The Great Gospel of John
Volume 6
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
At the Sea of Galilee (John 6)
- Chapter 82 -
The disciple and the stern tax collector.
Thereupon some of the old disciples got up, went into town and soon found a bakery and bought bread for ten pfennig and roasted fish for four pfennig. When they left the town with their purchases, they met a tax collector who stopped them and asked them who does require so much bread and fish.
2
And they said to him (the old disciples): "Our Lord and Master wants it, and thus we do accordingly!"
3
Asked the tax collector: "Now, who is your Lord and Master and what is his trade?"
4
Said the disciples: "Go, and ask Him yourself, - He will tell you if He wants to! But He does not respond immediately to everyone! There, a few hundred steps at the shore of the river, He rests together with the other disciples. Go and speak to Him yourself!"
5
Said the tax collector: "Why don't you take an inn here? There are several in our not too small town!"
6
Said again the disciples: "Go to Him and He will tell you; since we don't know ourselves what He intends doing here!"
7
Here the tax collector said: "Yes, I then have to go myself and find out from him what this is all about with you! Since with us we keep a strict order, and we must know who are the foreigners coming to our town."
8
Hereupon the tax collector walked with the disciples to Me and when he arrived he immediately asked with a strict and serious voice of a judge: "Who of you is here the master and lord?"
9
Said I: "I am! What do you want from Me and My disciples?"
10
Said the tax collector: "You are foreigners, and such we cannot tolerate in the close vicinity of our rich town if they do not tell us who they are and from where they are coming!"
11
Said I: "I know your laws and rights better than you are, who, as just a simple tax collector, do not have the right to asked us from where we are coming! See, we are still more than seven-hundred steps away from the gate of the town, and this place where we are staying now, is according to your community laws from ancient times already destined for foreigners, and therefore we are according to your own laws are free on this place and thus are not indebted to anyone to provide him any answers! But you yourself should rather rush back home, otherwise your eldest son, who is already sick for seven years, is going to die before you are going to arrive back home!"
12
By this the tax collector was quite surprised. His eyes widened and he asked Me how I could know this. And if I know this so precisely, I also would know how the son could be helped.
13
Said I: "O yes, this I would know and even could help him, - even then if he already had died; but then you had to have a stronger faith in the only, true God, than you have together with your whole house!"
14
The tax collector then looked at Me wistfully and friendly and said: "Master and Lord, which is the way they call you who are with you! See, I myself have a large inn, come to me with all your followers and stay in my house! Nobody of you will lack anything, even if you want to stay a full year with me -, and if you can heal my son, I want to give you gold and silver, as much as you ever want; since I am very rich with all kinds of earthly goods and would be prepared to give away more than half of it for healing my son. Do you want to go with me to my house?"
15
Said I: "If you believe then you also could observe something of the great might and glory of God! But now go back home and I will follow you with My disciples! Since we first want to consume our spare meal, since we did not eat for the whole day on our difficult journey."
16
Said the tax collector: "But Lord and Master! In my house you all will be served much better than with these few breads and fishes; and what you have paid for these few loafs of bread and fishes, I will compensate you a thousand times!"
17
Said I: "Just go to your house because I want it this way, and your son will live! But we will follow you within one hour."