CHAPTER XI

THE FAREWELL DISCOURSE

The self-life is an illusion which comes through the flesh, an evil. The true life is the life common to all men

(Deliver us from evil)

AND Peter said to Jesus: Whither are you going?

Jesus answered: You will not have the strength now to go whither I am going; but afterward you will go the same way. (jn 13:36)

And Peter said: Why do you think that I have not the strength now to follow whither you go? I will give up my life for you. (jn 13:37)

And Jesus said: You say that you will give up your life for me, and yet even before cockcrow you shall deny me thrice. (jn 13:38) And Jesus said to the disciples: Be not troubled and be not afraid, but believe in the true God of life, and in my teaching. (jn 14:1)

The life of the Father is not only that which is on earth, but there is another life also. (jn 14:2) If there were only such a life as the life here, I would say to you, that when I die I shall go into Abrahams bosom, and make ready a place there for you, and I shall come and take you, and we shall together live happily in Abrahams bosom. (jn 14:3) But I point out to you only the direction to life. (jn 14:4)

Thomas said: But we do not know whither you go, and therefore we cannot know the way. (jn 14:5) We want to know what there will be after death.

Jesus said: I cannot show you what will be there; my teaching is the way, and the truth, and the life. And it is impossible to be joined with the Father of life otherwise than through my teaching. (jn 14:6) If you fulfil my teaching, you shall know the Father. (jn 14:7)

Philip said: But who is the Father? (jn 14:8)

And Jesus said: The Father is He who gives life. I have fulfilled the will of the Father, and therefore by my life you may know wherein is the will of the Father. (jn 14:9) I live by the Father, and the Father lives in me. All that I say and do, I do by the will of the Father. My teaching is, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If you do not understand my teaching, yet you see me and my works. (jn 14:10) And therefore you may understand what the Father is. (jn 14:11) And you know that he who shall follow my teaching may do the same as I; and yet more, because I shall die, but he will still live. (jn 14:12) He who shall live according to my teaching, shall have all that he wishes, because then the Son will be one with the Father. (jn 14:13) Whatever you may wish that accords with my teaching, all that you shall have. (jn 14:14) But for this you must love my teaching. (jn 14:15) My teaching will give you, in my place, an intercessor and comforter. (jn 14:16) This comforter will be the consciousness of truth, which worldly men do not understand; but you will know it in yourselves. (jn 14:17) You never will be alone, if the spirit of my teaching is with you. (jn 14:18) I shall die, and worldly men will not see me; but you will see me because my teaching lives and you will live by it. (jn 14:19) And then, if my teaching shall be in you, you will understand that I am in the Father and the Father in me. (jn 14:20) He who shall fulfil my teaching, shall feel in himself the Father; and in him my spirit shall live. (jn 14:21)

And Judas, not Iscariot, but another, said to him: But why, then, may not all live by the spirit of truth? (jn 14:22)

Jesus said in answer: Only he who fulfils my teaching, only him the Father loves, and in him only can my spirit abide. (jn 14:23) He who does not fulfil my teaching, him my Father cannot love, because this teaching is not mine, but the Fathers. (jn 14:24) This is all that I can tell you now. (jn 14:25) But my spirit, the spirit of truth, which shall take up its abode in you after I am gone, shall reveal to you all, and you shall recall and understand much of that which I have told you. (jn 14:26) So that you may always be calm in spirit, not with that worldly calm which men of the world seek, but with that calm of spirit in which we no longer fear anything. (jn 14:27) On this account, if you fulfil my teaching, you have no reason to grieve over my death. I, as the spirit of truth, will come to you, and, together with the knowledge of the Father, will take up my abode in your heart. (jn 14:28) If you fulfil my teaching, then you must rejoice, because instead of me you will have the Father with you in your heart, and this is better for you.

My teaching is the tree of life. The Father is He who tends the tree. (jn 15:1) He prunes and cherishes those branches upon which there is fruit, that they may yield more. (jn 15:2) Keep my teaching of life, and life will be in you. And as a shoot lives not of itself, but out of the tree, so do you live by my teaching. (jn 15:4) My teaching is the tree, you are the shoots. He who lives by my teaching of life yields much fruit; and without my teaching there is no life. (jn 15:5) He who does not live by my teaching withers and dies; and the dry branches are cut off and burnt. (jn 15:6)

If you will live by my teaching, and fulfil it, then you shall have all that you desire. (jn 15:7) Because the will of the Father is, that you may live the true life and have that which you desire. (jn 15:8) As the Father gave me happiness, so I give you happiness. Hold to this happiness. (jn 15:9) I am living, because the Father loves me and I love the Father; do you also live by the same love. (jn 15:10) If you will live by this, you shall be blessed. (jn 15:11)

My commandment is, that you love one another as I have loved you. (jn 15:12) There is no greater love than to sacrifice ones life for the love of ones own, (jn 15:13) as I have done.

You are my equals, if you do that which I have taught you. (jn 15:14) I do not hold you as slaves, to whom orders are given, but as equals; because I have made clear to you all that I have known of the Father. (jn 15:15) You do not, of your own will, choose my teaching; but because I have pointed out to you that only truth by which you will live, and from which you will have all that you wish. (jn 15:16)

The teaching is summed up in thisLove one another. (jn 15:17)

If the world should hate you, then do not wonder; it hates my teaching. (jn 15:18) If you were at one with the world, it would love you. But I have severed you from the world, and for that it will hate you. (jn 15:19) If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. (jn 15:20) They will do all this, because they do not know the true God. (jn 15:21) I explained to them, but they did not wish to hear me. (jn 15:22) They did not understand my teaching, because they did not understand the Father. (jn 15:23) They saw my life, and my life showed them their error. (jn 15:24) And for this they still more hated me. (jn 15:25) The spirit of truth which shall come to you will confirm this to you. (jn 15:26) And you will accept it. (jn 15:27) I tell you this beforehand, so that you may not be deceived when persecutions shall be upon you. (jn 16:1) You shall be made outcasts; men shall think that in killing you they do Gods pleasure. (jn 16:2) All this they cannot help doing, because they understand neither my teaching nor the true God. (jn 16:3) All this I tell you beforehand, so that you may not wonder when it comes about. (jn 16:4)

Well then, I now go away to that Spirit which sent me; and now you understand, you need not ask me whither I go. (jn 16:5) But before, you were grieved that I did not tell you whither, to what place, I depart. (jn 16:6)

But I tell you truly that it is well for you that I am going. If I do not die, the spirit of truth will not appear to you, but if I die, it will take up its abode in you. (jn 16:7) It will take up its abode in you, and it will be clear to you where untruth is, where truth is, and how to make decision. (jn 16:8) Untruth, in that people do not believe in the life of the spirit. (jn 16:9) Truth, in that I am one with the Father. (jn 16:10) Decision, in that the power of the fleshly life is at an end. (jn 16:11)

I would say yet much more to you, but it is difficult for you to understand. (jn 16:12) But when the spirit of truth dwells in you, it will show you the whole truth, because it will tell you, not a new thing of its own, but that which is of God; and it will show you the way in all concerns of life. (jn 16:13) It also will be from the Father, as I am from the Father; therefore it also will tell you the same as I tell you. (jn 16:15)

But when I, the spirit of truth, shall be in you, you will not always see me. Sometimes you will, (jn 16:16) and sometimes you will not, hear me.

And the disciples said one to another: What does he mean when he says: Sometimes you will see me, sometimes you will not see me. (jn 16:17) What means this, Sometimes you will, sometimes you will not? (jn 16:18)

Jesus said to them: Do you not understand what this means, Sometimes you will, sometimes you will not, see me? (jn 16:19) You know how it always is in the world, that some are sad and grieved, while others rejoice. And you will grieve, but your grief will pass into joy. (jn 16:20) A woman, when she bears, grieves while she is in the pangs of childbirth; but when that is ended, she does not remember the pangs, for joy that a man is born into the world. (jn 16:21) And so you will grieve; anon you will see me, the spirit of truth will enter into you, and your grief will be turned into joy. (jn 16:22) Then you will no longer ask anything of me, because you will have all that you wish. Then all which one of you desires in the spirit, all that he will have from his Father. (jn 16:23)

You formerly asked for nothing for the spirit; but now ask what you will for the spirit, and you will have all; so that your bliss will be full. (jn 16:24) Now I, as a man, cannot tell you this clearly in words, but when I, as the spirit of truth, shall live in you, I will proclaim to you clearly about the Father. (jn 16:25) Then it will not be I who will give you all you ask of the Father in the name of the spirit. (jn 16:26) But the Father will Himself give, because He loves you for having received my teaching. (jn 16:27) You have understood that understanding proceeds from the Father into the world and returns from the world to the Father. (jn 16:28)

Then the disciples said to Jesus: Now we have understood everything, and have nothing more to ask, (jn 16:29) we believe that you are from God. (jn 16:30)

And Jesus said: All that I have said to you is in order that you may have confidence and rest in my teaching. Whatever ills may befall you in the world, fear nothing: my teaching will conquer the world. (jn 16:33)

After this, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven, and said:

My Father! Thou hast given Thy Son the freedom of life in order that he may receive the true life. (jn 17:1) Life is the knowledge of the true God of the understanding, Who is discovered to me. (jn 17:3) I have discovered Thee to men on earth; I have done that work which Thou hast bidden me do. I have shown Thy being to men on earth. They were Thine before, but by Thy will I have discovered to them the truth, and they know Thee. (jn 17:6) They have understood that all they have, their life, is from Thee only, (jn 17:7) and that I have taught them, not of myself, but as proceeding, I with them, from Thee. (jn 17:8) But I pray to Thee for those who acknowledge Thee. (jn 17:9) They have understood that all that I have is Thine, and all that is Thine is mine. (jn 17:10) I am no longer in the world, for I return to Thee; but they are in the world, and therefore I pray Thee, Father, to preserve in them Thy understanding. (jn 17:11) I do not pray Thee to remove them from the world, but to free them from evil; (jn 17:15) to confirm them in Thy truth. (jn 17:17) Thy understanding is the truth. (jn 17:18) My Father! I wish them to be as I am; to understand as I do, that the true life began before the beginning of the world. That they should all be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, (jn 17:21) so they may also be one in me. I in them, Thou in me, so that all may be one; so that all men may understand they are not self-created, but that Thou, in love, hast sent them into the world as Thou didst send me. (jn 17:23) Father of truth! the world did not know Thee, but I knew Thee, and they have known Thee through me. (jn 17:25) And I have made plain to them what Thou art. Thou art in me, that the love with which Thou hast loved me may be in them also. (jn 17:26) Thou gavest them life, and therefore didst love them. I have taught them to know this, and to love Thee; so that Thy love might be returned from them to Thee.