Gospel of the Holy Twelve
Lection 21 XXI
Iesus
Rebuketh
Cruelty to a Horse
Condemneth the Service of Mammon
Blesseth Infants
1. AND it came to pass that the Lord departed from the City and went over the mountains with this disciples. And they came to a mountain whose ways were steep and there they found a man with a beast of burden.
2. But the horse had fallen down, for it was over laden, and he struck it till the blood flowed. And Jesus went to him and said: "Son of cruelty, why strikest thou thy beast? Seest thou not that it is too weak for its burden, and knowest thou not that it suffereth ?"
3. But the man answered and said: "What hast thou to do therewith ? I may strike it as much as it pleaseth me, for it is mine own, and I bought it with a goodly sum of money. Ask them who are with thee, for they are of mine acquaintance and know thereof."
4. And some of the disciples answered and said: Yea, Lord, it is as he saith, We have seen when he bought it. And the Lord said again "See ye not then how it bleedeth, and hear ye not also how it waileth and lamenteth ?" But they answered and said: "Nay, Lord, we hear not that it waileth and lamenteth ? "
5. And the Lord was sorrowful, and said: "Woe unto you because of the dullness of your hearts, ye hear not how it lamenteth and crieth unto the heavenly Creator for mercy, but thrice woe unto him against whom it crieth and waileth in its pain."
6. And he went forward and touched it, and the horse stood up, and its wounds were healed. But to the man he said: "Go now thy way and strike it henceforth no more, if thou also desireth to find mercy."
7. AND seeing the people come unto him, Jesus, said unto his disciples, Because of the sick I am sick; because of the hungry I am hungry; because of the thirsty I am athirst.
8. He also said, I am come to end the sacrifices and feasts of blood, and if ye cease not offering and eating of flesh and blood, the wrath of God shall not cease from you, even as it came to your fathers in the wilderness, who lusted for flesh, and they eat to their content, and were filled with rottenness, and the plague consumed them.
9. And I say unto you, Though ye be gathered together in my bosom, if ye keep not my commandments I will cast you forth. For if ye keep not the lesser mysteries, who shall give you the greater.
10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
11. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the mammon of unrighteousness, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own ?
12. No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him.
13. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
14. The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than one title of the law to fail.
15. Then there came some women to him and brought their infants unto him, to whom they yet gave suck at their breasts, that he should bless them; and some said, Why trouble ye the master?
16. But Iesus rebuked them, and said, Of such will come forth those who shall yet confess me before men. And he took them up in his arms and blessed them.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32
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