The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
On Mount Morgenkopf near Kis
- Chapter 176 -
Occasion with the Pharisees and the gleaning of the wheat on a Sabbath. Mercy is better than offerings. 'The Son of Man is lord over the Sabbath'. Healing of the person with the withered hand. The Pharisees want to stone Jesus. Kisjonah intervenes. The Lord departs, healing many.
After a while however, much nearer the plain, we came to a field of near-ripe grain, spread out before us. The path led through this field and we set upon this one through the field, as it was the shorter one to the village. We therefore travelled through the grain, on a Sabbath of course. The disciples however, having together with Myself had no morning meal, began to pluck some of the riper ears, rubbing the grains into their hands and eating. (Matt. 12:1)
2
Noticing this, the furious Pharisees step hastily up to Me, speaking with self-important mien, 'Do you not see the unseemly thing your disciples are committing on a Sabbath?' (Matt. 12:2)
3
Say I to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry - how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which neither for him nor those who were with him it was seemly to do, but only for the priest? (Matt. 13:4) Or have you never read in the law how on the Sabbath, the priests profane the Sabbath and are blameless? (Matt. 12:5)
4
You have witnessed My works upon the heights and heard My teachings and were repeatedly told Who I am! If all this does not suffice you, then I tell you straight to your faces - He Who is in Me is greater than the Temple. (Matt. 12:6)
5
But if you knew what is meant by, 'I will have mercy, but not sacrifice', then you would not in your hearts have condemned these innocents. (Matt. 12:7) You blind and deaf Pharisees, be told that the Son of Man, Who is Myself, is Lord also over the Sabbath.' - These words so frightened the Pharisees that they stepped back at once and stopped denying the gleaning of the wheat to the disciples.
6
Kisjonah however, who constantly walked by My side and whose field this was, said to Me, 'Lord, I shall hasten ahead at once to arrange an ample meal, for I feel sorry for the disciples and their obvious hunger.'
7
Say I, 'There you shall indeed do well. But I shall nevertheless first visit a school with My disciples, so that the Pharisees' anger should not wax. For they already cannot stomach Matthew for having proven to them that we hasten on account of the Synagogue. Were we to now by-pass the village-school, that would be the end with them and they would start making trouble; if however we go to a school first, then we have shut their mouths and you can without further ado then present them with your bill, i.e. at the end of the Sabbath.' - With these words Kisjonah and his went straight home, where they found everything in the best order.
8
We however turned slightly left towards the school which was situated highest up in the village. Arrived there, we at once entered the rather sparsely attended school. (Matt. 12:9) With the Pharisees at our heels, secretly fuming at having been laughed off by the disciples out on the field, on account of their blindness, after I had chided their objection to the gleaning of grain.
9
On our entering, the Pharisees at once started throwing their weight around, ushering a person to Me whose hand had been withered for a lengthy period and who therefore was capable of hardly any work at all. Here they wanted to know, seeing that I had said that I am Lord also of the Sabbath, whether it is lawful to also heal on a Sabbath. But they only asked to have a witnessed case against Me (Matt. 12:10), for their evil hearts were burning with rage and fury.
10
But I spoke to them, 'Why are you asking Me as if you yourselves were capable of enlivening this one's long-dead hand?! But if I intended healing him, surely I would not ask you for permission to do it!?
11
Which one among you would be foolish enough not to pull a sheep from a ditch because it fell in on a Sabbath?! (Matt. 12:11) But how much better is a man than a sheep! For this reason it surely ought to be lawful to do a man good on a Sabbath?!' (Matt. 12:11)
12
The Pharisees were silent; but I called the person over and said to him, 'Stretch forth your hand!' And he stretched it out and it became whole as the other that had never been sick. (Matt. 12:13)
13
This was the last straw for the Pharisees; they left the school to discuss how to kill Me. (Matt. 12:14)
14
But Matthew, who was a bit of a spy, slipped out, unnoticed by them, soon returning near-breathless and proclaiming aloud what he had heard. Upon this I at once dispatched a disciple to Kisjonah, letting him know that I shall not be able to dine with him for prudence' sake, as the Pharisees were after My life and with My not wanting to make bigger criminals of them than they already are, I shall make Myself scarce to this area for a while. The disciple was off with arrow-speed, knowing where to catch up with Me later.
15
Hardly had he passed it on to Kisjonah, when the latter let everything go, speedily gathering a large number of folk, rushing to the school and arriving just as the Pharisees were entering, well-provided with stones.
16
That on this occasion the Pharisees were served up by Kisjonah good and proper hardly needs mentioning, whereupon I then departed with a larger number of folk, healing their sick on the way; because this area at harvest-time, being located on the Galilean Sea, was fever-stricken and there always were many sick, especially the female sex and these, getting news of Me, ran after the crowd and, catching up with Me on the road, asking that I would heal them. And all who followed us were healed. (Matt. 12:15)
17
After their healing I warned all not to divulge it at home (Matt. 12:16) nor to mention the place where I healed them and which direction I left. They promised to strictly keep it and I let them depart with peace.