The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in the region of Caesarea Philippi
- Chapter 158 -
The Greeks recognize the Lord. Purpose and causes of sicknesses.
Polycarp said on this: "Extremely wise Master, we are extremely thankful for this teaching, and with all our strength we will follow Your advice as strictly as possible, although Moses is difficult to understand for us in many parts of his writings. But based on what You have promised us, we hope to also penetrate into the whole spirit of the writings of Moses and also into those of the other prophets if we follow, on Your advice, the simple 10 commandments as strictly as possibly.
2
But, wise Master, please have the patience and goodness to tell us if You also came by that spiritual way to Your truly divine wisdom and power."
3
I said: "As a human being of flesh and blood, certainly through no other way, because according to the divine order there is eternally no other way that exists or can exist. But I, whom you can see here and to whom you can speak, am not the one who gave you that advice, but there is One who lives in Me, who is higher in all fullness of divine love, wisdom and power, and He is the One who has spoken to you now in this way, as He spoke to Moses and to many other prophets and wise men before, and that is also the One in whom you should believe without doubting and whom you should love above all by acting according to His will that has been faithfully revealed to you.
4
So in Me, there is also the One who came visibly into this world, whom you searched and were not able to find in any school nor in any temple.
5
As I am here now in Myself, being active throughout the whole of infinity, so I will also exist and be active in the spirit in all those who will keep My simple commandments, who believe in Me and who actively will love Me above all.
6
But those who, although they believe in Me and say 'Lord, Lord', but who are lukewarm in their actions, and careless in their love for their fellowman, I will not live in them and I will not reveal Myself to them, and My power and wisdom will not fill their soul. For since every man has a completely free will, I want that he first comes to Me, completely out of his free will, by acting in everything according to My will that was revealed to him. Then I also will come to him, reveal Myself to him and then fill him with all My wisdom and power by the Holy Spirit of My eternal love that rules everywhere. This is how the Lord spoke before, and also now."
7
When the 2 heard this from My mouth, they looked very much surprised, and after having thought deeply about it for a little while, they said: "Very vaguely we already thought that there was something more different about You than only an extremely wise man, for You Yourself showed it to us very clearly when You revealed our whole course of life. Now however, through Your last words it has been as clear as the sunlight that You are completely God in Yourself, in spite of Your body, and actually the same One whom we have sought for so long and were not able to find until now.
8
But now that we have found You, no power in the world will be able to turn us away from what we do not only believe, but of which we are fully convinced.
9
But since You, Lord, Lord, are that same only, true, one God in Yourself in whom all men should fully believe and whose will, which was faithfully revealed to them, they should fulfill in very active deeds, we dare to direct to You in full faith our very humble request to make our bodies as healthy as possible, which we will need for the true completion of our souls. For we do believe now that nothing is impossible to You.
10
However, we do not want this now as a sign for the truth of what we believe from You, but only because we certainly can be better active with a healthy instrument for the completion of our souls and of our companions than with a sick and weak body. For together with a sick body, suffers also the soul, and has only little desire for a greater activity."
11
I said: "It will be done according to your faith. But besides of what you believe, you should remember that, for the sake of his soul, it is not always beneficial for man to walk around with a completely healthy body. For if his flesh is too healthy, it also becomes easily excited to all kinds of sensual lusts, in which the soul becomes covetous as well, than when his flesh is sickly and weak. And so, a physical sickness is in a certain way a guard before the door of the inner life of the soul.
12
Nevertheless, you will be completely physically healthy. But be careful that at certain occasions, which are frequent with the Greeks, you will not again fall into your old sins, and by that, also into still worse sicknesses. So keep always the commandments of Moses in mind, in your heart and in your will. Deny yourself, and follow the spirit of My teaching.
13
I do not want for anyone to endure this earthly trial life for the freedom of will with a sick body, but if men will not follow the old advice of My love and My order, but do what they should not do, then they are also the creators themselves of all afflictions of their body and their soul.
14
And I cannot turn around My order, by which the existence of all things are possible, for the sake of those who are frivolous and who are blind by their own fault. If someone knows that his body is in pain when it is hit or pricked, but who nevertheless will hit and prick it, it is his own fault when his body feels much pain because of that, because for the sake of the absurd foolishness of the people I will not provide a soul with an insensible body and will also not make is possible that, because of the gravity, he could not fall from the roof on the ground. This I say to you also, so that you can keep this in mind."