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 206 -
Hiram's testimony on the Lord.
Says Hiram: "Well, is this is not the case with You? He who, like You, is effectively endowed with all the divine attributes does not lack the divine nature either, and who has this is also a true Son of the Most High. And the Most High must be immensely pleased with such a Son and, because of this joy, be completely at one with Him.
2
For God as a purest and most all-powerful spirit, filled with the deepest wisdom, can indeed only take His joy in what is to the highest degree as similar to Him as possible, and not in the smell of the burning flesh of oxen, calves and sheep. But You are extremely similar to Him and in the spirit even as good as He Himself! What else would be needed to be as a temporal fellow son of the Earth also at the same time a perfected son of God?! With You, Lord and Master, that is already quite unmistakably the case, and so You can also be the intermediary between all nations and God, quite aside from the fact that You have visited us in this hidden corner of the Earth, as if we were the only people on the Earth whom You have completely seriously decided to raise to Your spirit.
3
This, Lord and Master, is my opinion of the Messiah, in general as well as in particular and with regard to Your person, and both I and Aziona are in complete agreement on this point.
4
I, a Gentile from birth, know only as much about the Jewish religion as I have found out partly from Aziona and partly from other Jews. Most of all in these days particularly a Messiah is being spoken of among the Jews, because they do not like the Roman pressure and will like it much less in the future, and therefore it is understandable that they imagine all sorts of ridiculous and miraculous images of Him and allow Him to enter this world. But for the sake of the Romans no Messiah needs to come to the Jews at all; for the Romans are in some respect a type of small Messiahs for the Jews themselves, namely for the poor, who without Roman protection the temple would long ago have sucked out the last drop of blood.
5
But exactly because of the too cheeky Jews of the temple who tread on everything that is higher, purer and true with the dirtiest of feet and because of the Jewish people who have been eclipsed und addled by them, a Messiah of Your sort is now necessary to the highest degree and a true savior from heaven for the poor. I have now spoken, Lord and Master, if You would now give us a few words once again!"
6
Say I: "Yes, I must confess openly that I will not have much more to say to you all here; for you both now understand everything from such a correct position that there is little or nothing more that can be said about it! Truly, I have not found such correct understanding in all Israel! I am therefore also in all truth what you both have recognized Me to be. But now you alone have recognized the salvation of your lives; but there are many of you in this area. How will you teach them this? You must not do it suddenly, but instead just little by little, because otherwise their freedom of will would suffer great harm; but there is still the question of how you will start."
7
Aziona says, "This issue will certainly be a little problematic; for the others are even greater cynics than we are! But everything looks better in the morning, and we will surely manage. I believe that it is also somewhat easier to deal with intelligent people in the subject of faith than simply with gullible ones who indeed accept something to be true very quickly, but afterwards are not at all in a position to judge what they have accepted. But these people here never buy a pig in a poke, but instead they look at the wares from all sides in the light; and if they can make a good judgment, they then accept a genuine and good object at any price. And so we believe that we will also manage with our members and companions very easily and well.
8
And now in the east it is already beginning to dawn, and soon it will become very active in the bay "for one must head out to fish here before the sunrise if one wants to catch anything; fishing by day does not reward a lot of effort and work. The neighbors are already beginning to stir, in order to gather together the fishing tackle. We both will also have to get started soon, so that we will have a fresh breakfast. Since we have captured from You so many most magnificent things for our souls in this night, our first duty now is to ensure that you all may find positive hospitality here, not only as a consequence of your wonderful generosity, but also as a consequence of our heightened activity."
9
Say I: "Just leave that be! It will be seen to that you all have enough fish! If you now want to do something, then collect the lances, spears, swords and chains lying around here and put them into safe-keeping; then clear the ship as well, and take its treasures! Then immediately you will be able to use the ship very well for a great fishing industry. But bring the two fishermen who are staying here, so that they will receive instruction as to how they will have to behave in the future at all times!"