The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 47 -
Mathael's and Suetal's speeches about rebukes.
Here Mathael, who had listened to this conversation from a short distance, steps up to the twelve and says, "You are truly still strongly men of the Earth, but namely you, Suetal, with your seven colleagues, you still have no idea about what is happening here!
2
The Savior of Nazareth is here, yes, He is here - but who He is, you have absolutely no notion, and therefore you speak annoyingly foolish things about Him and His works!
3
The correct person according to the correct order should not speak, however, except the truth alone; if he doesn't know it he should be silent, seek and investigate. And when he has found the truth, then he should speak! For whoever speaks and has not yet recognized the truth, lies, even if he accidentally speaks the truth!
4
But a lie should never pass the lips of a true person; for through the lie the soul bears witness itself of the fact that it is still walking in death and not in life!
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Whoever delights in a lie does not recognize the value of life at all; for life and truth are one! Only the truth makes your soul free and opens to it the infinity of God in essence, being and acting.
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But if you think and speak as I just heard, you give clear proof of yourself that your soul is living only in a pig-sty instead of in the great temple of all light and all truth!
7
Why make considerations if one is completely devoid of all reasons? Didn't Captain Julius of Genezareth tell you very wisely everything that you will yet see and hear today, and that you should not even ask so much about it, but should take it in into the love of your heart and act accordingly, and the explanation will come of itself! And look, the captain spoke correctly and truly!
8
So leave superfluous talk without any basis of truth, pay good attention to everything, and believe it in your heart, and so you will soon gain more by this than if you were to lie to one another for many years in the mistaken belief that you have spoken the truth!
9
Asking is certainly better than explaining something about which one has no basis oneself; but if you ask, you must know who you are asking and what you are asking for, otherwise every question is just as much nonsense as a false answer from out of the air.
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For I must have in myself, through experience, the full conviction that the person I ask can give the truth in answer; and finally I must have first reckoned exactly with myself that what I am asking someone is no nonsense, otherwise I betray through my question either my great foolishness or my hidden evil! Remember this rule for life, and you will stand on the face of this Earth at least as modest people!"
11
Suetal says, somewhat indignantly, "But dear friend Mathael, you are giving us here in a certain way a rebuke and we have not seen anyone giving you an order to do so! Your advice is probably good and very true, but a certain friendliness is lacking in it, and it does not make the same impression at all on us that it would certainly have made if it had been shared with more friendliness. We will follow it because we see the full truth in it; but nonetheless we still believe that the truth remains no less the truth even if it comes to us in friendly clothing!
12
Look, two and another two make four! That is a truth and certainly remains such even if it is pronounced in a friendly manner!? Or is it all the same if I am leading a blind man, whether I hold him tightly so that it hurts him or whether I lead the poor man on to the good path with a soft hold? I consider holding him softly when leading a blind man to be more preferable; for if I hold him too painfully tightly, he will try to get out of my hands and who knows whether he will not fall in that moment and severely injure himself in that he was escaping my too strongly pressing hands!? But if I have held him gently and led him, we will reach the goal quite cheerfully and gladly. Am I right or not?"
13
Mathael says, "Oh yes, when the circumstances permit it; but if you spot a blind man on the edge of some precipice and you also see that you can save him with a powerful grip and a pull, will you then firstly advise yourself how strongly or how tenderly and softly you will touch him?"
14
Suetal says, "Yes, were we here then so spiritually close to a destructive precipice?"
15
Mathael says, "Quite certainly, otherwise I would not have attacked you so strongly! For you see, everything that leads to a lie and thereby is a lie itself, even if it is still very unapparent for outer person, is a precipice towards death for the soul!
16
A tender, quite unapparent lie is much more dangerous for the soul than one which is as big as a fist and tangible for the hands! For a fist-sized lie will certainly not prompt you to any action; but a very tender and unapparent one will prompt you to act as a truth does and brings you quite easily to the edge of all destruction. But only he whose inner eye of the soul has been developed can see this! So you do not need to be indignant that I grabbed you somewhat more tightly; for a tender lie was creeping around amongst you like a poisonous adder, which I and my four brothers noticed very clearly, and you may now seek the reason for my somewhat rough handling. Do you understand that?"
17
Suetal says, "Yes, if it is so, your somewhat rough manner with us certainly takes on another face, and I cannot refute anything else. Naturally we do not see our spiritual state and must believe you that it is so; but we recognize that you stand on very firm ground and therefore believe your words. But about what should we twelve talk? Being quite silent is very desperately boring, you know, and there is still another significant snag in the truth."
18
Mathael says, "Friend, if you had to go through a dense mountain forest on a very dark night and you knew that this forest was rich in steep, wide gaping slopes and precipices, would it not be better for you to stop and wait for the light of day, than to follow some sort of false light and to fall with the same down a precipice? It is nothing desirable to spend the night in a mountain forest, but it is certainly incomparably better than to continue on a terrain on which your next step could bring certain death! What do you think of that?"
19
Suetal says, "Do you know, there is no point in speaking to you any more, for you are always correct, and one cannot deny anything you say; and so we will follow your advice instead, and you will then certainly have nothing more to say against us."