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 206 -
The bliss of the perfected spirits.
Our evening meal could be prepared quickly and we began to eat. At this occasion we were in a good mood and cheerful, and My disciples had a lot of things to tell about all the villages and cities - about My teaching and deeds. Also Raphael received a good testimony from the mouth of My disciples, for they also discussed a lot about what he had performed in My company.
2
The Roman and the supreme judicial city officer, as well as the innkeeper and his son, the 2 Pharisees and the few Jews liked it so much that the supreme judicial city officer said: "O Lord and Master, as far as I am concerned, if I could be continuously in this kind of situation on this Earth as I am now in Your company and in the company of Your heavenly servant, I would immediately give up the still much greater bliss of Your Heavens, for to be very close to You and to be able to speak with You I consider now as the highest Heaven.
3
When we have You, we do not have to know in detail about the things of nature at all, for we already know that all this - from the smallest to the biggest and from the first to the last and from the alpha to the omega - are only Your fixed thoughts and ideas, brought to life by Your will and by Your Spirit."
4
I said: "What you said is very correct and true, and in Heaven it is indeed the highest bliss of all perfected spirits if they can be with Me, can talk with Me and go along with Me.
5
But this very great bliss is actually not the result of My very modest and simple personality in which I am a human being just like you, and as spirit just like this first archangel Raphael. But the most important bliss of the perfected spirits comes from the fact that they ever more completely, clearer and deeper can recognize My endless many works that are without number or measure.
6
Look, friend, it is almost like with people from time to time on this Earth who have a true sense of higher arts and sciences and are pleased with that. Suppose that you heard about a great architect and visual artist whose works were greatly admired by all people. When you hear that, you really want to personally come to know the great artist, and since the means for you to travel are not lacking, you soon go on your way to that faraway country where the artist lives and where he exposes and makes his works on a large scale.
7
After some time of traveling you then reach the place where the artist lives. After that, with little trouble you soon come into contact with the artist about whom you made all kinds of great imaginations during your trip, like: 'as a human being among other people he will make himself known in a special exalted appearance'. But when you meet him in his village, you discover that the artist is a very simple and modest man whose personality does not show in the least what lies hidden in his inner being. Then you have a very friendly conversation with him but you also think by yourself: 'It is hardly possible that there can be such creative greatness in this very modest and simple personality about whom you were told such great things by the most intelligent men'. But you are nevertheless happy because you are convinced in yourself that you are in the presence of the greatest architect and visual artist, and that you can speak with him about all kinds of things that he made.
8
Finally the artist says to you: 'Since you took the trouble to visit me and to personally come to know me, I want to take you to a very big city that is not far away from here, where you really will have the opportunity to enjoy my works instead of this house of mine that shows only little of me.'
9
Burning from curiosity you go with the artist, who became very friendly to you but who during the whole trip still looks like a very modest and simple man to you. While you come closer to the big city with the great artist, and when already from a big distance you can see the most beautiful buildings, temples, palaces and castles, your fantasy about the artist who escorts you becomes greater, just like his works in that city become bigger as you come closer to the city. His personal simplicity disappears in the same measure as his inner, spiritual greatness becomes clearer to you through his works.
10
When you arrive then completely into the city, the one construction miracle after the other - bigger, more artful and more daring - makes you really speechless from admiration, and your admiration for the artist who is escorting you becomes moreover extremely greater when you see that in that big city that all the people, big and small, are greeting him in a most kind and respectful manner.
11
Now tell Me, My dear friend, if your former ideas about the artist did not change completely and made your mind happier after seeing his great works."