The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 216 -
The Way Of The Lord With The Pagans
AND THEY ALL went back into the house where they took place at the table according to the will of the little Child.
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For not one of the leading guests had eaten a bite; and the three large fish still lay there almost untouched.
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And since several hours had passed while the little Child was being sought and evening was approaching,
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the fish naturally became cold, in which state the Jews were usually not permitted to eat them:
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But as the sun had not set, it was still permissible to eat the fish; only it was required that they be reheated and thoroughly warmed up.
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Therefore Joseph immediately called his four cooks and ordered them to reheat the fish.
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Here the little Child said, 'Joseph, that is not necessary; for from now on the fish may also be eaten cold, if only they have been fried before that.
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So instead of frying them again, have lemons and fresh oil brought,
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and the fish will taste better that way than if they were refried.'
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Joseph promptly followed the advice of the little Child and had a whole basket of lemons and a large container of fresh oil brought.
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At this all the guests became desirous for this new fare, wondering just how it would taste.
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Cyrenius was the first who took a sizable piece of fish for himself and put oil and the juice of a lemon on it.
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And as he began to eat, he could not give enough praise to the wonderful flavor of the thus prepared fish.
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At this experience of the governor the other guests also helped themselves, and they all found this fare to have such excellent taste that they also could not find sufficient words of praise.
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When Joseph had made a test of a sizeable portion of fish himself, he asserted,
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'Truly, if Moses had ever partaken of a thus prepared fish, he surely would have put this food on his fare also.
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But he just must not have been as well informed as concerns the art of cooking than You, my dearest Jesus.'
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Here the little Child smiled cordially and said in a very friendly way,
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'My dear father Joseph, the reason lies in this:
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With Moses in the desert the rule was: Hunger is the best cook! and the people would often have eaten raw meat out of hunger and met their death;
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therefore Moses had to prescribe his fare and the foods had to be eaten fresh and warm.
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But now the rule is and will always continue to be: The Lord is the best cook. And there one can also enjoy a cold fish with lemon and oil.
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And that is because the cold but still well-fried fish represents the state of the pagans, the lemon juice represents My power which harmonizes and pulls them together, and the oil represents My Word to them - Now do you understand why the fish tastes better this way?' - All were deeply affected at this and were greatly surprised at the wisdom of the little Child.