The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Second day in Sychar
- Chapter 63 -
At Sychar. The good effect of the heavenly fare, and above all the heavenly love wine. After-dinner speeches. Jairuth's speech about the difference between the law and good advice. About the respective reactions to wine by diverse human natures.
Everyone is eating and drinking, and even Jairuth himself, steeped in thought, eats and quite swills it down. All transformed to love through the glowing heavenly love-wine, he says to Me: 'Lord, a great thought just struck me! If possible I would like to obtain vines from whose grapes I could press a wine of this nature. Because with wine like that in my cellars I shall fill the world with love over love! I experienced it on myself. I am of course normally a man with a special liking for what is good, right and nice; but I can't say that I ever experienced any special love for mankind.
2
Up till now I always acted from a kind of self-imposed righteousness, which I prescribed for myself in accordance with my knowledge of the law. It concerned me little whether a law is good or bad; I was never want to brood over such. My motto was, law is law, whether God's or Caesar's. If it can result in punishment, one must comply out of self-interest, so as to avoid evil consequences. But if a law is not sanctioned then it isn't a law anyway, but only some good advice which one can follow, without sanctioned obligation.
3
There can of course be harm in not following good advice, taking on the sad appearance almost of lawful punishment; yet the non-acceptance of good advice is still not sin of a kind by which numbers of other people could be affected rather than mainly the individual who is not accepting the good advice. But if advice is bad then obviously I sin crudely by accepting it.
4
But with law it is different. Whether same is good or totally bad, I must abide just for it being the law. Regardless of whether I don't obey it because I think it bad, I sin either against God or ruler, and I shall be punished by both! Hence it clearly transpires that I am law-abiding not out of love but with inner revulsion at legal compulsion. Now that I have drunk this glorious grape-wine from the heavens however I see nothing but love over love and could embrace and kiss the whole earth!
5
On top of that I see a similar effect on all those who drank from this truly heavenly wine. Hence I should like to establish a big vineyard from these vines and let all mankind drink from this wine, and they should be transformed to love in quick time, the way I see it! If it were therefore possible to provide myself with such vines I would be the happiest man on God's good and beautiful earth!'
6
Say I: 'Vines which would yield you such wine I can supply you with quite easily. Such supposed effect on mankind however you shall be unable to bring about. Because this wine indeed enlivens man's love, provided it already resides in man; but where there is no love but only evil in man's heart, there the evil in him is animated the same way love was in yours, and he is then only transformed into an accomplished devil, and shall go about doing evil just as enthusiastically as you want to do good.
7
Hence one has to be mindful of whom one wants to serve up this wine for enjoyment! But I intend nevertheless to let you have a vineyard of these vines; but be most mindful about who you want to drink such wine! Of a truth, much good can be effected by animated love; yet it is better for it to be animated by God's Word, because enduring therewith, whilst with the consumption of this wine it lasts only for a while and then expires like the wine itself. This keep well in mind or you should effect much evil in place of good!'
8
Says the merchant Jairuth thereto; 'Lord, in that case there would be no point in raising up such vineyard! Because one cannot know whether a person harbours good or evil when handing them such wine, and in addition be placed in a great predicament when by wishing to animate someone's love one were only to enliven his wickedness! No, no, in that case I would leave the raising of such vineyard well and truly alone!'
9
Say I: 'It is all the same to Me; I shall do for you whatever you wish! But I say unto you: each variety of wine grown on earth has more or less a similar property. Just let various people drink from your own produce roughly the quantity that you have already drunk form My heavenly wine, and you will see how some will go over into love completely whilst others will begin to rage and throw fits, to the extent of you having to tie them up with ropes! But if terrestrial wine already calls forth such reactions, how much more the heavenly wine!'