The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 165 -
Christophorus - The Giant Fisherman
FROM THIS EVENT onward another half year went by very peacefully and nothing miraculous took place.
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For the little Child by means of His inner power scrupulously avoided everything which might have given occasion for any miracle.
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He was lively and played with the other children when these had time;
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otherwise He much preferred to go about with James and talked with him quite intelligently when they were alone.
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But with the other children He talked in the manner of a child two years old. -
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In that region there lived an emigrant Jew who made fishing in the near-by sea his means of livelihood.
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This Jew was of very great stature and was tremendously strong.
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On the morning of a day before the Sabbath, soon after breakfast, James took the little Child and with Joseph's permission went to visit this Jew who lived a good hour away from Joseph's house in a straight line.
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James went because this Jew had already invited him a number of times, and because the little Child had secretly told him to go there.
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When James with the little Child arrived at the fisherman's house, the latter was highly pleased and promptly served James a well-prepared fish.
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James ate thereof with great pleasure and gave especially selected little pieces to his little Brother to eat.
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And the little Child ate the small portions which James put in His mouth with visible appetite.
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This made the fisherman so happy that he was inadvertently touched to tears thereby.
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James soon wanted to go home again,
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but the fisherman entreated him to remain with him for the day.
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'And in the evening,' he promised, I will carry you home along with your dearest little Brother!
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See, you no doubt walked for an hour and a half because you had to walk around this inlet of the sea, which is very shallow throughout.
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But I am nearly two fathoms tall - the water hardly comes up to my body in its deepest part.
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I shall take you and the Child on my arm, wade through the inlet with you and will then bring you both home along with a generous number of the choicest fresh fish in a short quarter-hour.'
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Here the little Child said, 'Jonathan, your intention is good, but what if I and My brother become too heavy for you?'
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Jonathan smiled and replied, 'Oh my dear little Child, if both of you were a hundred times as heavy as you are, I still could carry you quite easily!'
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And the little Child asserted, 'Jonathan, that remains to be seen. Just try to carry Me alone across and back through the inlet which is hardly fifty fathoms wide, and we shall see how your strength holds up for us both.'
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Jonathan immediately agreed to this test, and with the consent of James took the little Child on his arm and waded with Him across the inlet of the sea.
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The way across went passably, although Jonathan was greatly surprised at the heaviness of the little Child
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But on the way back the little Child became so heavy that Jonathan found it necessary to take up a strong beam with which, by using it as a support, he was able to bring the little Child to shore only with the greatest difficulty in the world.
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When he arrived there, he promptly set the little Child on the shore where James was waiting and declared, 'In Jehovah's name, what is this? The whole world cannot be heavier than this Child!'
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And the little Child smilingly agreed: 'That is surely so, for you now have also carried far more than the whole world amounts to!'
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And Jonathan, barely recovering, asked, 'How am I to take that?'
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But James said, 'Dear Jonathan, take the fish and come along with us on dry land to our home and remain with us for the night. Tomorrow you will be enlightened about this.'
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Thereupon Jonathan took three containers of the choicest fish and that morning accompanied the two home to Joseph who received him with great joy, for they had been schoolfriends in their childhood.