The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 65 -
The hypocrisy of the scribes.
When the scribes and his companions heard that from Me, they could find nothing anymore to contradict Me.
2
But the scribe was thinking and said to Me: "Master, I can see that You are a true and wise Teacher. You are teaching God's Word correctly irrespective of persons or of a nation. We also know what is written with the prophets about the coming of the Messiah, and with us we are also already half on our way to believe that You can be the promised Messiah, for we have heard many things about Your teaching and deeds, and have also experienced a lot ourselves since we know You already more than 10 years as a remarkable Nazarene and we have experienced already a lot of inconceivable things of You, like for instance houses that were build in a wonderfully fast way, healings of sick people, abundant fishing and even an undeniable raising of somebody who died after a heavy fall. Such and still more of Your hidden activities we have heard, although You Yourself and also Your father Joseph did not want to make it known among the people.
3
But at that time, by far it could not be noticed that You are a prophet, and still less the promised great Messiah of the Jews and all the people on Earth. Only since about 2 years and a few months it has become public and known all over that You stood up among the people and by means of words and deeds are witnessing about Yourself that You are the promised Messiah.
4
So we did not come here to wish for one or another miraculous sign from You, but only to hear the words out of Your mouth, because at home You were anything but an orator, so that even Your fluently speaking father Joseph poured out his troubles. He was afraid that in course of time You could become completely mute and mentally deficient, because oftentimes for weeks they could not get one word out of You. And now You have become a Teacher of the people for whom - as for every great prophet - one must give the greatest of all honor.
5
The fact that You, as the already long known son of Joseph the carpenter, are really the Messiah Himself, yes, that, we could in fact not simply believe despite everything what we have heard about You. And if we now came from Bethlehem and from still further away to this place, urged by Your disciples who came to us, in order to convince us of the most important matter, then You surely cannot blame us. For if You are permeated and filled by the highest Spirit of wisdom as Your disciples are saying and now also You Yourself, then You surely will perceive that we did not come here with bad intentions.
6
For in the old proverbs of wisdom it is written that one has to investigate everything, and further must accept and keep that which is good. When we as human beings are doing this now also with You, then for this reason You should not consider us as cursed sinners. You have given Your disciples, who were not learned people at all, such an inner light by which they could recognize You immediately as the promised Messiah. Then why do You not give such a light to us? Must we, because we are more careful with the acceptance of the belief in You be condemned to eternal darkness? Look, a while ago You have told us a very good story about who our fellowman is. We however, are also poor of light, and we are then also more in need of a merciful Samaritan than that man of Jericho who was half beaten to death. But for us, it still does not seem to be in You. What is Your answer on this, wise Master?"
7
I said: "If the words from your mouth were also those from your heart, you also would find more than a merciful Samaritan for the healing of your beaten down souls. But as long as the feeling in your heart is much different from what your cunning tongues are speaking, you also will not find that supposed Samaritan with Me. Nevertheless, I have shown you My mercy by saying to you what I have said just now. If you will take it at heart, of which I will never force you, it will also become light and clear in you.
8
The fact that in your blind judgment you know Me as son of the carpenter, this I surely know, but you admitted yourself that now and then you heard about Me that I had performed deeds of which no other human being is capable of. Then you surely could have looked into the Scripture. Then with little difficulty you could have found who was behind that carpenter's son, what even many gentiles had discovered during that time. But this you have never done, and when someone with a better and clear perception pointed it out to you, you not only did not think about it any further, but you threatened everyone who had such an opinion. You partly took Me for a possessed one and, if it worked out well, partly also for a talented magician who, at a good opportunity had learned his secret art here and there in order to gather great treasures with the gentiles.
9
But when you received information about Me again, you turned against Me in your evil assembly: 'Aha, now everything is clear for us about Him. His father Joseph is a direct descendant of David? The old man has discovered talents in his son and he secretly taught Him somewhere all kinds of magic that is considered as something godly by the gentiles. With this, he already made a lot of gentiles as his friends, and because they are our enemies, he had the idea to, by their kindness, put his magician of a son on the throne of David, and us, as enemies of the gentiles, he will then bring us down with one blow, and with the help of the Essenes, who are also well respected by the Romans, he will bring us to ruin. But this, we must prevent at all cost, and at a good opportunity we must catch Him and take His life, after which it will then certainly be finished with Him forever. Because if He is only a bad magician and wants to bring us down, then it is very good when we will bring Him down before He in one way or another can harm us. And if ever He is the Christ, then we will not be able to do anything to Him and then later we can still early enough believe that he is the Christ. He will not blame us that we first had to examine everything before accepting Him as the promised Christ, and then, besides that, He moreover will even have to praise us for our zeal for the truth and will have to give us a high reward.'
10
Look, this is how you think in your heart while also the whole temple in Jerusalem thinks the same way, and not one of you has even by far the desire that I perhaps may be Christ, but only, once that I will be strangled by you, may remain dead forever.
11
When this is your greatest desire and nothing else, what kind of desire should I then need to have for you according to the truth in My heart? Are you, with such a desire that is against Me, worth of My mercy? Judge for yourself. I am endlessly much better than the best among you and I still proof a great mercy to you by telling you openly how it looks inside of you, so that you can know yourself and can turn to totally different ideas, for this is still possible for you. But what kind of mercy are you showing regarding Me? Now say honestly, if that what I have said in your face is something different than the pure truth?"
12
Now all of them looked at Me in amazement and not one of them had the courage to contradict Me.