommodating man, and I cannot ever remember him putting himself before someone else, even if he had the right on his side and the other person was rather wrong than truly in the right. He has never fought with anyone or become annoyed about a wrong done to him and grumbled about it! But the high gods never let him sink because of it, and the blessed goddess of happiness was always best disposed towards him.
2
Thus you also, who seem to be a little bit of a god yourself, will not take such an out-spoken care by my father as something which offends your highness! If you are nonetheless so hard, then take my life as penance for my father whom I love above all else!"
3
I say to everyone standing around, "Have you ever seen such an example of the love of a child in all of Israel? Truly! She may well be a heathen, but she puts all of Israel to shame, which received the commandment from Moses to obey, honor and love father and mother!"
4
They all say, "No, Lord and Master! Such a thing has never been heard of in Israel!"
5
I say to Helena, "Do not be afraid, My daughter, for I have known your father for a long time and you as well; and if I didn't know him and you, you would both have been buried in this evil sea!"
6
Helena, says, "But you extremely wise, powerful and nonetheless friendly Master! How can you have known me and my father for a long time? We have hardly known you for an hour?!"
7
I say, "Oh Helena, look over there, the sea and all the Earth; look, those are already very old things, and nonetheless I was there before all that!"
8
At this Helena starts and asks me most reverently, "In the end are you the highest Zeus himself?"
9
I say, "Dearest dove, do not worry your heart with empty things! I am not Zeus, because in truth there has never been a Zeus. But I am the truth and the life; those who believe in Me will never see, feel or taste death in all eternity! Do you know now who and what I am?"
10
Helena says, "But if you alone are the cold truth and the pure life from it, how does it happen then that I am beginning to feel very much love towards you?"
11
I say, "Dove! That should only be revealed to you on the mountain! But now let"s go, otherwise the sun will rather go (go down first)!"
12
We then leave the truly regal tents of splendor and make our way up the mountain which we soon climb because of its insignificant height.
13
When we were at the summit, Cyrenius noticed how magnificent and beautiful the whole extended area looked, and that he could now observe such magnificence for hours without becoming in the least bit tired. It was only a shame that the day lasted too short a time.
14
After a while Simon Judas came to Me and said, "Lord, today You could truly say to the sun like Joshua: Be still, sun! so that the children here could enjoy the magnificence of the evening for longer and would praise highly He who made it!"
15
Cyrenius says, "Oh Simon, you old true fisherman and now disciple of our great Master and Lord, that was a good thought of yours, and it would be very much easier for our Lord to do this than it was for Joshua, for well-known reasons!" Then Cyrenius also turned to Me in this matter, and Jarah supported such a request.