The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and the Priests of the Temple (John 5)
- Chapter 11 -
The good resolutions of the neophyte Jewish priests.
The Jew said: "Oh Lord, only never leave us alone in this world - then we all will be safe! Indeed, the Temple certainly has about seven hundred of those who are like us; but they are even stricter than we - they can care for themselves and for how things will be for them! But we will collect our things already tomorrow and distribute the excess to the poor. Then we will put on other clothes and follow You - even if You were to drive us back with thunder and lightning! Once we have fully recognized Your will, then we as old Jews will also show that even old trees can still be easily bent quite well. We have now seen that there can be no salvation and no life besides You, oh Lord; therefore nothing, oh Lord, will ever eternally turn us away from You!
2
You see, oh Lord, right at the very beginning we were basically not so fundamentally evil; for we sought only the original truth in the Temple, when we originally joined them! But what was there? Nothing but deep secrets upon secrets! If we asked someone for a light, then they said: You need nothing but faith alone! Whatever the Temple gives you to believe, you believe without a doubt, even if it seemed to you however absurd, unreasonable and unnatural; for the High Priest alone has the key to the secrets of God, and that should be enough for you! He alone sacrifices for you and for the whole nation! Well, those were very attractive words, which unfortunately however shocked our minds very significantly through the sad story with the High Priest Zachariah; for at this only we saw firstly that there could be nothing in Moses, all the prophets and in the whole Scriptures. For if there was something in it, our predecessors could not possibly act so irresponsibly!
3
Since we had thus convinced ourselves that not a single true word was in the Scriptures, we then also first unbridled all our terrible passions and were basically more terrible than a whole legion of the most terrible devils. For these give in before the name of the very Highest; but we did not give way, but instead we became even angrier and eviler. You see, You very wisest, all-compassionate and most just Lord and Master, since we actually have been placed in this condition in which we now find ourselves, most of all through our leaders by their evil examples, and so we hope from You all the more the forgiveness of our sins, since we now all have the firmest intention to turn away from all sin and to live purely according to Your teaching - even if this should cost us our earthly lives!"
4
I said: "Alright then; then all your sins shall now be forgiven you - but only as long as none of you ever again commit a sin! But if you seriously want to follow Me as disciples, then be clever in the Temple, so that the sly foxes do not notice what you have in mind! For My time has not yet come in which I will allow Myself to be persecuted by the terrible foxes for the sake of the sins of the world; for that must also happen to Me so that their measure will be full. But now pay attention to what will come and take it all to heart!"