The Great Gospel of John
Volume 8
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord and His adversaries
- Chapter 141 -
A thunderstorm.
After this well-founded wise lesson from the mouth of Raphael, the captain, the disciples of John and the innkeeper from the neighborhood of Bethlehem thanked him, for they had lost every fear and anguish for the still continuously raging and the fury of the windstorm. But it did not take long before a mighty lightning discharged itself from the heavy clouds that were driven by the wind and caused serious damage to an old cedar tree that stood not far from the house. After this first lightning, many more followed on all sides with loud crackles and a thunder that made the ground shake.
2
Our captain thought that the lightning and thunder was still worse than the hard wind, and he came again in great anguish and fear. Also the innkeeper and Lazarus and his sisters, as well as Mary of Magdalon became afraid and asked Me to command the bad thunderstorm to retreat.
3
I awakened out of My light slumber and said: "Do not be afraid, little children, for where I am, the thunderstorm has no power to cause damage, but only to be useful. It will still last a little hour, then the storm and thunder will cease and tomorrow we will have therefore a pure and clear day, and the fresh and healthy air will strengthen our limbs and inward parts."
4
These words of Mine calmed down the emotions of the fearful, and again I gave in to a light slumber.
5
When I was sleeping there, all those who were still at the table and were still awake, looked at Me, and the captain said: "Of the Lord we surely can say: 'si totus illabatur orbis, impavidum ferient ruinae '. Yes, yes, being the Lord and Creator and maintainer of all creatures, there is no need to be in anguish for such phenomena, but weak and powerless men like us can still not put away all anguish, although we are firmly convinced that so very close to the Lord certainly nothing can happen to anyone. But it is and remains remarkable that exactly tonight, after a very beautiful sunset, such a thunderstorm had to brake out. I pity those who are now underway somewhere, and more specifically those who are now on a ship on the big sea. Oh, it will look terrible there now."
6
When the captain spoke out these objections, also Agricola, who was awakened by the hard thunder, agreed with him and said: "My ships in Sidon and Tyre must certainly also have been quite damaged by this heavy storm that is probably raging everywhere. But no matter how, the Lord sleeps and does not pay attention to the storm, and we men have no power over this violent force, and therefore it will be as it is. In about a little hour, said the Lord, the storm will lie down. This is how it certainly will be, but until then, there still can be a lot of disaster. May the Lord be so merciful to take care that the disaster and damage that will be caused will be as little as possible."
7
Now Raphael said: "Just be quiet inside, not one hair of not any righteous human being will be touched, but for the godless people it is good that they are slightly remembered by such a storm that there is still a Lord who commands all elements and that also obey Him as loyal servants obey their lord. Your ships in Tyre and Sidon will not be harmed by this storm, because the Lord takes care of that. Therefore, all of you can be quiet, for nothing of no one will be destroyed in the least.
8
But this storm is now raging mostly above Jerusalem, and the lightning does not spare the idol gold of the temple. There is now a great howling in and around the temple and around many houses. The lightning strikes here and there and the people are very busy to extinguish. The lightning has stroke also the dry beams in the temple at several places and put them on fire, but they control the fire immediately at the beginning and thus the lightning does also not cause any important damage in the temple itself. But the anguish of the Pharisees is great, and the people insist that they should get it done with God that the storm would lie down. And the Pharisees and priests, scribes and Levites are now really rattling off their prayers, but this does not help, and the people become wilder and scream all kinds of threatening words, and while it is fully storming they rejoice about the powerlessness of the Pharisees who had already often pretended that they, just like Joshua and Aaron had even power over the sun, moon and stars and can now not even command the nightly storm.
9
And look, in this respect, this storm has also something good, for it wipes out and it reduces strongly the old dark superstition with many inhabitants of Jerusalem who are still deeply rooted followers of the temple, and it will incite them to later accept the truth.
10
Besides that which I have explained to you just now about the natural reason for this storm, I have moreover shown you this, so that all of you can conclude from this also that at such occasions the love and wisdom of the Lord do not only take care of the fertilization of the soil and the purifying of the air, but besides that, for the moral fertilization of the human heart and the purifying of the air of the soul. And this has certainly still more value than the fertilization of the soil and the purifying of the air of the Earth.
11
Whoever of you has now courage, let him arise and walk with me outside a little, then he will see and experience much there which he has certainly never seen and experienced before."
12
Agricola and also the captain said: "To go now with you outside, that certainly everyone will dare, but alone, without you, the courage would certainly leave us. With you we also have the courage to go outside, into the heavy thunderstorm."
13
Then all of the Romans, the captain with his companions, the innkeeper from Bethlehem, the disciples of John and also Lazarus stood up.