The Three Days in the Temple
Conversations of the twelve year old Jesus
- Chapter 25 -
The caustic speech of the boy Jesus to the hypocritical temple officials as His worst adversaries. The abuses in the temple.
I SAID: "I am now here to announce to you that I am come to carry out the works of Him who sent Me, whom, according to your own confession, you do not know, but whom I know well as He lives within Me in His fullness.
2
Moses desired to look upon Him and yet was allowed to see only His back parts, but was yet dazzled by that sight for three days, and his own countenance became so radiant that he had to veil it when he came to the people, because their eyes would not have been able to endure the brilliance.
3
You however may now well look upon My face, and no unbearable radiance will dazzle your eyes. Why? Because this flesh hides Him who lives within Me, but nevertheless is more than that which was there! But, you do not perceive it, because before your eyes hangs, and will still hang for a long time, the threefold covering of Moses, in order that you may surely not recognize Him who has come unto you out of the very highest heavens!
4
Of course it is easy for you to speak to the judge as he can only bend his ear to your nicely put words: to talk with Me however is more difficult, as I perceive even the secret thoughts of yourselves, which sound quite otherwise than do the words of your mouth! Therefore you are, to a great degree, repellent to Me, because you wash yourselves clean outwardly, yet inwardly your souls are full of uncleanness.
5
If the judge, in whose heart there is no deceit, has invited you to draw the attention of the people to Me, and to refresh them with the fulfillment of their hope, why do you search for all kinds of unimportant things, in consequence of which such a thing could not possibly be done?
6
I tell you quite frankly, it is you and not the people who do not desire such a thing. You yourselves are My worst adversaries! However that does not matter at all; for, firstly, My time has not yet come, and secondly, this very temple has been too much profaned by you, for Me ever to be able to take up My dwelling therein. Verily, your prestige shall never be increased through Me.
7
You scowl because Moses forbade you to make any carved image whatsoever of God, but it does not matter to you if you make yourselves out to be gods before the people, and teach quite seriously that God does nothing without you, and also grants no other requests but the one put through your mouths. Tell Me, did Moses also tell you anywhere to do that?
8
Yes, yes, you ought to lead the people on the way that leads to Heaven, for that is God's Will, and this, Moses and his brother Aaron ordered. You however do exactly the contrary, and consider your position, God, the people, and the temple, as nothing else but as a very fat cow for milking, to milk which, you pretend alone to have the right from God!
9
But I tell you quite frankly that God, whom you deny with every breath and every pulse throb, has never given you this right, neither has He granted, nor does He grant now, and neither will He ever grant, your dead and mechanical prayers!
10
For if God granted your wild babbling and your raven-like croaking, truly I too should have to know something about it. For what the Father knows, the Son also knows, or: what My love knows, My wisdom also knows! But of ever granting your prayers, neither My love nor My wisdom knows anything at all!
11
And yet you say: 'If thou, o man, dost pray to God for something, it is of no use to thee: if however you give us an offering, and we pray for thee, then is our prayer of good use to thee! We priests alone may pray effectively, but the people may only give offerings, and thus pray with us by means of the ample offerings!
12
Thus you drain the people doubly, firstly: you take the tithe of all the fruit, and all the firstborn of the domestic animals, and make them give you a large ransom for the firstborn of man: and secondly, you solemnly and unceasingly ask for offerings from the people, and promise in return long and lasting prayers for them, which however you never say!
13
For you then say to yourselves: If we pray or not, it is of no use to the one who brings the offering: if anything is of any use to him, it is only the offering that he brought to us with a good intention! And thus you do not even perform that for which you have let yourselves be paid!
14
To whom then shall I compare you? You are always against God, and entirely resemble ravenous wolves that go about in sheep's clothing, in order that the sheep should not run away from them, and that they may reach them without any trouble at all, and may tear them with their sharp teeth! But just as your work is now, so also will be your reward in the Kingdom of Souls! I tell you, and you may rely on it, that for you My predictions will not have been made in vain!"