The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
At the Sea of Galilee (John 6)
- Chapter 154 -
On the necessity of the ephemeral nature of matter.
Said one of the Jew-Greeks: "But Lord, since You are for once at it again to reveal such great things to us, give us also mercifully the reason, why nothing material of its kind can exist forever! Rocks weather, the greatest trees who resisted for nearly two-thousand years all storms, like the primordial cedars on Lebanon, die and rot to such an extent that nothing is left of them. Also seas and lakes dry up, and in short, one sees on the whole earth nothing else than a perpetual forming and decaying! Only the starry sky stays quite nicely as before; since the same stars with their invariable positions, as seen by Adam, are still the same, invariable and imperishable. However, if You say that also they will one day perish, the very important question arises: If those over-sized world bodies according to Your statement are already exist for an inexpressively long row of our earth years, they just as well could exist forever. Where is the time of their first existence, who can measure it and count it in years or even in millenniums?"
2
Said I: "My friend, for the very reason because they are not actually matter, but in themselves are spirit under judgement. I already have told you at another opportunity, how everything created is nothing else than a thought of God, held firm by the almighty will of God.
3
For as long a large thought of God is held firm by His will, for as long it also will appear as something existing by itself and is therefore so to speak separated from the countless many other thoughts, so that it in itself can consolidate and become forever an independent I. Once the thought of God has in itself resolved this task and made itself in all directions free and independent, why should it be kept firm any longer by the power of the divine will and kept as fully separated from all the other large thoughts of God?
4
If a person has fully reached the inner, spiritual life ripeness - wherefore he requires a physical body -, why should he continue to labouriously carry around the body? If a person has completed building a house and it is completely inhabitable, will he with the completed building also leave standing the scaffolds?! Or if you have cooked meat in a pot properly soft and made it enjoyable, will you also keep it together with the pot? Certainly not; you will take the meat together with the broth out of the pot and set the empty pot aside! See, therefore everything on this earth has its time!
5
You see a tree which is full of buds in spring. Wouldn't you also say: 'Why these transient buds?' But the bud swells, unfolds more and more and the leaves and beautiful, graceful, fragrant blossoms start to appear. You admire them because you like them very much. But soon they begin to become wilted and fall off. You again ask annoyed: 'Why this destruction of the biggest splendour and elevating beauty of the tree?' Yes, you are right, it would be nice to always look at a blossoming tree; but by looking only, no person will gets fed, and as such the blossom, serving the fruit germ to become alive, must, after performing its service, be taken away again, so that a real fruit can develop for itself. And soon afterwards you see a lot of sweet fruit on the twigs of the tree, which you find very pleasing. Now, should the fruit also stay forever connected to the tree?"
6
Said the Jew-Greek, who was a citizen of Jerusalem: "This, o Lord, is very clear to me. The one arises out of the other, and this continues for as far and as long a main goal has been reached from all the many processes. But why must also the tree, which often has carried for many years good fruit for man, finally die, decay and perish totally? He served well and still must make room for another!"
7
Said I: "See, all matter is a temporary collecting vessel of a certain measure of the spiritual life elements! From these a certain portion develops annually, makes itself free and goes over into a higher life sphere. After a greater or even lesser number of years of this earth, the last life element spark has disappeared from the already hard and unuseable becoming tree, and has gone over into a higher life potency and the tree is then standing there empty of any life.
8
Should one now breath new life elements into the old, hard and unusable tree, so that they are getting spoiled by the tree's already coarse matter, just as even the best wine gets spoiled if one silly-like pours it into an old, dirty tube? Is it then not more wise to pour a new wine into a new and clean tube and to throw away the old ones, even more so if you possess new tubes in uncountable quantities? - What do you think about this?"
9
Said the Jew-Greek: "Lord, here every opinion has come to an end! You alone has the highest wisdom and knows all interrelations of all creatures and therefore must also be solely right in everything. We can only ask You, and everything You say to us, we can faithfully accept. Everything is, as You, o Lord, has mercifully explained it to us. Therein also lies the biggest and most living proof, that You in Your spirit has organized and created everything since eternity, whatever there exist in the whole of eternity.
10
Your disciple John has in his introduction for the written words out of Your mouth, given You the most correct and truest testimony, by saying: 'In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and God was the word. The word has become flesh and lived among us. It came to those of His', and they did not recognized it.'
11
See Lord, thus it is so! You came to us people and how few have recognized You, and how many still do not recognize You despite the great signs and most wise teachings! It is truly strange how tremendously stupid and blinded the people are!"
12
Said I: "This is so, and still, you will not be able to do anything against it; for the free will we are not allowed to take from them, because then they would stop to be people. To give them even more signs, would be a vain effort; because it would achieve nothing else than I already have explained to you at the given opportunity, when you thought that I also should perform signs as at the Euphrates.
13
For this nation we only have the word; for whom it does not open the eyes, no signs will open them for him. There still will be signs performed for them, - but not for their rise but for their apparent downfall.
14
I say to you: The last sign which will be performed here in Jerusalem, will be similar to the Prophet Jonas of Ninive, when he spent three days in the belly of the great fish. And because of this sign the great judgement will be unleashed over them, which will devour these culprits of all evil, like a fiery dragon its wretched prey. - But leave it at that and let us go a little outside before the sun sets!"
15
All agreed to this and we rose from the table and climbed on the hill again, from where one could overlook a section of Jerusalem.