Mystery of God + Existence: Jesus

Jesus was crucified, a Roman capital punishment, and the gospels report that Jewish leadership of the time was complicit in his trial and execution (e.g., Matt 26: 1-4; Luke 22:66-23:1). Pharisees were popular teachers of Jewish law and tradition, comprising a major part of native leadership in first century Palestine. Their voices were heard among the enemies of Jesus of Nazareth who eventually decided it was best to silence him. Jesus was a forceful teacher of Jewish religion and morality and could be considered to be a Pharisee himself, if not for some of his peculiar preachments concerning God's name and his own prophetic standing.

I. Your sins are forgiven (Mk 2:5)

Jesus said this to a paralyzed man. The Gospel of Mark mentions that "some teachers of the law" (GNB) heard Jesus' pronouncement and had contrary thoughts: "how does he dare to talk like this[?]; this is blasphemy[!]; God is the only one who can forgive sins[!]" (vv. 6-7). The Greek word -grammateon- behind Good News Bible translation is rendered "scribes" in New Revised Standard Version as in the parallel in Gospel According to Matthew (9:3) and in the parallel story in Luke, which adds "Pharisees." Jewish scribes were experts in scripture, translation and law.

Mark has Jesus defend his communication of forgiving with a self-revelatory saying: "the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (v 10) and a miracle (he makes the paralytic walk - "I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home") (11).

Sin is "offense against God" and Scripture and the Law of Moses identify things (words/actions) which are sinful. Sin came into the world with the first man and woman. They were given a guiding command by the Creator and they disobeyed, persuaded by the serpent, the Devil. All their progeny, each and every person has sinned, we might say humanity is predisposed to sin. We are in a bad place with respect to the Creator, the Almighty.

A major thrust of Jesus' ministry was dealing with sin, in his actions and spoken words. A good example is the pericope of the adulterous woman (Jn 8:1-11). Its conclusion has Jesus say to her, " neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again" (NRSV).

Other similar sayings of Jesus:

The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mk 1:15 NIV)

I am willing. Be clean! See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them. (Jesus healing a leper, Mk 1:40-45 NIV)

Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Lk 19:9f NIV)

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Lk 5:31f NKJV)

II. Woe to the Pharisees! For they are like a dog which sleeps in the crib of the oxen; for he neither eats nor lets the oxen eat (GTh 102)

(Tr. William Schoedel in Grant & Freedman, The Secret Sayings of Jesus [NY: Barnes & Noble, 1993], p. 190) Gospel of Thomas was discovered in Egypt in the mid 20th century. It is a collection of sayings of Jesus, some similar to those in the New Testament, others which are near replicas of Jesus' teachings in the NT gospels and some which are completely different. It may be considered an independent witness to the oral tradition of Jesus' deeds and sayings.

Jesus of Nazareth spoke "woe" (Greek ouai) to Pharisees and scribes numerous times (cf., Mt 23; Lk 11:37ff). They "shut the kingdom of heaven" and "neither enter . . nor allow those who would enter to go in" (Mt 23:13 ESV; cf. GTh 39). Jesus was warning them of impending grief and doom because of the barriers they set up between people and God.

The 'dog lying in a manger' or animal crib (i.e., a feeding trough) was a Hellenistic proverb and is found in pagan sources from the first and second centuries A.D. The Gospel of Thomas usage may be the earliest written record of the proverb (c. 50 A.D.), if we credit the scholarly work of April DeConick. She considers GTh to be a "rolling" literary/oral corpus that underwent revisions as it was transported from Judea to Syria to Egypt (cf., A. DeConick, Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas (London: T&T Clark, 2005), pp. 113, 121f, 231-233, 243f; idem., The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation (London: T&T Clark, 2007), pp. 278-280). It is not unlikely that Jesus the Nazarene would utilize this proverb in his disputations with scribes and Pharisees, as he had a fondness and aptitude for picturesque speech (e.g., Mk 11:23), as well as similitude (e.g., Lk 17:24). Also, there are two other sayings of Jesus featuring dogs as negative symbols (Mt 15:26, 7:6). A neutral or positive image of dogs occurs in the parable of poor Lazarus with the detail that "the dogs used to come and lick his sores" (Lk 16:19-31).

III. Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham existed, I AM (Jn 8:58)

The setting for this saying is the temple in Jerusalem where Jesus was publicly teaching during the festival of Booths (Jn 7:2, 14). He engaged in a series of disputes based on his preaching which had aroused questions and controversy. Among Jesus' hearers were Pharisees (7:32, 45; 8:13).

Abraham was the progenitor of Israel, having lived some two thousand years before Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus had been asked, "you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham [?] (v. 57). Jesus' reply caused his audience to attempt to stone him, but Jesus escaped (v. 59).

The "I AM" of this saying has underneath it the divine name in Hebrew, abbreviated YHWH or YH. The meaning of the Hebrew term is 'I AM the I AM' or 'I AM' (Ex 3:14). [Prior to Abraham is God and God is forever.] Jesus is making use of God's special name to reveal (that he is in touch with God) and who he himself is. This unique use of the Name is found elsewhere in John's Gospel (8:24; 8:28; 13:19; also, 6:20; 18:5; 6:35, 51; 8:12; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 5) and rarely in the synoptic gospels (Mk 6:50; 14:62; Lk 21:8). [For a scholarly discussion of these sayings, see Raymond Brown, The Gospel According To John I-XII (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966, 1980), 'Appendix IV: EGO EIMI-"I AM",' pp. 533-538.] This type of usage within sayings of Jesus (also cf., GTh 77) would seem to have been evidence for the charge of blasphemy brought against Jesus by the Sanhedrin (see Mk 14). Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee surely was aware this teaching would bring opposition.

I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (Lk 12:49)!

Whoever is near me is near fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom (GTh 82, tr. B. Layton).

IV. What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them. (Mt 15:11 NIV)

Foods or forbidden foods (see Lev 11) don't make one unclean, says Jesus, rather, what is expressed from "the heart" (v. 18), "murder, adultery, sexual immorality," (v. 19) etc,, are what make a person unclean. See the parallel story in Mk 7; Pharisees have criticized Jesus' disciples for eating with unwashed hands. Jesus' double response to these leaders "from Jerusalem" (v. 1) emphasized the command of God ('honor your father and mother") over the unwritten tradition of interpreting something designated "korban" (Mk 7:11, a sacrifice to God, e.g., a loaf of bread) as unusable for helping a parent and moral purity (avoidance of murder, etc.) over ritual purity (see Mk 7:3-4). The key to Jesus' teaching here is heart (Greek, kardian). Matter from outside a person doesn't affect heart; thoughts, words, actions do affect heart. Heart is the spiritual center of a person and has to do with interpersonal relations.

Some other sayings with the word, heart, in them:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Mt 5:8)

But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Mt 5:28)

The good man brings forth good things from the good store of his heart, while an evil man brings forth evil from evil. From the outflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Lk 6:45)

Matthew has an added detail, not found in Mark's Gospel, wherein the disciples ask Jesus if he's aware that the Pharisees were offended by his teaching. Jesus said, "Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch." [cf. GTh 34]

V. The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath. (Lk 6:5)

Jesus and followers were going through corn fields on the sabbath day and took and ate some of the grain. "Some of the Pharisees asked, 'why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath' (vv. 1-2)?" Jesus quoted scripture involving David in defense (vv. 3-4) and concluded with this saying. The pericope is found in all three synoptic gospels, with an additional saying in Mark,

The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. (2:27)

Violation of the law of sabbath rest was an ongoing point of contention between Jesus and Jewish leaders of that day (e.g., Mk 3:1-6; Jn 5:17). It may also have continued to be an issue for Jesus' followers after his death (see, GTh 27; Arland Hultgren, Jesus and His Adversaries (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1979), pp. 113ff, 83-84). Jesus taught his disciples that "the ordinary man when he is in need" (G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973, 1981], p. 181) and the necessity to do good do not profane the Sabbath.

VI. If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Lk 11:20)

Jesus performed miracles of healing (e.g., Jn 5) and exorcism and was accused by some, including Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees, of utilizing the power of the Devil in these works. Jesus defended his actions with the above saying as well as,

if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand;

if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

How can Satan drive out Satan? (Mk 3: 20-27)

Also,

Amen, I tell you .. whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (Mk 3: 28ff ).

The Spirit of God and the kingdom of God are mysteries, difficult to understand, but if one is cured of disease, one will understand that and credit the source of the cure. This faith of the sick is what Jesus of Nazareth was looking for and what philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was adamantly against.

"What is bad? Everything that is born of weakness."

"What is more harmful than any vice? Active pity for all the failures and all the weak: Christianity."

F. Nietzsche, The Antichrist (1895), § 2, tr. Walter Kaufmann, The Portable Nietzsche (NY: Penguin, 1976), p. 570

VII. Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?' But you have made it a 'den of robbers.' (Mk 11:17)

The setting is the Temple of YHWH in Jerusalem before Passover and Jesus has overturned the tables of the moneychangers and merchants. Passages from the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah appear herein to explain Jesus' violent action. The scene is also found in John's Gospel (2:13-23) with a quote from Psalms, "zeal for your house will consume me," and another saying of Jesus:

destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,

which shows Jesus knew his life was at risk.

Mark says, "the chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him" (v. 18). In John, this scene happens earlier in Jesus' mission compared to the synoptic gospels (see, Mt 21:12ff; Lk 19:45ff) and in John, Jesus is in danger whenever he steps foot in Judea (see, Jn 4:1-3; 5:1-17; 7:1,10,32; 10:31ff; 11:6-8, 16, 45-55; 12:1, 10f, 23-24). Historically we know that Jesus had many conflicts with Pharisees and other leaders of his people. Eventually Jesus was arrested, tried and executed.

Afterword

A few books helpful on Pharisees and Judaism in Jesus' day:

Donald Gowan, Bridge Between The Testaments (Allison Park, PA: Pickwick, 1986)

Gowan states that the name 'Pharisees' derives from a Hebrew root, meaning 'to separate,' and lists three probable things they kept away from, (1) "anything unclean," (2) "other people . . . who did not scrupulously observe the laws of ritual cleanness," (3) the "political," that is the governmental rulers of the nation (p 145f).

Jacob Neusner, Judaism in the Beginning of Christianity (Phila.: Fortress, 1984)

Neusner says the Jerusalem Temple "stood as the nexus between Jew and God" and Temple "services bore witness to Israel's enduring loyalty to the covenant and the commandments of Sinai" (p. 18).

Jesus was a Jew, a preacher/teacher who taught out in the open on love, forgiveness, hypocrisy (Mt 7:5), not judging others, introspection. How could a follower of Jesus, walking the strait and narrow way (KJV), hate Jews or anyone? I commend an organization, started by a rabbi, which seeks Christian support for helping needy Jews.

It occurred to me last night, watching 'Wallander' on Netflix, that Jesus was a radical.

'Wallander' is a BBC production about a Swedish police inspector, Kurt Wallander, and is set in the district of Ystad, beautiful coastal and rural area of Sweden. It is based on novels by Swedish author, Henning Mankell.
The episode that provoked my thought about Jesus - that he must have been a radical, was 'Before the Frost,' a 2012 BBC show loosely adapting Mankell's 2005 novel of the same title. The show's plot involves a crazy arsonist motivated by Christian fundamentalism, who sets buildings on fire and also animals (swans) and people. The arsonist eventually sets himself ablaze, leaving a video epitaph that says he is atoning for his sins and the sins of others in the name of him who died and rose from death. The book of Revelation particularly figures in his motivation.
This arsonist, who had escaped from psychiatric confinement, had associates of like mind, who exit normal social roles and pool their money to form a commune and cult in protest against Swedish society for its immorality and departure from traditional Christian values. They too eventually commit suicide in dramatic fashion doing violence to social structures simultaneously, leaving the same epitaph mentioned above. A connection to the American cult, Heaven's Gate (which of course was a real phenomenon) leads inspector Wallander to finally end the violence.

So you see the religious theme of the tv show that might naturally lead one to think about Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.

Was Jesus a radical? This is not a new question or interpretation and has been emphasized in much writing about Jesus through the years. I would mention Albert Schweitzer, whose study, The Quest of the Historical Jesus (German editions: 1906-1950) portrayed Jesus as an eschatological preacher at odds with his society, in other words, a radical. I take the noun radical, in relation to persons, to connote protest against society in order to steer it onto a better pathway. This "better pathway" involves values or traditions that have been marginalized in the society. In the case of Jesus of Nazareth, his radicalism consisted of protest against the religious laws of his society and the attitude of obedience to laws promulgated by the establishment, i.e., Pharisees and Sadducees. The better way advocated by Jesus is the "narrow way" of Matthew, chapter 7 or the "narrow door" of Luke 13; this path is narrow, not able to accommodate many people; not many find it, it is such a small gateway. The few who find the road are differently directed in comparison to the many of society at large. These few (cf. Lk. 12.32 - "little flock") on the road to "life" (Mt. 7.14) aren't motivated by legal righteousness, but by divine love (see Mk. 12.30).
Is it historically plausible that the man Jesus actually preached a "narrow way" to his contemporaries? Yes, from a historical-critical perspective, it's likely that Jesus taught this. We have the evidence mentioned above, from Mt. and Lk., which probably came into these gospels by means of a source document (called Q by scholars), which would have been written some ten to twenty years after Jesus' death. If one discounts the Q hypothesis, then the "narrow way" sayings of Mt. and Lk probably came to those gospels by means of divergent oral tradition, because of the differences in literary context, which would mean we have two witnesses to a similar teaching of Jesus. (The authors didn't copy from one another.) Besides these verses of Mt. and Lk., there is the Johannine parable of the sheepgate (Jn. 10), which says there is one gate for the sheep, "some other way" is for "robbers." Sheep may go into the pen and out to pasture by one gate. I construe this as corroborating evidence for Q's passage about a "narrow way" or "strait gate" (KJV), but with different imagery. This is enough evidence for the historian to state that Jesus taught a special, limited way to salvation or eternal life, rather than the widespread view of his culture that following the law of Moses in Scripture and tradition was needed. [I don't mean to imply that Jesus repudiated Moses.] Jesus was executed as a lawbreaker, so some Christian radicals in today's world might think little or nothing of breaking the law to accomplish a higher purpose. Would their actions in opposing authority be justified? Religious currents in social history are complicated.

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