The Great Gospel of John
Volume 3
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 65 -
The Lord gives tips for living to beginners.
Here I turn around and say to Hebram, "Well, well, you have already made great progress in wisdom, as you all have; truly, one can take great joy in such disciples and they will soon be able to be used as good workers in God"s vineyard! But I want to draw all your attentions to one thing, and it consists of this:
2
You now resemble the spring flowers which majestically raise their heads in the spring quickly over the dead earth. If no frosts come straight away, such active flowers are then quite happy; but if a few days of shivering frost follow some warm days, as usually happens in the spring, such early flowers let their beautifully adorned heads hang and often wither completely.
3
I tell you: A person often sees a truth clearly; but if dull clouds, heavy with all sorts of testing storms, often begin to lift over the mind of a person, it becomes duller and duller in the person"s heart, and it no longer sees some things that beforehand were so clearly illuminated for his soul.
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Therefore keep in yourselves what you have now experienced and lift your already decorated heads only over the ground of the Earth of your external humanity when the testing frosts are over; truly, then your knowledge can no longer be destroyed by any evil hoar!
5
But everything takes time until it becomes sound and durable; also with the science of man. In a good situation some things are quickly learnt and understood as well - but other apparitions are just as quickly forgotten again! So understand everything that you hear with your mind more than with your brain, and then it will remain!
6
When you look at a flower, you surely take great joy in its beautiful shape; but what use is such a joy which is necessarily as transitory as the flower which awoke such joy in you?! The strength of the flower must be deposited in the depths of the vase in which the living seed is tended and cared for, however, and so your external joy must also wither away and its strength must descend into the deepest ground where the eternal life of the spirit is tended and cared for; then a joy, which lasts eternally in the spirit, about its true inner beauty will be created, where no hoarfrost can harm it.
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But now pay good attention; for I will now illuminate a little more each piece about which Cyrenius desires nearer enlightenment!"
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ere no But at this I turn to Jarah and Josoe and say to them, "And you, My very dearest little children, can now go into the kitchen to the daughters of our Mark for a little while, they will be able to tell you some things that they have experienced during their cooking over the last several days, which will do you good to hear; for what I will now say to the guests is like bread that is as hard as stone, and you need very strong and well-formed teeth to be able to chew such a hard piece of bread so that it does not irritate the very sensitive stomach of the soul and cause it pain and damage. Later, when the teeth of your mind become stronger, such things will also be shared with you!"
9
Jarah does not like to leave her seat, but Josoe says to her, "Come, dear Jarah, just come with me cheerfully! For whatever the Lord wants, we must always do it with a joyful heart; you understand such a thing even better than I, so get up now from your seat and come with me according to the will of the Lord!"
10
At this Jarah gets up and goes with Josoe into Mark"s house, where they are very friendly by his daughters, according to the tradition of the house, and one word soon follows the other, and the children amuse themselves quite comfortably and instructing each other mutually almost until evening.
11
But I turn now to Cyrenius and say, "Well, dearest friend, you can notice what I will give you as an explanatory answer to your quite drawn-out question; you should then stick to it and everyone that hears it!"
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Here Suetal wanted to whisper yet another cheerful remark about the fact that I would finally begin to speak; but Raphael motioned to him seriously to be silent, and he was silent then, and I began to speak further: