The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Kis at the Sea of Galilee
- Chapter 126 -
The Samaritans admire the appearance of the Lord.
When the Samaritans heard all this with great attention, sitting at their table, the chief spokesman said: "Friends, so this is the Lord Himself, as a visible human being among men. What a glorious stature. What a heavenly-soft fire of love radiates from His eyes, what wisdom radiates from His high forehead, and unto what words must His lovely mouth be capable of.
2
If you only look at His truly exalted, glorious human stature with the right attention, you cannot doubt for one moment that in such noble human form, as has never existed before, must live a Spirit to which everything is possible, whatever He wants. Who is the one among us who has the courage to approach Him and to speak to Him? I, as a sinful human being, do not have it - and you certainly even less."
3
Another one said: "Your opinion is completely correct. Even if I would not know that He is the Lord, then His too exalted, noble stature would already fill me with such great awe that my courage would paralyze me and would make my tongue immovable. Therefore, let us stay very calmly at our table and listen quietly to what He will say to someone. Only to Him are all our love, all honor and all praise.
4
For we only wanted to see Him and, if possible, also hear Him. This is the reason why we came here. By His permission we unmistakably received the mercy we all desired for so fervently. What else can we ask for? Now if we also can hear Him, we will very quietly pay our bill to a servant and will then immediately go on our way back with a happy and grateful heart, for here I really begin to feel uncomfortable because of the sheer majesty and holiness. I just do not understand how the other people dare to approach Him without any fear and even dare to talk to Him as to any other human being. More than human courage is needed for that. And as far as I can hear, they also talk to Him about very casual things and circumstances of this world."
5
The first one said again: "Friend, this is really remarkable. What does He care about how the fishes and the lambs will be prepared for the midday meal? And still, that is what they all talk about. Remarkable. That young man just taught to all of us about very important and great things, but now that the Lord Himself is present they all talk about the preparation of the midday meal as if this is now the greatest and most important matter, and the Lord speaks about it with apparent satisfaction to the innkeeper who is well known to us, and his wife and with the other woman who was sitting amongst the disciples before. But yes, it is not necessary to always talk simply and solely about divine exalted things. When they finished ordering the meal, then surely other things and matters will be discussed."
6
When we were ready with the preparation of the quality and also the quantity of the midday meal, Kisjona asked Me what the best way and time was for fishing.
7
We went and sat at the table, ordered in the mean time some bread and wine, and I taught Kisjona when and how at a certain time one or the other kind of fish could be captured and how they should be stored and prepared, so that they can be best digested for the health of the body, and then also be best savored, about which our Kisjona was very glad.
8
But our Samaritans, who sat in a corner of the hall at their own table, were seriously irritated about Kisjona, and one of them said: "Does this tax collector and innkeeper, who is already so unimaginably rich, not know anything else to talk about than about the easiest and surest way to become even more rich? And the Lord explains it to him very friendly and very extensively. But what can we do about it? What is pleasing to the Lord, may not bother us. It is still indescribably much better than when He is pleased to inflict to one or the other person all kinds of terrible diseases, which He does not do seldom, about which a true Jew may never complain, but has to bear them with all possible patience and in full dedication to God's will. In short, the Lord is and remains the Lord, and all men are nothing compared to Him."
9
All His companions agreed with Him and behaved again very quietly and with great respect in their corner.