Hermas, Shepherd, Vision 3

Brothers, this is what I saw. I had fasted many times and prayed to the Lord, asking Him to reveal the revelation He had promised to show me through that elderly woman. On that very night she appeared to me and said, "Since you are so needy and eager to know everything, come to the field where you work; around the fifth hour I will appear to you and show you what you must see." I asked her, "Lady, what place in the field?" She answered, "Wherever you wish." So I chose a beautiful, secluded spot. But before I could speak and tell her the place, she said, "I will be there, wherever you wish." I went to the field, brothers, counted the hours, and arrived at the spot I had designated for her to meet me. There I saw an ivory couch lying on the ground. On the couch lay a linen kerchief, and over it a linen carpet was spread out. Seeing these things there with no one present, I was overwhelmed with amazement. Trembling seized me, my hair stood on end, and a cold horror came over me because I was alone. I pulled myself together, remembered the glory of God, and took courage. I fell to my knees and confessed my sins to the Lord once again, just as I had done before. Then she arrived with six young men, the same ones I had seen before. They stood beside me and watched me while I was praying and confessing my sins to the Lord. She touched me and said, "Hermas, stop asking about all your sins. Ask also about righteousness, so that you may receive a share of it for your household." She took me by the hand, raised me up, and led me to the couch. Then she said to the young men, "Go and build." After they left and we were alone, she told me, "Sit here." I replied, "Lady, let the elders sit first." She said, "Do whatever I tell you; sit." When I tried to sit on the right side, she would not allow it. Instead, she signaled with her hand for me to sit on the left. As I puzzled over this and felt grieved that she would not let me sit on the right, she asked, "Are you grieved, Hermas? The place on the right belongs to others — those who have already pleased God and suffered for the sake of the Name. You still lack much to sit with them. But if you remain in your simplicity, you will remain and will sit with them, along with everyone who does their works and endures what they also endured." I asked, "What did they endure?" She said, "Listen: floggings, imprisonments, great tribulations, crosses, wild beasts — all for the sake of the Name. For this reason the right side of the sanctuary belongs to them, and to whoever suffers for the Name. The left side belongs to the rest."