GRM 75.3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
75.3 «But, in short, whom are you looking for?»
«Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, the Nazarene, the Saviour.»
«It is I.»
Notes for this theme
Facts about the public life of Jesus Christ
Page 18 of 83
Reading comfort
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GRM 75.3
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«Now, even if I die, I will not be upset by the fact that I hoped in vain.»
«No, Elias. You will live until Christ’s triumph and after.
You saw My dawn, you must see My giory.»
GRM 75.4
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«And my children?»
«They are angels, Elias. Angels who will repeat the “Gloria” when the Saviour is crowned.
«King?»
«No, Redeemer. Oh! What a procession of just people and saints! And in front there will be the white and purple phalanges of the martyrs! As soon as the gates of Limbo are opened, we shall ascend together to the eternal Kingdom. And then you will come and will find your fathers, mothers and children in the Lord! Believe Me.»
«Yes, my Lord.»
Detail
Elie has lost his children in the massacre of the Innocents. He asks the Master about their fate.
GRM 75.6
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«I will employ you elsewhere. I will not abandon you.»
«For all our lifetimes?»
«For all My lifetime.»
«No, Master, I will die first. I am old.»
«Do you think so? I do not. One of the first faces I saw, Elias, was yours. It will also be one of the last. I will take with Me, impressed in My eyes, the image of your face deranged by sorrow for My death. But after, you will treasure in your heart the memory of the joy of a triumphal morning, and will thus await death… Death: the everlasting meeting with Jesus, Whom you adored when He was a baby. Also then the angels will sing the Gloria: “for the man of goodwill”.»
Detail
Jesus talks to Elijah, Levi and Joseph and has an exchange with Elijah about his future.
Keywords
GRM 76.4-6
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«You told me that You want to inform Isaac that You are here, but You do not want to go into the village?»
«Yes, that is what I want.»
«Well, we had better part. I will go to him, Levi and Joseph will stay with the herd and with You. I’ll go up here. It will be quicker.» And Elias starts climbing up the mountain side, towards the white houses which are so bright up there in the sunshine.
I seem to be following him. He is now at the first houses. He goes along a tiny path between houses and kitchen gardens. He walks thus for about ten metres. He then turns into a wider road and then enters the square. I forgot to mention that this is happening in the early morning hours. I am saying so now because the market is still on in the square and housewives and vendors are shouting under the shady trees of the square.
Elias goes resolutely to the point where the square ends and quite an attractive street starts. Perhaps the nicest in the village. At the corner there is a little house, or rather, a room with its door wide open. Almost on the threshold there is a little bed, on which an emaciated sick man is lying, asking all passers-by for alms, in a plaintive voice.
Elias dashes in. «Isaac… it’s me.»
«You? I was not expecting you. You were here last month.»
«Isaac… Isaac… Do you know why I have come?»
«No, I don’t… You are excited. What’s happening?»
«I have seen Jesus of Nazareth, He is a man, now, a rabbi. He came looking for me… and He wants to see us. Oh! Isaac! Are you not well?»
Isaac, in fact, has fallen back as if he were dying. But he comes round: «No. The news… Where is He? What is He like? Oh! If I could see Him!»
«He is down in the valley. He sent me tell to you exactly this: “Come, Isaac, because I want to see you and bless you”. I’ll call someone now to help me and I’ll take you down.»
«Is that what He said?»
«Yes, it is. But what are you doing?»
«I’m going.»
Isaac throws away the blankets, he moves his paralysed legs, he throws them off the straw mattress, he puts his feet on the floor, he stands up, still somewhat hesitating, and shaky. It all happens in an instant, under Elias’ wide open eyes… who at last understands and begins to shout… A little woman looks in curiously. She sees the sick man stand up and cover himself with one of the blankets, since he has nothing else, and run away, shouting like a mad man.
«Let us go… this way, it will be quicker and we will not meet the crowd… Quick, Elias.»
They run through a little door of a kitchen garden in the back, they push the gate, made of dry branches, and once outside, they run along a narrow dirty path, then down a little road along kitchen gardens and finally through meadows and thickets, right down to the torrent.
76.5
«There is Jesus, over there» says Elias, pointing at Him. «The tall, handsome one, with fair hair, with a white tunic and red mantle…»
Isaac runs, he cuts through the grazing sheep, and with a cry of triumph, joy and adoration he prostrates himself at Jesus’ feet.
«Stand up, Isaac. I have come. To bring you peace and blessings. Stand up, that I may see your face.»
But Isaac cannot stand up. Too much excitement at once and he remains prostrated, with his face on the ground, crying! happily.
«You came at once. You did not worry whether you could…»
«You told me to come… and I came.»
«He did not even close the door or pick up the alms, Master.»
«It does not matter. The angels will watch his house. Are you happy, Isaac?»
«Oh! My Lord!»
«Call Me Master.»
«Yes, my Lord, my Master. Even if you had not healed me, I would have been happy to see You. How could I find so much grace with You?»
«Because of your faith and patience, Isaac. I know how much you suffered…»
«Nothing! nothing! It does not matter! I have found You. You are alive. You are here. That’s what matters. The rest, all the rest is over. But, my Lord and my Master, You are not going away anymore, is that right?»
«Isaac, I have the whole of Israel to evangelise. I am going…
But if I cannot stay, you can always serve and follow Me.
76.6
Do you want to be My disciple, Isaac?»
«Oh! But I am not capable!»
«Can you avow Who I am? Avow it against jeers and threats? And tell people that I called you and you came?»
«Even if You did not want, I would avow all that. I would disobey You in that, Master. Forgive me for saying so.»
Jesus smiles. «You can see then that you are capable of becoming a disciple!»
«Oh! If that’s all one has to do! I thought it was more difficult, that we had to go to school with the rabbis to learn how to serve You, the Rabbi of rabbis… and to go to school at my age…» The man in fact must be at least fifty years old.
«You have done your schooling already, Isaac.»
«Me? No.»
«Yes, you have. Have you not continued to believe and love, to respect and bless God and your neighbour, not to be envious, not to wish what belongs to other people, and even what was your own and you no longer possessed, to speak only the truth, even if it should be harmful to you, not to associate with Satan committing sins? Have you not done all these things, in the last thirty years of misfortunes?»
«Yes, Master.»
«So you see, you have done your schooling. Go on doing so and reveal, in addition, to the world, that I am in the world. There is nothing else to be done.»
«I have already preached You, Lord Jesus. I preached You to the children, who used to come, when I arrived lame in this village, begging for bread and doing some work, such as shearing and dairy work, and the children used to come round my bed, when I got worse and I was paralysed from my waist downwards. I spoke of You to the children of many years ago, and to the children of present times, who are the sons of the previous ones… Children are good and they always believe… I told them of Your birth… of the angels… of the Star and the Wise Men… and of Your Mother… Oh! Tell me! Is She alive?»
«She is alive and She sends you Her regards. She always spoke of you all.»
«Oh! If I could see Her!»
«You will see Her. You will come to My house one day. Mary will greet you saying: “My friend”.»
«Mary… yes, when you utter that name it is like filling your mouth with honey…»
GRM 77.4-5
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
77.4 «There are some houses over there» says John, who is walking a few steps in front of the others.
«It’s Hebron. Between two rivers with its crest. See, Master? That house there, amidst all the green, a little higher up than the others? That’s Zacharias’ house.»
«Let us quicken our paces.»
They cover the last stretch of the road very rapidly and go into the village. The sheep’s little hooves sound like castanets on the uneven stones of the road, which is paved very roughly. They reach the house. People look at the group of men, who are so different by look, age and garments amongst the white sheep.
«Oh! It’s different! There was a gate here!» says Elias. Now instead of the gate there is a metal door which prevents one from seeing, and also the enclosure wall is higher than a man and thus nothing can be seen inside.
«Perhaps it will be open at the back.» They go round a large quadrilateral wall, it is rather a long rectangular one, but the wall is the same height all round.
«The wall was built not long ago» remarks John, examining it. «There is not a scratch on it and there is still lime rubble on the ground.»
«I cannot even see the sepulchre… It was near the wood. Now the wood is outside the wall and… and it seems to belong to everybody. They are gathering firewood in it.» Elias is puzzled.
77.5 A man, an old woodcutter, small but strong, who is watching the group, stops sawing a trunk he has cut down, and goes towards the group. «Whom are you looking for?»
«We wanted to go in, to pray on Zacharias’ tomb».
«There is no tomb any longer. Don’t you know? Who are you?»
«I am a friend of Samuel, the shepherd. This…»
«It is not necessary, Elias» says Jesus and Elias keeps quiet.
«Ah! Samuel!… I see! But since John, Zacharias’ son, was put into prison, the house is no longer his. And it is a misfortune, because he had all the profit of his property given to the poor people in Hebron. One morning a man came from Herod’s court, he threw Jowehel out, he affixed seals, then he came back with bricklayers and they started raising the wall… The sepulchre was over there, in the corner. He did not want it… and one morning we found it all spoiled and half destroyed… the poor bones were all scattered… We put them together again, as best we could… They are now in a sarcophagus… And in the house of the priest Zacharias, that filthy man keeps his lovers. Now there is a mime from Rome. That is why he raised the wall. He does not want people to see… The house of the priest a brothel! The house of the miracle and of the Precursor! For it is certainly him, if he is not the Messiah. And how much trouble we had because of the Baptist! But he is our great man! He is really great! Even when he was born there was a miracle. Elizabeth was as old as a withered thistle but she became as fruitful as an apple in Adar, and that was the first miracle. Then a cousin of hers came and She was a holy woman, and She served her and loosened the priest’s tongue. Her name was Mary. I remember Her, although we saw Her very rarely. How it happened I don’t know. They say that to make Elizabeth happy, She made Zacharias put his mute mouth against Her pregnant bosom or that She put Her fingers into his mouth. I don’t know. It is a fact that, after nine months’ silence, Zacharias spoke praising the Lord and saying that there was a Messiah. He did not explain more. But my wife was there on that day and she assured me that Zacharias, praising the Lord, said that his son would precede Him. Now I say: it is not what people believe. John is the Messiah and he goes before the Lord, as Abraham went before God. That’s what it is… Am I not right?»
«You are right with regards to the spirit of the Baptist, who always proceeds before God. But you are not right with regards to the Messiah».
«Well, the woman who said that She was the Mother of the Son of God — Samuel said so — was it not true that She was? Is She still living?»
«Yes, She was. The Messiah was born, preceded by him who raised his voice in the desert, as the Prophet said.»
«You are the first to say so. John, the last time that Jowehel took him a sheepskin, which he did every year at the beginning of winter, although he was questioned about the Messiah, did not say: “The Messiah is here”. When he will say so…»
«Man, I was a disciple of John and I heard him say: “Here is the Lamb of God” pointing to…» says John.
«No, no. He is the Lamb. A true Lamb who grew up by himself, almost without the need of a father and mother. As soon as he became a son of the Law, he lived isolated in the mountain caves overlooking the desert, and he grew up there conversing with God. Elizabeth and Zacharias died, and he did not come. God only was his father and mother. There is no holy man greater than he is. You can ask everyone in Hebron. Samuel used to say so, but the people in Bethlehem must have been right. John is the holy man of God.»
«If someone said to you: “I am the Messiah”, what would you say?» asks Jesus.
«I would call him a “blasphemer” and I would drive him away, throwing stones at him.»
«And if he performed a miracle to prove that he was the Messiah?»
«I would say that he was “possessed”. The Messiah will come when John reveals himself in his true nature. The very hatred of Herod is the proof. Cunning as he is, he knows that John is the Messiah.»
«He was not born in Bethlehem.»
«But when he is freed, after announcing by himself his impending oncoming, he will reveal himself in Bethlehem. Also Bethlehem is waiting for that. Whilst… Oh! Go, if you have plenty of guts, and talk to the Bethlehemites of another Messiah… and you will see…»
«Have you a synagogue?»
«Yes, about two hundred steps straight ahead. You cannot go wrong. Near it there is the sarcophagus with the violated remains.»
«Goodbye, may God enlighten you.»
They go away. They turn around onto the front of the house.
GRM 77.5
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«Man, I was a disciple of John and I heard him say: “Here is the Lamb of God” pointing to…» says John.
Detail
A woodcutter from Hebron considers John the Baptist to be the Messiah and the Lamb of God. John intervenes to give his testimony of baptism.
GRM 77.7
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
«How do You save? And whom?»
«Those who are anxious to be saved. I save by teaching to be pure, to prefer sorrow to honour, to desire good at all costs.»
GRM 77.8
The Gospel as revealed to me
Quotation
77.8 Jesus goes straight along the road. He knocks at the synagogue.
A resentful old man looks out. He does not even give Jesus time to speak. «The synagogue is forbidden, in this holy place, to those who deal with prostitutes. Go away.»
Jesus turns away without replying and continues walking along the road. His disciples follow Him. They begin to speak when they are outside Hebron.
«You asked for trouble, Master» says Judas. «A prostitute, of all people!»
«Judas, I solemnly tell you that she will surpass you. And now, since you are reproaching Me, what do you say of the Judaeans? In the most holy places in Judaea we have been scoffed at and driven away… That is the truth. The day will come when Samaria and the Gentiles will worship the true God, and the people of the Lord will be soiled with blood and a crime… a crime in comparison with which the sins of prostitutes, who sell their bodies and their souls, will be a very small thing. I was not able to pray on the tomb of My cousins and of the just Samuel. It does not matter. Rest, holy bones, rejoice, souls, that dwelt in them. The first resurrection is near. Then the day will come when you will be shown to the angels as the souls of the servants of the Lord.»
Jesus stops speaking and the vision ends.
Detail
Jesus has just spoken with a prostitute. He didn't look at her once, but he inspired her to conversion (see EMV 77.7). Then he returns to the synagogue. He is rejected, and in the face of Judas's remarks, he predicts the future.
GRM 78
The Gospel as revealed to me
Detail
Jesus, John, Judas and Simon the Zealot arrive in Keroth. The shepherds are gone. Judas is really agitated and can't hold it together. He asks the Master to tell him, and Simon points out to the Master that this man doesn't understand him. Jesus sighs, but says nothing.
They arrive in Keroth, and are greeted by Judas' mother. She greets him with great respect, offers him something to refresh himself and gives him sandals and a cloak. Jesus initially says nothing, but thinks nothing of it; then, when Mary declares that she knows nothing of the ways of kings, he asks to speak to his apostle alone. There, he rebukes him severely, saying that he is putting obstacles in the way of his mission, for Israel is subject to Rome, and Christ is in no way a King of the earth.
He really encourages Judas to withdraw, to leave the group. Then he describes his kingship and when he will be crowned king: on the wood of the cross, with an infamous sign and under the booing of his people. Jesus thus predicts his atrocious death.
Judas is mortified, but he implores the Master to keep him, that he will become good. He asks for forgiveness and Jesus, tired, forgives him. However, the Iscariot asks to stay and go to his town, as Judas has told everyone that the Lord is coming. So Jesus decides to go along with what Judas has planned, not for himself, but for his mother.
So Jesus goes to Keroth on a chariot, and the synagogue leader welcomes him and asks him to go to their place of prayer. Jesus accepts and preaches to the people. He declares that he is the Word of God, but reminds them that his kingship is primarily spiritual. He then confirms this to the notables of Keroth.
Old Saul intervenes and speaks of the Nativity of Christ, whom he has come to adore. Jesus confirms that it was him, and the old man has a vision of the Lord's kingship. He sees him transfigured, then with his Wounds and Blood. He dies after bearing witness to Jesus' heart, so the group must purify themselves to comply with the Law.