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 5 -
The Pharisees in Bethany.
This time, however, I could not stay there very long, since too many respected Jews used to come from Jerusalem, and among them also those who did not believe in Me. I simply accepted the friendly hospitality for three days, but did not teach anything and also did nothing because of the unbelieving Jews.
2
Indeed several came up to Me and wanted to ask Me about many a thing, but I said to them quite simply: "This is no place and no time for it! But what you need to know I have said to you all in the Temple, and for the moment you do not need anything more!"
3
At this I turned My back on them and went out into the open air with Lazarus and the innkeeper, where we spoke much about the mischief of the templers and about their behavior with the people, and the innkeeper, who had become quite believing, could not praise Me enough that I had told the purest truth into the faces of these Temple hypocrites so frankly. Even Lazarus, who for a long time already knew who I really was, was also extremely happy at this.
4
As we were walking around in the open air in various discussions, young John, My favorite, came to us and said: "Lord, what should we do now? The Jews that You got rid of so well before in the house, and whom You turned Your back upon so quickly, are now very disgruntled about it, swore revenge and are saying: Oh, wait, we will soon drive out your proud Messiah! We tried to pacify them, but that only made it worse, and they threatened to immediately send to Jerusalem for guards!"
5
I said: "Go there and tell them that My time, about which I have often prophesied to you all in Galilee, has not yet come; therefore they may fetch the guards at any time and get to know the power and glory of the Son of God even more at such an occasion! Go and tell them that!"
6
Full of joy, John walked to the proud and jaunty Jews, and told them that word for word. But these people seethed with rage and cried out (the Jews): "We will see how far the power of this Nazarene reaches!"
7
At this around twenty of them hurried out the door in order to fetch the guards from Jerusalem.
8
But I did not want such a thing to happen to the friendly house of Lazarus; therefore I only allowed the bullies to hurry exactly one hundred steps from the house and then the limbs of their feet froze on the spot. They now made every effort to get away from the place; but such a thing was of course the purest impossibility against My will. They then began to scream and to howl and to call for help. But the better people, who had already tended towards My side in the Temple, noticed this, went over and asked them why they had now stopped and were crying for help so pitifully.
9
The bewitched people called out, gnashing their teeth: "Listen, we are stuck to the spot on which we stand, and our legs have suddenly become as firm as iron! What evil spirit has done this to us? Oh, help us out of this very most pitiful affliction!"
10
But the good people said: "You have chastised the man, who today healed a sick on the Sabbath, a desecrator of the Sabbath and blasphemer, which he did not deserve! Did you not become a thousand times greater blasphemers, when, because of your evil arrogance, you as priests even wanted to fetch the guards, so that they would lay hands on this innocent man and thus bring the most honorable house of Lazarus into disrepute?! We citizens and not priests of Jerusalem however say it now to you bad priests: Truly God's punishment has clearly come to you! Only now we believe firmly that the eminent Galilean is what he said about himself only too truly today in the Temple! Only He alone, as the Son of Him who punished you here, can help you, and otherwise no-one else in the whole world! Ask Him and turn at last to the good and true, otherwise you could remain here like Lot's wife until judgment day!"
11
This address worked, and the mesmerized people cried: "So bring him here, and we will do whatever he demands of us!"
12
Then the citizens went back again into Lazarus' house, came to Me and quickly told Me the whole incident.
13
But I said to them: "These people who wanted to fetch the guards from the city for My sake shall now stand guard themselves for a while, and in the future their intentions will subside to further indulge their rigid arrogance in such a way for a second time! We will now take a strengthening meal before the setting of the sun and only then see what can happen to those mesmerized by God. For man should also eat on the Sabbath if he is hungry, and not only after the setting of the sun; for what has the sun got to do with the Sabbath and what has the foolish Sabbath of the Jews got to do with the sun?! Is then the sun better and more respectable on a Sabbath than on any other day, when every day is a day of the Lord, not only the Sabbath alone?! So let us go to the tables and enjoy ourselves!"
14
Lazarus and his two sisters were quite beside themselves with joy at this, and immediately dished up generously, and we began to eat and to drink, and were full of good things at that.
15
Only after a few hours, when we had all eaten well, did I say to Lazarus: "Brother, only now let us go to those mesmerized and see what is to be done with them! Truly, if they show even the slightest resistance they shall stand there until sunrise tomorrow and then learn to accept that the Son of God does not need man to respect and bear witness of Him! And so let us then go over to them!"
16
We stood up from the tables and went to them.