The Great Gospel of John
Volume 2
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
First journey of the Lord: Kis - landing place at Sibarah - Nazareth
- Chapter 6 -
The emergence and collapse of the limestone cave.
Say I, "And there isn't much to it at all. Knowing or not knowing this will make you neither life-deficient nor life-abundant. But this much you can know nonetheless, that no human has had a hand in it but the nature of the elements alone formed such as if by chance. Mountains constantly absorb dissolving moisture from the air. Add frequent rain, snow and the mist that often enshrouds mountain tops. The accumulated moisture at the top gradually to a larger part seeps through the earth and stone, and wherever they come to a cavity, they collect in droplets which to nearly half consist of dissolved limestone. Such droplets fall, whilst the water itself then either seeps still further down or evaporates within the cavity. The limestone slime gradually hardens and through their building up gradually form all kinds of shapes which resemble one or other terrestrial formations to a greater or lesser extent. And in this cave too these formations came about in a most natural way although it can be assumed that Satan's servants, for the blinding of weak mankind additionally contributed in the greater delineation of all kinds of man-like shapes.
2
Hence it is better that such grotto encouraging dark superstition be made inaccessible for all future times. And so let us, move into the open again, so that Archiel can carry out his instructions with this cave!"
3
Faustus thanks Me fervently for this explanation, saying, "This explanation is even more lucid to me, because of having heard Roman naturalists express such, although more as a hypothesis. But the supplement about Satan's participation is priceless; for the adversary of life shall not fail to exploit such things, and in three corners of the world the evil consequences are evident! This is now of solar clarity to me, - but only one thing I cannot accommodate - God's delight.
4
Tell me: What pleasure can God, to Whom the innermost basis of all being must be constantly and penetratingly known have in His own indestructible life?! Can such necessary and steady clarity in the absence of being able to change out of Himself be of benefit to Him, since this would kill every man with boredom?"
5
Say I, "Behold these people here. These are God's delight when they become within His order what they are destined to become. In them God finds again of His own, and their steady growth in cognition of all kinds and hence in all love, wisdom and beauty, is God's indestructible pleasure and delight! Because, all that infinity embraces is there only on account of tiny man, and there eternally exists nothing that is not on account of tiny man. Now you also know that!"
6
Therewith we hurriedly leave the grotto, soon leaving its exit. Finding ourselves outside the grotto, I give Archiel a sign, and a mighty and an instant bang follows, the exceedingly roomy entrance now appearing as a lofty granite wall through which no mortal would easily penetrate, regardless how determined. To preclude so to say all possibility of entry however, a subsidence of the soil was effected after we found ourselves some three thousand paces from the spot, so that the entry was transposed by some hundred men's heights from the accessible soil that had been pushed down; an over one hundred men's heights ladder would now have been necessary to reach the erstwhile entry over the perpendicular cliff face. Which would still have been fruitless because the entry itself had become a most solid and perpendicular cliff face.
7
When Faustus and those present see this transformation, Faustus says to Me, "Lord and friend! Verily, I can no longer get a grip on myself! The appearances are getting creationally too big: they lie an eternity beyond my grasping horizon. I verily no longer can tell whether I still live or whether I am dreaming! Such rarely intriguing and wondersome things are happening that even completely sober, one stands there as a complete drunkard and hardly able to say to which sex one belongs. Behold now this terrible cliff face! Where was same before, when we had a comfortable walk into the grotto along an easily negotiable footpath?
8
But the most intriguing aspect of it is that in spite of the total transformation of several thousand acres of land there isn't a trace of any violent destruction. Does not the thing stand there as if nothing had been altered since the earth's primordial existence!? Verily, if a thousand people had worked here a hundred years, it is debatable whether they could have shifted such mass in a way that a cliff face, measuring some 150 man-heights and about an hour wide, would be stood up freely as it is now, when no trace of it was to be noticed a few moments ago, let alone without a trace of destruction! This is in the truest sense unheard of. I am really curious what faces seafarers shall cut when seeing this gigantic wall in place of the former lush forest area! Many shall be unable to determine where they are, whilst many others shall be staring like cattle at a new and strange gate!"
9
Say I, "Therefore I tell you to keep silent about it, not telling even your women about it, for it is the reason I did not let them come along this time, because with extraordinary happening they are unable to bridle their tongues in spite of exhortation to silence. Hence you are not to tell your women about these extraordinary events that have taken place here! You can indeed tell them about the shape of the grotto and inform them of the newly found treasures, but not a syllable more!" All promise it most solemnly, whereupon we quietly resume our way to Kis, arriving there exactly at sunset. The women and maidens left behind come and greet us in great number and are of course unable to at once regale us with questions about what wonders we may have encountered. But they are advised it is too early to ask and that there isn't much to the whole thing other than the picking up of a treasure still kept secret by the Pharisees. With this the curious women are satisfied and refrain from much further questioning.
10
Thereupon we betake ourselves to the evening meal, for none of those who came along had any lunch and had gotten quite hungry and hence longed for a good supper.