The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 218 -
How the helpers of the Essenes can be put into service.
When the described wonderwork was done and the parents were staying with their children in the inn, the innkeeper came. This wonderwork was very normal to him in this place, as well as to his staff of the house. He asked Roklus if and for how much he should charge them for this great miracle for the well being of the many poor who were increasing from day to day in this place. Then he would conscientiously give the money - as always - to the manager for the care of the poor.
2
Roklus said, as I secretly put it into his heart: "This mercy was given by God to me for free, and therefore I also do not want any gift from anyone. But if someone wants to do something out of his free will for the poor - who are not lacking here with us - you may accept it and give it to the institution. But let the iron coffins be brought immediately to the stronghold, so that they would not be displayed too long here."
3
The innkeeper said: "But what if the strangers want to take the coffins back home again as souvenir?"
4
Roklus said: "Then tell them that I commanded it that way. However, say to the one who wants to take back a coffin anyway, that his child will die on his way home. Then no one will refuse to leave the coffin here."
5
When the innkeeper heard this from Roklus, he bowed before us and hurried to go inside the house and take care of everything that Roklus commanded him to do.
6
Then we left this place immediately, withdrew to the little place and went to another gate. Outside there was a free inn that was built by the Essenes for already a long time. Apart from the stronghold, it was surely the biggest construction of that place, and many big gardens were also part of it, which formed a whole with the building and were surrounded by a high strong wall with watchtowers every 100 paces apart from each other. In this inn, which, viewed from Essaea, was located between the morning and noon, there were, except from a big number of cripple people, also still a lot of foster children who were given to the parents as their supposed children who were awakened to life again, this according to the former, already known practice of the Essenes.
7
When we arrived in that inn, Roklus said to Me: "O Lord and Master, look, this is now still my greatest point of concern. Healing those many crippled and use them for one or the other service would be easy, especially now that You are present, but these many cripple were unanimous accomplices before, especially during the great ceremonies for the awakening of the dead, and they know also how the deceased children were awakened to life again. If we heal them now and would give them a job in some other place of the world, then it could easily happen that during an unattended moment one or the other would betray our old deceit, and then we could come into great embarrassment of which neither we nor anyone else would benefit.
8
But now I feel compassion for those people of both sexes who are now mostly crippled and sickly by the many efforts they had to perform, and I would like to help them by Your mercy. But when they will be healthy again, they certainly will want their old position back, which gave them great profit, because the many strangers often richly rewarded them for the awakenings. But this position does not exist anymore now and thus they became really an embarrassing problem. Only an advice from Your part can help us in this.
9
With the foster children it is easy to take a good arrangement because they do not know the reason why they are there. Those who take care of them and their educators do know it. However, they belong to us and they surely know about the situation now in this place. So we have nothing to fear from them, because I informed them about You, and although they are mostly gentiles, they obey You and Your teaching in everything. Only about the crippled and sickly people we are, as I said, concerned most of all."
10
I said: "The crippled and sickly people are only gentiles and still followers of their old gods. Bring them to the point of professing the one, true God, and show them the power of God's Spirit in man, awaken in them the faith and the love according to My teaching and heal them afterwards, then you will have nothing more to fear from them. After that, they still will be very helpful to you. And since they belong to you anyway, they also should stay with you, because you want to change many things here, so that nothing will be left anymore of what is old and false. After that, you will need many laborers, and all those who are living within these walls will be very useful. Besides, you have such an abundance of earthly goods to easily maintain and feed 10.000 people for 1.000 years, and that is why you also will be able to maintain and feed for a short time everyone who lives within these walls. Do you also agree on that completely?"
11
Roklus said: "O Lord and Master, eternal love, goodness and mercy. That was secretly also my plan for a long time, but precisely on that point my brothers did not want to share my opinion. But now that they have heard it clearly and understandably from Your mouth, they will, with Your mercy and help, very easily be able to put also these things right. And now a load of 1.000 pounds has fallen off my shoulders. Would You Yourself, o Lord, like to see this inn and institution?"
12
I said: "Friend, for Me certainly not, since I know very precisely all the things that are inside, from the greatest to the smallest, but for the sake of yourselves and My disciples, I also want to enter your institution and walk through its most important parts."