Then I asked him,
"Lord, how shall we be able
to prophesy to those who request
us to prophesy
to them? For there are many who
ask us, and look
to us to hear an oracle
from us."
The Lord
answered and said, "Do you not
know that the head of
prophecy was cut off with John?"
But I said, "Lord,
can it be possible to remove
the head of prophecy?"
The Lord
said to me, "When you (pl.)
come to know what 'head' means, and
that prophecy issues from the
head, (then) understand the meaning of 'Its head was
removed.' At first I spoke
to you in parables,
and you did not understand;
now I speak to
you openly, and
you (still) do not perceive. Yet,
it was you who served me
as a parable in
parables, and as that which is open
in the (words) that are open.
"Hasten
to be saved without being urged!
Instead, be
eager of your own accord, and,
if possible, arrive even before me;
for thus the Father will love you.
"Come to hate
hypocrisy and the evil
thought; for it is the thought
that gives birth to hypocrisy;
but hypocrisy is far from
truth.
"Do not allow
the kingdom of heaven to wither;
for it is like a palm shoot
whose fruit has dropped down
around it. They (i.e., the fallen fruit) put forth
leaves, and after they had sprouted,
they caused their womb to dry up.
So it is also with the fruit which
had grown from this single root;
when it had been picked (?),
fruit was borne by many (?).
It (the root) was certainly good, (and) if
it were possible for you to produce the
new plants now,
"Since
I have already been glorified in this fashion,
why do you hold me back
in my eagerness to go?
For after the [labor], you have
compelled me to stay with
you another eighteen days for
the sake of the parables. It was enough
for some
teaching and understand 'The Shepherds' and
'The Seed' and 'The Building' and 'The Lamps of
the Virgins' and 'The Wage of the
Workmen' and the 'Didrachmae' and 'The
Woman.'
"Become earnest about
the word! For as to the word,
its first part is faith;
the second, love; the
third, works; for from these comes life.
For the word is like a
grain of wheat; when someone
had sown it, he had faith in it; and
when it had sprouted, he loved it, because he had seen
many grains in place of one. And
when he had worked, he was saved, because he had
prepared it for food, (and) again he
left (some) to sow. So also
can you yourselves receive
the kingdom of heaven;
unless you receive this through knowledge,
you will not be able to find it."
