271. Speaking to a Scribe on the Banks of the Jordan. 6th September 1945. 1 When Jesus sets foot on the right bank of the Jordan, a good mile, probably more, from the little peninsula of Tarichea, where there is nothing but beautiful green country, because the ground, which is now dry, but moist in its depths, keeps also the weakest plants alive, He finds a large crowd waiting for Him. His cousins come to meet Him with Simon Zealot: « Master, the boats have given us away... Perhaps Manaen also was a hint...» « Master » says Manaen apologetically « I left at night so that no one could see me and I have not spoken to anyone. Believe me. Many of them asked me where You were. And my reply to everybody was: “He left.” But I think the trouble was brought about by a fisherman who said that he had given You his boat...» « That fool of my brother-in-law! » thunders Peter. « And I told him to keep his mouth shut! And I also said to him that we were going to Bethsaida! And I told him that if he said one word I would tear his beard off! And I will do it! I will, indeed. And what are we going to do now? That's the end of our peace, solitude and rest! » « Be good, Simon, be good. We have already had our peaceful days. In any case I have attained part of what I intended: teach you, comfort and calm you to prevent offences and contrasts between you and the Pharisees of Capernaum. Now let us go to these people who are waiting for us, and reward their faith and love. Is their love not a relief, too? Hatred grieves us. But there is love here, so it is joy. » Peter calms down like a wind that drops suddenly. And Jesus goes towards the crowd of sick people, who are waiting for Him so anxiously, that their desire seems engraved on their faces, and He heals them, one after the other, kindly, patiently. He goes also to a scribe who shows his little sick son to Him. 2 And it is the scribe who says to Him: « See? You are running away. But it is useless. Hatred and love are shrewd in finding. In this case, love has found You, as it is written in the Song of Songs. You are like the Beloved of the Songs. And they come to You as the maid of Shulam goes to her bridegroom, facing patrol guards and Amminadib's quadrigae. » « Why do you say that? » « Because it is true. It is dangerous to come because You are hated. Do You not know that Rome is watching for You and the Temple hates You? » « Why are you tempting Me, man? Your words are insidious, to take My answers back to Rome and to the Temple. I did not cure your son by deceit...» The scribe, who has been reproached so gently, lowers his head confusedly and confesses: « I see that You can really read the hearts of men. Forgive me. I now see that You are truly holy. Forgive me, Yes, it is true, I came and the yeast that others put into my heart was fermenting within me...» « And it had found in you the necessary heat to ferment. » « Yes, it is true... But now I am going away without any such yeast. That is, with a new leaven. » « I know. I bear no grudge. Many are at fault through their own will, many through the will of other people. God, Who is just will judge them with different measures. Scribe, be just and do not corrupt in future as you were corrupted. When the pressure of the world will be urging you, look at the living grace, which is your son, who was rescued from death, and be grateful to God. » « To You. » « To God. All glory and praise to Him. I am His Messiah and I am the first to praise and glorify Him. And the first to obey Him. Because man does not degrade himself by honouring and serving God in truth, but he lowers himself by serving sin. » « You are right. Do You always speak thus? To everybody? » « Yes, to everybody. If I spoke to Annas, or to Gamaliel, or to a begging leper on a country path, the words would be the same because one is the Truth. » « Speak, then, because everybody here is begging for a word or a grace of Yours. » « I will. So that nobody may say that I am biased against those who are honest in their convictions. » « Those I had are now dead. But it is true. I was honest in mine. I believed that I was serving God by fighting You. » 271. Speaking to a Scribe on the Banks of the Jordan. 444 « You are sincere. And that is why you deserve to understand God, Who is never falsehood. But your convictions are not yet dead. I am telling you. They are like burned couch-grass. They seem to be dead superficially and have in fact received a hard blow that has exhausted them. But the roots are alive and the soil nourishes them. And the dew invites them to strike new rhizomes, which will emit fresh shoots. You must watch that that does not happen, otherwise you will be invaded once again by couch-grass. Israel is a die-hard! » 3 « So Israel must die? Is it a wicked plant? » « It must die to rise again. » « A spiritual reincarnation? » « A spiritual evolution. There is no reincarnation of any kind. » « Some believe in it. » « They are wrong. » « Hellenism has spread such beliefs also among us. And learned people feed on them and are proud of them as if they were a most noble nourishment. » « An absurd contradiction in those who cry anathema when one of the minor six hundred and thirteen precepts is neglected. » « It is true. But that is how things are. People like to imitate even what they hate. » « Well, imitate Me, seeing that you hate Me. And it would be better for you. » The scribe cannot help laughing at Jesus' witty remark. The people are listening open-mouthed and those who are farther away ask those who are near Jesus and the scribe to repeat their words. « But, in confidence, what do You think of reincarnation? » « That it is an error. I told you. » « There are some who maintain that the living originate from the dead and the dead from the living, because what exists cannot be destroyed. » « In fact, what is eternal cannot be destroyed. But tell Me. According to you, has the Creator limitations to Himself? » « No, Master. To think that would be an abatement. » « You are right. Can, then, one think that He allows a spirit to reincarnate because no more than so many spirits can exist? » « One should not think so. Yet there are some who believe it. » « And what is worse, Israel believes it. The thought of the immortality of the spirit, which is already a great one, even if it is joined to the error of a wrong evaluation by a pagan as to how such immortality takes place, ought to be perfect in an Israelite. Instead it becomes a small, low, guilty thought in those who believe in it in the terms of the heathen thesis. It is not the glory of a thought, which proves itself worthy of admiration by coming close to the Truth by itself and which therefore testifies to the composite nature of man, as it is in heathens, because of their intuition of an eternal life of the mysterious thing that is called soul and distinguishes us from brutes. But it is a degradation of the thought, which being acquainted with Divine Wisdom and the True God, becomes materialistic even in so highly a spiritual thing. A spirit transmigrates only from the Creator to the being and from the being to the Creator, to Whom it presents itself after this life to receive a sentence of life or of death. That is the truth. And it remains forever where it is sent. » 4 « Do You not admit Purgatory? » « Yes, I do. Why do you ask Me? » « Because You say: “It remains where it is sent.” Purgatory is temporary. » « That is why in My thought I assimilate it to eternal Life. Purgatory is already “life.” Stunned, tied, but always vital. After the temporary stay in Purgatory, the spirit reaches perfect Life, without any limitation or ties. Two things will remain: Heaven – the Abyss. Paradise – Hell. Two categories: the blessed – the damned. But from those three kingdoms that now exist, no spirit will ever come to clothe itself with flesh. And that until the final resurrection, which will end forever the incarnation of spirits in flesh, of the immortal in the mortal. » « Not of the eternal? » « God is Eternal. Eternity is to have no beginning and no end. And that is God. Immortality is to continue to live since when life began. And that is the spirit of man. That is the difference. » 271. Speaking to a Scribe on the Banks of the Jordan. 445 « You say: “Eternal Life.” » « Yes. From the moment man is created to live, because of his spirit, through Grace and his own will, he can reach eternal Life. Not eternity. Life implies a beginning. We do not say “the Life of God”, because God had no beginning. » « And what about Yourself? » « I will live because I am also flesh and to My divine spirit I joined the soul of the Christ in the flesh of man. » « God is called the “Living God.” » « In fact He does not know death. He is Life. The endless Life. Not Life of God. Just Life. Only that. They are nuances, o scribe. But Wisdom and Truth clothe themselves in nuances. » 5 « Do You speak thus to Gentiles? » « No. They would not understand. I show them the Sun. But as I would show it to a boy, so far blind and silly, who had miraculously recovered sight and intelligence. Thus: like a star. Without going into the details of its composition. But you people of Israel are neither blind nor fools. For ages the finger of God has opened your eyes and cleared your minds...» « That is true, Master. And yet we are blind and foolish. » « You have made yourselves such. And you do not want the miracle of Him Who loves you. » « Master...» « It is the truth, scribe. » The man lowers his head and is silent. Jesus leaves him and passes by and while doing so He caresses Marjiam and the scribe's little boy, who are playing with many-coloured pebbles. Rather than preach He talks to this or that group. But He is continuously preaching as He resolves doubts, clarifies ideas, He sums up or expands on things already said or concepts only partly remembered by someone. And the hours go by thus...
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