The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 166 -
The Lord and the rich chief.
When we had consumed the bread and the wine there, and a few of My disciples took information on how far it was to the next village, and when we also prepared ourselves to move on, a chief came to Me and said: "Listen, truly great and good Master in Your field. Since You are a man filled with God's Spirit and seem to know the Kingdom of Heaven better than we, tell me what I must do to receive the eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven."
2
I said: "Since you take Me for a human being who is equal to you, then how can you take Me for a good Master? No one is good but God alone.
3
Since you are a Jew and moreover a chief of the synagogue, you surely will know what Moses commanded. Besides many other things, it is written: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall give no false testimony, and you shall honor your father and mother.' Whoever will keep these, will also receive eternal life."
4
Then the chief said: "Dear Master, I have kept these things since my youth, I mean precisely and accurately, but despite that, I still have not noticed anything clearly in me that would give me the assurance that after the death of the body I would receive the Kingdom of Heaven.
5
They told me from different well-informed sides that people, whose souls made themselves worthy for the Kingdom of Heaven, had appearances already during their bodily life, by which they can know that after the falling away of the body they soon will be taken up among the multitudes of angels into the Kingdom of Heaven. But I have now already become quite old, and I have exemplarily kept all the laws of Moses, but such an appearance, which could give me the aforementioned assurance of the eternal life of the soul has really never happened to me. And thus I surely believe, but in a certain way blindly, what Moses and the prophets have taught. However, with this, there is still no question of a definite knowing beforehand.
6
And look, dear Master, for this reason I have asked You the question, because You, who are completely filled with God's Spirit, will practically know best how and if I can receive already in this life truthful and trustworthy information beforehand and guarantees for a future eternal life of the soul in God's Kingdom of Heaven. Because only believing according to the written words is a weak pillar to sustain the true virtue of the people. Thus, dear Master, tell me something truthful about it."
7
I said: "Yes, friend, what you have said about those guarantees and very clear information beforehand, for sure this is completely correct. All who truthfully live according to the godly teaching and are virtuous and pious, receive such comforting and strengthening guarantees, and in view of your way of life, which is for the rest righteous according to the law, you also could have received it, but for that there is still one thing lacking to you, and more specifically something which is for that purpose of the greatest importance.
8
Look, you are a very rich man and, although you are not exactly stingy, you are still a thrifty landlord who knows how to always be rather economic with neighborly love. Your heart and your soul are still too much clinging on the dead treasures of this world, and the soft light of life of the Heavens cannot penetrate through it. As long as your soul is captured by its love for the dead treasures and the temptations of this world, he is also as it were dead, for also his love that is focused on dead things is dead as long as he is so strongly attached to the dead goods of this world.
9
As long as this is the condition of your life, there can of course never be question of the inner appearances of life. However, I want to give you an advice. If you will follow it, you will receive everything what you until now could have impossibly received.
10
Go and sell all your goods and divide the produce in a wise manner among the poor, by that you will provide yourself a treasure in the Kingdom of Heaven out of which you will receive a real light of life. After that, come to Me and follow Me, then you will receive in abundance the most truthful guarantees for an eternal life. Do you understand Me?"
11
When the chief, who was very rich and possessed many goods, heard this from Me, he became sad, turned his back on Me and went away.
12
When the innkeeper and also the others who were still present saw this, they said: "Yes, yes, dear and wonderful wise Master, also in this You have again precisely hit the nail on the head. Although this chief is according to the law a righteous man, and in no way he can be accused of injustice, but he was never part of the generous men, and even all his servants have a very meager salary and meager food. Whoever does something for him, will surely have problems, even by asking the most reasonable payment for the given work. He discovers errors everywhere and so for this reason he often reduces the specified payment with more than half. But that is also why almost no craftsman do not want anything to do with him.
13
He and that old Pharisee, who is now clearing off together with him, because You, dear Master, have badly offended him also, are exactly the same. The one is just as stingy as the other, but when they talk about their good works, which they would do for the poor, then you would come to believe that actually on the whole Earth you can find no men who are more charitable. And we are now very glad that You, o dear Master, have told these two the full truth."
14
I said: "Yes, I have told them both the fullest truth, but with that I have also shown them the only way on which they can come to eternal life. But moreover, I say to you all, as an always valid truth: o how difficult will such rich men come into the Kingdom of God, which is the true eternal life. I say to you: a camel goes easier through the eye of a needle than such rich person will enter the Kingdom of God.
15
Because every soul takes after the falling away of his body nothing else with him except his love, and the works thereof will follow him as products of his will. Now if the love of the soul is so much attached to the dead things of this world, so that he has become completely one with it, then he is also dead, and because his will is equal to the judged, dead things of this world, also the will misses the complete freedom, is thus also judged and therefore can be considered dead, and this is now what is called Hell and eternal death.
16
Therefore, beware above all that the love for the world, its treasures and temptations will not capture your souls, for whoever will be captured by the world, will have it extremely difficult to free himself out of its power."
17
On this, all who heard this, said: "O dear and most truthful Master, who will then, if this is the case, become blessed? Because all men who we know are for the greatest part full of self-love and love for the world, and we ourselves are suffering from it."
18
I said: "Yes, yes, unfortunately it is indeed so, and men would also eternally never be able to help themselves. But now, as always, that which is impossible with men, that is with God still possible, and precisely for this reason I came into this world as a Man to bring this help to men, which they never in eternity could have provided for themselves. So, whoever believes in Me and acts according to My teaching will also receive eternal life, for I Myself am the Way, the Truth and eternal Life."
19
All were astonished about these words of Mine, and the innkeeper said: "Dear and wonderful Master, that there is hidden more about You than with one or the other prophet, of this I soon became quietly aware in myself, although I did not dare to speak it out aloud, but since You Yourself have now spoken out a great and meaningful word about Yourself, I cannot do anything else except saying: Lord, I am not worthy to raise up my eyes on You, but be forgiving and merciful to me poor sinner."
20
I said: "Be comforted My friend. I came precisely to you because your works were much more pleasing to Me than those of the rich chief and the Pharisee. So only continue to love God above all and your fellowmen - these are all men no matter their social position or their belief - as yourself, and do for them, of which you reasonably can desire that they would also do it for you, then you will fulfill by that the whole law and also everything what the prophets have taught. And if you will do that, then also your sins will be forgiven, even if the number of them would be like the sand in the sea or the grass on the Earth. And so with God everything is still possible which is impossible with men."
21
The tax collector thanked Me for this lesson, as well as all the others who were present.