The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
At the Sea of Galilee (John 6)
- Chapter 144 -
The dependency of human action on the grace of God.
Said I in a very jovially serious tone: "It is truly not very praiseworthy from you, to suddenly perform like this here! Does there exist any other life, strength and power besides God? God wants to make you as free and independent alive as possible forever and shows you here how you can achieve this, to attain a God resembling, freest and fully independent life. Why does such love of God annoys you?!
2
The means of an own physical life is nothing else than an arm by which you can draw the true life of God to yourself. If so, it has no other purpose than the one determined by God.
3
If you then currently act only as physical living people and search for your own honour in such actions, and giving yourself a good testimony, your are identical to the pharisees justifying themselves in the temple before God and say: 'Lord, I thank You that I am not than many others, that I kept the law from the first until the last letter and fulfilled everything precisely what Moses and the prophets have prescribed!' I already have given you this parable, - but you have forgotten it! Would you have remembered it, you also would know that not the pharisee but only the before God very humbling toll collector, left the temple justified.
4
If you say: 'We have effectuated this and that good!', you firstly lie to yourself, but also to God and to your neighbour, because no person can do any good out of himself, and this therefore, because firstly already his physical life is given to him by God - and secondly also the teaching according to which he has to live and to act. If a person cannot see and understand this, he is for himself as much as nothing and is still far away from any independence, because he still doesn't distinguish between his own actions and God's actions through him and feels and regards both as the same; only then does a person enters the circle of life's independence once he starts to observes, that his own life-actions are vainly and trifle and that only the divine work in a person is good.
5
If a person realizes this, he will also more and more strive to combine his own actions with the well recognized divine actions and to also unite fully with the life strength of God in him, through which unification man only then attains true life independence, since he then knows and clearly realizes, that the earlier divine kind of foreign actions have now became his own through the humility before God and by the right love for God. And therein lies the actual reason why earlier on I have said to you: And when you have done everything, then nevertheless say and acknowledge: 'Lord, only You have done everything; we however were out of our self only lazy and useless servants!'
6
If you say this with true recognition in yourselves, then the power of God will grab you under the arms and will complete you; however, if you do not fully realize and acknowledge this in yourself and instead places only yourselves on the altar of honour, since you feel strong yourselves, then the strength of God will not grab you under the arms and will leave your extremely labourious life completion to yourselves, and it then will soon show how far you will get with your own strength. And therefore I also told you that without Me you will not be able to do anything meriting and to achieve your final objective. And if I thus do not keep anything from you what is absolutely necessary for the true, freest and fully independent life of your souls, why are you then annoyed by My such giving and wise troubles for you?"
7
Said Andreas: "It truly does not annoy us; but it is not too pleasant for us, if You occasionally comes with something new, which appears to be completely the opposite of an earlier teaching and if You do not give us an explanation about it free out of Yourself, but instead leave it to us to ask You about it. With Your true almightiness you surely must realize what we can recognize and understand! Because it is not very pleasant to ask You about an extended explanation, because one then always receives a not too pleasant rebuke. If You in future want to teach us something new, then give us immediately the right light with it, so that we then not need to bother You with all kind of questions! Otherwise You are extremely good - what we all realize just too clearly -; however when teaching, You are sometimes quite indigestible!
8
I and we all know and believe that You are the Son of the living God, and that the Godhead in all its fullness like bodily resides in You; but this does not hinder me at all to always tell You very openly where we feel the pressure, when You are not feeling the pressure Yourself. Since we are humans as long as we live and feel all kind of pressure; and because this is for certain the case, we must be allowed to freely express ourselves where we feel pressure and pain also towards God. If God wants to help us, He will be doing the right thing, - and if He doesn't want it, He must acquiesce to it that we will be wailing before Him for as long He keeps us in this sorry life. - This we understand all quite well now and will follow it faithfully; but in future do not give us a teaching without explanation!"
9
Said I: "Brothers, of what I do I know the reason quite well why I'm doing this and that; however, what you do and speak, you do not know the reason at all! But there will comes the time when also you will understand the reason of everything I have taught and done.
10
But lets leave it at that! Since the time has come when the ten new disciples will leave us, and it thus is necessary to give them another strengthening for the road, so that they can become strong to prepare the roads for you in also other parts of the world; since for this good purpose they have sufficient knowledge about My new teaching of life."
11
Hereupon I said to the ten: "So that you as people of heathen origin can supply the other heathens a full valid testimony of Me, who send you to them and that I am the One as you have got to know Me, I will grant you the gift to heal the sick, just like I have granted the same gift to the doctor in Chotinodora and to the one in Serrhe.
12
Lay the hands on the sick in My name and they will become better immediately and they will believe your words! Beforehand you do not need anything further; but when I will have ascended from where I have come, the spirit poured over you will guide you in all further truth and wisdom!"
13
The ten thanked Me for that beyond measure and the captain was full of joy about it and asked Me for how long I still will be staying here.
14
And I said: "This friend, depends on the circumstances and the will of Him who send Me into this world; since also I as just a person for Myself, must direct Myself strictly to what the Father in heaven imposes on Me! Everything is also Mine indeed what belongs to the Father, and I and the Father are basically one, - however, nevertheless the love in Me is always outranking its light, the wisdom. Therefore also My wisdom cannot give My love any laws, but only the other way round. But you will get to know it, for how long I still will be staying here!"
15
Hereupon the captain thanked Me, got up and left for home with the ten, where some duties were awaiting him.
16
For the afternoon the ten still stayed with the captain; the next morning however he send them with good guides and special recommendations to Cyrenius in Sidon, who at their arrival was overwhelmed by joy, when he learned that they were with Me and have accepted My teaching. He kept them for a month with him before sending them with a safe opportunity to Rome, where they again were well received by the emperor and soon were assigned high military offices, and where the giant even stayed for a longer period of time in the palace of the emperor as his body guard and did many good things, since the emperor very secretly liked to obtained his advice in many things.