The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord on the Mount of Olives (John Chapter 8)
- Chapter 217 -
On the Song of Solomon.
After quite a while of consulting each other they came to the idea, to ask the Roman how much sand was there in the sea and how much grass on earth.
2
Said the Roman: "Only fools and never ever thinking and reasonable people could ask such a question, of which the numerical answer is forever foreign to themselves and will stay unknown to them and also must, because firstly the counting for very comprehensible reasons is for every mortal totally impossible; and secondly, even if the counting of the grass on earth was possible, we until now do not have a known number, which could quantify the manifold of the grass on the whole earth; and finally thirdly, and even if I would give you a nearly endless accumulation of for us known highest numbers and digits to indicate the quantity of the sand in the sea and the grass on earth, I still ask you: Who will be able to tell you, whether I have given you a too high or a too low number? And if someone would say this, I as a high standing Roman provided with multiple governmental powers by the emperor, will be entitled to demand from the opponent of my answer on life and death, a mathematically proven rebutting evidence, which however no person but only God could give me; since the person had first to count in front of many witnesses the sand and the grass, what would be totally impossible, because of the elementary conditions and also the human age, and as such within a thousand and again a thousand years you could not provide me with valid rebutting evidence.
3
Thus, what for such a ridiculous question, which nonsense the sparrows on the roof must recognize? You can only ask me about things of which you yourself know the answer quite well and of which you can assume that it will be unknown to me. But with questions which I can answer as I want to, and to which you forever cannot prove that I have given you an incorrect answer, I will beat you all the time most easily! Thus with your second question you have gone down even worse than with the first; therefore just give me the third, but reasonable question!"
4
Here the people started to rejoice about the stupidity of the scribes and praised the Roman because of his sober and clear mind. The Roman however asked the people to be quiet, since he was not yet finished. Once he had finished answering, the people could rejoice to their heart's desire. The people became quiet again and the Roman demanded the third question.
5
After a short pause the scribe asked the Roman: "Since you are so competent with our scriptures, I asked you whether you are familiar with the high song of Salomo, and what it means."
6
Said the Roman: "O yes! This song because of its high poetry and mysticism, I long ago became fond of it. In all truth, until now I did not fully understand its deep meaning; however since I have found Him to whom it exclusively refers to, I can assure you that it contains no verse, which is not clear to me as the brightest sun at noon. If you want to, I immediately will give you a test in front of the people, to indicate that I understand the song quite well."
7
Here the scribe reconsidered to ask the Roman any further; since he noticed it quite well that the Roman will point everything spiritually to Me and My teaching, and that it is the new church which has found in Me its long searched friend and invited Me as guest of love and life.
8
The scribe therefore said: "We already can see that also with this question we have made a mistake and voluntarily give it up as lost. Since we have to asked you, we want to ask you the fourth question.
9
What is the soul of a person, and where is she located in the body? - This is surely a very proper question, to which no complaint can be made!"
10
Said the Roman: "O, for sure, and I will answer it to you according to psychology and according to my own experience truthfully, although I only too well know, that nobody of you know what the soul is and where she resides in the body!"