The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 237 -
The Child's Love For His Brothers
AND THE FOUR SONS promptly came into Joseph's dining room, where they quickly fell down on their knees, acknowledged their guilt and besought their old father for forgiveness.
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Joseph thereupon forgave them and withdrew his condemnation.
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Then he said to the four, 'I have indeed forgiven you;
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but I was also the least insulted by you in the matter.
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Now here is the little Child of which you said to me to my greatest annoyance
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that He was spoiled and therefore sometimes full of caprice, at which time nothing were right and good enough for Him.
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Thereby you have abused Him most rudely!
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Go over and first of all ask Him for forgiveness, or you could be severely dealt with!'
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Here the four sons went over to the little Child and said to Him,
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'Oh our dear little Brother! See, we have unjustly abused You to our father,
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and made him so angry that he nearly put a curse on us.
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We have sinned most rudely against You and the good father Joseph.
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Oh will You, dear little Brother, ever be able to forgive us our rude sin? Will You lift us up again to be Your brothers?'
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At this the little Child smiled at the brothers in a most friendly manner, stretched out His tender arms and said with tears in His divine eyes:
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'Oh My dear brothers, arise and come here so I may kiss and bless you!
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For truly, whoever comes to Me as you do, he shall be forgiven, though his sins were more than there is sand in the sea and grass on the earth!
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Truly, truly, before this earth was founded, I already saw this sin in you and have already forgiven you long before you ever were.
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Oh My dear brothers, do not have any fear because of Me, for I do indeed love all of you so much that I shall in fact die one day in My body from love for you.
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So do not ever fear Me, for truly, even though you had cursed Me, I still would not have judged you but would have wept instead because of the hardness of your hearts!
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So come here, My dear brothers, that I may bless you, since you have abused Me a bit!'
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This infinite goodness of the little Child broke the hearts of the four, and they wept like little children.
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The others at the table also were so greatly moved that they could not keep from weeping.
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The little Child then arose and went over to the four, blessed and kissed them, and then said to them,
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'Now, dear brothers, you will surely know that I have forgiven you everything?
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But I beg you: go into the kitchen now and bring us all a better fish!
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For truly, I am still quite hungry, but just cannot eat the fish you prepared for us a little while ago!'
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At this the four quickly arose, kissed the beyond measure good-hearted little Child and then, deeply stirred, hurried into the kitchen and prepared a most excellent fish for Joseph's table.