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 19 -
The actual intention of Roklus and his companions.
Roklus says, "I am not saying that the laws of the Nordic king are unwise, or even unjust and unkind; they would just be a little inconvenient for our sort! And I do not mean to dishonor Rome, you, and old Mark when I strongly maintain that I prefer Rome's current laws a lot more than the certainly not unwise ones of the Nordic king, whose kingdom, according to a legend, will last until the end of the world and thus become the greatest kingdom on earth. It is a separate question if it will be possible for him to proclaim his wise laws to all the people of his large kingdom! Good for him and his people if he succeeds! "But now allow me a completely harmless remark; if I have to be completely honest once, then I am gladly honest all the way and shun any concealment!
2
You, great lord, lord, lord, have just before made the remark that an emperor cannot perform any miracles and create a world, but to me at least, it does not seem to be so. According to our exact observation from a hill of the city, old Mark's new magnificent house, the high garden wall on which a hundred of the best masons had to fully work at least five years if one takes into account the hewing of the most beautiful blocks of granite and their transport here, and finally even the relocation of such a big garden fully cultivated, and in the end also, as I noticed just now, the construction of a very big and safe harbor and several new, big sail boats, all just appeared as if by a magic stroke, - yes, if that does not mean performing miracles, I renounce everything that is human in me and will become a crocodile!
3
And because I have already touched this small but sensitive matter without shipwrecking, I must openly admit in the name of my eleven companions that my previous, foolish request was only a maneuver to get to this secret and learn how something like this was possible! Because all this did not possibly come into existence in a natural way! And so, I tell you the truth that curiosity pulled us here, only now! We all thought unanimously when we saw all this appear in an instant: Either a god or a great, ancient Indian mage must be present because something like this cannot possibly be accomplished with natural human powers! We quickly decided to come here under any pretext in order to get behind the miracle and its master.
4
Our entire previously feigned legal matter is a pure nothing; an invalid trick in order to have any clue that marginally revolves around the performed miracle. And see, the trick was good because through it we got to the actual reason why we came here! Thus we imploringly ask you to shed some light on the matter, - no matter what it costs! We do not want to take anything away from good, worthy Mark, but commit ourselves to best cultivate the other, still fallow piece of land at our expense, even if we had to bring the soil from Europe! But just let us see behind this miraculous secret!"
5
Cyrenius says, "Yes, your situation looks completely different now and you will obviously be better off in this case than you would have been with your previous, highly unjust request, with which you would have truly come off badly with me!"
6
Roklus says quickly, "We all knew that quite well from a lot of experience! You have been our most just and at the same time kindest ruler for over thirty years now and we know you and all your weak sides. One has to bring you into a sort of fervor if one wants to find out something extraordinary from you and such was the case here; you will certainly forgive us because of the good cause!"
7
Cyrenius says, "But what were the grounds for your assumption that all this came into existence in a miraculous way? You have discovered it as finished today, but probably paid little or no attention to how my soldiers and warriors worked on it during the last seven days!"
8
Roklus says, "Lord, lord, lord, let us stop this! Ever since you have been staying here in the midst of significant armed forces, as was well known to us, we have not left our hill day and night in order to spy from far away on what you Romans might be doing. The wonderful morning drew us out even earlier today. Our gaze was, of course, constantly focused on this area. Up to an hour ago we did not see anything other than what was to be seen since we know this area; but as I said an hour ago house, garden, harbor, and ships came into existence here as if fallen from heaven! -And that is not a miracle?!
9
We saw the entire legion of moors, or however many there were, trek here three hours ago, and we also noticed how you came down the mountain this morning; we have very sharp eyes! Therefore this is a miracle of the most colossal kind and that is why we want to get a very small hint on how and by whom it was performed!"
10
Cyrenius says, "Well then, - if you know it better than I do, then stay with the miracle! The 'how' and 'by whom' you do not need to learn because that takes more than just rushing here and cunningly trying to look behind such a secret!
11
If a smart statesman would make public all his special secrets, he would make very short leaps with his politics and his subjects would soon lead him by the nose! A statesman has to rule his kingdom and his subjects mostly through politics because as individuals they are not able to recognize the public weal. On the other side the various estates also hardly lend themselves to that purpose and thus the poor that do not see or accept anything but their own interests would people would not be taken care of properly.
12
Thus a good regent must exhibit just power, knowledge in all things, and keen intelligence, - and only then is he a just lord, master, and leader of many thousands of thousands of blind people, who are not even capable to assess what a great benefactor they have as a just ruler! That a good ruler cannot for very wise reasons let his subjects look at his cards all the time and thus betray his good plan before its due time is very clear and understandable, and so it will be very clear and understandable to you why I cannot reveal more of this secret; you will understand that a regent has to be able to accomplish more than another person, otherwise he would be a very weak regent! What kind of respect would his subjects have for him if in case of distress he would not be a little almighty compared to them? Go and look closer at your miracle and only come back afterwards; maybe you will be more reasonable to talk to them! We are, however, done for now!"