The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Golan
- Chapter 87 -
The priests are questioned by their colleagues.
After these words of the captain, the 2 priests looked at Me from head to toe, and one of them asked Me: "Who are You actually, since our commander gave a testimony about You that one can truly only give to God? Speak about Yourself, and we will believe You, whatever You say.
2
Are You perhaps the One about who our poor people told us outside, who commanded the winds, the clouds and the fire from the hill Talba and that they obeyed Him?"
3
I said: "Yes, I am the One indeed. The testimony of the captain is true. Comply with it. All the rest that you and your people will need, you will hear from this innkeeper and his 2 neighbors.
4
If you will act upon it in full faith, you will awaken the eternal life in yourself and you will keep it then also forever. For I Myself - although in your eyes I am a Son of man - am the Way, the Truth and the eternal Life. Whoever believes in Me and acts completely according to My teaching, will, what concerns his soul, live eternally, even if he, for what concerns his body, would die many times.
5
Concerning My teaching - which is very short and easy to understand for everyone - you will hear from those whom I indicated to you. And now you can go back to your colleagues outside and tell them what you have heard. They should not extort the people anymore to appease non-existent gods, for if they will continue with that I will release once more the powers of the Earth, and then they will see how they will fare."
6
When the 2 pagan priests heard this from Me, they said no more word but bowed deeply before Me and before the captain and went quickly outside on the large road to their colleagues who were still telling all kinds of stories to the people about the gods, and in this way they received many coins.
7
When the 2 came outside, their colleagues saw them, went to them and asked very curiously what they were able to achieve with the captain and what I was all about.
8
But the 2 said: "You, our dear friends, listen. The matter is of the greatest importance, and later in our house we will extensively speak about it, but here on the street is not the place to talk about such things.
9
But the Man, of who the poor told us that all mights, powers and elements of the Earth obey Him, seems to be more than only a human being. And He very decisively told us that we should immediately stop to collect expiatory offerings for the gods that are nothing, otherwise we will have to endure from Him something that is still worse than what we had to endure tonight. So let us immediately stop collecting and go to our stronghold. There we will deliberate what we should do further. Because the matter of that exceptional Man must be really very important, otherwise our captain, who puts everything to the test, would not be so devoted to Him and give a testimony to us that one can only give about someone that is very clearly recognized as God. But let us not talk further about this here."
10
These words of the 2 priests were very touching to all of them. They stopped collecting and went to their stronghold. And a few of the more important citizens went with them with great expectation.
11
When they arrived in the stronghold that was adorned with all kinds of idol statues, one of the two, who was with Me in the inn, climbed in the preacher's chair and said: "Now be so kind to hear me. I will tell you as brief as possible what I have heard in the Jewish inn from our wise captain and then mainly from that exceptional Man, and what we all should take at heart, because a human being to whom all mights and powers of the Heavens and the Earth obey, is certainly more, greater and more respectable than all our gods of who no one can say with any certainty that they ever existed or are now really existing, except in the temples that are made by human hands.
12
No one has ever experienced that one of our many gods has performed a real miracle. That which was done in front of the blind people by calling up some god, was not done by the god that was called upon, but was - as we well know - only done by a priest who was skilled in the art of magic with the means that were at his disposal. Without such means no one has ever - as far as we know - performed a miracle, not even the Pontifex Maximus in Rome.
13
But if that Man, about whom I am speaking, commands without any tangible means, only by His word and by His will, all the powers of the Heavens and the Earth, and they obey Him, then such a Man is entirely the only true God. Then everything what we indicate with the word 'god' is nothing else but a making of the human fantasy that from now on should be no more accepted as really existent by any clearly thinking and truth-seeking person.
14
This is a necessary introduction of what I have promised to say and to tell you. But before I tell you what I heard from the captain and then from that God-Man, maybe you wish to say what you think about this God-Man."
15
They all said: "Continue your speech and tell us what you heard from the captain and especially from the God-Man, because of all the things whereof you are convinced that it is the full truth, we also are convinced that it is the full and complete truth. So come to the main point. We will listen to you with the greatest attention."