I say: ‘My teaching is like a new garment; but yours is the old one, full of tears and damage, which is why I have also been quite able to catch fish today, on the Sabbath, despite Moses and John!? My teaching is thus a new one, and one cannot take a piece from it (Matt. 9:16) and stuff the holes in your old, torn garment with it. And if one did that, one would cause still greater tears than there were before; for the new patch tears away again from the old, decayed garment and makes the damage greater.
‘(Matt. 9:17) In the same way, My teaching is also like new must, which one does not pour into old skins for them to burst and the must to be spilled; instead one pours the must into new, strong skins, and thus both are preserved, must and skin. Do you understand that?!’
John’s disciples say: ‘That certainly sounds plausible, but it is not so easy to understand fully what you meant by it; so you could surely express yourself somewhat more comprehensibly!?’
I say: ‘Whether I could or would express Myself still more comprehensibly?! Yes, yes, I certainly could if I wished; but here I do not wish to be more comprehensible, and therefore I shall tell you nothing further about it except that you are old, torn garments and old, decayed skins, no longer fit for My teaching. It would indeed cost you your sweet earthly life, which is your highest good, for whose improvement you put forth everything and even make heavy fishing hauls on the Sabbath, merely to obtain a better and more carefree existence for your earthly life, and possibly a little glory alongside it!? But you do not see the poor, nor the sick and infirm, nor the hungry and thirsty!
‘It is indeed so that someone going about with a full belly does not feel in the least how hunger pains and burns in the stomachs of the poor! Likewise, well clothed as you are, you feel nothing of the cold in winter; for you have means in great abundance to make winter more pleasant for yourselves than the hot summer. And if a half-naked person comes your way, trembling with cold and lamenting his distress, and asks you for a warming garment, this annoys you; you give him spiteful words and say: “Go away, you lazy fellow! Had you worked in summer, you would not have to suffer want in winter! Besides, it is not so cold, and as a beggar one must not be quite so soft and sensitive!”
‘But the beggar says: “Sir! I worked all summer and autumn; but the pay for my hard work was not even a thousandth part of what my master gained from my work. So my employer can certainly go about warmly clothed in winter, while we, his poorly paid workers, who could easily consume the small wage already in summer, now suffer in winter—not as though we had done no work in summer, but only because our pay was too low! The masters’ gain is our distress!”
‘Look, that is the beggar’s speech, apart from the fact that here and there among the many beggars there are indeed also some sinners who have deserved their poverty!’
John’s disciples say: ‘Ah, you say too much there! It is not so! A faithful and upright worker has never had cause to complain about his employers! Whoever wants to work gets work, earnings, food and clothing in winter and summer! But that one shows a lazy person the door, we all find entirely in order.’
I say: ‘You do, yes, I know that only too well; but I do not, I tell you! The reason why (?) you shall hear at once! Tell Me: who created the sea and the many good fish in it?’
John’s disciples say: ‘Well—what a question! Who but God alone could do that?!’ I say: ‘Very well, tell Me whether you possess documents from God according to which you alone have the right to catch the good and costly fish from the sea, sell them for a great deal of money, then put all the profit into your bags, and let your industrious servants have scarcely a thousandth part, although they alone have done the hard work, often in great danger of their lives?!’
John’s disciples say: ‘That is another ridiculously stupid question! Where on earth is there anyone who could produce a deed of ownership from God? For that, God had appointed the head of state, and he issues deeds of ownership in God’s place. Whoever is regarded by the state as an owner is also lawfully so before God! Besides, every lawful owner must also pay all kinds of tithes and other taxes to the state every year for his dearly purchased right, and is therefore doubly entitled to draw the necessary profit from his property!’
I say: ‘Yes, yes, that is indeed how it is on earth—but not from God, rather from selfish and power-hungry people; these have created such laws and such an order for themselves. But at the beginning of the world it was not so; then the whole earth was the common property of humankind for a long time!
‘But when, from among humankind, Cain’s children have taken a part of the earth into permanent and inheritable possession, and made laws for it and a selfish and power-hungry order, it then did not last another thousand years!
‘God let it happen that the flood came and drowned them all except a few who were preserved! And so it will be again!
‘God is indeed very long-suffering and of great patience; but He will soon grow weary of your conduct. And then take care who becomes owner of the earth after you!?
‘But that you speak in this way is only too clear a proof that your faith and your doctrine of law are an old, torn garment that cannot bear a new patch, and are also like an old skin into which one can no longer put must! For you are each and every one evil and selfish people! Do you understand Me now?!’