The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Der Herr in der Stadt am Nebo
- Chapter 181 -
The house gods in the inn are destroyed.
When we entered the guestroom of our innkeeper, we took place at the table, and the Pharisees and Jews at their table near to us. And immediately a good quantity of well-prepared fishes was put on the table, and bread and wine were added. We took the fishes and all the rest and ate them.
2
After the morning meal we stayed sitting at the table, for I did not want to show us too much outside when it was not necessary because there were still many hard gentiles in this city who were very much attached to their temples and idols.
3
Now the son of the innkeeper came to Me and told Me that his mother filled her whole bedroom with idol statues and that also in this dining room there was a very badly shaped Apollo which appearance has the opposite effect for everyone of what it had to represent and that he therefore would like this Apollo and also his mother's idols to be removed.
4
(The son): "Because now that we came to know You, o Lord, these idols are of no use anymore for this house."
5
I said: "You have a good mind, My dear son, but if you yourself will put your hand to it, it can cause problems and much hostility from your still blind neighbors. But I will support you, and this Apollo and the other idols will immediately disappear. Go to the corner and see if you can still find an Apollo, and then you can go to the room of your mother, and there also you will find no more idols."
6
The young man stood up immediately and went to the corner where Apollo stood and did no more find any trace of it. Then he went to the bedroom of his mother, and also the many hundreds of idols had disappeared. He rejoiced and immediately told his mother who was working in the kitchen. But she got scared and said to her son:
7
(The mother): "My dear son, all this is very well but think about our neighbors. What will they say when they visit us and will no more find any idol statue in our whole house?"
8
The son: "Then let me talk to them and I will tell them that the Lord and Master, who performed such great signs in our house, destroyed all your idols with one thought. Then they will not be able to say anything anymore. We moreover have our strict and righteous supreme judicial city officer on our side, and then the neighbors will wisely be careful to express their displeasure to him."
9
His mother was satisfied with that information. Then she came with her son into the guestroom to thank Me for miraculously relieving her of something to which she was not really attached anyway.
10
I said to her: "Go to your bedroom and you will find something that you will like much more instead of your former idols."
11
Then she returned to her bedroom and looked around, and on the place where most of her idols had stood, she found a case made of black ebony wood and provided with lock and bolt. She opened the case and saw that it was full of Roman silver coins of great value.
12
She quickly came back and told it in front of everyone, especially to her husband and her son.
13
And the innkeeper said: "This is much more valuable for our business than all your former idol statues. Nevertheless, the greatest value is always the word which we received from this Lord and Master, and maybe we will receive more of these if we are worthy. So let us not touch your silver coins and ask the Lord and Master to provide our heart and mind of that kind of spiritual golden and silver coins which we soon will use in the other life."
14
Then the woman thanked Me, went back to her kitchen and her personnel and there she took care of all the things that had to be thought about and done for the whole day.