The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Galilee
- Chapter 68 -
The Lord heals the sick helper of the innkeeper.
But you have a sick helper who is your favorite, because he always has served you in the most loyal and zealous way and who cannot stand up from his sickbed since already 1 full year because he is afflicted by gout. If you want and believe, I can help him."
2
The innkeeper said: "O Lord and Master, if You would like to show me this mercy, I want to do everything that You want me to do for You."
3
I said: "Then it will happen according to your faith. Go and see if your helper is still in pain."
4
Then the innkeeper went immediately to the room where the sick helper was, and see, the helper was healthy, and he told the innkeeper that he had clearly the impression that there had been lightning around him, and after that in one moment all pain and weakness had left him, so much so that he now immediately wanted to stand up from his sickbed. God must have done a miracle to him.
5
The innkeeper said: "You surely can stand up now and come then into the big hall. There you will see the One who made you miraculously healthy."
6
The helper did quickly what the innkeeper told him to do, and the latter came with a very thankful heart immediately back to us.
7
When the innkeeper came to us again and had expressed his thanks to Me, the healed helper came also soon after him, and together with him came also the other personnel of the house and servants and maidservants, and they asked who of us was the One who had healed the chief helper miraculously of his gout.
8
The innkeeper pointed with his hand to Me and said: "This God-Man here, of whom I must say that no one of us is in the least worthy that He came to us and walked through the doorstep of my house. Thank Him, all of you for all the mercy that He has given us, and give Him always the honor before all men."
9
After these words, the innkeeper kneeled down immediately at My feet, thanked Me and praised Me loudly. Then also the others of the personnel did the same, the servants and maidservants, which caused a great noise in the house that could also be heard by the Pharisees, although their room was far away from our hall. And one of them came to see what was happening.
10
When he heard that I had completely healed the helper from his gout, and in which manner, he was irritated and said to the innkeeper whom he called (the Pharisee): "Watch out for this agitator of the people, for if He does those miracles with the help of the chief of devils or by another kind of sorcery, which He has perhaps learned from the Essenes, then the Romans will soon come to know that the whole people runs after Him, who will finally make Him king over all the Jews, and then they will come down to us and will really beat us up."
11
The innkeeper said: "Thanks to this Man of wonders, whom the Romans know certainly already for a longer time than we, I have nothing to fear from them, but from you I could fear everything if I were not a Roman citizen. But you should fear this Man who must be filled with the Spirit of God, for otherwise He impossibly could do such signs and perform such deeds that are only possible to God, and the one who is filled with God's Spirit is also a true Lord over everything in Heaven and on the Earth, and those who are His enemies should only fear Him, but He not them. So the warning that you gave me will never take root in my mind."
12
When the rabbi - who was actually a lower Pharisee - heard this from the innkeeper, he became still more irritated than before. He did not say anything anymore and went back to his companions.
13
When he came to them, they immediately asked him what happened.
14
However, the rabbi was thinking about the words of the innkeeper, and therefore he indifferently reported what happened and said that mostly the personnel burst out in insignificant jubilation.
15
The other Pharisees were satisfied with that and did not ask any further and continued to revel and said: "Just let us grant the amazed innkeeper his pleasure to praise his Savior and Messiah as a wonder doctor who is traveling around and who unmistakably comes from the school of the Essenes, and whom also the Romans are holding in great esteem. In a few weeks time everything will again be gone and forgotten with him."
16
This mood of the already really drunk Pharisees was good for us, because by that they left us in peace and we were able to discuss important things with one another.
17
Also the personnel, the servants and maidservants who came into our hall went on command of the innkeeper to work again, for they still had a lot of things to do because a few strangers who - mostly for business reasons - came from Capernaum to this market. Only the healed helper stayed with us, and he ate and drank with us and strengthened himself.