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 195 -

The fishermen from Joppe are invited by the Lord for the meal.

Now also a servant of Marcus came - the same one who brought the invitation to us for the midday meal. I praised him for his good and clever treatment of the poor and sick inhabitants from Joppe. He thanked Me for these praising words, and we went on our way down.

We soon reached the house and went directly to the guestroom, for from the west came a rather hard wind blowing, which was also for the people from Joppe too severe, for they were standing outside at the shore of the lake and made acquaintance with the skippers of our Kisjona. They talked a lot to them about Me, and received also instructions from them that I was still staying here and that they most probably would come to see Me.

When they saw that the so-called lords had come down from the mountain and were in the house, the known fisherman from Cyprus went directly to the house and asked a servant if they also could come into the house, for the wind outside at the lake was more and more severe, cooler and unpleasant.

The servant said: "Just go inside and speak with the Lord Himself. He will give you the right answer."

The fisherman said: "Friend, through this open door I can see many sitting at the big dining table. Who of them is it?"

The servant said: "Just go inside and you yourself can ask for the Lord. Then out of those many people you will immediately know who the Lord is."

Then the fisherman came a little shy to us in the dining room, bowed deeply before us and said then with a determined voice: "Exalted friends and lords of this village, I gladly would like to exchange a couple of words with the supreme commander of this village about a certain matter. Would you be so kind to show me, poor inhabitant from Joppe, to whom of you I have to address myself?"

Then our Marcus said very friendly: "Yes, my friend, although I am the temporal owner and guardian of this village, but the actual and only true Lord and Master over everything is the Man who is sitting here at my right side. Everything that you want to accomplish here depends on Him."

After Marcus' words, the fisherman went with deep respect to Me, made again a deep bow and wanted to speak with Me in very elegant wordings.

But I said to him: "I already know what you want to tell and present to Me. Look, there in the other corner of this large dining room is another big table, and it is already provided with wine, bread and other food. Go outside, bring all your companions here inside and sit at the table and strengthen yourselves with food and drink. After that, it will be clear what further things will have to be done tonight. Go now and do what I have advised you."

Then the fisherman, filled with gratitude in his heart, bowed deeply again and hurried to his companions who were already eagerly waiting for his return.

When he told them what I had said to him, there was great jubilation among them. They left the shore immediately and went with full gratitude to the room, made deep bowings before us when they came in, went immediately to the table that was set for them and began to eat and drink their fill after the singing of psalms. And they soon became cheerful and joyful.

Also at our table, everyone became livelier. And all kinds of stories did not lack about My deeds and teaching, to which the people from Joppe were listening more and more attentively, and so they were talking less among each other.

From the words of My disciples, the men from Joppe soon noticed that I could be one of them.

The fisherman turned to a servant and said: "Friend, be so kind to tell us who among those who sit there at the table of the lords is the great holy Master of Nazareth, who must certainly be present here, and about whom in Joppe 2 of His disciples, who were sent out by Him, announced to us that the fullness of the Spirit of God lives bodily in Him, and that therefore everything obeys His will. They said that the one who believes in Him and lives and acts according to His teaching will receive from Him the eternal life and will be taken up into the Kingdom of Heaven."

The servant said: "Why do you ask me? Look, we all have received an order from our lord of the house not to make known the holy One of Nazareth to any guest, and we have to follow this order. But just go and speak with the One who on your request allowed you to come in. He will tell you the truth."

The fisherman and several of his companions said: "O friend, we thank you for these words that you spend on us. Now everything is clear to us. The One to whom we have to address ourselves to hear the truth, is the holy One of Nazareth Himself. Now we understand why your old lord of the house indicated Him as the actual and true Lord over everything. Therefore, all the honor goes to Him, all praise, all our love and worship."

The servant said: "Then stay with what your spirit has inspired you."

Then the servant continued with his duties, but the fisherman said to his companions: "Friends and brothers, since we know now that He is the holy One of Nazareth, whom the manager of this institution has indicated to me as the actual, true Lord over everything, and who told us to come in and invited us to this table, at which we have satiated and refreshed ourselves, He is also the only One to whom we owe now already for the second time the complete healing of our afflictions.

Since we have the invaluable happiness that He is here to meet Him personally, and that we also recognize Him now, it is now the highest time that we also bring verbally our thanks to Him, as we very intensely can feel in our heart, and ask Him then that He would not leave us, and grant us His almighty love and mercy unto the end of our life, for from now on, all our salvation depends only on Him."

They all fully agreed with the suggestion of the fisherman. They stood up from their chairs and wanted to stand before Me to verbally express their gratitude to Me, and then to ask Me what the fisherman suggested to them.

But I was ahead of them, stood up from My chair, went to them and said: "Be at peace now, My children and friends, the gratitude and the question in your hearts are sufficient to Me, and by your faith in Me and by your love for Me, and thereby also for your fellowman, your request will also be completely granted forever. Now go back to sit on your places and let your heart be full of joy.

Before midnight, a few things will still happen to give you a deeper teaching. And you truthfully should remember and keep it very attentively for yourselves and for many of your blind brothers, for also you can from now on become spreaders of My name and My teaching."

After that, I returned to My place, and the men from Joppe thanked Me again from the bottom of their heart, and could not stop to glorify and praise Me for the fact that I Myself came to their table and had greatly comforted them.

Marcus instructed the servants to bring more bread and wine to the table of the men from Joppe, as was done immediately, and these took from time to time some bread and wine and listened continuously with the greatest attention to everything that was discussed at our table.

After a while, from the discussions of the disciples, they also recognized Mary who sat at our table to be the mother of My body, and they praised her among each other as the most happy of all mothers on the whole Earth.

Then Mary went to the men from Joppe and said to them: "Dear friends, praise only the Lord, and act according to His will. Although I am the mother of His body, according to His eternal decree, but He alone is the Lord from eternity, and so to Him only is due all honor, all glory and all praise in eternity. As far as I am concerned, I am only His handmaid, and I always let His will rule over me. So be quiet and praise only and solely the Lord."

After these words of Mary, the men from Joppe were quiet again, but they still discussed among each other that this mother must have been extremely pious since her birth, because she had been made worthy of such unspeakable great mercy.

Footnotes

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