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 132 -
The blessed landscape.
In the morning, more than 1 hour before sunrise, already a few of them came at the door of our innkeeper who could still not sleep, although he took for that purpose a few drinks of wine. When the innkeeper could easily recognize his neighbors from their voices, he quietly stood up from the table and went outside to know what his neighbors were doing before the door of his house so early in the morning.
2
When he was outside, he was really astonished and said (the innkeeper): "But look, where are we actually? My house is still the same but the environment is completely strange. There are no more bare stones, everything is green and flourishing. And there upon the stony hill, where not even a poor thistle could come up, stands a whole forest of abundant fruit trees that moreover are filled with ripe fruits, although it is already late in the autumn. Now I really would like to go up there to completely convince myself of it. But all this is a holy miracle of the Lord, and we will only make use of it when He at our side will give us permission to use all this."
3
All his neighbors, who were deeply moved, agreed completely with this.
4
They walked around the house to review in detail their little piece of land, and when they saw a true Eden on all sides of their little piece of land, they could not stop praising My name.
5
Finally I came outside Myself before the complete sunrise, and they all fell on their knees and thanked Me for that blessing.
6
I soon calmed them down however, and advised them to go with Me upon the stony hill to see the rising of the sun and to also convince them in the big nature that My explanation of that night was completely true.
7
We went upon the hill that, measured from the house, was about 300 handspans higher than the point from where the house was located.
8
From this separately located hill we enjoyed a wide view, especially to the east, and we even could very well distinguish the walls of Bethsaida. We also could look into the direction of Aphek, but because of the rather big distance of a few hours walking not many things could be distinguished.
9
However, the innkeeper looked first at the purely noble fruit trees of his hill on which we were standing now.
10
When he had finished his blissful admiration, and the sun was almost coming up, he also turned his eyes very attentively to the sunrise, and when the sun was rising above the horizon he said (the innkeeper): "Now I can clearly see that the big sun is really standing still, and that it is the Earth, which turns from the west to the east, that shoves its lands and places under the fixed sun."
11
Also his neighbors saw the same thing as the innkeeper, and they all were very joyful that they could also see this now in the big nature for themselves.
12
While we watched the morning scenes for 1 hour, a few travelers came already from the east along the main road that led to Damascus and still further to Persia. These travelers, small businessmen who carried all kinds of purchasable wooden and earthen kitchen utensils on their back, came from near Damascus.
13
They stood still when they came to our small village, which they knew well because they traveled 2 to 3 times a year along this road and found regular customers for their very cheap goods in the 10, actually about 60 cities. And one of them asked another one if this was actually the village in which they did some business now and then.
14
Since they were also in this region half year ago when it was still completely bare, they did not understand how these deprived inhabitants were able to cultivate this mostly bare land in such a short time and to such an extent - something that even the richest people with the greatest zeal could hardly do in 10 years.
15
One of them, a Jew, who adhered to the old ways, said to his companions: "If this region is the same as the one we know, then a miracle must undeniably have happened. In one of the prophets it is written that this land will once more become green, more specifically at the time of the coming of the promised Messiah. They say that in Galilee a Man from the tribe of David has arisen and performs miraculous things.
16
But in this time one cannot attach too much importance to these miraculous things because we are really besieged from all sides with great numbers of miraculous men. For as long as only Jews possessed these regions unto far beyond Damascus, the foreign magicians could not come to them, but since all this now belongs to the Romans, they may come in from all sides and do their magic. And now and then they perform astonishing things of which we were already several times convinced.
17
Probably not long ago some magicians traveled through this place and performed an exceptional good deed for these poor people. A couple of years ago in Damascus, a few magicians changed for a rich man a bare piece of land into a green pasture within a few days."
18
The others said: "Well yes, something similar could have happened here. We surely will come to know more about it when we return."
19
Then they moved on in the direction of Aphek.
20
I told the innkeeper what these men had said to one another, and said further: "When they will come close to Aphek, they will recognize the place less than here and will not know where they are, because what happened here in your little land area happened near Aphek in the whole wide environment of hours walking. When these people will come back, it will be easy for you to talk to them, for the information that they will hear about their Man from Galilee in the mentioned city will be such that they will no more mistaken Him for a pagan magician."
21
Then we tasted several fruits on the hill, and they all tasted delicious. And then we went back to the inn where a well-prepared morning meal was waiting for us.