But only a few of those sitting at table knew that angels were serving them food from the heavens. They thought I really had such servants in My following and had bought them for money from Asia Minor. They simply could not understand their great liveliness, friendliness, and refined cultivation, for enslaved people of this kind usually wore sour expressions and performed their services purely slavishly, like machines, and there was no question of any cultivation or humanity. In short, the guests enjoyed themselves greatly, and the high priest, who was now beginning to see more and more clearly that these many servants were beings beyond the earth, became increasingly uneasy, sitting on thorns, as the saying goes. For it discomfited him that the people, although behaving decently, were in his opinion still too uninhibited in their conversation with these glorious servants.
But what discomfited him most was the portion who, despite all the signs from the wide-open heavens, had run home unbelieving. With a troubled heart he said, ‘My Lord and my God! What can still move such people to faith if such signs remain fruitless? You Yourself, O Lord, and the many angels from the open heavens were unable to convert this brood; what am I, a poor wretch, to do with them now? Will they not begin spitting in my face if I dare begin to teach them about You?’
I say, ‘You have a great multitude of believers around you; make them your helpers, and the work will become easier for you. For if someone is to lift a great load but does not have enough strength for it, he takes a helper. If one is not enough, he adds a second and a third and thus masters the load. Once there are as many believers as unbelievers—and here there may well be more—the work is easy.
‘It is quite different in places where no believers at all live. There one should indeed make an attempt, so that one day no one can excuse themselves and say, “I never heard a word about it.”
‘If a believer is found, one should stay with him and reveal to him the kingdom of God’s grace. But if even one does not accept the word, one should move on and also shake the dust from one’s feet over such a place, for such a place is thereafter no longer worthy of any grace except that granted to the animals of the fields and forests. Now you have the instruction on how you are to conduct yourself henceforth toward all the unbelievers.
‘But I tell you to remain firm in your own faith, otherwise you will be able to accomplish little that is fruitful for My kingdom. Do not let yourself be misled by various reports about Me that you will receive from Jerusalem in a couple of years! For there I shall be handed over to the courts, and they will kill this body of Mine, but on the third day I shall bring it to life again and then remain with and among all of you until the end of the world. For that brood in Jerusalem will believe only in the conviction that I cannot be killed at all!
‘And so it will also be in the most diverse places of the earth: stubborn people will kill the bearers of the Gospel in the body. But only then will just such a death make them believe, since from it they will see that all those who live a spiritual life from My words can never be killed! For those who were killed will return to their pupils in various ways and teach them My ways.
‘But neither I nor My disciples will come to the hard worldly people who either have no faith or, though they have faith, nevertheless do not act according to what faith teaches them, and remove the night of doubt completely from their hearts. But when the end comes upon their flesh, they shall indeed feel the evil of their unbelief and the consequences of not observing My teaching, whereas those who believe actively in Me shall neither feel nor taste the death of the flesh!
‘For when I open for them the door of their flesh, they will step out of their flesh like prisoners out of their dungeon when the clemency of their lord has opened it for them.
‘So never let yourself be confused when you hear this or that about Me! For whoever perseveres faithfully and unshaken to the end in faith and love, as I teach, have taught, and shall continually teach, will be blessed in My kingdom in the heavens, which you now see open above you, with My angels ascending and descending!’