The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 170 -
The innkeeper asks about the Lord.
Now the innkeeper noticed the blind beggar at My side who he knew very well and saw that he could see now.
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The beggar said: "This Lord here who asked you for real wine and good bread. Be glad, for great salvation has come to you because He has taken accommodation into your house, and so you should treat Him with the greatest respect."
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The innkeeper, who was now astonished, said: "Then how did He open your eyes?"
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The beggar said: "I asked Him and He said: 'Be seeing', and I became seeing, and that is all what I can tell you, and now you surely can imagine who He must be, in whose word are such power and authority."
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The innkeeper became more and more amazed and looked at Me with great attention.
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Now the servants brought bread and wine in the right measure and placed everything in good order on the table.
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And the innkeeper who was now filled with respect, asked Me: "Lord, is the bread and the wine according to Your wish?"
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I said: "Completely. It took a longer time for your servants, because they had to take this bread and also this wine from another house and another cellar, for you are saving the good things in one of your other 10 houses in this city. In this house you have however only what you usually serve up to the strangers, and since you are a rich man, this is not so praiseworthy of you. You are indeed a Greek, together with your whole family, and you do not take into account the Jewish laws, although they are not unknown to you. However, it is also honorable for a gentile, and it is beneficial to him when he acts honestly and gives and offers everyone what is his according to your laws."
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The innkeeper did not know what he should answer Me on this. But we took the bread and ate it, and so we also took the wine and drunk it. And also the innkeeper ate and drank with us, for I Myself handed him bread and wine, and he praised God and Me.
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The innkeeper talked with the other citizens who brought Me to him and who also escorted Me into the house. And precisely to the man who offered Me first accommodation, the innkeeper asked what he, as an experienced Jew, actually thought about Me, who I was and where I came from.
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But the man said: "I have not seen this miraculous Man before, as less as you did, but I have heard of the healed blind person who already heard about Him in Jerusalem, that he called Him 'Jesus' and 'son of David', and I concluded that He must come from there. According to His clothing He seems however to be a Galilean, as well as some who came with Him.
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But anyway, He surely is an extraordinary person who has not been carried by the Earth since Moses and Elijah. The name 'son of David', which the beggar gave Him, gave me the idea that according to the predictions of the prophets He is either the prophet Elijah, who will come before the promised Messiah of the Jews, or He actually is the Messiah Himself. I am rather of the second opinion than the first, for all prophets have always only spoken and acted in the name of Jehovah, but this One speaks and acts completely out of His own power, and as said, the name 'son of David' confirms this secret opinion of mine even more because this is how several times the old prophets have named the Messiah who must come. But that is all I can say about Him."
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The innkeeper said: "Although I am too little familiar with your religious doctrine, but a few things I do know, and so I know about the promised Messiah that He will come one time, but that person is now considered by all Jews as a great war hero and they expect him also as such, and they think that he will deliver them from the Roman rulership and will then establish a great invincible kingdom. However, you seem to attribute more godly than human majesty to Him."
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The man said: "But this is also the way how He is defined by the prophets and by David himself, and if He really wants to deliver the Jews from the yoke of the Romans, then for such a work He must be equipped with more than only worldly, human heroic power.
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However, this is still wrapped in great darkness, and not a single Jew can explain with any certainty in what kind of form and with what kind of qualities the Messiah will come. And since this cannot be determined, the Messiah can also come into this world in this form and with these qualities, in the manner as we are just now seeing this Man of wonders before us.
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Now this is my opinion. But you can bring still more bread and wine, for I can see that the guests will soon have consumed what has been put on the table."
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Then the innkeeper commanded his servants immediately to do what the man has told him, and so we soon received more bread and wine.