THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 128 -
The spiritual meaning of the two parables.
I say, "My friend, look, the birds have their nests and the foxes have their holes; but I, the son of man, do not even have a stone on this Earth on which I could lay My head by world law - not to mention an earthly field sown with wheat which would need a reaper!
2
The 'field' that I mean is this world, and the ripe 'wheat' on it are the people, and the 'reapers' should be those that I call My disciples. They should go out into all the world and convert the people and bring everyone to the right path who walk along side roads and false tracks and who seek a safe asylum with thrice bound eyes, but cannot find one.
3
They are 'ripe' because in them the pursuit of a higher goal has become awake and living. Everyone seeks the living rest, crowned with all blessing "but on misleading paths "and reach thereby despite their seeking nothing in the end but the death of the body; beyond that there is only the deepest night for everyone.
4
As long as man does not feel such a need in himself, but instead continues to live quite like an animal unconcerned by his sphere of life, whatever it may become, and eats like a polyps on the bottom of the sea, there is no maturity yet for a higher revelation; but people, as there are now very many, even among the heathens, on almost a third of the inhabited Earth, who seek all sorts of things, avidly long also for the possession of a dreamt-up bliss, often buried in all sorts of passion, are ripe 'seed' for a higher vision, for the truth, that is for My kingdom, and many reapers are needed, teachers from My school, equipped with all love, patience, meekness, wisdom and power.
5
And behold, there are now only few of these; apart from you there are no others, except for the Moors who were here and have fetched the necessary light for their tribe and will also do good works with it in their country! Therefore you few should from now on not fold your arms, but instead work without rest or relaxation, so that the number of reapers of My seed on the great field of life will ever grow more! That is what I wanted to say to you when I spoke of My field, of the ripe fruit and of the too small number of reapers for it.
6
But as far as the old 'Lebanon' is concerned, with its cedars, it represents the scriptures of Moses until these days. It still exists, but its images have become old and decayed like the previously so magnificent cedars, from which the old temple in Jerusalem was made, at least on the inside, and from whose wood the wonderful Ark of the Covenant was made much earlier.
7
The 'cedars' represent the words and the laws in the Scriptures. Once, when the cedars in Lebanon were still young and strong, they were of great use to the people, and a judge called Samuel was truly able to pray under their branches. But the earthly profit-seeking people almost entirely deforest beautiful Lebanon, and only too soon in the place of the old and fully healthy cedars grew all sorts of wild shrubs, and even the old, remaining cedars with their many brittle branches now only serve the monkeys rather than the people as protection and profit "but that naturally just accidentally; for the monkeys cannot recognize the value of a cedar and neither treasure nor put them to good use.
8
And this is what is happening to the ancient Scriptures and the Prophets. One venerates the old book on an altar and prays hair-raisingly foolishly and blindly to it like a divinity and is not concerned at all about the content, and even less and even rarer about acting accordingly. There such a person (a Pharisee) totally resembles the monkey, who jumps around quite cheerfully on the thickest branches and he who wants to drive it away, beats it fiercely and wants to force it to flee. For the monkey always remains a monkey and uses the precious tree for a purpose other than that ordained by nature.
9
And thus the Scriptures are no longer anything more to the people than a fragile cedar to the monkeys, and the whole of Lebanon is now wildly overgrown with all sorts of wild and often poisonous shrubs. These resemble the destructive and extremely bad human statutes, which have taken the place of the Commandments of God, and further resemble the fine and tasteful varnished graves of the Prophets, which are inwardly full of death, decay and nauseous smells, while the living word of the Prophets recorded in books remains unobserved in the sphere in which it should really be observed. It is worshipped as a sanctuary and the hands of those who touch the book of the Prophets unworthily are rubbed raw; but that the word of the prophets is taken to heart and then acted upon "oh, there is no trace of that to be perceived anywhere! What are the so-called Holy Scriptures then? Nothing but Lebanon, overgrown with wild shrubs, now a home to the monkeys and no longer for people enthusiastic for God!
10
In time the teaching that I now give may well suffer the same fate. Men will idolize and worship it as a holy relic and lightheartedly and superficially forget the inner meaning and spirit of this My teaching. They will obey the laws of men and say: `What else do we need?'
11
But then that great distress will come, which the prophet Daniel predicted when he stood on the holy place, saying: But in those days there will be great distress among the people, such as has not been since the very beginning of the world! I now think that you will understand My previous two images very well!"