The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord on the way to Bethsaida
- Chapter 122 -
The Lord reveals why the sons of the innkeeper stay away.
However I comforted the innkeeper and said: "Do not be afraid of that. Your 3 sons will arrive here within 1 hour via Bethsaida with an abundant load, for this time they caught so much fish that they and their pack animals could only carry them with great difficulty and trouble. But they borrowed 2 pack animals from an acquaintance in Bethsaida, and now the transport of the many good fishes goes much faster."
2
The innkeeper, who was attached to Judaism, said: "May the God of the Jews give You that You speak the truth."
3
I said: "Friend, if I did not know for sure that it is so, I would not have told you, for with Me the truth goes before anything else, and I am the greatest enemy of every lie."
4
The innkeeper, being surprised about My self-assuredness, said: "Friend, are You perhaps a Jewish seer that You can know for sure certain things which can hardly be known in a natural sense? Because you all came here through Aphek, and that city is in the mountains that border the valley of the Jordan, far away from the place where the Jordan streams out of the lake. Bethsaida is still in the mountains where the large foothills are forming the shores of the lake itself, and thus You obviously cannot know in a natural way about my sons who are on their way home.
5
But since You informed me with great self-assuredness of their situation, You must be a seer. If this is what You are, then tell me, in order to reassure me even more, how many sheep and goats I possess."
6
I said: "Friend, if you would know Me, I would tell you that it is not appropriate that you dare to tempt Me. But since you do not know Me up till now, I want to answer your question.
7
You possess 30 sheep of which 2 males and thus 28 females of which however only 14 give milk, the other 14 not. The cause of this is well-known to you as the landowner. And look, with your goats it is precisely the same. Are you now more convinced that I can also know the situation of your 3 sons?"
8
The innkeeper said: "Yes, friend, now I believe Your words without any doubt, and whatever You will tell me, I will believe, for now I am fully convinced that You are really a seer and therefore also a wise man of the Jews.
9
Look, I and also my few neighbors came here about 30 years ago and settled here with the permission of the Roman court, for no one lived here in this old place, and so there were are no owners in the whole wide environment.
10
About 50 to 60 years ago, a few impoverished Jews must have lived here, but because they could not get anything from the hard soil except for some roots, they left this place and must now have settled somewhere at the Lake of Galilee. What further happened to them, the God of the Jews will know best.
11
We were and still are Greeks and we come from Tyre where we exploited a fishing business and by that we obtained a certain capital. We also would have liked to settle in a better environment, but our capital was too small for that. Through our zeal we still were able to partly cultivate this soil, good enough to feed us but only meagerly.
12
In Bethsaida we soon became acquainted with an old, very wise Jew, who was a very wealthy man as well, and he helped us many times.
13
That Jew told us that this region, which is now so dry, was formerly one of the most blessed. But when the Jews gradually left their ancient and only true God more and more and forgot Him, He withdrew His blessings from this soil, let heavy thunderstorms come up by which the fat soil was washed away from these rocky regions, and what was still spared from the storms was destroyed after the repeated and long-lasting wars. And so this formerly rich, blessed region became a real desert, and would also stay that way as long as men would not completely convert to God again.
14
He said that nothing positive can be expected from the gentiles because their gods - that are only fantasy images of men and nothing else - will not help them, and they do not know the one, only true and almighty God of the Jews. They also cannot believe in Him, keep His very wise commandments and ask Him in full trust, like good children to their father, for His help and mercy. Since these things cannot happen with the gentiles, they can well imagine that they cannot expect any exceptional blessings.