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Sanhedrin, high priests and Pharisees

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GRM 173.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Master, You lie with Your own words!»

The sudden resentful remark comes from the centre of the crowd. They all turn around in the direction of the voice. There is some confusion.

Peter says: «I told You! Eh! When there is one of those over there… everything goes wrong!» Many people in the crowd hiss and grumble against the reviler.

Jesus is the only one who remains calm. He has folded His arms and is standing, tall as He is, on His rock, with the sun in front of Him, in His dark blue tunic.

The reviler, heedless of the reaction of the crowd, goes on: «You are a bad Master because You teach what You do not do and…»

«Be quiet! Go away! Shame!» shout the crowd. And again: «Go back to your Scribes! The Master is quite enough for us! Let the hypocrites go with the hypocrites! You false masters! Usurers!…» and they continue but Jesus thunders out: «Silence! Let him speak» and the crowds no longer shout but they whisper their insults glaring at him at the same time.

«Yes. You teach what You do not do. You told us that we should give alms without being seen, and yesterday in the presence of a whole crowd You said to two poor people: “Stay and I will appease your hunger”.»

«I said: “Let the two poor people stay here. They will be the blessed guests who will give flavour to our bread”. Nothing else. I did not say I wanted to satisfy their hunger. Which poor man has not at least some bread? It was My joy to extend our good friendship to them.»

«Of course! You are cunning and You can play the part of the lamb!…»

The old man stands up, turns around and raising his walking stick he shouts: «Infernal tongue who are accusing the Holy One, do you think that you know everything and that you can accuse Him of what you know? As you do not know who God is and who He is Whom you are insulting, so you do not know His deeds. Only the angels and my overjoyed heart know. Listen, men, listen everybody and see whether Jesus is the liar and the proud man as this traitor to the Temple is saying. He…»

«Be quiet, Ishmael! Be quiet for My sake! If I made you happy, please make Me happy by being silent» Jesus begs him.

«I obey You, Holy Son. But let me say only this: the blessing of an old faithful Israelite is on Him Who assisted me in the name of God and God put that blessing on my lips for me and for Sarah, my new daughter. But there will be no blessing on your head. I will not curse you. I will not foul, with a curse, my mouth which must say to God: “Receive me”. I did not do it to her who disowned me, and I have already received a divine reward for it. But there is One who will take the place of the Innocent you are accusing and of Ishmael, the friend of God, Who assists Him.»

A chorus of shouts closes the speech of the old man who sits down again, while a man sneaks away, followed by insults. The crowds then shout to Jesus: «Go on, go on, Holy Master! We will listen only to You. Listen to us, not to those cursed birds of evil omen! They are jealous, because we love You more than we love them! But You are holy, they are wicked. Go on, speak to us. You can see that we have no other wish but to hear You. Our homes, our business? They are nothing, we left them to hear You.»

«I will speak to you. But do not be upset by what happened. Pray for those poor people. Forgive them as I do. Because if you forgive men their faults, your Father Who is in Heaven will forgive you your sins as well. But if you bear men a grudge and do not forgive them, neither will your Father forgive you your shortcomings. And everybody needs to be forgiven.

Detail

Jesus is preaching. He is interrupted.

Annotation

Pierre grumbles: "I told you so! Hey, when there's one of those... nothing goes right!" He had in fact warned Jesus of the presence of this character in 173.1.

Jesus brings up this interruption the next day (in EMV 174).

"Be quiet, Ishmael! Be quiet for my sake" (...)

"This blessing God has put on my lips for me and for Sarah, my new daughter. "This is how we learn the names of the two unfortunates, Ishmael and Sarah, taken in the day before. See previous chapter.

GRM 174.13 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I told you to be faithful to the Law, to be humble and merciful, to love not only your brothers by the flesh but also those who are brothers because they were born, like you, of man. I told you that forgiveness is better than hostility, that compassion is better than stubbornness. But now I tell you that you must not condemn unless you are free from the fault you wish to condemn. Do not behave like the Scribes and Pharisees who are severe with everybody except themselves, who call impure what is exterior and can only contaminate what is exterior and then they receive impurity in the very depths of their hearts.

GRM 174.15 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

In the meantime Jesus tells Peter to take the tent down.

«Are we really going away?»

«Yes, we are.»

«Because she came?…»

«Yes, but do not tell anybody, especially the Zealot. He would be upset because of Lazarus. I cannot allow the word of God to be mocked at by heathens…»

«I see, I see…»

«Well, there is another thing you must understand.»

«Which, Master?»

«That it is necessary to be silent in certain cases. Please do not forget. You are so dear, but you are also so impulsive as to burst out into biting criticism.»

«I understand… You do not want for Lazarus and Simon…»

«And for others as well.»

«Do You think there will be any today?»

«Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, always. It will always be necessary to watch the rashness of My Simon of Jonah. Go now and do what I told you.»

Peter goes away calling his companions to help him.

Detail

Following the arrival of Mary Magdalene, then a great sinner, Jesus announces their departure from the Horns of Hattin, where they had stayed for a few days.

Annotation

- Do you think there'll be any today?

- Today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, always.

Jesus is probably talking about the Pharisees here, who are out to make uncharitable observations.

GRM 175.3-5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

The people throng around the Master, forming a circle which does not want to open at any cost. But the sun has set and the Sabbath rest begins. The villages are far away. But the people do not pine for their villages, their food or anything else. But the apostles are worried about it and they tell Jesus. Also the elder disciples are worried. There are women and children, and while the night is mild and the grass of the meadow is soft, the stars are not bread. Neither do stones become food.

Jesus is the only one who does not trouble. The people in the meantime eat the remains of their food without any worry and Jesus points it out to His apostles: «I solemnly tell you that these people are worth more than you are! Look how thoughtlessly they are finishing everything. I said to them: “Those who cannot believe that God will provide food for His children tomorrow, may go away”, and they stayed. God will not belie His Messiah and will not disappoint those who hope in Him.»

The apostles shrug their shoulders and do not show concern for anything else.

It is nightfall after a placid, beautiful red sunset and the silence of the country spreads over everything after the last choir of birds. There is a light whispering of the wind and then the first mute flight of a night bird, the first star appears and a frog croaks.

The children are already asleep. The adults are talking among themselves and now and again someone goes to the Master asking for clarification of some point or other.

175.4

So no one is surprised when a person, imposing by look, garments and age, is seen coming from a path between two corn fields. Some men are following him. Everybody turns around to look at him and they point him out to one another whispering. The whispering spreads from one group to another, it revives and fades away. The groups that are farther away come near drawn by curiosity.

The noble looking man reaches Jesus, Who is sitting at the foot of a tree listening to some men, and bows down before Him. Jesus stands up at once and responds with equal respect to the greeting. The people present are watching attentively.

«I was up on the mountain and perhaps You thought that I did not have faith as I went away for fear of having to fast. But I went away for another reason. I wanted to be a brother among brothers, the eldest brother. I would like to speak to You aside. Can You listen to me? Although a scribe, I am not Your enemy.»

«Let us move away a little…» and they go into the corn field.

«I wanted to provide some food for the pilgrims and I came down to tell the baker to bake bread for a large crowd. You can see that I am at a legal distance, because these fields belong to me, and it is lawful to walk from here to the top on a Sabbath. It was my intention to come up tomorrow with my servants. But I found out that You are here with the crowd. I beg You to allow me to provide for the Sabbath. Otherwise I would be very sorry that I had to forego Your words for nothing.»

«For nothing, no, never, because the Father would have compensated you with His light. But I thank you and will not disappoint you. I only wish to point out that the crowd is very large.»

«I asked them to heat all the ovens, also the ones used to dry foodstuffs and I will succeed in having bread for everybody.»

«I did not mean that. I was referring to the quantity of bread…»

«That does not trouble me. Last year I had a good crop of corn. You have seen what the ears of corn are like this year. Let me do it. It will be the greatest protection for my fields. After all, Master… You gave me such bread today… You really are the Bread of the spirit!…»

«Let it be done as you wish. Let us go and tell the pilgrims.»

«No. You said so.»

«Are you a scribe?»

«Yes, I am.»

«May the Lord take you where your heart deserves.»

«I understand what You mean but do not say, You mean: to the Truth. Because great are our errors… and our ill-will.»

«Who are you?»

«A son of God. Pray the Father for me. Goodbye.»

«Peace be with you.»

175.5

Jesus goes slowly back to His apostles while the man goes away with his servants.

«Who was he? What did he want? Did he say something unpleasant to You? Has he sick people?» Jesus is flooded with questions.

«I do not know who he is. Or rather, I know that he is goodhearted and that…»

«He is John, the scribe» says one of the crowd.

«Well, I know now, because you said so. He only wanted to be the servant of God with His children. Pray for him because tomorrow we shall all have food, thanks to his goodness.»

«He is really a just man» says one.

«Yes, indeed. I do not know how he can be the friend of others» remarks another one.

«He is swathed in scruples and rules like a baby, but he is not a bad man» concludes a third one.

«Do these fields belong to him?» ask many who are not from this part of the country.

«Yes, they do. I think that the leper was one of his servants or peasants. But he allowed him to stay around here and I think that he also fed him.»

The comments continue but Jesus does not pay attention to them. He calls the Twelve near Him and asks them: «And what should I say now with regards to your incredulity? Did the Father not put bread for all of us into the hands of one who, by caste, is an enemy of Mine? Oh! men of little faith!… Go into the soft hay and sleep. I am going to pray the Father that He may open your hearts and to thank Him for His kindness. Peace be with you.»

And He goes to the lower slopes of the mountain. He sits down and collects His thoughts in prayer. When He raises His eyes He sees the myriad of stars crowding the sky, when He lowers them. He sees the crowd of people sleeping on the meadows. Nothing else. But such is the joy in His heart that His face seems to become transfigured by a bright light…

Detail

Jesus has come down from the Mount of Beatitudes and a crowd is following him. The apostles are worried about how to feed them. This chapter shows a practical case of trusting in Providence and in the goodness of the Father.

Annotation

Meanwhile, the sun has gone down. This is the beginning of Sabbatical rest. Sabbatical rest begins at 6 p.m. on Friday. From the horns of Hattin to the plain, they covered 5 to 6km, or about an hour and a half's walk. We determined in the previous chapter that they left at around 3.00 pm / 3.30 pm. So it's about 5 p.m.

I said to them: "Let those who cannot believe that tomorrow God will give food to his children, withdraw", and they stayed. God will not deny his Messiah or disappoint those who hope in him." Cf. previous chapter. Maria Valtorta even notes that only about fifty people left at the time.

I am not hostile to you, even though I am a scribe. Scribes who are not hostile to Jesus are rare. Of the 24 members of this college, only 5 were secretly in favor of Jesus. The other 19 were overwhelmingly hostile or indifferent.

You see I'm in the legal space because these fields belong to me, and from here to the top it's a path you can make on the Sabbath. So they're right at the entrance to the plain, about 1 km from the summit of Arbel. The practical rules for applying the Sabbath distance were, and remain, complex. However, the basic condition, laid down in Solomon's time, remains the prohibition on moving more than 2,000 cubits (around 900 meters) from the limits of one's property or a town. As Maria Valtorta points out, the summit is the last acceptable limit for the scribe.

GRM 175.4 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Are you a scribe?»

«Yes, I am.»

«May the Lord take you where your heart deserves.»

«I understand what You mean but do not say, You mean: to the Truth. Because great are our errors… and our ill-will.»

«Who are you?»

«A son of God. Pray the Father for me. Goodbye.»

«Peace be with you.»

Detail

Jesus talks to John of Capernaum.