The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Again in Kis
- Chapter 197 -
The holy entourage at supper, and then in the star lit open, upon the hill of snakes, where Kisjonah intends building a school. Hints about conditions on earth. Jesus, Lord over the snakes. Clarification of the parable of the tares. Life hints.
I hardly had spoken this when the youth was already here with the women, and we all sat down at the tables, soon consuming the supper in good cheer. But after the meal, I said to everybody, 'Hearken, since it is a beautiful, starlit night, we shall not immediately take our rest, but settle down on the lawn under the sky; for today I have yet much to say unto you and show you.'
2
This offer was agreeable to all, and we soon rose from the tables and proceeded into the open and unto a hill of some forty metres height which gently rose at the end of the garden some thirty paces inland from shore. Kisjonah remarked of course that although this hill affords a lovely view of the entire sea, there nevertheless was the perpetual unpleasantness that it was massively infested with snakes, adders and vipers, probably on account of its proximity to the sea. He had indeed tried everything to chase off the vermin, unsuccessfully!
3
Said I, 'Let it be! Henceforth it shall not be serving this vermin for an abode, of this you can be fully assured!'
4
Says Kisjonah, 'If so, which I don't doubt in the least, then firstly I would thank You from the bottom of my heart for such riddance, and secondly, in remembrance of You, a proper school shall be built here for both the great and small, young and old, expounding Your purest teaching!'
5
Say I, 'Such school, if abiding by the fundamentals, shall at all times enjoy My blessings. Unfortunately however, the way the world is, it shall with time not spare this school, just as with My purest teaching; therefore nothing is lasting in this world! Because the world is sunk in wickedness and circumcised by Satan! But let us now go up the hill!' I and Kisjonah move ahead, with all the disciples and with Kisjonah's servants at our heels.
6
As we come to the hill however, Kisjonah notices a hefty adder in front of him moving up the hill, and he soon espies several of them and says to Me, 'Lord, did I actually not have enough faith for this vermin to have cleared out?'
7
Say I, 'This is for the purpose of your seeing and recognising the fullness of the Son of God's glory! And so pay heed! I now shall command these animals to leave this area and not inhabit it for all time, for as long as any of your offspring occupies this garden or hill; and you shall see how even these exceedingly dull beasts have to obey My voice!'
8
Here I faced the mountain and threatened the beasts. And these shot like arrows out of their holes by the many thousands and fled into the sea; and thus the mountain was cleansed of this vermin for evermore, and there was not seen again upon this hill any ever so small worm.
9
We however then moved up the hill unconcerned, and since there was already some dew on the grass, Kisjonah had brought a great many carpets, covering nearly the entire hill, once again enjoying also the youth's formidable service. Thereupon we happily settled down on the fairly choice carpets.
10
My disciples however, who, notwithstanding all their thinking, brooding and meditating about the parable of the tares in the field could not get to the bottom of it, came over to Me on the hill and asked Me to clarify the parable of the sower who cast good grain into the soil but later found tares in among the wheat.
11
I said to them however, 'Did you not hear what Kisjonah is preparing to build on this hill in memory of Me, and how I told him how such institution would fare in view of the world? Behold, this has an application with the good field that was sown with the purest of wheat and yet sprouted a great many tares in its midst afterwards! Behold, the signification of the parable is this:
12
It is I, or as the Jews are want to say, the Son of Man, Who is now casting the good seed (Matt. 13:38). The adversary sowing them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world and the cutters are the angels! (Matt. 13:39). But just as one weeds the tares from the field, binding them in bundles and burning them, so it shall be also at the end of the world (Matt. 13:40).
13
The Son of Man shall send out His angels and they shall gather together from His kingdom everything that offends, and all those men who act unrighteously (Matt. 13:41) and who have neither eyes nor ears for the want of their brethren, and still less a heart, and shall cast them into the fiery furnace, where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:42). The fiery furnace however shall be for the children of malice - by which is to be understood arrogance, selfishness, domination, hardheartedness, indifference towards God's Word, avarice, envy, jealousy, disparagement, falsehood, deception, false promises, fornication and whoring, adultery, false witness, character assassination and everything that is contrary to love of neighbor and their own hearts!
14
For just as heaven in all glory shall sprout from the hearts of the righteous, so shall sprout what is in the unjust's heart; a bad grain shall not bring forth good fruit into all eternity.
15
A hard heart shall yield no soft fruit, and one of false promise never compose itself, and the wrath shall be the fire that shall never be extinguished! Hence beware of all this and become righteous in everything, in accordance with the Commandment of love!'