The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 20 -
On the guests' eating at the morning meal.
When the young Pharisees and Levites see the table so richly covered with the best-prepared fish, bread and wine, Hebram says, "Well, the disciples of the Master from Nazareth don't live so poorly at all! Now we see no reason to hold back from being firstly Roman soldiers and then at the same time his disciples in body and soul! How often in the temple have we had to fast for the greater honor of Jehovah, and here they don't fast, although today, as the eve of the Sabbath, strict fasting is prescribed by the Jews! And nonetheless no dishonor will be made against God, otherwise the mouth of our Lord and Master would not have ordered such a thing in His divine spirit! Briefly, whatever He says and wants we will also now always do, whether it is easy or hard for us! For the spirit which makes the sun rise on the Sabbath just as on a working day and gives no holiday to the winds, is certainly greater than the foolish spirit of the temple who once ordered three pre- and three post-Sabbath holidays for the correct sanctification of the Sabbath. But since the week has only seven days including the Sabbath the question arose, when should we work at all in these circumstances? The blind lawgiver saw his stupidity and was dealt with accordingly afterwards. Peace to his ashes!
2
Briefly, the correct spirit of God shines out of our new Lord and master on all sides, and therefore we want to and we will be his disciples by death and by life and by murder and fire; but we have turned our backs away from the temple forever! Amen. Therefore let it be so, and it will be so! We have fasted enough and achieved nothing through it; but on our travels we have neglected the foolish, exaggerated fasting, we ate and drank even on the eve of the Sabbath and on the day of the New Moon, in this new, humanly sensible way we have now reached the highest point that a person can reach. Therefore be of good spirit! We already have the prophesied Messiah, and the temple will probably not see Him for a long time yet and if they do see Him, they will surely not recognize Him. But we have Him and recognize Him and therefore we rejoice and say: Hosanna to Him whom we have found! To Him alone be all our respect and love!"
3
Julius says, That is right, I agree and I add: Holy and Blessed be all people who are of a good will!"
4
Cyrenius says, "Yes, indeed, salvation to all the world and mercy from above, and highly praised be the name of our Savior, who is called Jesus! Let in future all the nations of Earth, all angels of heaven, all spirits under and above the Earth bow their knee!"
5
The angel, Jarah, Josoe, Ebahl and all the disciples say a loud "Amen!"
6
After this Amen I say, "And now, my friends and brothers, we want to eat and drink; for the time for the healing of the five nears!" At this everyone reaches for the fish, the bread, and in the end for the wine.
7
And so the breakfast was taken in a short time, visibly with the greatest appetite in the world; for the fish were prepared so tastily that the good taste encouraged us to eat more than usual. Also My Jarah reached forward valiantly and Raphael no less, which surprised the young Levites and Pharisees so much that they began to ask one another how the angel, who of course must be a purest spirit, was tearing the fish and the bread and the wine with a burning hunger and how his disciple began to eat with gusto, not at all ashamed to keep pace with her master.
8
But Hebram said to his companions, "How can such a thing surprise you? The good angel, who with great ease tackled the thirty-pound stone in his tender fingers, can surely tackle the soft fish, the bread and the wine even more easily! But that his dear disciple almost catches him up in eating as much as she can, that is due to her healthy growth; for the girl seems to be hardly fifteen springs in her appearance but is as strong as a maiden of twenty summers, and that comes from good nutrition. Cyrenius" foster-son who sits between the big eater and the angel has much desire to eat; but the girl and the angel put him to shame! But it is a shame for the girl that she eats so much! She is otherwise very beautiful in figure and speaks with much enthusiasm, but eating a lot takes away from her charm. Our Master also eats and drinks with enthusiasm. But that is no surprise for such great spirits; every one that I have got to know was always a great eater and drinker! In any case, not so much is being consumed here, with the exception of the angel, who has truly put away as much as all of us together! It is strange that a pure spirit should eat material meals as much as we do! I would like to know if he passes all things through himself in the natural way, or does he take everything up into his being?"
9
Julius, sitting near Hebram and not missing these exchanges, says, "What stupid things you gossip about because you don't understand the nature of things! Look, Raphael is a spirit whom you cannot see in his original form; but in order for him to manifest himself as a person with permission of the Lord amongst us people, he must hide his purely spiritual being with a type of light material coat and needs for this much of the lighter material which he processes in his being to be able to appear to us visibly. There is no talk of secretion of meals in his innards since he only rarely takes things into his being, and then in his mouth. And see, that"s how things are! So don't talk about such stupid things!
10
But the reason why dear Jarah, a wise daughter of the inn-keeper Ebahl in Genezareth, who is resting just beyond the angel, is eating more this morning than usual is the Lord has surely recommended her to do so because of the healing of the five severe criminals, which will certainly be memorable because He, who has already brought back the dead, has specially prepared himself for this, which to my knowledge He has never done before, and told us yesterday that it would be a difficult healing and must be prepared very efficiently and purposefully if it is to succeed! For this reason most likely He is eating more this morning than on any other day. Do you understand now?"
11
Hebram says, "Praise God, yes, dear friend and patron! Only light in and over an appearance and the wonderful becomes something quite natural! Thus, if we in the future wonder too much over a miraculous occasion, such wonder will be good for our foolishness! For only the stupid can wonder about something that it doesn't understand; true wisdom never dreams of such a wonder because the whole run of things is known. But the thirty of us are still too foolish and there must be a lot to wonder about from our Master, Savior and in all rights our prophesied Messiah! But now He is making motions to me to stand up and go, and we will therefore begin to get ready!"
12
I say, "Yes, it is now time; so let"s rise and go out to the beach where the five are being kept for us!"
13
As I say this, everyone rises from the long sitting and hurries out with Me onto the beach.