The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 198 -
Shabbi's warning speech.
Cyrenius now realizes how things stand with the Persians; but he does not understand how such a satanic denigration by the Romans could have crept in among the Persian Jews, and who could have spread such a hideous seed there.
2
I say, "Has the temple not been aware of My actions for nine months?! Go and find out! All the negative and false reports about Me, about My deeds and also about you Romans originate there, since they know that you are not against Me! John the Baptist would still be alive if the temple had not known how to hide behind the mother of beautiful Herodias!
3
Everything starts from the temple and its arms reach far across the face of the Earth; but they will soon be cut short! You see, that's the present situation and you will now hopefully see that it is now somewhat difficult to deal with these people, but nonetheless not in vain! And they must be brought into the correct light, otherwise it would seriously be very bad for Me, My teaching and for you!
4
You?ll now also begin to understand the reason why I saved these Persians from drowning on the sea. I would have sent no angel to rescue them simply for the sake of the maintenance of their physical life; but since the correct enlightenment about Myself and about My task is of great importance to these people, because they exert a great influence on their great land and on their numerous people, I had to save their lives, because we would have no effective means without them to free the Persians from their delusion."
5
Cyrenius says, "All praise to You alone, oh Lord; now everything is good again, and I am now completely clear about everything! Deal with them immediately; for I now see very well that success of the best type can and must be expected!"
6
But while I corrected Cyrenius to one side, the Persians were thinking quite differently, and our Shabbi said to his companions, "Look how both great men discuss quite secretively there in what a new, crafty way they can catch us out! For until now they have got nothing out of us; but now they must attack us ten times harder! Until now they have just been testing us with small weapons, now they will most probably begin with the battering ram; and if we do not stick together firmly, we will be broken like a light oar! Therefore everyone be on their best guard! For these people should never get our deepest belief out of us like a bucket of water out of any cistern! The questioner wanted to drive fear into me before when he claimed that he knew all our innermost thoughts exactly, and likewise that he had seen and recognized our need on the water. But I thought secretly to myself: Oho, you crafty fox! You want to come of this hole?! Oh, by no means, my cunning friend! But he quickly saw that he could not catch me with this net, therefore he immediately went to the supreme governor and now has certainly discussed with him which trap should now be laid for us in order to definitely catch us; but we will not be caught in any trap! But we must stand on the look-out like cranes in their marsh - otherwise we are lost!"
7
One of them says, "How does he know your name then? He could not have learnt it from us!"
8
Shabbi says, "That is truly a little strange, but it must not lead us astray; for the ways and means that such people who are up to every trick possess in order to know and learn some very secret things from other people are countless. One must not let oneself be wrapped around anyone's little finger!
9
Only God is all-knowing - and a person only when he is called by the spirit of God to reveal things to other people which a normal human brain could never have found out. However, such a person animated by God comes only rarely to this terrible, selfish world - and never among the darkest heathens who are full of selfishness lust for power.
10
But these people who are connected with the whole world and all its wise men are quite thoroughly cunning foxes and know very well how to entice secrets out of the people! Goodness, strictness, generosity, patience, even indoctrination in their secrets in order to awake the fullest trust in the person being examined and to loosen his tongue, and such tricks are used in necessity in a great quantity, in order to get behind the often even most hidden secrets of the people. But once these heathens who are devoid of every merciful feeling are in proven possession any secrets going against their domineering plans, then woe betide those who have betrayed themselves to them! They are clever and evil and can only be kept in check through an enormous counter-craftiness! They can truly slip in behind great secrets in all sorts of hidden ways - but never into the secrets of the heart if the person being examined knows how to cover his tracks carefully!
11
Friends, we now stand here before the most merciless judges! The real and most hated topic by the heathens is the Messiah, who has now appeared in earnest, as we have heard by the most reliable assurances from all sides. He is supposed to have hidden somewhere in Galilee until His right, well-reckoned time would come. The heathens therefore are hunting Him, and the belief in the possibility of the appearance of the great Savoir of the Jews from the hard and sharp tiger claws of the heathens is certainly death-bringing! You now know what a ground carries us here, and will also therefore know what is to be done!"