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 207 -
The collection and salvage of flotsam. The curiosity of the villagers.
At this Hiram and Aziona went into the hut and straightaway brought the two fishermen to the Lord. Then they woke their family in the neighboring huts and busied themselves with the work commanded. Their wives and children could indeed not stop being amazed at such rich gifts and were full of questions and thoughts.
2
But Aziona and Hiram said, "Now we are only supposed to work. Only afterwards the necessary explanation will follow!"
3
At this they cleared up cheerfully, and the work soon reached its end. Immediately several pieces of fishing tackle were brought onto the ship, and the already somewhat grown-up children of Aziona and Hiram immediately began to fish and in a short time they had caught a large amount of the noblest and largest fish, so that they soon filled their containers in the water completely.
4
But in the meantime I had also laid My opinion most firmly on the hearts of the two fishermen, so that they then wrote very seriously into their hearts that they would never again in their whole lives, for all the treasures of the world, commit even the slightest betrayal of anyone. I assigned them an old, but still perfectly useable fishing boat of Aziona's and ordered them to make themselves scarce and not to tell anyone from where they came, and where the big ship had remained. For those whose property it was, were no longer, and those to whom it now belonged possessed it as a legal property along with everything that it carried.
5
At this they both thanked Me, promised to keep everything most holy their whole lives long, then boarded the boat and hurried away as fast as possible. But they had several hours to go before they reached their home, where they were badly received, because they had not brought any payment home at all; for both had bad wives and had to then fish most arduously for a whole week in order to make up for what they had missed. Indeed they were pestered with all sorts of questions "such as: where they had been and what they had done "but they remained as silent as fish in water and gave no one any account.
6
Hiram and Aziona however came, after they had put everything away, and thanked Me from the bottom of their hearts for the great and rich flotsam and asked Me about the breakfast.
7
But I said, "What you have, fish that are fresh and caught this morning, bring them here, then bread and some wine! But make enough that also your better neighbors can take part, which you may invite them to do! At the breakfast we will then discuss and explain several extremely great and important things. I will give you good introduction as to the business of converting your neighbors and make your task much easier. Now you may go and order your things! But I will now rest for an hour with My disciples."
8
At this both of them went away, arranged everything in the kitchen and then went themselves to the neighbors, who were partly still occupied with the fishing, and gave them the invitation to the morning meal. The neighbors were very amazed and at the same time very cheerfully touched at such an invitation, but at the same time they mentioned their amazement at such an unusually large catch of fish of theirs, which freed them of all further work for a whole month, and they had now won time to improve their housing a little.
9
Aziona, however, said, "Such a thing will be even easier since in this night, while you all were resting well and good, we received in our possession as a good prize a number of tools which are necessary!"
10
The neighbors asked what had happened in this night; for they had heard in their huts even in their sleep a strong howling and crying. It had also seemed to them as if it had been almost as bright as day the whole night long. Indeed, some of them had gone out of their huts to see what was happening "but they had not been able to make out what it was over the small mounds and heaps of rubble that lay between the huts. They had behaved very calmly, partly only guarded their huts, wives and children and also thought in all the usual cynical rest of the mind: Well, the day that is soon to come will bring us the necessary explanation!
11
At this Hiram said, "Yes, it will indeed! Oh brothers, that was a night last night! I have never experienced and nor will I probably ever experience one like that again! But now nothing more about it; at the breakfast at the tables of Aziona some things will become clear to you! But for now gather yourselves; for the morning meal will not let us wait long!"
12
At this another asked, "But since yesterday some strangers, namely Jews and Greeks, came to Aziona by ship! What sort of people are they? Are they still here, or have they already left again? Did these people make that row in the night?"
13
Hiram says, "Just leave all that be! These strangers are our all-round luck; they are people of the noblest and most perfect sort and will remain today and probably another number of days with us and will take the morning meal with us today. They are extremely wise and wonderfully powerful in will. In short, they are mostly what one otherwise says in the truest sense about the most perfect gods, namely that they are highly wise and that all laws of nature must definitely bow under the power of will. There you have a description of the strangers in all briefness! You do not need to have any fear of them, however; for they are extremely good and cheerful people, who cause only all the best to a person and never anything bad! And now see that you get ready!"