The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 212 -
The Pharisaic reading of the fourth commandment.
Ouran is now quite contented and says that he has never heard anything as truly and practically wise, and he will also follow this advice very carefully. But most of all our Persians are amazed.
2
Jurah says, "Yes, that is a light from above; for no mortal has ever discovered that! So I would like to have all Ten Commandments explained to me! Things are so close and so clear, and we have never been able to reveal them with all our sharpness of reason! But I must ask something nonetheless!"
3
Shabbi says, "I truly do not know about which point there could still be any more question!?"
4
Jurah says, "Don't you know then that as far as the obligations of the children towards their parents are concerned, there has long been a new law, according to which a son or a daughter would do better to lay a sacrifice in the temple than to honor his father and mother?! This new law does not replace the old, it is true, but it represents a better means to achieve the prophecy of Moses than Moses? Law itself. But I would like to speak to the primary law-giver himself, since the extraordinary circumstances have now come together so wonderfully, and learn what the Lord says to such a new law!
5
On the one hand, if a child has very bad and corrupt parents, this law seems to me to be correct; but if a child who is frivolous in nature has very good and worthy parents, who deserve all respect, love and honor from their children before God and all people, then this law, which seems very grabby like the temple, is not correct at all. The whole law has a strongly human smell, and there is very little divinity in it; but there again is another law which says: "Those who sit on the chairs of Moses and Aaron, those you should always listen to and do what they command! "
6
But this law is a real camel on which the Pharisees have already brought many false and bad wares disguised as genuine to the temple, and the nation must buy it for the very high price of their moral freedom as completely genuine. That is a bad thing, and such a law which only gives certain people the privileges seems to me like a hellish hole through which Satan always has an entrance to holiness; for these privileged holy people overstrain themselves, are surrounded in the beginning quite piously with a cover of a holy nimbus of a prophet, but then later they become seriously domineering and super-tyrannical, arrogant and extremely proud - but still sit on the chairs of Moses and Aaron! But I think, brother - you know, just between us - here Satan might as well take possession of these holy chairs! And such true representatives of Satan on the chairs of Moses and Aaron have introduced many evil human statutes replacing the divine, and we have to taste them because the camel-like law of hell orders us to listen to them who sit on the holy chairs and to do what they command.
7
Yes, the law in itself would be quite in order if one had the assurance that only the most worthy followers of Aaron and Moses would be preaching on the holy chairs; but what a true dragon nation has sat on the chairs and thrown the most indignant laws into the eyes of the seeing people like rough sand so that the largest part would go blind! And such laws transcending all craziness exists then for the greatest torture for humanity, and no-one trusts themselves any longer to shake off this yoke. Then in the end pure reason begs the question whether God knows anything about it, or whether there is a god at all who can see such an abomination in his sanctuary!
8
Well, such a revelation from Him would certainly be in the best position to show us the purest and truest content, and I would like to now ask Him a question right away! What do you think, should I risk it or not?"