Meanwhile we also reach the house of Irhael and Joram, where everything is already prepared for supper in the same way as the day before, only far more abundantly. At the entrance hall of the house the many people of Sychar who had been on the mountain now wish to take their leave, but immediately a multitude of young men dressed in white step among them and urge them all to supper.
The high priest, quite astonished at the great number of most glorious young men and particularly at their great affability, friendliness, and humanity, immediately comes to Me and now asks with full humility, ‘Lord, I beg You, who are these glorious young men? None can be more than sixteen years old, yet with every word and every movement they reveal that they are extraordinarily cultivated! Oh, tell me where they have come from and what school they belong to! How beautiful in form and how well nourished they are! How pleasant and how exceedingly soothing to the heart their voices sound! So, Lord, tell me, tell me who these young men are and where they come from!’
I say, ‘Have you never heard what has been said since ancient times: everyone who is a lord has his attendants and servants? You now call Me Lord, and so it is fitting that I too should have My attendants and servants. Their being very cultivated indicates that their lord must be a very wise and loving lord. The lords of the world are harsh and loveless people, and so are their servants. But the Lord who is a Lord in heaven and has now come to earth, into the harsh world of human beings, also has His servants from where He has come, and the servants resemble Him, since they are not only His servants but also children of His wisdom and love. Have you understood Me well?’
The high priest says, ‘Yes indeed, Lord, insofar as one can understand Your most remarkable figurative speech at all. There would of course still be much to ask in order to become quite clear about this matter, but I shall leave it for now and hope that plenty of opportunity will still arise today.’
I say, ‘Oh, certainly! But now let us go to supper, for everything is ready.’
All the people who believed went to the meal; only a portion who were still unbelieving went home, for they regarded it all as a trapping net. The reason was that these were mostly emigrant Galileans, including many from Nazareth, who knew Me and also My disciples, whom they had often seen at the fish market. These people also said to the Samaritans proper, ‘We know him and his disciples. He is a carpenter by trade, and his disciples are fishermen. He went to school among the Essenes, who are well versed in all sorts of arts, in healing, and in unusual magic. He learned this there and now practices his well-learned art to gain a great following and much income for the Essenes. But these young men are well-brought-up girls in disguise, bought from the Caucasus by those same Essenes; they are likely to draw the most people?! But we are not so easily fooled, for we know that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is certainly not to be trifled with. But for the Essenes, who perhaps believe their ancestors created the world, it is easy to make a jest of what does not exist for them. As long as we believe in a God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we do not need such Essene illusions. And if we should ever lose this faith of ours, the Essenes and their crafty messengers will certainly be unable to offer us any replacement, but will in the end turn us all into Sadducees who believe in neither a resurrection nor an eternal life. May Jehovah protect us from that!’ With such remarks they return home.
I and a large portion of the people, consisting mostly of Samaritans, sit down to the meal and, after the work was done, enjoy ourselves and let the angels serve us. For here too I worked in a wilderness, and it is said, ‘When Satan was compelled to withdraw, angels came to Him and served Him.’