The Roman military delegation now also reached us, and its leader handed Me a letter of petition from the chief commander and commandant of this fort. In it he begs Me, for the sake of all human welfare, to take no notice of what had happened and to persuade the company not to tell anyone what had taken place, since this would harm him and yet benefit no one. It would be more useful than harmful to everyone to make him, as Rome’s chief commander, a friend rather than an enemy. Jairuth too should remain silent and have the assurance that in future he would have peace in his house. Besides this, he asks Me to visit him at his residence, for he had very secret and important matters to discuss with Me.
I reply to the bearer of the letter, ‘Tell your master that what he has asked shall be granted him, but I shall nevertheless not come into his residence. If he wishes to speak with Me about secret, important matters, let him wait for Me at this township’s entrance gate, and I shall tell him what it is that he wishes to discuss with Me.’
At these words the envoy departs with his companions and reports to his master everything he had heard from Me. The latter immediately goes with his most select subordinate commanders to the township’s gate and waits for Me.
But Jairuth asks Me whether the invitation could be trusted, for he knows the great cunning of this chief commander, who is a colonel. According to him, the commander has already sent many into the other world in this manner!
I say, ‘Dear friend, I too know him, both as he was and as he now is. The young men have instilled an indelible respect in him. He takes them for genii and Me for a son of his god Jupiter, and would now like to learn from Me what truth there is in this. But I already know what I shall tell him!’
Jairuth is satisfied with this, and we come to the gate where the colonel is already waiting for us with his officers. He steps forward at once, greets Me warmly, and wants immediately to ask Me about his concern.
But I forestall him and say, ‘Friend, My servants are not genii, and I am by no means a son of your Zeus! And now you know everything you had intended to learn and ask of Me.’
The colonel is tremendously astonished that I was at once able to tell him openly what he had merely thought within himself and had told no one.
After marveling for a while, he asks Me once more, saying, ‘If You are not that, then tell me who and what You and Your servants really are! For in any case you are more than ordinary everyday people, and I would be pleased to be able to pay you the honor that is due.’
I say, ‘Every person who asks sincerely and honestly is worthy of an answer of the same kind. You have now asked Me honestly and sincerely, and shall therefore receive such an answer. So listen: first of all I am what and who I now stand before you as, namely, a human being! There are indeed many on earth who look as I do, yet they are not human beings on that account, but merely human masks. But the more perfected a true human being is, the more power and strength lie in his understanding and effective willing!’
The colonel says, ‘Can every person become as perfect as You?’
I say, ‘Oh yes, if he does for his perfection what I teach.’
The colonel asks, ‘Then let me hear Your teaching, and I will act and live according to it!’
I say, ‘I could indeed give you the teaching, but it would be of little use to you, because you would not live according to it. For as long as you are what Rome has appointed you to be here, My teaching can be of no use to you. You would have to leave everything and follow Me; otherwise it would be impossible for you to live according to My teaching!’
The colonel says, ‘Yes, that would be very difficult! Nevertheless, You could surely tell me some main principles of Your teaching. For I already possess various kinds of knowledge in different matters and understand them well; why should I not also gain some knowledge of Your teaching? Perhaps I can put it into practice in some way!’
I say, ‘My friend, but if My teaching consists precisely in someone following Me, since otherwise he cannot enter the kingdom of My perfection, how will you then apply it to yourself?’
The colonel says, ‘That sounds very strange, yet there may be something in it! So let me think about it a little.’
The colonel reflects for a while and then says, ‘Do You mean following You personally, or in the ground of the ground only morally?’
I say, ‘Following Me personally, where it is possible, in constant union with following Me morally, is quite naturally far preferable. But if following Me personally is impossible because of an official position, which must also exist, then conscientiously following Me morally is enough. Yet conscience must have Me, in love for Me and all people, and from this the purest truth, as the ground of its ground; otherwise following Me morally alone would be spiritually dead. Do you understand this?’
The colonel says, ‘That is obscure! But if so, what am I to do with all my beautiful gods? My forefathers believed in them. Is it right that I remain faithful to the belief of these ancestors of mine, or should I begin to believe in the God of the Jews?’