The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Kis at the Sea of Galilee
- Chapter 118 -
Conversation between the temple servants and the Lord.
The scribe said: "Friend, how do You know all that?"
2
I said: "You just said that you are very experienced world travelers. But where is it written that one of us is not also a very experienced world traveler? How often did you not show for money the whole institution of the temple to strangers? How could that be kept silent?
4
Is the temple, which is now criticized from the true mouth of God, still the same as during the time of Salomon? Oh, not at all. The old, sacred house of prayer has become a robber's den and a murderous pit.
5
Look, this is the condition of the temple, as everyone knows, and for the anointed One of God it is not at all necessary anymore to speak to the people about your godliness to make the temple suspicious and to downgrade it. And all the better people know about it already for a long time, and they complain bitterly about it to the anointed One of God. If this is the situation, do you perhaps think that He will praise it and reject the people who complain and cry? No, truly not. He, who is the most righteous amongst the righteous, will eternally never do that.
6
If you would meet that Nazarene whom you hate so much, and He would tell you exactly what I have told you now, then what would you answer Him?"
7
The scribe said: "Yes, Friend, if one has to stay with the truth, then little could be answered in favor of the temple. The only thing that one should nevertheless consider is that not we, nor a lot of us, are those who have changed and deformed the ancient, good and true rules of the temple as they are changed and deformed now, but already for a long time only the leaders, chiefs and the most mighty in the temple. What can we subordinate ones do except to comply with what the temple, of which we live, prescribes us? We have been made young wolves, and must howl together with the old wolves in order not to be torn apart and eaten up by them.
8
To teach the pure truth and also to act according to it would be the best, the most beautiful and most wonderful among men on Earth. But what can be done if for the sake of the truth, all imaginable persecutions, punishments and even the death on the cross can be inflicted? If the condition is such, then one has to become a persecutor of the truth in order to live, because, without ever having willed it, one has to live in the world.
9
But God is almighty and also extremely wise. Since the very beginning He has arranged everything well and wisely. Then why did He allow after some time that men, who certainly are His most outstanding created beings, sank now so very deeply from their original purity and dignity?
10
If the anointed One is so mighty in word, will and action, and all elements obey Him, then with all the might and power that He possesses He must be able to act against the present misbehavior of the temple and destroy it completely."
11
I said: "You are a scribe and you reason about divine things and arrangements even darker than a blind person about the colors that become visible to the eye by the light.
12
Of course, man was not placed into this world by his own will but by the one of the almighty God. However, God, as the eternal and most pure Love Himself, is extremely good and wise, and He knows why He has created man and has placed him into this world for only a short time for testing and strengthening the free will that was given to him.
13
In order for man to be aware why he was created and placed into this world, God has faithfully revealed all this to him at all times and gave him also such laws of life to reach without fail the goal that was set before him if he would keep those laws, which is very well possible.
14
But when did God ever command man to make the greatest possible misuse of his free will and to harm himself by that?
15
If God has the most perfect, best intentions with man, namely to give him an eternal free, and thus similar to Him, blissful happy life's existence, then why does powerless man resist against this noble intention of God - while he cannot forbid the eternal Lord to create - and this in a manner as if he is lord over the very wise and good will of Jehovah? If you feel in yourself that you must live in this word, then why do you also not feel with a thankful heart why God has placed you in this world, since He faithfully has revealed His will to you?
16
Now if man feels what kind of evil he has done to himself by his proud stubbornness against the revealed and well known will of God, and if God has come now Himself according to His prediction in the Son of Man in full truth to degenerated mankind to guide and to bring them to the old way of life with all love and the greatest patience - which He proves by his teaching and deeds - then why do you abhor Him and do you not want to let yourselves be helped by Him?
17
This is certainly not the fault of God, but only of yourself, by your insatiable greed and your truly satanic lust for power - even over God. Yes, if God would be as hard, loveless and fully impatient as you are, He would not only have made a definite end to the temple and its evil servants, but also to this whole Earth. But He suffers your blindness and its resulting wickedness, and admonishes you all to return to the enlightened way of life.
18
But you do not want that and persist not only in your old vices of all kind, but you even increase them from day to day, and God Himself, who wants to help you now, you persecute, in a way that can be clearly seen and recognized by everyone. Is God perhaps also to blame if you disgust His eternal love and truth, which you want to punish in your blindness and wickedness?
19
Yes, yes, by your laws of falsehood you still will nail the eternal truth to the cross. But then the measure of your wickedness and hardness will become full, and then the judgment will come over you and give you the reward that you yourself want to receive from God because of your wickedness, and which He, because of His love, patience and mercy, is still withholding from you until now, because He did not place any soul, not even the one of the wicked high priest, for the sake of destruction into this world.
20
Look, this is how we all think. Why do you also not think likewise, completely in the true life's order of God?"
21
The scribe did not know anymore what he could object to My words. After a while he said: "Yes, yes, Friend, You certainly are a Galilean by birth, and You seem to be very impressed with the famous Nazarene. You are of course completely right, but what can we do, we who are dependent on all kinds of worldly laws?
22
If we leave the temple, we will have to search everywhere for our necessary livelihood just like the birds, and if we stay in the temple we must tolerate its rules and precepts, and we must, at least for the sake of appearances, do what we are commanded to do. The prophets have certainly always done the will of God, which they knew well, but their life in this world was certainly not commendable, and besides, their life on this Earth mostly ended with all kinds of hard persecutions.
23
If the life of man, even under the happiest life's conditions, is already many times worse than a bird in the sky, then what will this earthly happiness look like of those people who are despised and persecuted by the people of the world?"
24
I said: "It always looks extremely good with the life's happiness of those who are enthusiastic about God, for they know in themselves why they were placed into this world. And if they suffer, they know very clearly why. Also, they are not afraid for the death of the body because they already have, feel and see in all clearness the eternal life of the soul in themselves, and in this life, also the power and the might of the Spirit of God in them by which they possess eternal life and divine wisdom.
25
But on the other hand, what has man in him who guzzles in all worldly pleasures? About what is he finally aware? Of death, after which no life wants to appear to him. And finally despair is his lot. What actually means the earthly suffering of a person who is enthusiastic about God compared to his happy separation from this world, and what means the very short good life of a worldly person compared to his unhappy separation from this world? Now compare yourself who of those 2 people in the world is the happiest.
26
What does man, who possesses the wisdom from God, actually lose, when he is despised by the blind worldly fools, and is persecuted in one way or another, and is finally even killed? He does not only lose anything, but gains by it, because by his patience, he more and more will be closely connected with the Spirit of God, and thus he also becomes more truthfully aware in himself of the blissful, eternal life.
27
But what do the worldly people gain who despise and persecute the wise person who received his wisdom from God? Eternal death and its judgment. If the temple cannot offer you anything better than the satisfaction of your body - if you serve its evil purposes - then you are truly very pitiful people, and a blind beggar in the street is better off than you."
28
When the 2 heard this from Me, they were even more surprised, and none of the 2 knew now what to answer Me.
29
The scribe praised My intelligence, told me that I was right in everything and said finally to Me: "Friend, I will keep a counsel tonight with the others, and the result of that will certainly be that we will entirely give up the persecution of the Nazarene, but we will nevertheless try to personally make acquaintance with Him. And what He will advice us, we will do. Because from You we have now tasted His truly divine wisdom and we are now already completely different people. What kind of impression will He then make upon us. Tomorrow we will continue this."
30
Then the 2 said good-bye, returned to their table and went soon to rest. We stayed however well over 1 hour awake and talked with each other about these My persecutors. And Kisjona and Maria were very glad that these temple servants did not recognize Me, and that they changed their mind.
31
When the Pharisees came into their dormitory they very seriously deliberated as to what they should do in the future. And they all agreed that they should meet Me somewhere and should let them be advised by Me as to what direction their life had to take in the future.
32
Now we also went to rest, but not in a separate bedroom - with the exception of Mary for whom Kisjona had taken special care - but as it was often the case, we stayed at our table, which was of course cleared first.