第十一章

翻译：觉醒

逼迫开始了

1 耶稣吩咐完了十二个门徒，就离开那里，往各城去传道，教训人。

2 约翰在监里听见基督所作的事，就打发两个门徒去，

3 问他说：那将要来的是你吗？还是我们等候别人呢？

4 耶稣回答说：你们去，把所听见、所看见的事告诉约翰。

5 就是瞎子看见，瘸子行走，长大麻风的洁净，聋子听见，死人复活，穷人有福音传给他们。

6 凡不因我跌倒的就有福了！

7 他们走的时候，耶稣就对众人讲论约翰说：你们从前出到旷野是要看什么呢？要看风吹动的芦苇吗？

8 你们出去到底是要看什么？要看穿细软衣服的人吗？那穿细软衣服的人是在王宫里。

9 你们出去究竟是为什么？是要看先知吗？我告诉你们，是的，他比先知大多了。

10 经上记着说：我要差遣我的使者在你前面预备道路，所说的就是这个人。

11 我实在告诉你们，凡妇人所生的，没有一个兴起来大过施洗约翰的；然而天国里最小的比他还大。

12 从施洗约翰的时候到如今，天国不断遭受猛烈的攻击，强暴的人企图把它夺去。

13 因为众先知和律法说预言，到约翰为止。

14 你们若肯领受，这人就是那应当来的以利亚。

15 有耳可听的，就应当听！

16 我可用什么比这世代呢？好像孩童坐在街市上招呼同伴，说：

17 我们向你们吹笛，你们不跳舞；我们向你们举哀，你们不捶胸。

18 约翰来了，也不吃也不喝，人就说他是被鬼附着的；

19 人子来了，也吃也喝，人又说他是贪食好酒的人，是税吏和罪人的朋友。但智慧之子总以智慧为是。

20 耶稣在诸城中行了许多异能，那些城的人终不悔改，就在那时候责备他们，说：

21 哥拉汛哪，你有祸了！伯赛大啊，你有祸了！因为在你们中间所行的异能，若行在推罗、西顿，他们早已披麻蒙灰悔改了。

22 但我告诉你们，当审判的日子，推罗、西顿所受的，比你们还容易受呢！

23 迦百农啊，你已经升到天上，将来必坠落阴间；因为在你那里所行的异能，若行在所多玛，它还可以存到今日。

24 但我告诉你们，当审判的日子，所多玛所受的，比你还容易受呢！

在之前的情节中，门徒们被组织起来，领受了教导，并被差遣出去。由于每个门徒都代表一个对我们的属灵生活极为重要的属灵原则，所以有必要把“我们里面的门徒”（核心属灵原则）好好组织起来。 ¹ 这描绘了将我们的良善情感和真实思想（尽管起初是分散的）组织成形、预备使用的方式。然而，有一条属灵的法则是，在灵性发展的每一步上，我们都会遇到势均力敌的攻击。通过这种方式，主维持一种持续的平衡，从而保守和维护我们的属灵自由。 ²

这正是下一个情节所描绘的，我们发现施洗约翰已经被囚禁了。反击开始了。由于施洗约翰跟从耶稣，公开宣称天国近了，所以他受了逼迫，被下在监里了。

然而，这仅仅是外面的故事。更内在的是，反击发生在我们每个人里面——在我们的头脑中。当我们受了逼迫，感到灰心和不安时，我们开始怀疑跟从主是不是正确的。我们怀疑祂的神性。我们怀疑祂话语的权威性。我们怀疑天国是否真的近了。

就连施洗约翰，耶稣最坚定的支持者之一，也开始怀疑了。虽然约翰被关在监狱里，但他还是能够向耶稣传话说：“那将要来的是你吗？还是我们等候别人呢？”（11:3）耶稣没有直接回应。相反，祂吩咐约翰的使者回去报告所发生的事情：“就是瞎子看见，瘸子行走，长大麻风的洁净，聋子听见，死人复活，穷人有福音传给他们。”（11:5） ³

重要的是要记住，施洗约翰代表圣言的字面教导。 ⁴ 在约翰的时代，神的圣言已经被扭曲和亵渎，除了证实宗教机构想要人们相信的东西之外，变得毫无用处。明确的字面教导被认为不如在位的宗教领袖所传授和施行的严格的传统重要。这一切被表现为约翰被下在监里，这也正是耶稣所说的：“天国不断遭受猛烈的攻击，强暴的人企图把它夺去。”（11:12）

人类正迅速陷入有史以来最黑暗的夜晚，正如魔鬼附身的流行所表明的那样。尽管耶稣正在做大能的工作，许多人仍然拒绝相信。审判的日子似乎正在逼近。因此，祂警告他们说：“迦百农啊，你已经升到天上，将来必坠落阴间；因为在你那里所行的异能，若行在所多玛，它还可以存到今日。”（11:23）耶稣确实做了大能的工作，就连所多玛的恶人也可能悔改并信了。神通过耶稣基督来到世界，但有些人已经习惯了黑暗，以致厌弃光明——即使光明就在他们中间。

耶稣继续警告他们即将到来的厄运和毁灭。“但我告诉你们，当审判的日子，所多玛所受的，比你还容易受呢！”（11:24）那些拒绝相信、厌弃光明的人，代表我们里面不愿改变的部分，即使有足够的光明可以让我们改变。

“我的轭是容易的”

25 那时，耶稣说：父啊，天地的主，我感谢你！因为你将这些事向聪明通达人就藏起来，向婴孩就显出来。

26 父啊，是的，因为你的美意本是如此。

27 一切所有的，都是我父交付我的；除了父，没有人知道子；除了子和子所愿意指示的，没有人知道父。

28 凡劳苦担重担的人，可以到我这里来，我就使你们得安息。

29 我心里柔和谦卑，你们当负我的轭，学我的样式；这样，你们心里就必得享安息。

30 因为我的轭是容易的，我的担子是轻省的。

在这些可怕的警告中，耶稣继续提供希望和安慰。在本情节的结尾，祂带着父的温柔和怜悯说：“一切所有的，都是我父交付我的；除了父，没有人知道子；除了子和子所愿意指示的，没有人知道父。”（11:27）换句话说，万物都源于神圣的爱（父）。由于世界变得越来越黑暗，人们甚至不再意识到这种爱的存在。但耶稣正在把它展示出来，要显给“子所愿意指示的”的人看。

虽然看似只有一些人被拣选来接受这种爱，但邀请是发给所有人的。耶稣不再用父与子分离的方式来说话，祂现在说话很温柔，就像一位慈爱的父亲对疲惫的孩子说话。祂说：“凡劳苦担重担的人，可以到我这里来，我就使你们得安息。”（11:28）值得注意的是，耶稣不是说：“父必使你们得安息。”而是说：“我必使你们得安息。”这是一个美丽的安慰，一个应许，即在耶稣里，我们不仅可以找到肉体的安息，更重要的是，我们将找到属灵的安息，也就是灵魂的安息：“我心里柔和谦卑，你们当负我的轭，学我的样式；这样，你们心里就必得享安息。因为我的轭是容易的，我的担子是轻省的。”（11:30）

随着耶稣揭示祂与内在神性的合一，祂的言语中包含了越来越多的温柔与亲切。我们越来越多地看到父的神圣的爱体现在子的神圣智慧中，我们开始感觉到在某种程度上祂们是一体的。在耶稣身上，我们没有看到一位严厉的、愤怒的、惩罚人的、令人惧怕的神。相反，我们看到的是一位可爱的、慈悲的、宽容的父，祂对我们每个人说：“到我这里来......因为我的轭是容易的，我的担子是轻省的。”（11:30）

Poznámky pod čarou:

4169. 'Your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried' means its state as regards good and the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'sheep' as good, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'she-goat' as the good of truth, dealt with in 3995, 4006. The word good when used by itself means the good of the will, whereas the expression the good of truth means the good of the understanding. The good of the will consists in doing good from good, whereas the good of the understanding consists in doing it from truth. To people who do good from truth those two activities seem to be one and the same, when in fact they are considerably different from each other. For doing good from good consists in doing it from the perception of good, and that perception does not exist with any except those who are celestial. But doing good from truth is doing it from knowledge and consequently from the understanding. It amounts to doing it without any perception that it is good, and so solely as something that a person has been taught to do by others, or else by the exercise of his own intellect has decided that it is good. Such truth may well be faulty, but if it has good as its end in view, then a person's action arising out of that truth becomes tantamount to good.

[2] 'Sheep' means goods. This may be seen from many places in the Word, from which places let merely the following be quoted: In Isaiah,

He was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He is led like a lamb ¹ to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers, he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7.

This refers to the Lord, where He is compared to 'a sheep' not by virtue of truth but of good. In Matthew,

Jesus said to the twelve whom He sent out, Do not go into the way of the gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 10:5-6.

'The gentiles' to whom they were forbidden to go stands for those among whom evils exist - 'gentiles' meaning evils, see 1259, 1260, 1849; 'the cities of the Samaritans' stands for those among whom falsities are present; and 'sheep' stands for those among whom forms of good may be found.

[3] In John,

Jesus after the Resurrection said to Peter, Feed My lambs. A second time He said, Feed My sheep; the third time He said, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17.

'Lambs' stands for those who have innocence within them. The first reference to 'sheep' stands for people whose practice of good stems from good, the second for those whose practice of it stems from truth. In Matthew,

When the Son of Man comes in His glory He will place the sheep at His right hand but the goats at His left. And He will say to those at His right hand, Come, O blessed of My Father, possess as an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me. Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matthew 25:31-40.

Here it is quite plain that 'sheep' stands for goods, that is, for those in whom good is present. Every kind of good flowing from charity, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be described elsewhere, is included here in the internal sense. 'Goats' means in particular those who have faith but no charity.

[4] Similarly in Ezekiel,

As for you, O My flock, said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am judging between one member of the flock and another, between rams of the sheep, and he-goats. Ezekiel 34:17.

'He-goats' means in particular those whose faith is not linked to any charity. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'he-goats' in the good sense as those who possess the truth of faith and from this some charity, but in the contrary sense those whose faith is not linked to any charity. Such people reason about salvation from basic assumptions that faith is what saves. The same point is apparent from what the Lord says about the goats in the passage in Matthew quoted above. But people who do not possess any truth of faith, or at the same time any good of charity, are carried away into hell without undergoing any such judgement, that is to say, without any examination to prove that they are governed by falsity.

Poznámky pod čarou: