The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
First day in Sychar
- Chapter 48 -
At Sychar. The guests and the celestial servants. The high priest's misgivings about his ministry of converting the faithless people. The Lord's comments in reply and His foretelling of His passion, death and rising. Appearance of spirits. Glorious promise for true followers.
But only few at the table were aware of being served by angels, with food from the heavens. They believed in all earnest that I had such servants as part of My retinue, having bought these in Asia Minor for money. But they could not comprehend their great cheerfulness, friendliness and erudition; because such slaves normally had a sour expression and attended to their service slavishly and like machines, and there can generally be no talk about their education or philanthropy. In short, the guests were greatly amused, and the high priest who had gradually come to realise that these many servants were supernatural beings grew steadily more discomfited, since he felt embarrassed for the people who, although well-mannered, in his opinion carried on somewhat loosely with these glorious servants.
2
But what embarrassed him most of all was that these, in spite of all signs from the wide-open heavens, hurried home unbelieving. He spoke with trepidation: 'My Lord and my God! What should convert such people ever if such signs are fruitless?! You Yourself, oh Lord, and the many angels from the open heavens were not able to convert this breed; what am I poor rascal to do with them? Would they not spit in my face if I dared teaching them about You?'
3
Say I: 'Do you not also have a great number of believers around you? Make them your helpers and your task shall be easy. Because if a man is to lift a certain weight but lacks sufficient strength, he engages a helper. If just one does not suffice he engages a second and a third and therewith becomes master of the burden. Once the number of believers is equal, and here indeed bigger than of the unbelieving, there the work is easy.
4
Quite different it is in places where no believers are found at all! There indeed one makes an attempt, so that no one should once have the excuse: I never heard a word of it.
5
If a believer is found, one stays with him and reveals to him the kingdom of God's grace. If however not even one accepts the Word, one moves on, but also shakes the dust off one's feet over such a place; because such place is then unworthy of grace other than bestowed also upon the animals of the field and woods. Here then you have your guide lines for your future stance towards all those non-believers.
6
But I also urge you to remain strong in your faith yourself, or else you shall accomplish very little for My kingdom! Do not let yourself be diverted by all kinds of news you shall hear about Me from Jerusalem in a couple of years! Because there I shall be handed over to the authorities, and these shall kill this My body, but this I shall revive again on the third day and thereupon remain with you till the end of the world! Because yonder brood in Jerusalem shall believe only when convinced that there is no way of killing Me off!
7
And then it shall also come that at sundry places on earth, obstinate men shall be physically killing the bearers of the Gospel. But precisely such death shall then make believers out of the former, when they see that those who live a spiritual life out of My Word cannot be killed! Because those killed shall sporadically return to their pupils and teach them My Ways!
8
But to the hard of heart, worldlings who have either no faith or, having some nevertheless do not act according to what faith teaches, neither I nor My disciples shall come to fully remove their night of doubts from their hearts. But when the end of their flesh comes over them they shall taste the evil of their faithlessness and the consequences of not keeping My teaching through deeds, even whilst those who believe on Me through works shall neither feel nor taste death.
9
Because when I shall open the door of the flesh to these, they shall step out of their flesh like prisoners from their cells when the leniency of their lord has unlocked them.
10
Therefore do not be disconcerted when you shall hear one or the other thing about Me. Because he who abides in faith and unshaken in faith and love till the end, as I teach and have taught and shall teach on and on, shall attain to blissfulness in the everlasting kingdom of the heavens, which you now behold open above you, with My angels ascending and descending!'