THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 159 -
The right and wrong kind of worldly activity.
Cyrenius says, "Yes indeed, Lord and Master of eternity; but there is another question, and that consists of this: If people become so very active and hard-working in the most varied branches of life, which has a thousand needs, then it is also clear that they will go across to pure worldly materialism too much from the spiritual path of life, and then there will no longer be any talk of rebirth of the spirit.
2
But at the same time I have the teaching from Your mouth, according to which one should not worry about the progress of earthly life in the way of the Gentiles, but instead one should seek above all the kingdom of God and his righteousness "everything else will then already come of itself.
3
How does this teaching correspond to this new lesson of Yours, according to which one should constantly keep oneself busy? Behold, Lord, this I cannot quite manage! It would therefore be good if You, oh Lord, would make this a little more understandable for me."
4
Say I: "We still have an hour and a half left and I can indeed answer this question for you. But pay good attention to what I will tell you in a parable!
5
Behold, two people went to a master of an extremely useful and beautiful art! A did this in order to learn the art, in order to earn his living through it in time. He learned studiously and paid attention to everything that was necessary to make the art one's own, and finally was extremely glad when he received a certificate from the master which said that he had now fully learnt the art and was now a master himself. There were indeed still some secrets of the art, of which he knew nothing. In itself that did not bother him any longer; for he now had the proof, with which he could and must earn his living without any great effort.
6
But the reason which drove B to the master was quite different and therefore had to have quite different consequences. The bread was not important to B, which he never thought about, but instead the art, for art's sake. All his striving was only in order to become most deeply familiar with all the secrets of the art to be learnt.
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But the master, since he saw that not the bread, but purely the full knowledge of the divine art was the issue with this pupil, took great joy himself in this pupil, took him with every effort and introduced him most deeply to all the secrets possible in this art. And the consequence was that B afterwards created such unsurpassable art as a perfected master that the reputation and praise even reached the ears of the king and the king then called the artist to show him his art. But the artist did not do that for the sake of expected reward, but instead in order to make certain to provide a very great joy for the king.
8
When the king then got to see the great work of art and was convinced of the high purpose of the same, he said: What do you want me to do for you, great master? Demand a reward from me and it shall be given to you along with the fact that you may stay from now on a favorite at my court and practice your art here!
9
And the artist spoke, deeply moved by the king's mercy: Highest lord and wisest ruler and commander! Your mercy and your pleasure in this art of mine are already the highest reward! For I learnt this art with all my strength right into my soul, not for gain, not even for the sake of daily bread, but instead purely out of the pure love for the art, and for that very reason I now have the highest joy already and the highest reward that it has now found such an excellent recognition before the eyes of the wisest king.
10
What do you think the now even more overjoyed king did with the artist? Behold, he said: Only now I see that you are quite a perfect artist of your field! For if you had learnt this so magnificent art for the sake of reward and bread you would never have produced such perfection. For whoever learns something in order to help his existence, thinks only about his existence and is soon satisfied with the shallow and little learning and at the same time only reckons on how he could cover his lack of knowledge with a false veil so that the people would not notice his weakness and would nonetheless consider him to be a great master. But in the future that will be of little use to him; for his bad and poor works will be his very traitors.
11
But you, who learnt the art for its own sake, had only calculated how you could enter all their great and deep secrets. You were concerned about the fullest truth of the art, and for that reason you became a rare, true artist, whom I can use. And since you did not worry about bread and reward until this day, so you shall receive from me a true, best and most enduring bread and reward! For I as king have always positions for true artists and for true educated and wise people and the bread and reward that go with it in abundance! "There you now have the tangible explanation of your objection."