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 124 -
How difficult it is to instruct the people.
When the Samaritan heard what Thomas said, he thanked him for this instruction and walked back to the table of his companions who had their eyes and ears wide open for what our Raphael said and did, and they were greatly amazed about the dark superstition of the people of what they thought about the moon, the sun and the other stars, and how they transmitted their nonsense also to the other people.
2
And the one who was instructed by Thomas said: "O my dear friends, we still stayed with the old teaching of Moses, and on good grounds we have despised the foolishnesses of the temple that became too great, and for that reason we freed ourselves from it entirely, but to the things that this young man is explaining to the guests now in words that are easy to understand, also we up to now have not been less blind than the temple servants in Jerusalem, and so we cannot thank the Lord enough that He permitted us to arrive here at the right moment to attend this truly heavenly teaching.
3
They say that also Moses has written in the desert an own book in well understandable words, but apparently it became lost already since the Babylonian captivity, and later, when the Greeks and the Romans conquered and destroyed the Babylonian kingdom, those memorable books fell also into the hands of the conquerors. And so, also we possess only some bits and pieces of the old mosaic wisdom.
4
But still, I have spoken several times with our rabbi about the stars in the sky, and he told me many things about what he acquired through verbal transmission. I insisted several times that he also should speak to the people about these things, but he was of the opinion that the people was still too deeply stuck in superstition, which they acquired before among the Jews, and that more powerful and mightier teachers were needed to wipe out the old superstition with the people. Now we see someone who is a mighty teacher, also in these things, and we understand now also very well what those shining celestial globes in the endless wide space of creation are and why they were created. When we will come home, we will also tell our neighbors without any fear or shyness about it, and then in this manner the old superstition must be destroyed."
5
On this, someone else said: "Brother, your intention is simply good, and the people would have a paradisiacal life if they would possess the truth, far away from every superstition, but nothing is more difficult than to wipe out from the mind of man his superstition that he has sucked up since his childhood, by which his fantasy forms with little effort all kinds of fantastically sounding and amusing illusions. That is why it will not be an easy deal for us to accomplish this with our neighbors. So we will only seriously plan something after we will have talked about it with the Lord Himself. He surely will tell us what we should do. For the moment, let us give all our attention to what the wonderful young man says and does, for this is really very exceptional when on his command all kinds of shining little balls appear in the air of the hall and turn and move in all directions."
6
After these clever words, Raphael let it happen that the graphical image of the Earth with the well-recognizable moon would come very near our Samaritans, and they all looked at it with great attention.
7
The chief spokesman said: "So, this is the true shape of our Earth and that little one, that of the moon. Well, that of the moon is easier to understand than that of the Earth, because if the Earth is inhabited all around - at the bottom as well as at the top - then how can the water stay on the fixed surface of the Earth, and how can the animals and men at the bottom of the Earth stay on it without falling off into the eternal deep space? Besides, the Earth turns around its own axis in about 25 hours by which day and night exist, and also the side above and under are continuously alternating. That is why it is all the more difficult to understand that the water and all the other free bodies are not falling off the Earth.
8
Friend, you certainly were not wrong when you talked just now about the difficulty to wipe out the old superstition among the people, for it will still take a lot of struggle before the people will understand that our Earth is and exists as we can see it now before us. And now I very well can see the reason why our old rabbi - although he possessed many hidden knowledge concerning the true shape and the nature of the Earth - did not want to talk to the people about these things, and always said that worthy souls beyond the grave would receive a true light about everything.
9
But now I would like to hear from that young man myself how the water and all those free bodies at the bottom of the Earth can stay on its fixed surface without falling off."