The Great Gospel of John
Volume 7
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord on the Mount of Olives. (cont.) Gospel of John, Chapter 8
- Chapter 118 -
The task of the Messiah. The discussion of the magicians.
I said: "Already 30 years ago at the birth of the Mediator, wise men from your country have been here who offered Him gold, incense and myrrh. Did you not hear anything about them?"
2
The magician said: "Yes, yes, You are completely right. During that time we were still young and were still students who did not trouble ourselves with such things. Besides, those wise men only informed a few other highly placed people, but apparently, this did not make such a big impression as the 3 prominent wise men had probably hoped for. And we also were not able to know much about it. It was only said to us that in the west to the once great and mighty people a new King had been born whose arm would conquer and drive away the enemies and oppressors of the people. However, about the fact that this newborn King would also be the promised Mediator, we have heard little of it or nothing at all.
3
We know that the 3 wise men traveled a few years later again to another place, but since then, we have heard nothing about it anymore. Not where they went to, and nothing about the result of their new trips. We only know for sure that apparently they were traveling just as we did and must be very qualified as magicians.
4
What I now, dear wise Man, am telling here, is the full and pure truth, and You will find in this an excuse for the fact that we now turned to You concerning the promised Mediator. If You would like to tell us something about it, we will be very grateful in our heart for that."
5
I said: "Well, then listen. The newborn King that you meant was the promised Mediator who came into the world to bring the true light of life out of God, not only to the Jews but to all men of the Earth who have a good spirit.
6
Through Him all people will rejoice and say: 'Hail to Him who comes in the garment of eternal love, truth and justice, for He has taken pity on our shortcomings and has delivered us from the hard yoke of judgment and death.'
7
He who will listen to Him and will follow His teaching will receive eternal life within him. Look, here we are, and before us lies the great promise revealed. The Sun of the Heavens and eternal life has risen for the nations, and many thousands are already warming themselves at its life-making rays, and you have come from the faraway morning land because you in yourselves have also noticed a glow that comes from that Sun.
8
But because your heart is still blind, you are still looking for the Sun of life and you are not able to determine where it stands. Yet, your weak glow has brought you closer to it. So, open the eyes of your heart and ask your stars to show you the location of that Sun."
9
The magician said to his companions: "Listen, this Man speaks wonderfully. He must know how things are. He can and will be able to tell us something further about what He has meant concerning that certain Sun of life that is standing close to us. It seems to contain everything.
10
We need to ask the stars to inform us about the position of that Sun, to which we apparently have come closer but of which we still can see nothing because of the blindness of our heart. What will the silent stars tell us? We can ask them questions all along and still we will not receive an answer from them. I believe that we will easier come to know something about the position of the Sun of life that was described by that wonderful wise Man than about the stars which have never said anything, although during our performances people have often asked us about things and circumstances which were already known to us for a long time and about which we said to the people with serious, wise faces that we had read it from the stars. Yes, the blind people believed that indeed. Only we did not, and these people here will believe it still much less because they are in the full light of the truth.
11
We will make no progress by asking the stars because we know all too well what we can expect from the stars, but asking question to these wise men can be worthwhile. Only, we must clothe it very intelligently, otherwise we will hear from them as little as from the stars."
12
A second magician said: "To clothe it intelligently would be all right if we also could do that. What can we do with all our blind intellect? Long before we can think of something intelligent, those wise men know already about it. I think however, that for us it is now intelligent if we will be satisfied with what we had heard until now, and leave the following to their good will, because with compulsion we will not hear much from them. And moreover, I can already clearly see that we by far are not yet mature for higher and deeper truths about the One and only true divine Being and about the inner spiritual life of man.
13
However, we still can ask them if they want to show us the shortest possible way to receive the inner light of truth and live. For we know from our own experience that man can also acquire great qualities by his own thinking and searching, but with the help of a wise and very experienced leader he will acquire more certainly and sooner all kind of knowledge. Therefore, I think that a short but profound hint is more meaningful here than a few unnecessary questions of which the answers, no matter how good they are, will be of little help to us, because we do not understand them. We cannot even ask what we need, because we do not know ourselves, and thus, we also do not know what we are exactly lacking. These wise men certainly know better than we, and therefore I am of the opinion that we must leave it to their much wiser discernment."
14
The chief magician said: "In your simplicity, which is already known to me for a long time, you are truly wiser than I with all my knowledge and know-how. Therefore, we will follow your understanding and opinion, because through questions one can always achieve more than by making demands. But now we still need to determine something else, and that is if we will stay any longer here or if we will go down to town."
16
The chief magician said: "Then it is only our intellect that has to decide what we have to do. If our people are provided for, we can, despite the rather sharp coldness, stay here. And this certainly as long as these wise men will go to rest. Then, during that time, we still can learn a lot from them."
17
The other two said: "This is also our opinion. However, we must ask no more, but at a right opportunity request if they would show us what we have to do to learn about the pure truth."
18
With this, all three fully agreed and kept quiet.