The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 115 -
The divine guidance of the Jewish people.
Then Agricola turned to Me and said: "O Lord and Master, give us Romans advice according to Your love, mercy and justice to know what can be done about this really very evil matter for the benefit of these people."
2
I said: "There is not much that can be done now, for according to your laws, a contract must be upheld and remains valid for the determined time if the possessor of this contract complies with the conditions. But it is not stated in the contract that Herod can shift the taxes of those who redeemed themselves and have become Roman citizens to those who are not redeemed, and therefore you surely can forbid this to him. It is true that the governor Pilate had already partly done this and has because of that made Herod his enemy, but this was not to much use, and Herod still does what he wants and does not bother much about the governor, for in the contract of the emperor he has indeed the clearly formulated authority to help himself with all the rights of a king as far as they are not in contradiction and incompatible with the laws of Rome.
3
Well now, after such authority that was given to him, which clearly was not well thought of, he can commit a lot of to Heaven crying injustices and by virtue of your contract you cannot call him to account.
4
But the fact that he is now so greedy and suppresses the people greatly is because of the circumstances that he wants to gather so much money so that with this he can for his own benefit and purposes redeem the whole country forever from you Romans, in order to become from you a completely independent ruler over the whole of Judea. Although he will not be able to go that far, but since this is now his purpose and plan, he therefore acts this way in order to once carry it out according to his idea at the time of a favorable wind coming from Rome.
5
As it is now, I could change all this with one single thought, so that the whole house of Herod would not exist unto his most distant relatives. But still, I do not do that because he is allowed as a rod of chastisement for the stinginess and the haughtiness of the people of God.
6
For when the Jews stood under the judges, they did not have taxes except for the tithe, and they were rich and mightier than any other nation on Earth. Then they became presumptuous in their luster and wanted to have a king who would exceed all the kings of the Earth in glitter, splendor and might. And a king was given to them. But with him came also all misery over the people that had become unsatisfied with God's ruling.
7
Then the people grumbled and lamented still more than now, and many asked God for help, but God is not a Being who just like man will change His decision from today until tomorrow, for if He would do that, there would be no Earth and no sun for already a long time. And so He let the Jews be among the kings. And the kings were wise and led the people justly, as long as the people themselves remained good and wise and just according to the laws of God. But when the people committed prostitution and all kinds of injustices, also unwise and hard and unjust kings were assigned over them.
8
And when the whole Jewish people, apart from a few, turned to paganism, they came into the imprisonment of the Babylonians, in order to experience how it is like to live under the rulership of the dark heathens. It was only then that the people returned to their old and only true God, and God made them again an independent people and gave them wise and righteous leaders.
9
But it did not take long again before the people fell back into their old sins and evil, and God placed them gradually into circumstances wherein they are now - as they deserved it - sighing and lamenting.
10
And God has come now Himself into the flesh to the people in the manner that the prophets have predicted, and He wants to free them and make them happy for time and eternity, but the great mass do not believe it when they hear about it and see it themselves with open eyes, and they persecute the almighty Helper and they do not want to hear anything about Him. But for this reason, God allows also that the blind people that became evil are tormented in every respect and will be tormented more and more, and it will still happen that they will be scattered among all the nations of the Earth and they will have no country that they could call their own.
11
Because of the fact that the people are still like that now, they must be tormented by the Romans and still heavier by their feudal monarchs. But he who is still wise and just and observes the commandments of God and keeps them, will also be justified, find mercy and help with God and with the people, and the greediness and lust for power of Herod will not be able to harm him, of which Lazarus and many others can testify.
12
But he who is still oppressed must firstly and truly turn to God and ask Him for help in his heart. Then he will be helped if he will desist from all those many sins, which are now more practiced among the Jews than among the heathens.
13
Look, friend Agricola, this is how things are, and from what I have said now you surely will be able to conclude what you have to do with regard to Herod."
14
Agricola said: "Yes, Lord and Master, only true and faithful One. Now I know very clearly what I have to do. Whatever is right for You, o Lord, that is also right for me."