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 81 -
The Lord in the north of Galilee.
I stayed in Cana, Galilee for seven days and My disciples preached the gospel to the people. After seven days we moved on, after having done many good things. From Cana many people accompanied us for a considerable distance and returned home full of consolation.
2
From there we travelled to the most northern borders of Galilee, where we have not been before. There we met many heathens who were quite superstitious and regarded all kinds of amulets as very important. They looked at us with very surprising eyes and did not really comprehend, how we could dare to travel without such means of protection. When we began to give them other proofs of our inner powers, they fell onto their faces and regarded us as gods of the Olymp and did not dare to look at us. Only after lengthy talking and proofs, they again began to regard us as humans, and only from then on was it possible to reveal ourselves more and more to them.
3
There we stayed for three weeks and converted a large number of heathens to pure Judaism. These however were otherwise quite good people and they served us copiously with whatever they possessed. When we left them, many wept; but I strengthened them and they let us go quietly.
4
However, so that the reader of these writings can orientate himself more easily, where these amulet heathens actually lived, he should look at an old map and he will find a country in Little Asia by name of Cappadocia (Cai pa dou ceio? = What do they want here?). There, towards the southern border, there was a town called Melite (Mei liete! = Have or count the years!). The town received this name from a young king, who nevertheless was quite wise and courageous, - but when the old king died, the young prince immediately wanted to take over the throne. But the council of the elders decided that the son was not yet old enough, and it was said to him: 'Mei liete!' = 'Have the years!'. This enraged the son, and he moved with some tough fighters to the east, conquered the above mentioned country Cappadocia for the previously owned country Cilicia (Ci lei cia = if only she wants), and build a large city there and gave it the triumphant name Mei liete nei (Greek: Melitene = Did not have the years), whereby he wanted to tell the council of the elder: 'Look here and tell me if I do not have the years!"
5
Now, this does not really belong to our gospel; but it hurts nobody, to know something like this, because he then can orientate himself a lot easier in many ways.
6
Thus, to the west of the this ancient city, was located a considerable mountain range on the border with Syria, where our amulet Greeks lived. How I agreed and arranged things with them, was already briefly mentioned, and it does not require anything further.
7
From these cozy people we moved southwestward and came to a little town by name of Chotinodora (Choti no dora = One does not plough in the corner). In this little town lived many Jews from Bethlehem and traded there with all kind of things, and also pursued with a particular zeal the exchange business. At the same time there were also Greeks from Armenia and conducted a wood trade along the stream Euphrates up to India, since this little town, just like an equally seized neighbourly town by name of Samosata, was located next to the previously mentioned stream.
8
"Now, they are all merchants! We will make only little progress with our case!", the disciples spoke among themselves, and an elderly new disciple said to Me, when we watched the active hustle and bustle of the people from the shore: "Lord, but these places do not belong to Galilee anymore, but You still have visited them, although You wanted to travel in Galilee only! How did this happen and how should we understand this?"
9
Said I: "This happened quite naturally, because according to the division of land by the Romans, all this up to the border of Little Asia belongs to Galilee, and therefore we are still in Galilee and does not look at the old names anymore, but only how they exist today! This land which during the times of Jacob and later under the judges was the land of sadness, namely a land for exiles, has now become a land of joy, and although small in earlier times, it nevertheless has become larger than all the countries of the whole of the large Promised Land. We are now in the old Syria, but we are in the new Galilee ('G' pronounced like 'sch', it sounds like 'Schalilia' = place of grief), which however did not became a land of grief, but a land of joy and spiritual resurrection, - do you understand this?"
10
Said all: "Lord, this we understand quite well, because it is so in all truth! However, the only question remains what are we going to do here. Today is already at an end and we still have no inn. Also our food supply is completely used up. We therefore asked You, o Lord, to give us advice! Or should we spend the night here in the open, or go into town and see if we could buy some bread?"
11
Said I: "O you chicken-hearted! Go and do the latter! But you do not have to look for an inn: since it will come by itself. If it doesn't come, we stay here and nobody will come to any harm. Tomorrow we will see, what can be done."