The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 45 -
Report of the healing of a paralytic on the blessed meadow.
When Julius hears such things from Me, he quickly makes his way first to our host, Mark, who, along with his household, is very busy with the preparation of a good midday meal, and brings him My order. And Mark immediately hurries to the food store which was now never emptying, and takes a very large loaf of bread, a beaker of salt and has both his sons fetch two great jugs of wine; and all this is brought to the twelve as fast as possible.
2
When they first spot the bread and the wine, a powerful hunger seizes them, and Julius says to them, as he notices their hunger, "I know that you are hungry; but if you want to remain healthy, do not eat too quickly now, instead give yourselves time, and everything will be well for you!"
3
The twelve say, "Yes, yes, good lord, we will pace ourselves moderately!" But nonetheless they are finished with a great loaf of bread in a few moments, likewise with the wine and salt, and want to eat some more.
4
But Julius says, "Friends, that is enough for an appetizer; soon the great midday meal will come, after which you will not leave hungry."
5
Suetal says, "Yes, yes, very good, that is enough for our needs; we will satisfy ourselves at the midday meal! But lord and most noble friend, we have nothing with which we can reward the host!"
6
Julius says, "You are now citizens of Rome and no longer need to worry about who will pay the bill for you! For a Roman never remains in debt to anyone and the host has been rewarded already for many years in advance; we can run up a bill here for a whole year and he will still be at an advantage. So don't worry now about who will pay the bill in the end!"
7
The twelve say, "Brother, that is a different language than that of our temple, where one gets almost nothing to eat, but must fast and pray all the more; but the high priests fast and pray little and consume every day a quantity of alms and sacrifices for the greater honor of Jehovah, while the young templars can fast PRO POPULO until the very bones in their limbs begin to rumble! Oh, why didn't we become Romans long ago?! Everything is here: wisdom, goodness, rights, and strictness where necessary, and there seems to be no lack of bread and wine! We want to be totally and utterly Romans in soul and body! Long live Rome and all its authorities!"
8
Julius says, "Very well, my new friends! Your reasoning is good, although understandably there is still much self-love there; that alone will hopefully be lost with time. But today you will yet see and hear very unusual things; they will be a light to you! Yet do not ask much, instead let listening and seeing be your job, the explanation will come of itself!"
9
The twelve are made curious through this, and they now ask one another what the high Roman might have meant by saying that on this day they would hear and see many extraordinary things from which they would be able to learn, and that all that would explain itself in a certain way! What would that be?
10
The talkative Suetal says, "Well, what does it mean? Have you never heard of the Olympic Games of the Romans? They will probably put on such a thing here; but we will now be able to take part ourselves as Romans, and will perhaps see and hear some things which will be good for us. It must be that and certainly nothing else."
11
Another of the twelve says, "I hardly believe that. You eight don't know what I know; for you have been here since midday and know little about what happened recently to the Galileans. You know that I and another three from the mountain area of Genezareth were taken along with you for participation in your attempts at instigation and brought here. Barely three days before your arrival in our mountains unheard-of things happened in Genezareth; the miraculous Savior from Nazareth previously mentioned by the Roman governor came there and simply through his divinely all-powerful word he healed all the sick from whatever evil had taken hold of them!
12
I myself have a brother who is now at home and has taken on the inheritance. He was drawn up into a lump by the gout, he could neither lie nor sit, and naturally there could never be any talk of standing. We put him in a hanging wicker pannier which was filled with straw. Often he cried for days on end, plagued by the most atrocious pains, at which he would then usually fall into such a total unconsciousness that he fully resembled a dead man. Everything imaginable had been tried to make him well again, even the water of the pond of Shiloh - but everything in vain.
13
When we received the news in our mountains that the famous Savior of Nazareth was staying in Genezareth and healing all the sick, I brought my totally fragile brother with my servants and mules to Genezareth with the most unspeakable effort. There, having arrived after so many hardships, it was said that the Savior had undertaken a journey up a mountain and no-one knew when and whether he would ever come back again. I stood there now like a column beside my lamenting brother, began to cry myself through sadness and begged God fervently to put an end to the bitterest sufferings of my brother, because I was not to have the luck to meet the miraculous Savior again. I made an oath to give him all my rights to possession as the first-born and to serve him my whole life long if he could be healed.
14
Now see, soon after this, servants from the great guesthouse came to me in the alley and said that the Savior concerned had healed each and many such cripples in a moment so that they then looked as if nothing had ever been wrong with them! But this Savior was with his disciples, with the lord of the house and with others from the house and the village on the high mountain which no mortal had ever ascended because of the steepness being too great. He would return, but when, they didn't know, but that was not the matter; this Savior had blessed a pasture and I was allowed to lay my brother in faith on this blessed pasture and things would be better for him.
16
But I kept my oath and gave my now very happy and pious brother everything and gladly did for him all the jobs of the least of my former servants, although the good and most thankful brother always kept me away from it.
17
But I had hardly been a servant to my brother, whom you have seen and spoken to, for more than a few days when you came to us and were the actual reason that I and another three servants of my brother find ourselves here, luckily as innocents.
18
But with this I just wanted to draw your attention to the most wonderful, famous Savior of Nazareth, about whom you have already heard here and there according to your own admission!
19
Now see, to judge by the question of the captain of Genezareth, who I know very well, it seems to me - which clearly proceeds from the healing of the five madmen - that this miraculous Savior of Nazareth is here right now and at work.
20
By speaking of what we should see and hear, the governor certainly wanted to draw our attention to some deeds and speeches which are to be expected on the part of the most wonderful Savior, and by no means to Rome"s Olympic Games which would certainly seem very ragged to us, and from which we certainly cannot take any particular wisdom, and of which the captain himself seems to be no particular friend! What do you think in this respect?"