The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Aphek
- Chapter 100 -
The former revelations of the Lord to the priest.
I said: "Although you are right in many respects, but in general you are completely wrong, because you accuse the deity of negligence and complete indifference towards the people - and that, friend, is not true, even if this is how it seems according to your reason.
2
God always revealed Himself to the people, and thus also to you, already in Rome and still more clearly in Thebe, and once when you were sitting at the shore of the Nile when you heard a loud voice that said: 'Read Moses, and live according to the laws that are written in it, then you will find what you are searching.'
3
Then you began to read Moses again and also the other prophets, but still, for all kinds of reasons, you neglected to live and act according to the laws.
4
A year later when you came again to that same spot at the river, you heard that same voice again and thought about it for a long time, but you still did not come to actions, for firstly you were a Roman priest and according to your idea you did not want to act against the laws of Rome because this could have resulted in a worldly disadvantage for you, although you knew that it was not forbidden for a priest to also believe in the God of the Jews. And secondly, acting according to the laws of Moses seemed to be too troublesome for you, and you finally thought that the voice was only an illusion that can easily happen. And you thought within yourself that, if anything would be true in that voice, it would let hear itself more often.
5
And so you went on investigating and searching but you did not come to actions, and you could be compared to a master builder who draws one construction plan after another but when the construction has to be put into practice the trouble and the costs scares him off and he does not execute the construction.
6
To think, reflect, evaluate, investigate or search are no actions, friend, but only the intention for an action, but since life is not an intention for an actual life but the actual and active life itself, the intention to live must also become an active life if you want to accomplish by that what you are searching for.
7
Although you did something now and then, but that was too little to change your way of life, and so you always remained on one and the same spot. Only now, for the first time, you have taken the firm decision to become a completely different man, wanting to live according to the will of the one, only true God of the Jews whom I revealed to you, and therefore you will find an abundance of truth of what you searched for in vain for such a long time.
8
You actually already found it, but you can be compared to someone who in the midst of a dense forest does not see the forest because of the trees."
9
The priest said: "Listen, truly very wise Master, how must I understand and interpret that?"
10
I said: "Look there. There is an empty cup, but I want that cup to be full of wine, and you should drink that wine. Take it and drink, and then evaluate if a magician can also accomplish that."
11
When the priest saw that, and had tasted the wine that tasted very flavory, he looked at Me with astonishment and said: "Truly divine, wise Master, that was never accomplished by a human being. You must be in a very mighty connection with that only true God of the Jews, because Your will and the will of Your God seem to be completely one.
12
The cup was totally empty and You filled it completely with an exquisite, excellent wine. I only tasted such wine once in Rome with the highest priest, and it was called 'vinum olympicum' .
13
Since that was possible to You, You must be able to do many other things. When someone has come to such close friendship with God like You, he finally will also be able to make himself completely immortal.
14
Yes, if I also had come into this world as a Jew, maybe I also could have achieved a high degree of unity with God, for I would not lack the will and zeal to accomplish that. But since I came as a gentile in the deep night into this world I never could find the right way, and so I always was stuck in the same night and could not receive a true light until now. But from now on it will be different.
15
However, allow me now to go to my colleagues and tell them what I experienced here, for they also feel just like me what they lack.
16
I said: "Then go and speak the truth."