Gospel for Christian

Non-Believers

 

 

 

 

The Gospel as set out by Luke, Matthew, John and Mark,

but unified into one consecutive narrative, without the miracles,

 and with the god-concept minimised.

 

This selection from the Christian Gospels is aimed at people who do not

believe in God, but who believe that there is much of value in the Gospels.

It is a tract to agnostics and atheists, a gospel preaching a secular

Christianity, a Christianity without God. It is anti-violence, anti-consumerism, and

anti-establishment; pro-people, pro-underdog, pro-poor, pro-love, pro-forgiveness,

pro a more equal distribution of wealth; and it is a powerful and moving story to boot.

 

 

 

 

 

Selection and introduction by

 

Mikael Grut

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ãCopyright 2001 Mikael Grut.

First published in 2001 by Cromwell Publishers, a Division of First Century Ltd,

London, England, under the title Gospel 2000. ISBN 1-901679-93-4.

Now out of print but electronic copy can be obtained free of charge from mgrut@compuserve.com

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

Preface

 

1.      Introduction

1.1  Jesus

1.2  The setting

1.3  The roots of the Gospels

1.3.1        Judaism

1.3.2        Hellenism

1.4  The Gospels and their authors

1.4.1        Luke

1.4.2        Mark

1.4.3        Matthew

1.4.4        John

1.5  General

 

The Gospel (selections from Luke, Matthew, Mark and John)

            Jesus’s childhood

            John the Baptist

            Jesus begins his ministry

            The Sermon on the Mount

            Later teaching

            The road to Jerusalem

            Jerusalem

Crucifixion

 

Glossary

Index

Information on editor (Mikael Grut)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acknowledgement

 

I am grateful to Penguin UK for allowing me to use E.V. Rieu’s translation

as a basis for this work.

 

 

 

 

Preface

 

It has been said that the religion for the 21st century should  be one without a supernatural god. Buddhism is such a religion, but Christianity speaks more directly to Westerners because it already permeates our culture, and because it was influenced in its origins by Hellenism, which was very much part of our culture. This selection  from the four Christian Gospels tells their powerful and moving story without the irrelevancies of the miracles. The emphasis is on the ethical message rather than on the metaphysics.

            The ethical message of Christianity does not need to be validated by miracles and sanctioned by a supernatural God. Such a God is the ‘enforcer’ of the message, not necessarily part of the message itself. We can take the message and leave out the enforcer.

Jesus said: ‘In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.’ (John 14.2). So perhaps there is also room for a Christianity shorn of the supernatural. According to Isaiah Berlin, even a deeply religious person like Tolstoy ‘preached … a simple Christian ethic divorced from any … metaphysic’ (Tolstoy and History, Phoenix Paperback, 1996).

As Professor Richard Holloway of Edinburgh said in his introduction to The Gospel According to Luke published by Canongate Books Ltd in 1998, ‘There is a lot to be said for attaching a health warning to religion’. For millennia people have killed in its name. Christian, Jewish and Moslem fundamentalists are the scourge of our time. Removing ‘God’ will perhaps draw the fangs of dangerous religion. People are less likely to kill each other

over a code of conduct.

Although fewer and fewer people believe in God, there is no reason to reject the other two parts of the Trinity. Jesus surely did exist, a man like us, not perfect but with great religious gifts, and hugely charismatic. And the Holy Spirit can be interpreted as the religious experience, which nobody can deny, and which can be brought about by conventional religion but also by for example art, nature, love, great intellectual insights and other causes.

Even the existence of God cannot be disproved, as little as it can be proved. How can we with our puny intelligence extrapolate from our little world to all possible worlds, and say with certainly that there is no God. But to me it seems most unlikely. I am an agnostic rather than an atheist. Others hang on to the traditional belief in the God of our fathers, sometimes along the lines of the Italian saying, ‘It is not true but I believe it’.

            The selection from the Gospels presented in this book has been derived in the following way:

1.  The Gospel According to Luke was used as a basis, because it is generally considered to be the best written. However, the important chapter called ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ was taken from Matthew, where that subject is more fully dealt with.

2. Other material contained in the Gospels has been added.

3. Here and there the language has been simplified, because I believe that the Gospels are intrinsically beautiful and moving, and do not need to be propped up by ringing archaisms.

4. The translation by E.V. Rieu was used (The Four Gospels, A new translation from the Greek by E.V. Rieu, The Penguin Classics, 1952), except for some phrases where the wording of the New International Version of the Bible (1973) was preferred.

5.  I have as far as possible tried to select passages without references to the supernatural, e.g. to miracles, the virgin birth, angels, heaven, hell, the devil, and the resurrection. Some of these things occur episodically in the Gospels and can therefore be relatively easily deselected. ‘God’, however, runs like a red thread through the whole weave of them, like one of those characters in a play by Beckett or Kafka who are mentioned all the time but who never appear. Old Testament books like Esther and Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) make no mention at all of God, but the Gospels certainly do. If one were to select only passages without any reference to God, there would not be much left, and many beautiful passages would be left out.  To deselect God entirely from the Gospels would require more than surgery — it would require butchery. How, for example, could you remove God from the Lord's Prayer, or from that desperate cry of Jesus on the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’ (Matthew 27.46). That would be sacrilegious. I would have liked to do it, but couldn’t.

            In such instances I would ask non-believers to interpret ‘God’ symbolically in whatever way they wish: as synonymous with ‘good’, e.g. with love, truth, justice, compassion and whatever other values are prized in our culture; after all, the words for ‘god’ and ‘good’ are similar in the Germanic languages, from which the English word ‘god’ is derived. Such an interpretation would be in keeping with Jesus’s words ‘The kingdom of God is within you’ (Luke 17.21).  Alternatively, perhaps the all-permeating God of pantheism is more acceptable to modern readers than the personal God of traditional Christianity. ‘God’ is a wonderful code-word which readers can fill with the meaning which they consider appropriate; it is to religion what ‘X’ is to algebra, what a ‘wild letter’ is in computer jargon, and what the concept of ‘that which cannot  be named’ is in some faiths[1]. As such, it provides the mystical dimension. Or, finally, it can be taken as just a figure of speech — one which can be rather beautiful.

            Similarly, for ‘angel’ read ‘vision’ or ‘dream’, and for ‘devil’ read ‘evil’ or ‘representation of evil’. The words ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ can be interpreted in the sense of ‘(reward for) good’ and ‘(reward for) evil’. ‘Holy Spirit’ does not necessarily have to be interpreted transcendentally; instead it can be interpreted as a ‘state of grace’. I would certainly have preferred to leave out for example the devil altogether, but without him it would have been difficult to include Jesus’s famous saying ‘Man lives not by bread alone’ (Luke 4.4). And so it was that I could not be as radical and purist as I would have like to be, and for that I ask the indulgence of the reader.

            I have not here been motivated by disrespect for the Gospels, but on the contrary by a conviction that they have much to offer not only to those who believe in a traditional God but also to those who don't. Playing down the importance of the supernatural in the Gospels may give them a new lease of life. Perhaps in a hundred years' time the most prevalent form of Christianity, even among clergymen, will be one without the supernatural god. Of course it is presumptuous and arrogant of me to want to adapt the Gospels to the modern world, but it needs to be done, and if this selection breaks the taboo, then other persons will probably come forward and do it better.

            Jesus was a radical, and it is not always possible to live according to his creed. To ‘turn the other cheek’, for example, would encourage the evil-doers; to give whenever you are asked would encourage begging; and to be as dismissive as he was about work and thrift, would lead to much poverty and suffering. In fact he sometimes even seems to praise poverty, and that too is difficult for us to accept, because we know how poverty can lead to ignorance, sickness and misery. But on the other hand our culture, now as then, tends more towards revenge and greed than in the opposite directions, and his teaching tries to reduce the excesses of which we are guilty in that respect. It is ironic that today Christmas, the holiday that celebrates Jesus’s birth, has become an orgy of consumerism. Consumerism is the modern religion, and the Gospel is its corrective. The fact that Jesus himself did not always practise what he preached — e.g. with regard to humility — does not invalidate his teaching. It is normal to advocate the virtues which one does not have, but wishes that one had, rather than the virtues which one does have.

            Parts of the Gospel are disturbing, for example the passage in which Jesus says ‘Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, no — strife’ (in the chapter ‘The Road to Jerusalem’ below, or in Luke 12.51). I would have liked to leave out such passages, but that would have been arrogant. They seem so important. Perhaps he was just stating a fact, not signifying intent. After all, he did also say in the Sermon on the Mount that ‘Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth’ and ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God’.

            Another passage which is disturbing and difficult to understand, or at least to accept, is when he says that ‘To those who have, will be given; but from those who have not, even that little which they have will be taken away.’ He does not merely seem to be stating a fact, but he seems to approve of it, and yet he exhorts his followers time and again to give to the poor. I have included such puzzling and seemingly contradictory passages, for the reader to interpret.

 

1.  Introduction

 

1.1  Jesus

 

Jesus (Joshua) grew up in the town of Nazareth in the hill country of Galilee, in northern Palestine. Mark states that his father was a carpenter, Luke that Jesus himself was a carpenter. Perhaps he followed in his father’s footsteps in this respect. Mark also mentions four of Jesus’s brothers and several sisters. His home language was Aramaic, the Semitic tongue spoken in Palestine in those days. E.V. Rieu suggests that he probably also spoke Greek; it may not have been much spoken in Nazareth, but it was in Sepphoris, a major commercial centre about an hour’s walk from Nazareth, and in the important administrative centre of Capernaum, today’s Kefar Nahum, where Jesus began his public ministry. Considering his vast knowledge of the Jewish scriptures, and the fact that he read from them in the synagogue (see ‘Jesus Begins his Ministry’ below), he must have known Hebrew too, which at that time had ceased to be a spoken language but which was used in the liturgy. The fact that many people addressed him as ‘rabbi’, meaning ‘teacher’, suggests erudition or wisdom.

            When he began his ministry, his family did not at first support him, but later both his mother, Mary (Miriam), and his brother James (Jacob) joined his movement. Jesus’s meeting with John the Baptist, which marked the beginning of his ministry, took place in year 28 or 29. He was then, according to Luke, about 30 years old. After he became persona non grata in his hometown Nazareth — see ‘Jesus Begins his Ministry’ below — he made his home in Capernaum on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee. His crucifixion probably took place only one or two years after he began his ministry, in about year 30.

 

 

1.2  The Setting

 

Jesus’s country, Galilee, had been conquered by the Israelites or Jews (see Glossary) in about the 13th century BC from the Canaanites, although according to the Book of Judges (1.30-33) the two peoples continued to live together there for some time after the conquest. It was part of the kingdom of Israel which, together with the Kingdom of Judaea (Judea, Judah), was in turn part of Palestine. In 734 BC Palestine was conquered by the Assyrians, and in 586 BC by the Babylonians. In 333 BC it was conquered by Alexander the Great, and from then until the Roman conquest in 63 BC it was part of the world of Hellenism (late classical Greek culture), first under Alexander and then under his successors, except for a short period of independence after the Maccabean revolt. This means that by the time of Jesus’s birth, his country had been  part of the Hellenistic world for three hundred years, and this had profoundly affected the society in which he grew up — see also Section 1.3.2 below.

            After the Roman conquest, Galilee was not directly ruled from Rome, but indirectly through King Herod Antipas. He was much resented by the people, who considered him a foreigner and only a half-Jew. The religious centre of Jesus’s world was Jerusalem, in the country of Judaea, which was under direct Roman rule. The political centre, even of Galilee, was Rome.

            The culture was largely Hellenistic. The Jewish scriptures had been translated into Greek, especially for the Jews who lived outside Palestine. The Jews, who had originally come to Palestine from the east, had moved on, mainly to the west, to the rest of the Roman Empire, and already at the time of Jesus’s birth more Jews lived outside Palestine than in it. However, although there were many non-Jewish immigrants in Galilee, presumably speaking Greek in their daily work, Nazareth was an Aramaic-speaking Jewish town. It was also known as a centre of resistance to the Roman rule. However, to the Jews further south in Judaea, Galilee was remote and provincial, and the remark by one person in the first chapter of John’s Gospel is rather typical of  this arrogance: ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’. This attitude must have contributed to Jesus’s radicalism and anti-establishment views. Tainted by the rumour of illegitimacy, of simple birth, from a despised province, and unmarried at the age of thirty in a traditionalist society — how could anyone with that baggage not be a radical and a dissident.

            It was a time of religious searching, when many sects arose. There was an expectation that the end of the world was nigh, and that concentrated the minds onto things spiritual. It was as if the old religious dispensation in the Roman world had spent itself, and a niche was waiting to be filled.

            [For further information on the setting into which Jesus was born, see the Glossary below.  – the publisher took this out.]

 

 

1.3  The Roots of the Gospels

 

The Judaic roots of the Gospels are well known, and will therefore be relatively briefly dealt with. However, it is not so generally known that Hellenism also exerted a strong influence on the Gospels and on early Christianity in general. Had Judaism been the only influence, Christianity would probably have remained a Jewish sect.

 

1.3.1  Judaism

 

It was pointed out in Section 1.1 above that Jesus had a vast knowledge of the Jewish scriptures. At first he saw himself as a reformer of Judaism. He said (Matthew 5.17): ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.’ Also, when he sent out his twelve disciples to preach, he said, according to Matthew (10.5-6): ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.’ And in the Luke 8.26-39 story about how he cured the non-Jewish Gerasene (or ‘Gadarene’ — see under ‘Gadara’ in Glossary) man of his mental illness, the latter wanted to join the disciples, but Jesus did not grant his request. For a while after Jesus’s death Christianity continued to be a Jewish sect, and Christians worshipped in the synagogues. When Gentiles began converting to the sect, it caused resentment among the ‘Jewish Christians’. Even as late as the year AD 60, when Paul arrived in Rome, he thought of himself as a Jew, and he tried to convince the Jewish community in Rome that Jesus was the Messiah, their saviour and deliverer heralded in the Old Testament (see Acts 28.23).

 

1.3.2  Hellenism

 

As mentioned in Section 1.2, Palestine had been part of the world of Hellenism for three hundred years by the time Jesus was born. ‘The Judaism out of which the church arose was part of a very Hellenized world’ (Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, 1997, Vol. 14, page 967: ‘Biblical Literature’). The very fact that all four Gospels were written in Greek suggests the amount of Hellenistic influence that must have gone into them. In fact two of the original six Gospels, those of Peter and Thomas, were not included in our Bible by the Fathers of the Church, who considered them a bit too full of Greek philosophy.

            At the end of Jesus’s short career as a preacher it was a universal faith that he was preaching, and he asked his disciples to ‘go out and make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28.19), i.e. also of the non-Jewish world. Nothing could have been more in the spirit of Hellenism and less in the spirit of Judaism than this. It was Saint Paul who, although himself a Jew, by championing the rights of the Gentiles within the new congregations finally established the universality of Christianity which Jesus had advocated at the end of his life. In doing so, Paul ‘ensured that Christianity became not just a Jewish sect’ (Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, 1997, Vol. 25, page 464: ‘Paul’). The universality of Christianity is its beauty but has also been a source of shame, because we have tended to be of the opinion that if  people could be Christians, they should be Christians, and we have perpetrated terrible cruelties in order to convert others to our beliefs.

            Could Jesus’s above-mentioned message of universality have been an echo of the Stoics’ teaching of man as a citizen of the world? Certainly the ideas of Stoicism are reflected in the writings of the later Fathers of the Church. Such influences do not have to be direct and conscious, they can be indirect, and the ideas of the various Greek schools of philosophy permeated the whole Mediterranean world at that time. And could Jesus’s ‘The kingdom of God is within you’ have been an echo of the Greeks’ pantheism? It is very different from Judaism’s strict separation between God and Man

            It has been suggested that in his advocacy of simple living, even poverty, Jesus had been influenced by the followers of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, the Cynics. Although Diogenes himself had died some 320 years before Jesus was born, the sect to which he gave rise flourished well into the Christian era. Jesus, being a radical, insisted on poverty, whereas Diogenes had only recommended it. When Jesus said that ‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God’ (Matthew 19.24), it was not because he considered it wicked in itself to be rich, but because he considered it more perfect to be poor, especially if you wanted to follow him, and it is obviously more difficult for a rich man to give away his possessions than it is for a poor man. The Twelve did sacrifice much when they became disciples, with the poverty which that entailed: Simon (Peter), Andrew, James and John had been entrepreneurs with fishing boats of their own, and employees; Levi had been customs officer which was probably a very lucrative post. Most modern readers will say, ‘Simple living, yes, but poverty, no.’ However, to get a message through, one sometimes has to exaggerate, and in the Preface it was suggested that the value of the Gospels is largely as a corrective to the excesses of our civilisation.

            Curiously enough, Diogenes was against family life, and there are echoes of that too in Jesus’s teaching and life, e.g. in the following passage from Luke 14.26, not included in the selection below: ‘Anyone that comes to me and does not hate [sic] his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and not only them but his own life, can be no disciple of mine.’ Or in Luke 9.59-62 or Matthew 8.21-22. Not having married yet by the time he died at the age of about thirty, and having left his family home in Nazareth to go and live in Capernaum, may also have been at variance with the family values of the traditional society in which he grew up. The Greek Cynic philosopher Peregrinus (100-165 AD) converted from Christianity to Cynicism in, of all places, Palestine, which shows how permeated by Greek philosophy that country was.

            Finally, a third characteristic that set Christianity apart from Judaism, besides its universality and stress on simple living, was its stress on forgiveness, which even comes into the Lord’s Prayer, and which is very different from the ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ of the Old Testament. The Middle East in general is more set on revenge than on forgiveness. The stress on forgiveness may have come entirely from Jesus himself, without any outside influences, but there are traces of it also in the teachings of Socrates, e.g. in the following passage from Book 1 of Plato’s The Republic where Socrates states: ‘If a man says that justice consists of repaying a debt, meaning that a just man ought to do good to his friends and injure his enemies, he is not really wise, for ... the injuring of another can be in no case just.’

            Even such a central feature of Christianity as the ritual drinking of wine during Holy Communion probably came from the similar practice in the Greek symposium, via the Jewish Passover (David Sacks: Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World, Constable, London, 1995, ISBN 0-09-475270-2: article on ‘Jews’).

            After my wife had read the selection from the Gospels presented in this book, she said: ‘Fascinating! But so Middle East. I cannot understand how any Westerner can relate to it.’ However, as shown above, I do think that the Gospels also contain much Western influence in the form of Hellenism.[2]

           

 

1.4  The Gospels and Their Authors

 

The word ‘gospel’ is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘good story’, and that again was a rendering of the Greek ‘euaggelion’ meaning ‘good news’. The four Christian Gospels by Luke, Mark, Matthew and John, telling the story of Jesus’s life and teaching, were probably written between AD 64 and AD 100. Greek, in which they were written, was the link language of the eastern Mediterranean area at that time. Rieu based his translation mainly on the fourth-century Codex Sinaiticus, supported by the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Alexandrinus.  The one or two parentheses in the following selections from the Gospels, e.g. ‘(later known as "the Baptist")’ after the word ‘John’, were included by me for purposes of explanation.

 

1.4.1  Luke

 

Luke, whose Gospel has been used as the foundation of this book, is said to have been a physician, to have worked and travelled with Paul, to have been from Antioch  in Syria (today’s Antakya, Turkey), and to have died at the age of 84 in Boeotia (today’s Levádhia district), Greece. The French scholar Ernest Renan called Luke’s Gospel ‘the most beautiful book in the world’. It was probably written in about AD 70-80. Like Paul, Luke was a great writer, and besides his Gospel he also wrote the New Testament book called ‘Acts’, about the acts of the apostles.

 

1.4.2  Mark

 

Mark’s was the first of the four Gospels to have been written, some time between the years 64 and 70. He was born in Jerusalem, and is said to have died in Alexandria, Egypt. He was one of Paul’s fellow workers, and in one letter he is mentioned as sending greeting from Rome to the Christians of  Colossae, near Denizli in modern Turkey.

 

1.4.3  Matthew

 

Matthew was probably identical with Jesus’s disciple called ‘Levi’ in Luke’s Gospel. He was a tax-collector and/or customs officer in Capernaum when Jesus called him into his company. After Jesus’s death, Matthew is said to have done missionary work in Judaea and perhaps in Ethiopia and Persia.

 

1.4.4  John

 

John’s Gospel is very different from the others. Whereas the others set out to tell the story, John is more theological, philosophical, poetical and enigmatic. He is believed to have written his Gospel in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (near today’s Izmir, Turkey) in about the year 100. It would thus have been the last of the four Gospels to have been written.

 

 

1.5  General

 

I have used the name ‘Jesus’ in this Introduction rather than ‘Christ’, for the simple reason that his name was Jesus, even though the Greek honorific title ‘Christ’, meaning ‘The Anointed One’, later gave rise to the religion which he founded.

            Gospel references in the Preface and the Introduction are to the chapters and verses of the original text, e.g. ‘Luke 8.21’, so as to make it easier for the readers to find them in the Bible. Passages written in italics are quotes from the Old Testament.

 

 

 

Selections from the Gospels

 

 

Jesus’s Childhood

 

In the days when Quirinius was Governor of Syria, Emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken of the whole Roman world. This was the first census. Accordingly all the people went to be registered, each to his own town. Among them Joseph travelled for this purpose from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s town of Bethlehem in Judaea, belonging as he did to the House and Line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and who was expecting a child. While they were there her time came and she bore her son, her firstborn, whom she wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn.

            In the neighbourhood there were some shepherds living in the fields and taking it in turns to watch their flock by night. To them an angel appeared. The glory shone round them and they were overcome with awe. But the angel said: ‘Have no fear, for I bring you good news of a great joy which all the people will share. Today, in David’s town, a saviour has been born to you. This will be your sign: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’

            When the angel left them, the shepherds said to one another: ‘Let us go over now to Bethlehem and see this marvel of whom the angel spoke.’ So they hurried off, and found them all, Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what they had been told about this child, and all who heard their story were amazed. But Mary took note of all these things and turned them over in her heart. Meanwhile the shepherds went back to their flock, praising the news they had heard and the sight that had confirmed it.

            After Jesus was born, during the reign of King Herod, there came to Jerusalem some Wise Men from the East. ‘Where is the child,’ they asked, who is born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the anointed one was to be born. ‘In Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:

 

            But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

            Are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

            For out of you will come a ruler

            Who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’

 

            Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.’

            After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

            On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the new-born, he was named ‘Jesus’. And when they had completed their purification as prescribed by their religion, they took him to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice as laid down: A pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.

            Now there was in Jerusalem a man called Simon, who was righteous and devout and lived in the belief that Israel would one day be comforted. To him there came the spirit of prophecy and it was revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the redeemer. Moved by the spirit, he went into the temple; and when Jesus’s parents had brought in the child to submit him to the customary rites, Simon took him into his arms and said: ‘Now let your servant go in peace, my Lord, according to your word; for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all nations; a light of revelation, and a glory’.

            The child’s father and mother were lost in wonder at all that was said about him. Simon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: ‘This child is destined to be a sign which men reject; and you too shall be pierced to the heart. Many will stand or fall because of him, and their secret thoughts will be laid bare’.

            Then an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up, ‘ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: Out of Egypt I called my son (Hosea 11.1).

            When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

 

            A voice is heard in Ramah,

            Weeping and great mourning,

            Rachel weeping for children

            And refusing to be comforted,

            Because they are no more.

 

            After Herod died, an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.’ So he went back to Nazareth. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and favour with men..

            Every year his parents used to go to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When he was twelve they went up for the festival as usual, and remained there for the days prescribed. But when they set out for home, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know, and they travelled for one day under the impression that he was in the caravan. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and friends, and finding that he was not there, they returned to Jerusalem in search of him. It was not until the third day that they found him. He was in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and putting questions to them. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said: ‘My child, why did you treat us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’

            ‘Why were you searching for me?’ he said. ‘Did you not know that I was bound to be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went back with them to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

 

 

John the Baptist

 

In the fifteenth year of Emperor Tiberius’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, and Herod was subordinate ruler of Galilee, John, son of Zacharias, went through the whole Jordan valley proclaiming a baptism of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins. As the prophet Isaiah said: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ’Prepare the way of the Lord; make his path straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every hill levelled. There shall be straight roads instead of crooked ways, smooth roads instead of rough, and every living thing shall see the saving hand of the Lord’.

            John, called ‘the Baptist’, wore clothes made of camel-hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he lived on the pods of the locust tree (the ‘carob’ tree) and wild honey. All Jerusalem and Judaea went out to see him, and all the people of the Jordan valley. They openly confessed their sins and he baptised them in the Jordan river. But observing that a number of Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to attend this baptism, he said to them:

            ‘Offspring of vipers,  who warned you to flee from the wrath that is on its way? First you must prove your repentance by your deeds. But time is short. The axe lies ready at the foot of the tree, and in the end every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’

            ‘What are we to do?’, the people asked him. He replied: ‘Let the man who has two coats share with another who has none; and let the man who has some food do likewise.’

            Tax-collectors too came to be baptised. ‘Master,’ they said, ‘what are we to do?’ ‘Don’t collect any more than you are required to,’ he told them.

            Even soldiers consulted him. ‘What of us?’, they said. ‘What are we to do?’ ‘Bully no one, rob no one, and be content with your pay.’

            Now the people were expecting something. Everyone was wondering whether John might be the Redeemer. Therefore John used to say to them all: ‘I baptise you with water. But he is on his way, one who is greater than I, and whose sandal-straps I am not even fit to undo. He will baptise you with the holy spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and gather the grain into his barn. But the chaff he will burn in unquenchable fire.’ And with many other words John exhorted the people.

            Jesus now came from Galilee to the Jordan and went to John to be baptised by him. But John sought to dissuade him.

            ‘Do you come to me?’ he said. ‘It is I who need to be baptised by you.’ Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this and to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then John consented, and baptised Jesus. Now Jesus, who was about thirty years old, began his ministry.

            Later, when John rebuked Herod, the ruler of Galilee, for having married his own brother’s divorced wife Herodias, and for all the other evil things which he had done, Herod added one more to them by throwing John into prison. Herod wished to put him to death but was afraid of popular feeling, for John was looked up to as a prophet. However, at Herod’s birthday celebrations Herodias’s daughter danced before the company and Herod was delighted with her, so much so that he swore he would give her anything she asked of him. The girl, who had been prompted by her mother, said: ‘Give me John the Baptist’s head, here, on a platter.’ The king was distressed, but in view of his oath and the presence of his guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. The head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. John’s disciples came and removed his corpse and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus, who, when he heard the news, withdrew to a deserted spot where he could be alone.

 

 

Jesus Begins his Ministry

 

After he had been baptised by John, Jesus left the Jordan, filled with the holy spirit, and for forty days was guided by the spirit in the wilderness. He ate nothing during this time, and when it came to an end he was starving. The Devil said to him: ‘If you are the son of God, order this stone to turn into bread.’ Jesus answered him by citing the scripture, Man lives not by bread alone.

            The Devil also led him to a height and said, showing him all the kingdoms of the world: ‘I will give you the power and the glory of these kingdoms, if you worship me.’ Jesus answered, again by citing the scripture, Worship the Lord and serve him only.

            In the power of the Spirit, Jesus returned to Galilee. His fame spread through the whole region. He taught in the synagogues and everybody praised him. He also came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the temple on the day of rest, as he had always done. He stood up to read, and when they handed him the book of the prophet Isaiah, he unrolled the book and found this text:

 

                        ‘The spirit of the Lord is on me,

                         For he chose me to bring good news to the poor.

                         He has sent me to proclaim deliverance to captives,

                         And restore the sight of the blind,

                         To release the oppressed,

                         And to herald an age acceptable to God.’

 

Jesus rolled up the book, gave it back to the minister, and sat down. The eyes of the whole congregation were riveted upon him. ‘Today,’ he told them, ‘in your very hearing, this text is finding its fulfilment.’

            They soon began to recognise his power, and astonished as they all were at his eloquence they asked themselves: ‘Where did the man get this from? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? Is he not the carpenter, the son of Joseph, also carpenter, and of Mary; and the brother of James, Joses, Judas and Simon? And are his sisters not with us here?’

            Jesus said: ‘I have no doubt that you will now quote me the proverb "Physician, heal yourself" and ask me to perform here in my home town the miracles which you have heard that I performed in Capernaum. But the fact is that no prophet is accepted in his own country.’ When they heard this the whole congregation was filled with anger and drove him out of the town.

            He settled in Capernaum, which is a town on the Sea of Galilee, and taught there on the day of rest. His way of teaching filled the people with amazement, for his words had the ring of authority. They did their best to make him stay with them. But he said: ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.’

            One day Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee with the crowds pressing in upon him to listen to his teaching, when he saw two boats drawn up by the water while the fishermen who had come out of them washed their nets. He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon Peter, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

            When he had finished speaking he said to Simon: ‘Take the boat into deep water and lower your nets for a catch’. ‘Master,’ replied Simon, ‘we toiled away all night and caught nothing. However, because you say so, I will lower the nets.’

            They did so, and netted an enormous catch of fish. Their nets were at breaking point and they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. Then they filled both boats so full that they almost sank.

            Seeing this, Simon fell at Jesus’s knees and said: ‘Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man’. Indeed he was filled with awe, and so were his partners James and John. ‘Do not be afraid’, Jesus said. ‘From now on you will be catching men.’ And they brought their boats back to land, left everything, and followed him.

            Jesus’s fame spread more and more, and large crowds gathered to hear him, though he often retired into solitude to pray. One day he observed a tax-collector called Matthew (also called Levi) sitting by the custom-house. ‘Follow me,’ he said. And abandoning everything Matthew rose and followed him.

            One day the Pharisees and the teachers of the law asked Jesus: ‘Why do you eat and drink with sinners and outcasts?’ Jesus said to them: ‘It is not people in good health that need a physician, but those who are ill. I am here to call sinners, not the righteous, to a change of heart.’

            They said: ‘John’s disciples fast regularly and say their prayers, as do those of the Pharisees, whereas yours eat and drink.’ Jesus replied: ‘Surely you cannot make the guests of the bridegroom fast as long as the bridegroom is with them? But a time will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and that is the time when they will fast.’

            He also gave them a parable: ‘Nobody tears a piece from a new cloak to mend an old one. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins. No, we must pour new wine into new skins. And, on the other hand, no drinker of old wine cares for the new; "the old suits me " he says’.

            On a day of rest Jesus was walking through the cornfields. His disciples, plucking ears of corn, began to rub them in their hands and eat the grain. Some of the Pharisees said: ‘Why are you doing what is forbidden on the day of rest?’  Jesus answered them by saying: ‘Have you not read about what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and, taking the sacrificial loaves which normally only the priests have the right to eat, ate them and shared them with his comrades?’ And he also said to them: ‘The day of rest was made for man, not man for the day of rest. Moreover, my Father has not ceased to work: I go on working too.’

 

 

The Sermon on the Mount

 

One day about this time he went into the hills to pray. He spent the night in prayer, and when the morning came he summoned his disciples and selected from among them twelve, whom he designated apostles (messengers) — Simon, whom he also called Peter (‘the rock’), and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James; Simon, who was also called the Zealot; Judas son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

            He sat down and his disciples gathered round him. Then he began to speak and taught them in these words:

           

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

‘Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

           

            ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its quality, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing after that but to be thrown away and trampled underfoot.

            ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men so that they may see the beauty of your life and give glory to your Father in heaven.

            ‘Do not think that I came to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. You have been told that our forefathers were given the commandment You shall not kill, and that all murderers are answerable to the law. I would go further and say that anyone who is angry with his brother is answerable too. If you offer a gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has a grudge against you, go and make friends with your brother first, and then come back and offer your gift. Come to terms with your accuser quickly, while you are on your way with him to court; or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the police, and you may be thrown into prison. Indeed I tell you that you shall not come out of it until you have paid the last penny.

            ‘You have heard the commandment You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that any man who looks at a woman with desire has already in his heart committed adultery with her. If your right eye leads you into evil, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better for you that one part of you should be lost than that your whole body should be cast into hell. It has been laid down that a man who divorces his wife shall give her a writ to that effect. But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife for anything but unfaithfulness, he commits adultery. Some are incapable of marriage, others have chosen not to marry, but no one must part what God has united in marriage.

            ‘Again, you know that our forefathers were told: You shall not lie, but shall keep your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you not to swear oaths at all, neither by heaven, because it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, because it is his footstool. It is enough for you to say ‘yes, yes’ or ‘no, no’.

            ‘You have heard the principle An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the left towards him also. If anyone takes your coat, let him have your jacket as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go an extra mile with him.. Give to the man who asks you; and do not turn away from one who wants to borrow from you.

            ‘You have heard it said that You shall love your neighbour. You should even love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you, so that you may become children of your Father in heaven, who causes his sun to rise on the wicked as well as on the good, and his rains to fall on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the sinners do as much? And if you are gracious to your brothers only, what special goodness have you shown?

            ‘Be careful not to exercise your virtues in public with a view to being seen. When you give alms, do not do it with a flourish of trumpets, as the hypocrites do so that people will think well of them. When you practice charity, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your charity may be in secret. If you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, who disfigure their faces so that people may see that they are fasting.

            ‘When you pray, do not behave like the hypocrites who pray so that people may see them, but pray in your own room after you have shut the door. This is how you should pray:

 

                        ‘Our Father in heaven,

                        holy be your name.

                        Your kingdom come,

                        your will be done,

                        on earth as it is in heaven.

                        Give us today our daily bread,

                        and forgive us our sins,

                        as we forgive those who sin against us.

                        Do not lead us into temptation,

                        but save us from evil,

                        for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

                        into the ages.  Amen.’

           

            ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be bright. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. And if the light within you is darkness, how great that darkness will be!           

            ‘Do not amass for yourself treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But amass for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money.

            The Pharisees, who were very fond of money, had been listening to all this and sneering at Jesus. He said to them: ‘You like the world to look at you and say “What upright men!”. But God, abominating what the world esteems, looks into your hearts. The Law and the Prophets were enough till John appeared. But ever since, the kingdom of God has been proclaimed and everyone is storming his way into it.’

            He said to his disciples: ‘Corruption is inevitable, but alas for the man who causes it! It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he does you wrong seven times in a day and seven times comes back to you and says “I am sorry”, you shall forgive him.’

            ‘Do not fret about your lives, and what to eat and drink; nor about your bodies, and what to put on them. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Look at the lilies in the field, they do not work and neither do they spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was robed like one of these. If that is how the Lord clothes the grass in the field which is here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, will he not all the more clothe you, oh you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat or drink?’, or ‘What will there be for us to wear?’ — the pagans run after such things — for your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will look after itself. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

            ‘Do not judge, lest you be judged. For you will be judged by the standards you yourself apply. And as you give, so you shall receive, measure for measure. Why do you notice the little splinter in your brother’s eye, but not the beam in yours? Hypocrite, begin by removing the beam from your own eye.

            ‘Do not give holy things to dogs, nor scatter your pearls in front of swine, or they may trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

            ‘Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you. Because everyone that asks receives and every seeker finds. After all, would anyone among you hand your son a stone when he asks for bread; or a snake when he asks for a fish? How much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those that ask him.

            ‘In all respects then, treat others as you would wish them to treat you. The Law and the Prophets are summed up in this.

            ‘Come in by the narrow gate, for the way to destruction is a broad and open road which is trodden by many; whereas the way to life is by a narrow gate and a difficult road, and few are those that find it.

            ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but who underneath are savage wolves. You will know them by their fruits; for people surely do not go to thorn-bushes for grapes, or to thistles for figs? Every good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire.

            ‘Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ to me shall come into the kingdom of heaven, but only those that do the will of my Father. They may be compared to the prudent man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew. They beat upon the house, but the house did not fall, because it was built on rock. And those who do not do the will of the Father are like the foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew. They beat against the house; it fell; and what a fall it had.

            When Jesus had finished saying these things, his disciples were amazed at his teaching.

 

Later Teaching

 

When Jesus came down from the hills, he went to Capernaum. There, talking of John the Baptist, he said: ‘What did you go into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the wind? No. Then what did you go out to see? A man in fine clothing? But it is in palaces that people fond of luxury and lovely clothes are found. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, indeed, someone even greater than a prophet. For he is the man to whom the Scripture points: Behold I send my messenger ahead of you to prepare the way.

            ‘I tell you, there is none greater than John. The men of this generation are like the children that sit in the market-place and call to their playmates: "We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a lament, but you did not cry." For John the Baptist came, eating no bread, drinking no wine — and you say that he is possessed. Then came the Son of Man, who eats and drinks — and you say, "Look at that drunkard and glutton, friend of outcasts". And yet God’s ways are proved right by all his children.’

            One of the Pharisees, Simon, invited Jesus for dinner. He had taken his place at table when a woman who was living an immoral life in that town, having learnt that he was dining at the Pharisee’s, came up behind him with a jar of ointment and stood by his feet weeping. When her tears began to rain down on his feet she dried them with her own hair, kissed them repeatedly, and anointed them.

            His host the Pharisee saw this and said to himself: ‘If this man were indeed a prophet, he would know who and what the woman clinging to him is. He would know that she is a sinner.’

            Jesus answered his thoughts. ‘Simon,’ he said, ‘may I ask you something?’

            ‘Certainly, Master.’

            ‘There was a man who was owed money by two people. One owed him fifty pounds, the other five. As they had no means of paying, he forgave them both. Now which of the two will love him most?’

            ‘I imagine,’ Simon answered, ‘the one whom he forgave the greater debt.’

            ‘You are right ,’ said Jesus. And turning round to the woman, while still addressing Simon, ‘You see this woman? I came into your house and you gave me no water for my feet. She watered my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss. She, from the moment I came in, has not ceased to shower kisses on my feet. You did not anoint me, but she did. For which reasons her sins, her many sins, have been forgiven because she loved much; whereas the man who is forgiven little, loves but little.’  To the woman he said: ‘Your sins have been forgiven.’ And while his fellow-guests began to wonder who the man could be who even forgave sins, he said to her: ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’

            ‘If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has strayed, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go and look for the one that strayed? And if he has the good fortune to find it, is he not happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-one that did not wander? Indeed he is. And the same is true of your Father in Heaven: it is not his will that any of these little ones should be lost.’

‘I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The hired man, who does not own the sheep, deserts them when he sees the wolf coming. He runs away and the wolf pounces on the sheep and scatters them. For the man is a hireling and the flock does not concern him.’

            Some time later Jesus made a tour of the country, city by city and village by village, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. He was accompanied by the Twelve, and by some women who had been cured of ills — Mary surnamed Magdalene; Joanne, wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support Jesus and the apostles out of their own means.

            One day when a big crowd was gathering and the people were coming out to him, as they did from every town, he told this parable: ‘The sower,’ he said, ‘went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some of the seed fell on the path and was trodden on, and the birds ate it. Other seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered because it found no moisture. Other seed fell among the thistles, which smothered it. Other seed again fell on good soil, came up, and yielded hundredfold.’

            His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He replied: ‘To you the secrets of the kingdom of God are revealed, but to others I speak in parables, so that though seeing, they may not see, and though hearing they may not understand. However, the meaning of the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. The people by the path are those who hear but who have no faith. Those on the rock are people who, on hearing it, welcome the Word with joy, but who have no roots and who, when trial comes, recant. The seed that fell among the thistles stands for people who have heard but who are choked by the cares and riches and

pleasures of life, and bring nothing to fruition. Whereas that which fell into good soil stands for those who, having heard it, cherish the word in the true goodness of their hearts and in their constancy bear fruit.

            His mother and his brothers came to see him, but they were unable to reach him because of the crowd. However, people told him that they were waiting outside and wished to see him; and he answered them by saying, ‘My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and act according to it’.

            One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake’. So they got into a boat and set out. They came to the land of the Gadarenes, on the other side of Lake Galilee. As they stepped ashore, they were confronted by a madman. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus he uttered a cry, threw himself down at his feet, and shouted: ‘What do you want with me, Jesus son of God the Highest? I beg you, do not torment me!’ This, because Jesus was driving the evil spirit out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven into solitary places.

            Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Legion (multitude)’ he said, for many evil spirits had entered him. Jesus freed him from them, and when some villagers came the man was sitting at Jesus’s feet, dressed and in his right mind. He begged Jesus to let him stay with him. But Jesus sent him away. ‘Go back to your home,’ he said, ‘and tell people what great things God has done for you.’

            Jesus sent the Twelve out to preach. He said: ‘Take nothing for the road, no staff, no knapsack, no bread, no money, no second coat. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave town. If people reject you, leave their town.’ So they set forth and preached in the country towns, proclaiming the good tidings everywhere. News of this came to the ears of King Herod, and he was perplexed because some people were saying that John the Baptist has risen from the dead, while others said that Elijah had appeared, and others again that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life.

            Herod said: ‘John? I beheaded him. But who is this of whom I hear such strange reports?’ And he was anxious to see him.  The apostles returned and informed Jesus of all they had done. Taking them with him, he withdrew to a town called Bethsaida. He told them: ‘The Son of Man must of necessity suffer much, be repudiated by the Elders and Chief Priests, and be put to death.’

            One day the disciples had an argument about who of them was the greatest. But Jesus called a little child and had it stand among them. And said: ‘Whoever in my name welcomes this little child, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes Him that sent me. For he who is least among you all, he is the greatest.’

            John said to him: ‘Master, we saw a man using your name, and we tried to stop him, since he is not one of us.’ ‘Do nothing of the kind,’ said Jesus. ‘Anyone that is not against you is for you.’

            A man who met them on the road as they were travelling sad to Jesus: ‘I will follow you, wherever you are going.’ Jesus replied: ‘Foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another man he said: ‘Follow me.’ The man replied, ‘Let me bury my father first.’ But Jesus said, ‘Let the dead bury the dead. It is for you to go out and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Yet another person said: ‘I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my people at home.’ ‘No one,’ said Jesus, ‘who has put his hand to the plough and looks behind him is fit for the kingdom of God.

            He gave them a parable: ‘Hear what the kingdom of God is like. A man casts seed on the earth. Day in, day out, he sleeps and rises, while the seed springs up and grows — he knows not how. Of her own accord earth bears her fruit, first the green blade, then the ear, and then the ripe grain in the ear. But when the crop is ready, he at once sends out the sickle, for the harvest has come.’

 

The Road to Jerusalem

 

He was moved to compassion when he saw the people distraught and foundering, like sheep without a shepherd. As his end drew near, he resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent seventy-two messengers ahead of him, in pairs, to every place that he intended to visit on the way; and he said to them: ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Ask the lord of the harvest to send out labourers to reap it for him. Set forth. And know that I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Gossip with no one on the road. On entering a house, let your first words be "Peace to this house". And if a man of peace lives there, your blessing will rest upon it. If not, it will come back and rest on you. Stay in the house that receives you, eating and drinking what it has to offer, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move from house to house. I have given you the power to trample on snakes and scorpions and cope with all the forces of the enemy — they shall not hurt you at all. Yet do not rejoice because of this, rejoice because your names have been inscribed in heaven.

            ‘Father,’ he said, ‘I thank you, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from wise and clever men but revealing them to simple people. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ He also said, addressing his disciples privately: ‘The eyes that see what you see are privileged. For I tell you, many prophets and kings have wished to see what you see, and have not seen it; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it. You, Peter, are the rock on which I build my church; I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.’

            On one occasion a lawyer rose and put a searching question to him. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘what must I do to attain eternal life?’

            ‘What is written in the Law?’ said Jesus. ‘What does your reading tell you?’

            He replied: ‘You shall love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your power, and with all your thinking and You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

            ‘You are right,’ said Jesus. ‘Do this, and you shall attain eternal life.’

            But, wishing to justify his question, the lawyer said: ‘Who is my neighbour?’

            Jesus took this up and said: ‘A man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho fell into the hands of bandits, who not only robbed but stripped and wounded him, and then made off, leaving him half dead. A priest, who happened to be travelling along the same road, saw him and passed by on the other side. In the same way too a member of the tribe of Levi, who provide assistance to the priests in the worship, when he reached the spot and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, member of a group which is held in low esteem by the Jews, also came upon him as he went along the road, and was filled with compassion as soon as he saw him. He went up to him, bandaged his wounds, applying oil and wine, and took him to an inn where he attended to his comfort. And in the morning he gave two shillings to the innkeeper and said: "Take care of him, and on my way back I will pay any further charges.”

            ‘Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the bandits’ hands?’

            ‘The one who treated him with compassion’, replied the lawyer.

            And Jesus said to him: ‘Go and do as he did.’

            In the course of their travels, he came to a village where a woman named Martha made him welcome in her home. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at Jesus’s feet and listened to his words. But Martha was distracted by her many household chores. She stopped in front of him and said: ‘Master, is it nothing to you that my sister has left me to do the work on my own? Please tell her to help me.’

            ‘Martha, Martha,’ Jesus replied, ‘you fret and fuss about a number of things; but there is one thing that you lack. Mary has chosen what is better, and that shall not be taken from her.’

            One day a Pharisee invited him for lunch in his home, and he went in and took his place at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not wash before the meal. But Jesus said to him: ‘Nowadays you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish while your own hearts are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not He who made the outside make the heart as well? Give to the poor what is in your cups and dishes, and they will all be clean.

            ‘You Pharisees pay your tithes but you neglect justice and the love of God. You love the best seats in the temple and greetings in the street. Unfortunately for you, you are like the unmarked graves that people tread on without knowing it. You build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. You thus attest and countenance your fathers’ deeds: they killed them and you build their tombs.’

            After he left the house, the Pharisees and the Doctors of the Law began to set snares to catch him in some compromising statement.

            Meanwhile a crowd of many thousands had gathered, and he began to speak, addressing himself to his disciples first: ‘Guard yourself against the yeast of the Pharisees. It is their policy to hide the truth. Yet nothing is hidden that shall not be disclosed, and what you have whispered in secret shall be proclaimed from the roofs. Do not be frightened of those that kill the body and after that can do no more. Fear those who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not five sparrows sold for two pence? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God; not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. Every single hair on your heads is numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

            ‘When you are brought before the temples, authorities and powers, do not worry about how you will defend yourself or what you will say, for when the moment comes the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say.

            Here someone in the crowd said to him: ‘Master, tell my brother to share his estate with me.’

            ‘Man,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge or arbitrator?’ And to the others he said, ‘Take care, and guard yourself against avarice of every kind; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’

            Then he gave them a parable: ‘There was a rich man whose land once produced abundantly. He thought to himself, "What shall I do? I have no room for my crops." "I know," he said, "I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store my grain and my goods. And I will say to myself: You have many good things stored up for many a year. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But God said to him: "You fool; this very night your life will be reclaimed from you. And who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Such is the man who lays up treasure for himself instead of being rich in God.’

            ‘Be ready with your lamps lit, like people waiting for their master when the wedding feast is over, so that when he comes and knocks they may immediately open for him. Happy the servants whom the Lord on his arrival finds awake. Indeed, I tell you, he will seat them at table, and go around and wait on them.  It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if it is not till the second or the third watch that he comes. Much is required of him who has been given much; and of the man to whom a great deal is entrusted, something extra shall be asked.

            ‘I have come to set the world on fire, and how I wish that it was already kindled. But I have a baptism to undergo, and what anxiety I feel until that has been achieved. Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, no — strife. From now on there will five people in one family at odds with one another, three against two and two against three. The father will side against the son, the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. To those who have, will be given; but from those who have not, even that little which they have will be taken away. Kingdoms are brought to ruin by internal strife — house falls on house.’

            ‘When you see clouds coming up in the west, you say at once that it will rain, and so it does. And when you see the south wind blow, you say that it will be very hot, and so it is. In the evening you say, “It is going to be fine: the sky is red”; and in the morning, “A stormy day: the sky is red and angry.” You can read the face of earth and sky. How is it that you cannot read the signs of the present day? Why can’t you see for yourself what is right? He that is not with me is against me; and he that does not gather with me, scatters.’

            Once the governor of a synagogue was indignant because Jesus had healed a woman on the day of rest, and he complained about it to the congregation, but Jesus said: ‘Doesn’t each one of you on the day of rest untie your ox or donkey and take him off to water him? Then should not this woman be set free on the day of rest from the illness that had bound her for eighteen years?’

            Next he said: ‘What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his own garden. It grew and became a tree and the birds of the sky roosted among its branches. Or it is like the yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of dough until it worked through it all. If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain: “Move from here to there” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’

            He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered them by saying: ‘Watch as you may, you will not see it come. People will not be saying, "Here it is!" or "There!", because the kingdom of God is within you.’

            He travelled on, teaching in towns and villages, and making his way towards Jerusalem. Someone said to him: ‘Lord, are only a few people being saved?’ He said to them: ‘Vie with each other to come in by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to come in. People will come from the rising sun and the setting sun, and from the north and the south, and sit down to banquet in the kingdom of God. Some of the last shall be the first, and some of the first shall be the last.’

            It was now that some Pharisees came to him and said: ‘You had better leave these parts. Herod wants to kill you.’ To which he replied: ‘I admit that I am bound to travel on, since it is not right for a prophet to be killed elsewhere than in Jerusalem.

            ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those that are sent to you. How often have I not longed to gather your children to me, but they would not come. And now you have your city to yourselves. You shall not see me until you say Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord.’

            He said to his disciples: ‘A time will come when you will long for one glimpse of the Son of Man and will not see him. For, like the lightning that flashes out and lights the heavens from horizon to horizon, so the Son of Man will come. But first it is his destiny to suffer much and be rejected by this generation. And when he comes, things will happen as they did in Noah’s time. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, up to the very day when Noah entered the ark — and the flood came and destroyed them all.

            So too, what happened in the time of Lot will be repeated. They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot left for Sodom fire and brimstone rained from the sky and destroyed them all. So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is brought into the light. On that day let no one who is on his roof, with his possessions in the house, come down to save them. Nor let the man who is in the fields turn back. Remember Lot’s wife.

            People even brought him their babies to touch. The disciples, when they saw this, scolded them. But Jesus called them to him and said: ‘Let the little children come to me. Do not forbid them; for theirs is the kingdom of God. Believe me, the man who does not accept the kingdom of God like a little child shall certainly not enter it.’

            A man of high standing came to him with a question. ‘Good Master,’ he said, ‘what must I do to attain eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ said Jesus. ‘No one but God is good. You know the commandments — You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not perjure yourself; Honour your father and your mother.’

            The man answered: ‘I have kept all these from boyhood’.

            Whereupon Jesus said: ‘There is still one thing left for you to do. Sell all you have and distribute to the poor — you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come and follow me.’

            But when the man heard this he was filled with gloom, for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said: ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. It is indeed easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.’ ‘Then who can be saved?’ said the people who heard this. ‘What is impossible for men,’ he said, ‘is possible for God. If anyone wishes to follow me, let him renounce his self and take up his cross. For the man who chooses to save his life will lose it; while he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. What good will it do for a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul? Many are called, but few are chosen.’

            Hear what entering the kingdom of Heaven will resemble. ‘Ten maidens went out to meet the bridegroom. They took their lamps with them. Five of them were wise. But five were foolish, for they brought no oil. The bridegroom was late, so they fell asleep. In the middle of the night somebody cried, “The bridegroom! Go and meet him.” The girls woke up and lit their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” To which the wise ones replied, “Then there may not be enough for you and for us. You had better go to the oil shop and buy some for yourselves.” So they went off to buy some. Meanwhile the bridegroom came. The girls who had been ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Presently the other girls returned. “Lord, lord,” they said, “open the door for us.” But he replied, “Indeed, I do not know you.”  Watch therefore, because you do not know the day or the hour.

            He took the Twelve aside and said to them: ‘Listen. We are going to Jerusalem, and everything that was foretold for the Son of Man through the prophets is going to be fulfilled. For he will be handed over to the pagans, and will be mocked, reviled and spat on. And when they have scourged him, they will put him to death, but he will arise and live again.’

            But they took in nothing of all this. The significance of the saying was hidden from them. Nor did it sink into their minds.

 

Jerusalem

 

When he came to the hill called the Mount of Olives on the north-eastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Jesus mounted a young horse. People, as he moved on, spread their cloaks before him on the road; and when he reached the spot where the road comes down from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began in their joy to sing a loud song of praise:

 

                        ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

                        ‘In heaven peace, and glory in the heights!’

 

            Some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowd: ‘Master, rebuke your disciples.’

‘I tell you,’ he answered, ‘if they keep quiet, the very stones will cry out.’

            As he drew near, he saw the city, and wept over it, saying: ‘If only you too today had found the road to peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes. A time is coming when your enemies will build a palisade around you, and will encircle you and hem you in on every side, and cast you down, you and your people, leaving not one stone standing on another — because you did not recognise the moment when the Lord approached you.’

            In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and the money-lenders sitting at their tables. He made a scourge of cords, and drove them out of the sacred buildings, men, sheep, cattle and all. He poured out the money-lenders’ cash, and upset their tables. And to the dove-sellers he said: ‘Away with all this! Do not make my Father’s house a place of business.’

            There was a man called Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees and a member of the Jewish Council. This man came to Jesus by night and said: ‘Master, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.’ Jesus replied: ‘Unless a man is born again, he cannot set eyes on the kingdom of God.’ ‘How can anyone be born when he is old?’ said Nicodemus. Jesus said: ‘I tell you in all truth, unless a man is born of the Spirit he cannot come into the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished at my telling you that men must be born again. Think of the wind — it blows where it will and you hear its voice, but whence it comes and where it goes you do not know. Such is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Indeed, God so loved the world that he gave the Son, the only Son, in order that all who have faith in him should not perish but should win eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge it, but to save it.’

            ‘On the day of judgement the King will say to those on his right: “Come you blessed ones that belong to my Father; inherit the Kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was homeless and you brought me in; naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to my side.” To this the righteous will reply: “When, Lord, did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you to drink? When did we see you homeless and bring you in; or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to your side?” And the King will answer: “I tell you in all truth that whatever you did for one of my brothers, these little ones, you did for me.” ‘

            Meanwhile the chief priests were bent on destroying him, and so were the leading citizens. But they could not find a way; for the people, to a man, hung on his words. One day when he was teaching the people in the temple, the chief priests and the elders interrupted him with a question: ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ He replied: ‘I will ask you — was John’s baptism sanctioned by heaven or by man?’ They considered this and said to themselves: If we say ‘by heaven’, he will ask us, ‘Why did you not believe him?’. But if we say ‘by man’, the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet. In the end they answered that they did not know. To which Jesus replied: ‘Then I too will not tell you by what authority I am acting.’

            The chief priests and the Pharisees sent the Temple police to arrest him. When the police came back without having done so, and were asked why, they replied: ‘No man ever spoke like that.’ ‘Have you too been taken in?’ said the Pharisees. ‘Did a single one of our leading men believe in him, or a single Pharisee? But this unlettered rabble is bewitched.’ Nicodemus, who had approached Jesus earlier though he himself was a Pharisee, now said to them: ‘Surely our laws do not condemn a man without giving him a hearing and finding out what he is really doing?’ ‘Are you by any chance a Galilean too?’ they said. ‘Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.’

            The chief priests bode their time. They sent spies, hoping to catch Jesus saying something for which they could report him to the authorities. These men put a question to him. ‘Master,’ they said, ‘is it right for us to pay tax to the emperor?’ But he saw through the cunning of their scheme, and said: ‘Let me see a coin. Whose portrait and inscription does it bear?’   ‘The emperor’s,’ they replied.           ‘Well then,’ he said, ‘pay the emperor what is due to the emperor, and God what is due to God.’ They were unable to trap him in what he had said. Astonished by his answer, they became silent. But the collectors of the temple tax, accosting Peter, said: ‘Does your master pay his tax?’ Peter said, ‘He does’.

            In the hearing of all the people Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Guard yourselves against the chief priests, who like to walk about in robes; who love to be greeted in the streets and have the places of honour at the banquets; who devour the livelihood of widows and seek to justify themselves by making lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.’

            As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in a small copper coin, and he said: ‘This widow, poor as she is, has put in more than all the rest. For all these have more than they need, and they contributed from that; whereas she, who has less than she needs, threw in all she had to live on.’

            The doctors of the law and the Pharisees now brought in a woman and they made her stand in the centre. They said to him: ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Moses laid it down for us in the Law that such women should be stoned. What have you to say about her?’ Jesus stooped down and wrote with his finger on the ground, pretending not to hear them. However, when they persisted in their questions he looked up and said: ‘Let him among you that has never sinned cast the first stone.’ Then he bent down again and wrote on the ground. One by one the Jews went out, the eldest first. Jesus was left alone with the woman, who was still standing in the centre. ‘Woman,’ he said, ‘where are they? Did no one sentence you?’ ‘No one, sir.’ ‘I pass no sentence on you either. Go now, and sin no more.’

            During the daytime he was in the temple, teaching; but every evening he left the city for the Mount of Olives, and there he spent the nights. All the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.

            The feast of the Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was drawing near, and the chief priests, being frightened of the people, were casting about for a way to destroy him. Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests and commanders of the temple force, and to them he proposed a scheme he had for getting Jesus into their hands. They were glad, and agreed to give him the money. So he undertook the task and watched for a moment when he could hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

            The day of Unleavened Bread arrived. This was when they had to kill the Passover lamb, and he sent Peter and John to make arrangements for their celebration of Passover.

            ‘Where do you want us to prepare for it?’ they asked him.

            He replied, ‘As you go into town, a man carrying a jug of water will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters and ask the owner of the house which is the room where we will be received to eat the Passover meal. He will then show you a large upper room furnished with couches. Prepare for our meal there. They went off, found everything as he had told them, and made arrangements for the Passover.

            When the time came for the evening meal, Jesus and the apostles reclined at the table. He said: ‘With all my heart I had desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat one again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God.’

            He took a cup, gave thanks, and said: ‘Share this among you. For I tell you that from this moment I shall not enjoy the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God has come.’

            And he took of loaf of bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying: ‘This,’ he said, ‘is my body, which is offered up for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’

            Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. He got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel. When he had finished, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘Now that I, your teacher, have washed your feet, you should do the same to one another. No servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.’

            After they had eaten their supper, he dealt in the same way with the cup, saying: ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is being shed for you. Set forth and make all peoples your disciples, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to keep all the commandments I gave you. Know too that I am with you every day to the end of time.’

            ‘But see, the hand of the man who betrays me is on the table with mine. For the Son of Man goes hence, as is decreed; but woe to the man who betrays him!’ His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ‘Ask him which one he means.’ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. ‘What you are about to do, do quickly,’ Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas was in charge of the money, some thought that Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the feast, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

            ‘Lord,’ said Simon Peter, ‘with you I am prepared to go even to prison and to death.’ ‘And I say to you, Peter,’ said Jesus, ‘that the cock will not crow today before you have thrice denied all knowledge of me. Do not let your hearts be troubled. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’

            Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. If you really knew me, you would know my Father ass well.’

            Leaving the house he went as usual to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed him. They came to a place called Gethsemane, which means The Oil Press. He said to the disciples: ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ But he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee; and in the anguish and desolation that came upon him now, he said to them: ‘My heart is heavy to the point of death. Wait here and stay awake with me.’

            Then he went a little farther and prostrated himself in prayer. ‘My Father,’ he said, ‘if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’

            Coming back to the disciples, he found them sleeping, and he said to Peter: ‘So you had not the strength to stay awake with me for a single hour? Watch and pray that you may not be brought to ordeal. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’

            For the second time he went away and prayed. ‘My Father,’ he said, ‘if I must drink this cup, let your will be done.’ Being in anguish, he prayed even more earnestly. The sweat upon him was like drops of blood streaming to the ground.

            Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large force armed with swords and sticks, who had been sent by the chief priests and the elders. His betrayer had arranged a signal with them. ‘Your man,’ he said, ‘is the one I kiss. Arrest him.’ So he went straight up to Jesus, said ‘Greetings, Master’, and kissed him. Jesus said: ‘Do what you have come for.’ They came forward, laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Whereupon one of  his followers struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear. ‘No more of this! For all who draw the sword shall die by the sword.’ said Jesus. And he took the ear and attended to the man.

            Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the temple officers and the elders who had come for him: ‘I see that you have come with swords and clubs as though I were leading a rebellion. When I was with you in the temple day after day, you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour — when darkness reigns.’

            They led him to the high priest’s palace. Peter followed at a distance, and when the high priest’s servants had lit a fire in the courtyard he sat down among them. But one of the maids who saw him sitting in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘Here is another who was with him.’

            Peter denied it. He said, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’

            Presently someone else noticed him and said: ‘You are one of them.’

            ‘Sir,’ said Peter, ‘I am not.’

            About an hour passed, and then another man spoke up with confidence. ‘It is a fact,’ he said, ‘that this man too was with him. For quite apart from other things, he is a Galilean.’

            Peter said: ‘Sir, I do not know what you are talking about.’ And at once, before he had finished, a cock crowed. And Peter, remembering how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today you will disown me three times,’ went out and wept bitterly.

            The men who were holding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him, and then asked him to prophesy and tell them which of them had struck him. And they heaped insults on him.

            When day broke, the elders and the chief priests took him before their Council. ‘If you are the Messiah,’ they said, ‘tell us.’

            ‘If I tell you,’ he replied, ‘you will certainly not believe me; and if I question you, you will certainly not answer. Yet from this moment the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’

            ‘So you are the Son of God?’ they all said.

            ‘It is you who say that I am,’ he answered.

            And they said: ‘What further evidence do we need. We have heard it from his own lips.’

            The Council rose, took him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and proceeded to charge him. ‘We caught this man,’ they said, ‘preaching sedition to our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the emperor, and claiming to be the Messiah, i.e. a king.’

            Pilate interrogated him. ‘Are you’, he said, ‘the king of the Jews?’ To which he replied: ‘The words are yours.’ Pilate then said to the chief priests and to the crowd: ‘I do not find this man guilty.’

            This made them even more insistent. ‘He is stirring up the people,’ they said, ‘teaching everywhere in Judaea. He started in Galilee and now he has come here.’ When he heard this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean, and having ascertained that he came from that country, which was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who at the time was also in Jerusalem.

            Herod was delighted when he saw Jesus. For some time he had been wanting to see him, because of what he had heard about him. And now he hoped to see some marvel at his hands. He asked him many questions, but Jesus answered none of them. And the chief priests stood there relentlessly denouncing him.

            In the end Herod with his soldiers round him dismissed Jesus as of no account. He mocked him by dressing him in a splendid robe, and sent him back to Pilate. And before the day was over, Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies, were reconciled.

            Pilate now called together the chief priests, the leading men, and the people, and said: ‘You accused this man before me of fomenting rebellion. Accordingly I examined him in your presence and did not find him guilty of anything you charged him with. Nor did Herod; for he sent him back to us, and as you see no capital charge has been brought against him. Therefore I will punish him, and then release him.’

            ‘Away with him!’ they shouted as one man, ‘and release Barabbas instead.’ Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ For the third time Pilate spoke to them: ‘Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.’ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.

            When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead a riot was threatening, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said: ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your affair.’ And with one accord the people answered: ‘Let his blood be on our heads’. So Pilate released Barabbas, who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

            When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he had been condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. He said: ‘I have done wrong. I have brought an innocent man to his death.’ ‘That is your business,’ they said. ‘Why should we care?’ Whereupon Judas left the money as an offering in the Temple and withdrew. Then he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the money out of the Temple, arguing that it was not lawful to put it in the treasury since it was blood money. After discussing the matter, they spent it on the purchase of the Potter’s Field where foreigners could be buried. Hence the field was called the Field of Blood. And it bears this name today.

 

Crucifixion

 

Pilate’s bodyguard took Jesus with them to the Residence, where they gathered the whole detachment round him. They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet cloak. They plaited a crown of thorns, placed it on his head, and put a cane in his right hand. They mockingly knelt before him and saluted him ‘Hail, King of the Jews’. They spat at him, and taking the cane they beat him on the head with it. Then, their mockery of him finished, they took off the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him away to be crucified. As they left town, they met a man called Simon, from the Greek colony Cyrene, and they forced him to carry the cross.

            They were followed by a large crowd, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned around to the women and said: ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; but weep for yourselves and for your children. For a time is coming when people will say, "Happy the barren woman and the wombs that have not borne and the breasts that have never suckled"; and "fall on us, you mountains, and cover us, you hills". For if they do this when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry.’

            Two other men, both robbers, were also led out with him to be executed. They reached the place called Golgotha, which means The Place of The Skull. Jesus was offered wine to drink, mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. Then the soldiers crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said: ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’

            When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ‘Let’s not tear it’, they said to one another. ‘Let us decide by lot who will get it.’ This is what the soldiers did.

            The people stood there looking on. Their rulers were there too, scoffing at him. They said, ‘He saved others; let him now save himself if he is the Anointed One.’ Even the soldiers made a jest at his expense; ‘If you are the king of the Jews,’ they said, ‘save yourself.’

            Pilate had arranged for a notice to be prepared and fastened to the cross. It read ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’. Many read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests protested to Pilate, and asked him to replace the title ‘King of the Jews’ with the words  ‘he said he was King of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written stands.’

            Jesus was taunted also by one of the two crucified criminals, who said: ‘Are you not the Anointed One? Save yourself and us.’ But the other intervened and rebuked him. ‘Have you, condemned to die like him, no fear of God? We were justly sentenced: we deserve what we have got. But he did nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus said to him: ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’

            By Jesus’s cross stood his mother and his mother’s sister; Mary, wife of Clopas; and Mary Magdalene. Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, said to his mother, ‘Mother, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on this disciple took her into his home.

            Shortly after this, Jesus, knowing that all had now been done, said ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of vinegar was standing there. So they put a sponge soaked in this vinegar on a stick, lifted it up to his lips, and he drank it.

            From the sixth to the ninth hour the whole country was darkened. At about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Father, in your hands I entrust my spirit.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. To make sure that he was dead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water came out.

            The Roman officer said, ‘This was indeed a righteous man.’ People went away, beating their breast, but all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

            As the evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a Councillor of good standing who was himself in search of the kingdom of God, went and made his way boldly into Pilate’s presence and asked him for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered whether he could have died so soon. Summoning the officer, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learnt that this was so, he granted Joseph the corpse. Joseph bought some linen, took him down from the cross, wrapped him in the linen and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. He rolled a stone against the entrance. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene observed the spot where he was laid.

 

Glossary

 

Augustus

The first Roman Emperor, 23 BC to AD 14.

 

Chief priests

The expression ‘the chief priests and the teachers of the law’ occur again and again in

the Gospels in the meaning of the ‘religious establishment’. In the following, for convenience, it is abbreviated to ‘the chief priests’.

 

‘Christ’

A honorific title, not a name, meaning ‘the anointed one’ from the Greek word khrio, ‘anoint’. It refers to the ancient custom of rubbing olive oil on persons of high rank to confirm them in office or merely as a sign of respect. The title is not used in this book, in which Jesus is throughout referred to by his name.

 

Commandments

By ‘the commandments’ — e.g. in the chapter ‘The Road to Jerusalem’ (Luke 18.20 or Matthew 19.17) —  Jesus meant Moses’s Ten Commandments. Jesus’s ‘eleventh commandment’, to love your neighbour and even your enemy (Matthew 5.44), was something new and radical which set Christianity apart.

 

Gadara, Gadarene

Gadara was a non-Jewish town in ancient Palestine. The corresponding adjective, ‘Gadarene’, like in the story about the Gadarene swine (Matthew 8.28-32), is written ‘Gerasene’ in Luke (26-33).

 

Galilee

The northernmost region of ancient Palestine. Galilee at the time of Jesus extended from Lake Hula on the Jordan River in the NE, to Mount Carmel near the Mediterranean coast in the SW, and to the Jordan River east of Beyt Shean in the SE; the river formed its eastern

boundary (from H. Kinder and W. Hilgemann: The Penguin Atlas of World History, 1974). It did not include the area along the Mediterranean coast, which was the land of the Phoenicians, the ancestors of today’s Lebanese. See also the map The Holy Land at the time of Jesus in the New International Version of the Bible.

 

Golgotha

Golgotha, meaning ‘skull’ in Aramaic, also called ‘Calvary’ (from the Latin calva, ‘bald head’) was the skull-shaped hill just outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. Its exact location is not known with certainty, but it was probably where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is now, or the little hill called Gordon’s Calvary just north of the Damascus Gate.

 

Hellenism

The Greek culture of  the eastern Mediterranean region and the Near East from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC until about AD 300. Whereas the culture of classical Greece had been exclusive (you had, for example, to be of Greek blood to participate in the Olympic games, and the Macedonians only just made it), Hellenistic culture was cosmopolitan, although the language was Greek. Another difference from classical Greece was that the Hellenistic period was a time of spiritual ferment, during which many religions arose, centred on Isis, Mithra, Cybele, Sarapis, or Dionysus; as well as Gnosticism, Manichaeism, and Christianity.

 

Herod

Herod Antipas, called a ‘fox’ by Jesus, ruled Galilee from 4 BC to AD 39 as a ‘tetrarch’, i.e. as a ruler subsidiary to Rome. In modern parlance, Galilee was a Roman client state. Herod Antipas’s father was Herod I the Great, king of Judaea under the Romans, a practising Jew of Arab descent. Herod Antipas, whose rule of Galilee extended over Jesus’s entire lifetime, was reasonably competent, but he offended pious Jews, including John the Baptist and Jesus, by divorcing his wife and marrying his niece, which was against the Jewish law. Like his father had been before him, Herod Antipas was a great promoter of Hellenization.

 

High Priest

The High Priest was in charge of worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, president of the Jewish Council (Sanhedrin), and the chief representative of the people to foreign powers. After Jesus’s arrest, he was brought to the palace of the High Priest — see the chapter ‘Jerusalem’ (Matthew 26.57 or Luke 22.54).

 

Jews

According to the Old Testament, the Jews, also known as the Hebrews, came to Palestine in

the second millennium BC from Mesopotamia, today’s Iraq, and that fits with historical

evidence. Abraham is said to have been from the ancient city of Ur, the archaeological site of which is today called Tall al-Muqayyar, 320 km SE of Baghdad.  Before the Jews came to Palestine, the Canaanites lived there, except in the southwest which was inhabited by the Philistines. The Jews were organised into tribes, traditionally twelve, and were only united by their common belief in a single god, Yahweh. Their earliest settlements in Palestine were in Gilead, east of the Jordan, and in the hill country of central Palestine. At the time of Jesus, and well before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, most Jews already lived outside Palestine, but within the Roman Empire.

 

Joseph of Arimathea

According to a mid-13th century European legend, Saint Joseph of Arimathea, the councillor who according to all four Gospels buried Jesus (see for example Mark 15.43), later went to Glastonbury in Somerset, England, as missionary, and he is the patron saint of that town.

 

‘Locusts’

The ‘locusts’ from which John the Baptist is said to have fed in the desert, are believed to have been the pods of the ‘locust tree’, Ceratonia siliqua, also known as ‘carob tree’ and ‘St John’s bread’. This tree from the eastern Mediterranean region was very appreciated by the ancient Egyptians, Jews, Greeks, Romans and Arabs. Today it has been planted in dry warm-temperate areas all over the world. About half the weight of the pulp made by crushing the pods is made up of sugar, and sometimes it is dried and sold as confection under the name St. John’s bread.

            When in 1607 the British colonists at Jamestown, Virginia, discovered the tree which would later be called Robinia pseudoacacia they named it ‘black locust’ for the Old World locust tree which it resembles. Both belong to the Leguminosae or pea family.

 

Messiah

The deliverer of the Jews, promised in their Scriptures. Many Jews at the time of Jesus

considered him to be the Messiah, but their establishment did not. ‘Messiah’ means in Hebrew what ‘Christ’ (see above) means in Greek, i.e. ‘the anointed one’.

 

 

Mount of Olives

The Mount of Olives, whence Jesus entered Jerusalem, where he spent the nights during his

last stay there, and where he was arrested, is situated at a direct distance of 1.1 km east-

northeast of the temple. The garden of Gethsemane where he prayed just before his betrayal by Judas Iscariot, is thought to have been on the western slopes. The entire Mount of Olives

came under Israeli rule during the Six-Day War in June 1967. Today various faculties of the

Hebrew University are situated there.

 

Myrrh

Bitter-tasting but precious gum obtained from various tree species in NE Africa and the Middle East. Used in ancient times for incense, perfume and medicine.

 

Peter

Jesus generally called his disciple Simon by the name ‘Peter’, meaning ‘The Rock’ — same word as in ‘petrified’ — perhaps there was another Simon among the disciples, Simon the Zealot. He said (Matthew 16.18) to Simon: ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.’ In fact Simon Peter did lead the young Christian church after the death of Jesus, and he is regarded by the Catholic Church as its first pope. His brother Andrew was also a disciple. Before that they had been fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, on which they had a boat. Such a fishing boat represented a considerable investment. In the case of the other two disciples who had also been fishermen on the same lake, the brothers James and John, it is thus mentioned (Mark 1.20) that they were in the business with their father and hired men.

 

Pharisee

The Pharisees, mentioned from time to time in the Gospels, always in an unflattering way,

were members of a religious establishment party. The word is used — often in conjunction

with ‘teachers of the law’ — synonymously with ‘religious formalist’, ‘hypocrite’, or ‘bigot’.

 

Pilate, Pontius

Roman governor (prefect, procurator) of Judaea, which was under direct Roman rule, not

indirect rule as was Galilee. After Jesus had been arrested and condemned to death as a blasphemer by a Jewish court, he was handed over to Pontius Pilate for the sentence to be confirmed. Pilate considered Jesus to be innocent, but he was pressured into confirming the sentence. In the Ethiopian (Coptic) Church Pilate is venerated as a saint for having tried to save Jesus; in other Christian churches he is regarded as a villain for having condemned Jesus, or at least having confirmed his sentence of death; and to the Jews he is an anti-Semite.

 

Quirinius, P. Sulpicius

Roman consul (high official) who held the position as governor (‘legate’) of Syria at about the time of Jesus’s birth. Luke mentions that the census for which Jesus’s parents travelled to Bethlehem was held at the time when Quirinius was governor of Syria, but there is some

discrepancy of dates there.

 

Sadducee

Jewish priestly caste which often disagreed with the Pharisees (q.v.) about the interpretation of the scriptures, but which joined with them in opposing Jesus.

 

Samaritan

An ancient and today almost extinct community of Jews, looked down upon (see Jesus’s

parable about the good Samaritan) by other Jews who consider them to be descended from a Mesopotamian people called the Cuthaeans. At the time of Jesus, Samaria was the country

between Galilee to the north and Judaea to the south. Today the Samaritans live mainly in

Nablus on the West Bank, and in Holon near Tel Aviv. They have their own alphabet, which is the only surviving variant of the old Hebrew alphabet, their own synagogues, and they marry within their own community. There are Samaritan communities in other countries too.

 

                        Synagogue

                        Place of worship of the Jews. From the Greek words syn (together) and ago (bring),

i.e. ‘bringing-together-places’. The synagogues, much more than the Christian churches, were places for general religious gathering and debate. For example in the story of Jesus’s childhood, he gets separated from his parents during a visit to Jerusalem, and when they find him on the fourth day, ‘He was in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and putting questions to them.’

Index

 

Page numbers refer to the book (see title page), not to this electronic version. Entries beginning with an article have been listed according to the first letter of the second word. Some entries have been slightly abbreviated. The page numbers follow immediately after the entry word. See also Glossary, above.

 

In the case of this electronic version, the index entries below may still serve some purpose, partly as a checklist of subjects dealt with, partly as a search term.

 

Acts       12, 15

Adultery                28, 29, 44, 49                                                                                                                        

Alexander the Great             10                                                                           

Alexandria             16                                                                                           

‘All who draw the sword shall die by the sword.’          52

Andrew (apostle) 14, 27                                     

The Anointed One               17, 19, 56                                                                                               

Antioch 15                                                                                           

‘Anyone that is not against you is for you’    37

‘Anyone who divorces his wife‘       29

Apostles (= messengers)    15, 27, 35, 36, 50                                                                   

Aramaic 11, 56                                                     

Arrest     48                                                                                                           

‘As you give, so you shall receive’  31

Assyrians              10                                                                           

Augustus              18                                                                                                                           

 

Babylonians          10                                                                                                                           

Barabbas               54, 55                                                                                                                     

Bartholomew         27                                                                                                           

‘The beam from your own eye’          32

Beckett, S.,            vi                                                                            

Believers                vii

‘Be ready with your lamps lit’            41

Bethlehem             18, 19, 20                                                                               

Bethsaida              36                                                                                                           

Betrayal 52                                                                                                                           

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing’              32

‘Blessed are ... ‘    viii, 27, 28              

‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’            46

Boeotia  15                           

‘Born again’          46, 47                                                                                                                     

Buddhism              v                                                                                                             

 

Canaanites            10                                                                                                                           

‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’  11

Capernaum            9, 14, 16, 25, 33                                                     

Carpenter               9, 25                                                                                       

Census                   18                                                                                                           

Charity                   29                                                                                                                           

Chief priests          19, 36, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56                                                                     

Christmas              viii

‘Christ’   17                                                                                                                           

Chuza                     34                                                                                                                           

Clopas                    57                                                                                                                           

Codex Alexandrinus           15

Codex Sinaiticus 15                                                                                                           

Codex Vaticanus 15                                                                                                           

Colossae                16                                                                                                           

‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened’  38

Commandments    44, 50                                                                                                                     

Consumerism                        viii                                                                          

Corrective value of Gospels               viii, 14

‘Corruption is inevitable, but alas for the man who causes it!’    31

Criminals                56           

Crucifixion             9, 55                                                                                                                       

Customs officer    14, 16                                                                                                     

Cyrene                   55                                                                                           

 

David, House of   18                                                                                                                           

David, King           27

‘The day of rest was made for man, not man for the day of rest’ 27

Devil       vi, vii, 24               

Diaspora                10, 62                                                                                                                     

Diogenes               13, 14                                                                                                     

Disciple whom Jesus loved – probably John  51

‘Do not amass for yourself treasure on earth’                                30                                                           

‘Do not judge, lest you be judged’   31                                           

‘Do not make my Father’s house a place of business.’ 46

‘Do not scatter your pearls in front of swine’                 32                           

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets’           11

‘Do you think that I came to bring peace on earth?’      viii, 41

 

Early Christianity 11                           

Egypt     16, 20, 21                                                                                                               

Elijah      36                                                                                                                           

Emperor 18, 22, 48, 53                                                                                                                                         

End of the world   11                                                                                           

Ephesus 16                                                                                                           

Esther (Old Testament book)             vi

Ethiopia 16

Euaggelion (evangel, Gospel, good news, good story) 15

An extra mile         29

‘The eye is the lamp of the body’     30

 

Family life              14

‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’              56

‘Father, in your hands I entrust my spirit’       57

Fathers of the Church                         12, 13

Feast of the unleavened bread (Passover)      15, 21, 49, 50

Field of Blood                       55

Fishing   14

Forgiveness          14, 22, 30, 31, 34, 56

 

Gadarene (Gerasene)           12, 35

Galilee, Galilean    9, 10, 11, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 36, 48, 52, 53, 57

Gentiles  12, 13

Gethsemane (The Oil Press)               51

God concept         v, vi, vii

‘God so loved the world that he gave the Son, the only Son, ...’ 47

‘God’s ways are proved right by all his children’           33

Gold        19

Golgotha (Place of the Skull)              56

Good shepherd     34

‘Good story’ or ‘Good news’             15

‘Go out and make disciples of all nations’       12

‘Gospel’ 15

Greek language and culture                9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 55, 56

 

‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few’      38

Hebrew  9

Hellenism               v, 10, 11, 12, 13

Herod Antipas, King           10

Herod the Great, King                         61

Herodias                23

‘Her sins have been forgiven because she loved much’               34

‘He that is not with me is against me’                               42

‘He who is least among you all, he is the greatest.’       37

High Priest            52

Holy Spirit             vii, 23, 24, 41, 50

‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God’              44

Humility viii

 

‘I am sending you out like lambs among wolves’           38

‘If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, ... ‘ 29

‘If they do this when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry’   56

‘If they keep quiet, the very stones will cry out’            46

‘If you have faith, ... nothing will be impossible for you’              42

‘If your right eye leads you into evil, ... ‘         28

‘I have come to set the world on fire’                               41

Incense  19

‘In my Father's house are many rooms’           v, 51

Intolerance            13

Isaiah                     22, 24

Israel, Israelites    10, 12, 19, 20, 21

‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man

                to enter the kingdom of God’             13

‘It is not people in good health that need a physician’ 26

‘It is not right for a prophet to be killed elsewhere than in Jerusalem’        43

‘I was bound to be in my Father’s house’       21

‘I was hungry and you gave me food’             47

 

James (Jacob; Jesus’s brother)          9, 25

James (apostle)     14, 26, 27

Jeremiah 20

Jericho                   39

Jerusalem               10, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 38, 39, 43, 45, 54, 55

‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’                              56

‘Jewish Christians’              12

Jewish Council     46

Jews       10, 11, 15, 19, 39, 49, 53, 55, 56

Joanne, wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household          34

John (apostle)       14, 26, 27, 37, 50

John the Baptist   9, 22, 23, 24, 26, 31, 33, 36, 37, 47

Jordan    22, 23, 24

Joseph   18, 20, 21, 25

Joseph of Arimathea           57, 58

Joses (Jesus’s brother)                       25

Joshua                   9

Judaea (Judea, Judah)         10, 11, 16, 18, 19, 22, 53

Judaism  11, 12, 13, 14

Judas (Jesus’s brother)       25

Judas Iscariot (apostle)       27, 49, 51, 52, 55

Judas son of James (another apostle)              27

Judges (Old Testament book)                            10

 

Kafka, F.                vi

‘The kingdom of God is within you’ vi, 13, 43

King of the Jews  19, 53, 55, 56

‘Know that I am with you every day to the end of time’               50

 

Last supper           50

Latin                       56

Legion (many)                      36

‘Let him among you that has never sinned cast the first stone’  49

‘Let the dead bury the dead’              37

‘Let the little children come to me’    44

Levi (apostle)        14, 16, 26

Levi (tribe)             39

‘Look at the lilies in the field’                             31

Lord’s Prayer        30

Lot          44

‘Love your enemies’            29

‘Love your neighbour’        29, 39

 

Maccabean revolt                10

Magi       19, 20

‘Man lives not by bread alone’         vii, 24

‘The man who chooses to save his life will lose it’        44

‘The man who does not accept the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it’  44

‘Many are called, but few are chosen.’            45

‘Many will stand or fall because of him’          20

‘Martha, Martha, you fret and fuss’ 40

Mary, sister of Martha                        39, 40

Mary, Jesus’s mother          9, 18, 19, 20, 25, 57, 58

Mary Magdalene 34, 57, 58

Matthew (Levi), the apostle               14, 16, 26

Messiah 12, 53

Money-lenders in the temple             46

Moses    49

Mount of Olives   45, 46, 49, 51

‘My Father has not ceased to work: I go on working too.’           27

‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’             57

‘My heart is heavy to the point of death’        51

‘My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and act according to it’ 35

Myrrh                     19, 56

 

Nazareth                9, 10, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 56

New International Version (Bible translation) vi

New Testament    15

Nicodemus            46, 48

Noah      43

Non-believers                       vi, vii

‘No one must part what God has united in marriage’                     29

‘No one pours new wine into old wineskins’                  26

‘No one who has put his hand to the plough and looks behind him ...’     37

‘No prophet is accepted in his own country’  25

‘No room for them at the inn’                             18

 

‘Of the man to whom a great deal is entrusted, something extra shall be asked’  41

‘Oh you of little faith’                          31

Oil Press, The (Gethsemane)                              51

‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets’  43

Old Testament                      vi, 12, 14, 17

‘Other seed fell on good soil and yielded hundredfold.’               35

‘Our Father in heaven’        30

 

Palestine                9, 10, 12

Parables:

  - the foolish virgins           45

  - the good Samaritan                         39

  - the harvest has come      37

  - the house built on rock   32

  - the lost sheep   34

  - the mustard seed             42

  - the rich man      41

  - new wine into new skins                26

  - the sower          35

Passover (Feast of the unleavened bread)      15, 21, 49, 50

Paul        12, 13, 15, 16

‘Pay the emperor what is due to the emperor, and God what is due to God.’  48

Persia (Iran)           16, 19

Peter, gospel of    12

Peter: Simon ‘Peter’ (‘the rock’), the apostle                   14, 25, 27, 38, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53

‘Pharisee’              22, 26, 27, 30, 33, 40, 43, 45, 46, 48, 49

Philip (apostle)     27

Place of the Skull (Golgotha)                              56

Plato       14

Pontius Pilate        22, 53

Poor widow, contribution (mite) of   49

Potter’s Field        55

Poverty, poor        vii, viii, 13, 14, 44

‘A prophet does not come out of Galilee’        48

Proselytising:

  - first campaign, by the twelve apostles         36

  - second campaign, by seventy-two messengers         38

 

Quirinius                18

 

Radicalism (Jesus’s)            vii, 11, 13

Redeemer               20, 23

Renan, Ernest                       15

Religion without God                          v

Robbers 56

Rome, Roman Empire                           10, 11, 12, 16, 18

 

Saint Paul — see Paul

Samaritan               12, 39

‘Say “yes, yes” or “no, no” ‘             29

Scriptures (Jewish)              9, 10, 11

Sea of Galilee                        9, 25

‘Seek and you shall find’    32

‘Seek first his kingdom’      31

Sepphoris              9

Sermon on the Mount                         v, viii, 27

‘Set forth and make all peoples your disciples’              50

Shepherds             18

Simon (in the temple in Jerusalem)    20

Simon (Jesus’s brother)      25

Simon from Cyrene              55

Simon ‘Peter’ (the apostle)  — see Peter

Simon the Zealot (apostle) 27

Simple people                       38

Socrates 14

Sodom                    44

Soldiers  23

‘Some of the last shall be the first, and some of the first shall be the last.’                43

‘The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’                    51

Star (of Bethlehem)              19

Stoics                     13

Strife                       viii, 42

Supernatural, The                v, vi, vii

Susanna 35

Sword                     52

Syria                       15, 18

 

Tax          48, 53

Tax collector         16, 22, 26

Testament — see New T. and Old T.

‘Thank you, Lord, for hiding these things from wise and clever men but

revealing them to simple people        38

‘That which cannot  be named’         vii

‘They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying and giving in

marriage, up to the very day when Noah entered the ark’                            43

‘This ... is my body. This ... is my blood.’        50

Thomas ‘the doubter’ (apostle)         51

Thomas, gospel of               12

Tiberius                 22

‘Today’s trouble is enough for today’             31

‘Today you will be with me in Paradise’          57

Tomb      58

‘Tomorrow will look after itself ‘        31

‘To those who have, will be given’   viii, 42

‘Treat others as you would wish them to treat you’      32

Trials      53, 54

‘Turn the other cheek’                        vii, 29

The Twelve           27

 

Universality of Christianity                13, 14

 

Vinegar  57

 

‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance’                   33

Weather portents 42

‘What a fall it had’               32

‘What good will it do for a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits

                his soul?’               44

‘What you have whispered in secret shall be proclaimed from the roofs’ 40

‘The way to destruction is broad and open; the way to life is by a narrow gate’  32

‘Whatever you did for one of my brothers, you did for me.’                        47

‘Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them’ 38

‘Whoever in my name welcomes this little child, welcomes me’  37

Wise and clever men           38

Woman caught in adultery 49

Women helping to support Jesus     35

‘The worker deserves his wages’      38

‘Would anyone among you hand your son a stone when he asks for bread?’ 32

 

‘You are the salt of the earth’                            28

‘You build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed’                40

‘You cannot serve both God and money’        30

‘You, Peter, are the rock on which I build my church’   38

‘You Pharisees pay your tithes but you neglect justice and the love of God’ 40

‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’         34

 ‘You will know them by their fruits’                 32

 

Zacharias               22

 

 

 

 

Information on the editor, Mikael Grut

 

Dr Mikael Grut studied philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and sciences at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Though not religious in the conventional sense, has been fascinated by the Gospels for the last thirty years. He is married and lives in London, England.


[1]  Ludwig Wittgenstein said, ‘That which cannot be talked of, should be passed over in silence’, and I would have preferred that, but now we are stuck with the word ‘God’ and have to make the best of it.

[2]  Cf. also the following passage in Robert Graves’s Goodbye to All That, revised edition, Penguin Books 1960, p.308: “[T.E.] Lawrence, talking to the Regius Professor of Divinity [in Oxford, 1920] about the influence of the Syrian Greek philosophers on early Christianity, and especially of the importance of the University of Gadara, close to the Lake of Galilee, mentioned that St James had quoted one of the Gadarene philosophers (I think Mnasalcus) in his epistle”. The ancient Palestine city of Gadara (modern Umm Quays) was situated SE of the Sea of Galilee, only 40 km from Nazareth where Jesus grew up, and less than that from Capernaum where he began his ministry.