The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord on the Mount of Olives (John Chapter 8)
- Chapter 193 -
The spiritual correspondence of the times of the day. He who serves the altar should also live from the altar.
In the morning, with sunrise, we were already outside. It was a clear day and the sun rose wonderfully purely.
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Together with the disciples I looked at the beautiful scene of nature and John said to Me: "Lord, I truly don't know why such a beautiful morning always makes such a pleasant impression on me elevating marvellously my heart, while I am quite indifferent about the midday sun and the evening sun makes me feel serious and sad!"
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Said I: "This originates from man's better and right feeling of life. Morning resembles the cheerful and innocent youth of man, therefore it makes any pure and right feeling person feel youthful and cheerful.
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Midday resembles the strong man who must work for his bread in the sweat of his face; therefore midday does not awakens such tender feelings as the morning. Since in the serious man's age the juvenile life poetry has come to an end, and only the certain anxious seriousness of life has taken its place, and this really does not awakens a charm in one's right feeling soul, but only a certain seriousness, about which the heart does not have a particular joy, although it must be present for the attainment of true life.
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And finally evening as the symbol of earthly death and vanishing of all things, cannot leave any other impression on a right feeling soul than gloominess, although the evening is just as necessary as the morning and midday. For if there did not existed any evening of life for man, the everlasting life-morning could never emerge and become an everlasting truth.
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See, therein lies the simple reason of your quite right feelings, which however is not similar in all people! Because there exist people for whom the evening is way more pleasant than morning; yes, there are people for whom morning does not at all leave a pleasant impression, midday somewhat better and the best by evening or especially night. Although, these people belong mainly to the wrong kind and it is difficult to teach these people anything better and to bring them on the right track of faith and feelings; since they in this world gathered only those treasures which are attacked by rust and which can be consumed by moths. And once they are having such a viewpoint, it is difficult to get them to another.
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Therefore I say to you all: Never gather such treasures in this world which can be attacked by rust and which are easily consumed by moths! Do not worry about the coming day, about what to eat and what to wear! It is sufficient that each day produces its own worries. The Father in heaven knows precisely what you need. Look at the sparrows on the roof and the flowers in the field! They do not sow and harvest anything and still are provided for by the Father in heaven with everything abundantly. Did the sparrows not have their dress and food and are the flowers in the field not dressed more delightfully than Salomon in all its splendour? Are you then not a lot better than the sparrows, of whom you can buy a dozen for a pfennig, and better than the grass on the field, which still blossoms today, but is mowed tomorrow, then dried and thrown into the oven and burned as bad animal food?! But if you know this from Me, behave and act accordingly, and you will as My chosen disciples manage your offices quite well!
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Didn't Moses said, when determining the tenth for the priest tribe Levi: 'Who serves the altar, should also live from the altar!' And I say to you now the same with other words. Therefore I have said this only to you and does not thereby want to give to you another commandment, according to which noone will work the fields anymore and noone will maintain the vine in the vineyard anymore, but this applies only to you My chosen workers in My spiritual vineyard; since to the others I say: Who doesn't work, should also not eat! But who searches for My kingdom and its justice, to him, just as to you, everything else will be given as a free gift."
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Then especially John thanked Me for this teaching and asked Me if he also should record this.
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And I said: "Absolutely, but mainly for your successors, since if this would apply to all people, it soon would look quite desolate on earth."