The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
In Jesaira
- Chapter 179 -
The old host's humbleness and magnanimity. Grace from above. The Lord's glory. The people praise the Lord and expose the Templers.
After the quarters had been organised, the old man came to Me with his sons, who mostly were fishers, boatmen and carpenters, saying, 'Lord, as quickly as it was possible, everything has been readied for Your accommodation, and You are now invited to make full use of it forthwith. You now are, as always, the Lord also of this house, which I have built with my seven sons. Let you command it and I with my house shall be Your servants.
2
Say I, 'You are the way you are, and I also am what I am; but since you are so humble, lowering yourself, you shall once be elevated in My kingdom! Our needs for today are just a little rest. But let the sick come here tomorrow, so I may heal them.
3
Says the old man, 'There You shall have much to do, for it is not an inconsiderable district and it would be hard to find a house without a sick. Although the area along the coast is one of the most fertile, it nevertheless is one of the least salutary for man's health; nothing but fevers and boils of every kind!'
4
Say I, 'Let that be! Tomorrow all that shall change; but provide yourself with fish for tomorrow, so that My disciples, who mostly fasted today, can be filled again tomorrow! Everything shall be compensated to you!'
5
Says the old man, 'Lord! Forgive a little rejoinder here! Thousands have already been lodged and satiated here, and never yet have I accepted anything from anyone and how much less from Yourself! My bills I hand over to the winds and these carry them aloft to the stars where the almighty Father dwells. He has so far always been My best payer and compensator and shall be so again this time as well! How many sick and ailing have not been cared for here for months on end and yet in spite of the harmfulness of the area, none of my household has become ill! Lord! This is a grace from above and hence let You not speak of compensation or payment, for I would accept neither the one nor the other!'
6
Say I, 'Yes, but there is actually a snag to this! For if I do not compensate you, then the compensation from the stars shall turn out somewhat meager as well! Because My say and direction extend even to the stars and beyond!'
7
Here the old man is taken aback tremendously, not knowing what to say. Only after a while does he say somewhat timidly, 'For Jehovah's sake! Are you perhaps an angel from the heavens or is one helping you, or is given You as a servant by the Father from the heavens?'
8
Say I, 'Let you just take yourself some overdue rest now; but much shall be revealed to you tomorrow! But go out to the people, who still are noising about and ask them to retire and to bring the sick here tomorrow; I shall heal them all.' The old man went and did as I commanded him.
9
And the people started cheering wildly, yelling, 'Praise be to the exalted Son of David! He came to us to free us of every plague! Although we do not know whence He came, one thing is certain - God's Spirit is with Him, as it was with His forefather David! For were it not with Him, He would not have healed the possessed!'
10
Some Pharisees however also had set out with the people to observe, as Jerusalemite Temple police, everything else that I, of Whom they had been hearing much, would do. The healing of the possessed, who was deaf, dumb and blind as well, had jolted them mightily, and they were constantly plotting on how to cast suspicion on Me before the people as a tramp, rogue, deceiver and even as a magician in league with the devil. Whence they said to the people, 'Tomorrow it shall transpire of what spirit he is! We shall no doubt be seeing in what fashion he shall heal the cripples, the lame and leprous!' - Say the people, 'If he has healed the most difficult case suddenly, then he is certain to heal the others with greater ease! But you should yourselves not be talking about such things at all, because no man has yet been healed through your expensive prayers and still less through your amulets, which you highly recommend and sell to the sick for dear money!
11
That One has the Spirit of God in His body, for this He has proven to us amply already through the mere deed. But you yourselves have no spirit in you at all, other than that of haughtiness, avarice and domination!
12
You want to be the first after God and to receive divine honour from us men; but we say unto you that to us you are the last, and worse by a hundredfold than the heathens! For you do nothing at all for our benefit; you do no work and those who attend your schools become so stupid and dark after two years that no angel is likely to fix them up without special power from God! And this is still the best of your care and efforts for our supposed well being!
13
The wives of your Jewish co-religionists you seduce a hundredfold, fornicating with their daughters; yet this is nothing. If however some other poor devil were to go that far he is stoned, if poor; but if rich and of repute, he can buy himself out and beside that remain your friend!
14
Your colleagues, the Jews, do not of course know you as well as we Greeks do and even if they know you, they must not speak up. But we know you and can speak. Wherefore we take this opportunity to tell you what we really think of you!
15
But take yourselves home soon, before a storm of Greek fists comes over you! We however shall keep watch here. Do not dare to as much as touch this Person, or you shall be having to deal with us!
16
We indeed also were Jews once, but are happy to be Greeks in name and law; we nevertheless in our hearts are true Jews, - but not like you of course, who sell their God-glorifying prayers for money, ascribing to such the most fabricated effects!
17
We ourselves worship God because He is God and because we as His beings owe it to Him. Hence get yourselves moving, because your presence is more repulsive to us than a stinking carcass!'
18
Upon these unambiguous utterances from the people, about half of whom were resident Greeks, the Pharisees made off as quickly as possible, with the folk cheering with victory, and at having rubbed the naked truth into the nostrils of these idlers, which they normally called the Pharisees.