The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 58 -
What the Roman understood about the explanation of the Lord.
The Roman said: "Yes, yes, Lord and Master, according to the explanation that You have given now, it can impossibly be otherwise but precisely as you have expounded to us now. Although by far we still cannot understand it yet, but we believe it without any doubt, because You as the eternal Truth and Wisdom You have shown it to us just like it is and as it must be. Because You as the Creator of all things must surely know best how and in what kind of order Your works are created, and what the purpose is of this and that. Thus, we only can learn about the situation of such matters of Your eternal order - which were not revealed to us people until now - because You are revealing it to us, and we believe everything what You tell us, even if we are not capable with our reason and still less with our sense organs to penetrate into the full depth of Your wisdom. We thank You for this more than great revelation.
2
But from what we have now heard from You, You also have given us a weapon in our hands with which we can bring all philosophers and old theologians quickly to the ground. Because this is a proof as no other, drawn out of the most inner source of life of every human being who truly has to correspond entirely with the whole endless great Man of Your Creation, because man, as a being who now is completely equal to You, represents the perfect closing stone of all Your works and therefore, in an extremely little form he is that which is the entire endless big creation.
3
However, the fact that the way to the true, free and independent life is very tight and narrow, is obviously clear from this wonderful great revelation of Yours, and one can also see that it has to be like that and can never be any different.
4
The one who truly wants to find himself and by that also You, must penetrate through this very tight little door in himself, otherwise he will stay outside of the little chamber of life of his heart. Only the love for You and the fellowman makes this little door, which is otherwise so tight, wider. The soul, who generally imagines himself to be so great, will be made small by true humility, and the real meekness makes him pliable. And only such a prepared soul can penetrate through the tight little door into the little chamber of life of his godly spirit and there become one with the spirit and by that will be born again or reborn. From Your great revelation I have now concluded that these things are absolutely necessary for the practice of our test life on this Earth, and therefore I also have discovered the true and real reason why You especially have so urgently emphasized to us the love for God and fellowman, humility and meekness.
5
But now that we know the reason, and also know what we surely can reach when we go along that way, it will be also easy for us to act and we also will do that with the greatest possible diligence and zeal.
6
For if we in our great poverty of life know where the great and richest treasure is hidden, and if we also have the help and the tools to dig it up for ourselves, then we surely would be the greatest fools if, knowing that we indeed will discover it and dig it up, we would so to speak lay lazily our hands into our lab and would, just like the spiritual blind worldly people, throw ourselves into the very temporary mud of worldly matter which is in judgment and which today appears to be something and tomorrow will be blown away by the winds and storms as worthless chaff.
7
O thank you, Lord and Master, that You have now revealed so clearly to us the deepest cause of the things of Your creation.
8
But now, o Lord and Master of eternity, there is still a little question that keeps me busy. Of course I know that You have known very clearly already since an eternity beforehand what I would like to ask You now, but I still will ask it openly, firstly because You want it that way, and secondly because of the others who are here, so that they can hear what it will be all about.
9
The question is like this: "have the inhabitants of other earths never heard anything at all and do they not have any knowledge about You, or, if they do have knowledge, how did they acquire it? Are the people of other earths also real men or are they only men according to the outer form and are they, what concerns their inner being, only in a certain way still animals that as far as their form is concerned look like us human beings on this Earth? Are they guided by a certain wise instinct that You have laid in them, just like we have noticed this here with certain animals, so that we almost attributed a certain reason, awareness and capacity of judgment to them?
10
About this, o Lord and Master, please give us a little light. Then, as far as our souls are concerned, we will be well provided."