The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
At the house of Matthew, the tax collector
- Chapter 124 -
Parable of the new and old garment and the new wine in the old skins. Of bourgeois economics and mercy. Social hints. The earth as man's common weal, within the Divine order. Reason for the Sinflood. Pointer to today's catastrophe.
Say I, 'My teaching is like a new garment; yours however is the old, torn and damaged, wherefore, it was for you also quite in order to go catch fish today, on a Sabbath, in spite of Moses and John! My teaching therefore is a new one and one cannot take parts of it to patch up your old, torn garment therewith. And even if done, it would only result in bigger tears than they were already, because the new patch shall come off the old, brittle garment, aggravating the damage.
2
My teaching furthermore can be likened unto a new wine that can't be poured into old skins, or they would be rent, spilling the wine; but to preserve both wine and skin, one pours it into new skins. Do you understand this?' (Matt. 9:17)
3
Say John's disciples, 'One can let that pass indeed, although it is not immediately apparent, what you would say therewith; hence you could perhaps express this in plainer terms?'
4
Say I, 'Could I, or should I be plainer still? Sure, sure, I could, if I would! But here I intend to be no plainer and hence I tell you no more than that you are old, brittle garments and skins, unfit for My Teaching. For would this not deprive you of your sweet earth-life, which of a truth is your greatest possession and for the improvement of which you leave no stone unturned, going for large fish-hauls even on a Sabbath, to simply provide your earth-life with an existence of ease and a spot of splendour besides. But the poor you don't see, nor the sick and hurting, nor the hungry and thirsty.
5
What worry, to the one filled, the poor, hungering and burning of stomach? Likewise, you who are well-clad do not feel the cold in winter; for do you not have means to make winter cosier than the hot summer? And if one half-naked and shivering meets you, telling you of his plight and asking for some warm garment, you get annoyed, serving him with hypocritical words: 'Depart, you bludger! Had you worked in summer, you would not be wanting in winter. Besides, it's not all that cold and as a beggar one should not be all that soft and delicate!'
6
The beggar however says, 'Sir, I worked all summer and fall, but my hard work's wages were not even a thousandth's part of what my master gained from my work; hence our master can walk about well-dressed even in winter but us his poorly-paid workers who already easily used up our meagre wages in summer, now have to suffer in winter, not because not working in summer, but simply because we can't make ends meet: our master's profit is our want!'
7
Behold, this is what the beggar is saying, notwithstanding the fact that there are among the beggars those sinners who deserve their poverty!'
8
Say John's disciples, 'Ah, you are exaggerating! It is not so! A faithful and proper worker has never had cause for complaint about his employer. Those who want work will get it winter and summer, - wages, food and clothing! But we all think it right that the lazy should be shown the door.'
9
Say I, 'You indeed, that I know only too well! But not I, that I tell you. The 'why' you shall hear at once. Tell Me! who was it that created the sea with all the good fish?'
10
Say John's disciples, 'Now, what a question! Who but God alone could do so?' Say I, 'Good then, tell Me, have you perchance received advice from God according to which you alone have sole right to catch the good and expensive fish of the sea, selling them at a high price, then putting the entire profit in your bags, hardly passing the thousandth part to your good workers, who alone did the heavy work under life-endangering conditions!'
11
Say John's disciples, 'This again is a silly question! Where on earth is the man who can produce a property deed from God? For this, God has appointed a head of state and same issues property-rights in God's stead, whoever is recognised by the state as a property owner is so also before God. Besides that, every legal property owner has to annually for his dearly paid-for right to pay all kinds of tithes and rates to the state and is hence doubly entitled to make the necessary profit from his property.'
12
Say I, 'Yes, indeed is it so on earth, but not through God, but through mankind's selfishness and domineering! It is they who have instituted such laws and order, but in the beginning of the world, this was not so; for a long time the earth was then the common weal of mankind.
13
But when from among mankind the children of Cain made a part of the earth subject to inheritance, making it into law and into a selfish, domineering order, it then did not take another thousand years.
14
God allowed the Sinflood to take place, drowning them all but for a few who were saved. And thus it shall be again.
15
God indeed is long-suffering and exceedingly patient, but shall soon get tired of your doings; and then watch who shall become owner of the earth after you.
16
But that you should speak like that is only too clear proof that your faith and your teaching of righteousness is an old, torn garment, tolerating no new patches, and like an old skin, into which no new wine can be poured, because you are one and bad and selfish people. Do you understand Me now?'