(Gospel of Mark 1:14 - 1:20)
After John was imprisoned, Jesus traveled through Galilee preaching the gospel of God. "The time is come," he declared, "when the reign of God on earth is imminent. Repent of your sins and receive the gospel!"
Walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus caught sight of Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea -- for they were fishermen. Jesus exhorted them, "Come along with me. I will have you fish for people." Immediately they put down their nets and followed him.
A little farther up the shore, Jesus saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in a boat mending their nets. At once he called to them. Leaving their father Zebedee and the hired men in the boat, they, too, came along with Jesus.
Notes
1. Most translations refer to Jesus proclaiming the "kingdom of God." This means little. God is not a hereditary monarch. What it does mean is that he will reign and rule. Obviously, he already reigns in Heaven, so what Jesus is proclaiming is that God will soon reign on earth. Therefore, it is in the best interests of men to repent of their sins and get in his good graces before it happens.
2. Jesus selects his disciples in what would seem an impulsive manner, no job interviews, examination of resumes, background checks, nothing. The impression given is that he has some preternatural knowledge of the men he chooses and knows what he doing when he selects as his disciples simple fishermen with no religious training or experience in evangelizing. The disciples do not hesitate, ask no questions. They are apparently not given any choice in the matter: they are called and must go with Jesus. Does Jesus compel them with some hypnotic power? Why doesn't he give his disciples a chance to follow him freely, of their own volition, at least give them some time to think about what they are getting into? (It makes a better story this way!) So far the disciples seem a great deal like brainwashed cultists or zombies who wander off, leaving their jobs, to follow some stranger who merely calls to them.
3. So far Jesus has acquired 4 disciples, all Galilean fishermen, Simon (who would later be called Peter) and Andrew, brothers, and James and John, another pair of brothers, sons of Zebedee. There is no indication he knew them in the past or that he had any personal connection with them. A back story is totally absent.
4. There is no indication of the passage of time between the baptism of Jesus and the selection of his disciples, only what time necessary for John to get himself arrested and thrown into jail.
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Breakfast with His Disciples
(Gospel of John 21:1 - 21:14)
Afterwards, Jesus appeared again to his disciples in the following manner: Several of the apostles were by the Sea of Galilee, Simon-Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon-Peter told them he was going out fishing and the others said they would accompany him. However, when they went out in the boat, they caught nothing all night.
At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn't recognize who it was. He called out to them, “Hey boys, haven’t you caught any fish?"
"No, we haven't," they replied.
“Cast the net off your starboard beam and you'll find some!"
They did so, but they couldn't even haul in the net, because there were so many fish in it.
The disciple that Jesus loved told Peter, "It's the Master!"
When Peter heard this, he put on his clothes (for he had taken them off) and jumped into the water, as they were only about 200 cubits from land. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. When they came ashore, they found fish cooking over a charcoal fire and some bread.
Jesus told them, "Bring some of the fish you've just caught." So Simon-Peter boarded the boat and hauled the net onto the beach. It contained 153 large fish, but despite it, the net hadn't torn.
"Come and have breakfast," Jesus invited them. None of the disciples dared ask who he was -- but they knew it was the Master. Jesus took the bread and served it to them and, similarly, served them the fish.
(This, therefore, was the third instance of Jesus revealing himself before his disciples after his resurrection from the dead.)
After they had finished eating, Jesus addressed Simon-Peter and asked him, "Do you, Simon, son of Jonas, love me more than the others do?"
"Yes, Master," he replied. "You know that I love you."
"Feed my lambs," he told him and asked him again, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
"Yes, Master, you know that I love you," he again replied.
“Be a shepherd to my sheep," he told him, but asked, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?"
Peter's feelings were hurt when Jesus had asked him a third time whether he loved him, but he responded, "Master, you know all things, so you must know that I love you."
"Feed my sheep," Jesus told him. "I tell you truly, when you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go, but when you become old you will stretch out your arms. Someone else will dress you and lead you where you don't want to go. (Jesus mentioned this to indicate the manner of death by which he would glorify God.) Jesus then bid him, "Follow me!"
Peter looked back at the disciple that Jesus loved (the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and asked, "Master, who will betray you?”). Peter questioned Jesus,”What will he do, Master?"
"If I wish him to stay here until I return, how does that concern you? You must follow me!" Jesus commanded.
(A rumor spread through the community of believers that this disciple would not die. Yet, Jesus did not say so, only, "If I wish him to stay here until I return, how does that concern you?”)
This is the disciple who was a witness to these events and who recorded them. (And we affirm that his account is accurate.) But there are other things that Jesus accomplished, so many that if each one were written down, I dare say the world would scarcely have room for all the books that would result.
Notes
1. The Gospel of John seems to have come to end in the last chapter, but here we have what seems like an appendix, a coda, something added on after the work had been completed. Perhaps this was a story heard by the author(s) and put it at the end of the book since it was too good to leave out (and it is). But we also have another apt concluding paragraph with the Apostle John taking credit for the authorship of the gospel.
2. The miracle of the abundant catch of fish is one of the miracles that, if it is true, must be just that, a miracle, not a misunderstanding, a parlor trick, an illusion, or an hallucination.
3. Interesting that the exact number of fish in the net is known, but the names of all the disciples present is not. Who was it that made the count and came up with 153 fish? If it were 150, one would assume it was an estimate, but 153 is precise. Does the number convey some symbolic significance or esoteric meaning? Perhaps it is like the story of the white hunter who was thrown exactly 47 yards by the tusks of a charging elephant -- he went back later with a yard stick to measure the distance.
4. Seven of the 12 apostles are present during this miracle. Among them were the sons of Zebedee, James and John. Zebedee was a prosperous fisherman who lived near the fishing town of Bethsaida on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.
5. As is the case with the other postmortem appearances of Jesus, he acts somewhat weirdly, that is, not casually or naturally. The gospel's self-declared author, John (the disciple Jesus loved, as he continually and annoyingly refers to himself) is the one who recognizes Jesus standing on the shore. As usual, it is Peter who acts first. The "big fisherman" impulsively jumps off the boat and swims ashore in an apparent eagerness to see Jesus. (The distance was 200 cubits, about 100 yards.) The story omits any greeting they might have had for each other. Jesus simply invites them to breakfast. No one says, "Hi, Jesus. Hey, I thought you were dead!" Jesus never explains himself. The disciples know it is Jesus, but his appearance must have been altered in some way that made them have some initial doubt of it.
6. Jesus has breakfast ready, including fish. But he asks Peter to bring him some of the fish they have just caught. Did Jesus gut, bone, and cook them himself? Jesus has a charcoal fire ready. (Not a coal fire, for coal was not yet used as a fuel.) Odd that he wouldn't have a wood fire, as one would expect. Did he bring a bag of charcoal down from Heaven with him? Ah, but it was a charcoal fire over which Peter denied Jesus; therefore he must now affirm him over a charcoal fire.
7. Jesus quizzes Peter whether he loves him or not. He asks him three times, probably because Peter denied knowing him three times. Jesus sounds like a nagging wife demanding that her husband tell her he loves her. He tells Peter to feed and tend his lambs and sheep, that is, to take charge of his flock, his religious congregation. He is more or less appointing Peter as the leader of his followers. Peter is, of course, considered the first pope. The illusion to the manner of Peter's death is somewhat vague. Traditionally, Peter was crucified -- upside down - in 64 AD. The outstretched arms apparently refer to his crucifixion.
8. The Gospel of John is purported to have been written by the Apostle John, the disciple that Jesus loved. Few scholars today believe he could have been its author, or the author of Revelation and the epistles ascribed to John. Although authorities disagree as to the exact date it was written (65 AD is probably the earliest), the Gospel of John is believed to have been compiled well after the other gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, (and subsequent to the death of the real John, unless he happened to have been unusually long lived). While the other three books are considered synoptic gospels, that is, they provide an overall summary of events, John highlights particular incidents. Therefore, the Gospel of John is generally conceded to have less authority as a chronicle, but, of the four canonical gospels, it is considered to possess the greatest spiritual depth.
Afterwards, Jesus appeared again to his disciples in the following manner: Several of the apostles were by the Sea of Galilee, Simon-Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon-Peter told them he was going out fishing and the others said they would accompany him. However, when they went out in the boat, they caught nothing all night.
At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn't recognize who it was. He called out to them, “Hey boys, haven’t you caught any fish?"
"No, we haven't," they replied.
“Cast the net off your starboard beam and you'll find some!"
They did so, but they couldn't even haul in the net, because there were so many fish in it.
The disciple that Jesus loved told Peter, "It's the Master!"
When Peter heard this, he put on his clothes (for he had taken them off) and jumped into the water, as they were only about 200 cubits from land. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. When they came ashore, they found fish cooking over a charcoal fire and some bread.
Jesus told them, "Bring some of the fish you've just caught." So Simon-Peter boarded the boat and hauled the net onto the beach. It contained 153 large fish, but despite it, the net hadn't torn.
"Come and have breakfast," Jesus invited them. None of the disciples dared ask who he was -- but they knew it was the Master. Jesus took the bread and served it to them and, similarly, served them the fish.
(This, therefore, was the third instance of Jesus revealing himself before his disciples after his resurrection from the dead.)
After they had finished eating, Jesus addressed Simon-Peter and asked him, "Do you, Simon, son of Jonas, love me more than the others do?"
"Yes, Master," he replied. "You know that I love you."
"Feed my lambs," he told him and asked him again, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
"Yes, Master, you know that I love you," he again replied.
“Be a shepherd to my sheep," he told him, but asked, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?"
Peter's feelings were hurt when Jesus had asked him a third time whether he loved him, but he responded, "Master, you know all things, so you must know that I love you."
"Feed my sheep," Jesus told him. "I tell you truly, when you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go, but when you become old you will stretch out your arms. Someone else will dress you and lead you where you don't want to go. (Jesus mentioned this to indicate the manner of death by which he would glorify God.) Jesus then bid him, "Follow me!"
Peter looked back at the disciple that Jesus loved (the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and asked, "Master, who will betray you?”). Peter questioned Jesus,”What will he do, Master?"
"If I wish him to stay here until I return, how does that concern you? You must follow me!" Jesus commanded.
(A rumor spread through the community of believers that this disciple would not die. Yet, Jesus did not say so, only, "If I wish him to stay here until I return, how does that concern you?”)
This is the disciple who was a witness to these events and who recorded them. (And we affirm that his account is accurate.) But there are other things that Jesus accomplished, so many that if each one were written down, I dare say the world would scarcely have room for all the books that would result.
Notes
1. The Gospel of John seems to have come to end in the last chapter, but here we have what seems like an appendix, a coda, something added on after the work had been completed. Perhaps this was a story heard by the author(s) and put it at the end of the book since it was too good to leave out (and it is). But we also have another apt concluding paragraph with the Apostle John taking credit for the authorship of the gospel.
2. The miracle of the abundant catch of fish is one of the miracles that, if it is true, must be just that, a miracle, not a misunderstanding, a parlor trick, an illusion, or an hallucination.
3. Interesting that the exact number of fish in the net is known, but the names of all the disciples present is not. Who was it that made the count and came up with 153 fish? If it were 150, one would assume it was an estimate, but 153 is precise. Does the number convey some symbolic significance or esoteric meaning? Perhaps it is like the story of the white hunter who was thrown exactly 47 yards by the tusks of a charging elephant -- he went back later with a yard stick to measure the distance.
4. Seven of the 12 apostles are present during this miracle. Among them were the sons of Zebedee, James and John. Zebedee was a prosperous fisherman who lived near the fishing town of Bethsaida on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.
5. As is the case with the other postmortem appearances of Jesus, he acts somewhat weirdly, that is, not casually or naturally. The gospel's self-declared author, John (the disciple Jesus loved, as he continually and annoyingly refers to himself) is the one who recognizes Jesus standing on the shore. As usual, it is Peter who acts first. The "big fisherman" impulsively jumps off the boat and swims ashore in an apparent eagerness to see Jesus. (The distance was 200 cubits, about 100 yards.) The story omits any greeting they might have had for each other. Jesus simply invites them to breakfast. No one says, "Hi, Jesus. Hey, I thought you were dead!" Jesus never explains himself. The disciples know it is Jesus, but his appearance must have been altered in some way that made them have some initial doubt of it.
6. Jesus has breakfast ready, including fish. But he asks Peter to bring him some of the fish they have just caught. Did Jesus gut, bone, and cook them himself? Jesus has a charcoal fire ready. (Not a coal fire, for coal was not yet used as a fuel.) Odd that he wouldn't have a wood fire, as one would expect. Did he bring a bag of charcoal down from Heaven with him? Ah, but it was a charcoal fire over which Peter denied Jesus; therefore he must now affirm him over a charcoal fire.
7. Jesus quizzes Peter whether he loves him or not. He asks him three times, probably because Peter denied knowing him three times. Jesus sounds like a nagging wife demanding that her husband tell her he loves her. He tells Peter to feed and tend his lambs and sheep, that is, to take charge of his flock, his religious congregation. He is more or less appointing Peter as the leader of his followers. Peter is, of course, considered the first pope. The illusion to the manner of Peter's death is somewhat vague. Traditionally, Peter was crucified -- upside down - in 64 AD. The outstretched arms apparently refer to his crucifixion.
8. The Gospel of John is purported to have been written by the Apostle John, the disciple that Jesus loved. Few scholars today believe he could have been its author, or the author of Revelation and the epistles ascribed to John. Although authorities disagree as to the exact date it was written (65 AD is probably the earliest), the Gospel of John is believed to have been compiled well after the other gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, (and subsequent to the death of the real John, unless he happened to have been unusually long lived). While the other three books are considered synoptic gospels, that is, they provide an overall summary of events, John highlights particular incidents. Therefore, the Gospel of John is generally conceded to have less authority as a chronicle, but, of the four canonical gospels, it is considered to possess the greatest spiritual depth.
Monday, March 23, 2015
The Resurrection
(Gospel of John 20:1 - 20:31)
Early on Sunday morning while it was yet dark, Mary of Magdala visited the tomb and noticed that the stone had been removed from the entrance. She ran and fetched Simon-Peter and the other disciple (the one that Jesus loved). She told them, "They've taken the Master out of his tomb, and we don't know where they've put him!"
And so Peter and the other disciple went out to the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and peered inside the tomb. He saw strips of linen lying on the ground, but did not enter. When Peter arrived, he went right inside. He saw the strips of linen. He also saw the cloth that had covered Jesus' head; it had been folded and was lying by itself away from the other wrappings. Then, the other disciple, the one who had reached the tomb first, went inside. He saw and was convinced. (But they still didn't comprehend that, in accordance to the Scriptures, Jesus must rise from the dead.) The disciples then went back to where they were staying.
But Mary of Magdala remained outside the tomb, weeping. As she did so, she happened to gaze into the tomb. There, she saw two beings dressed in white, one sitting at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had lain.
"Madame, why are you weeping?" they asked her.
"Because they've taken away my master, and I don't know where they've taken him," she told them. She turned to leave, but someone else was standing there. It was Jesus! But she didn't recognize him.
"Madam, why are you weeping?" he asked her. "Who is it you're looking for?"
Assuming he was the gardener, she asked of him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, please tell me where you've put him so I can go there and get him."
Jesus called to her, "Mary!"
She turned and exclaimed, "Rabboni!" (which means "teacher" in Aramaic.)
“Please don’t touch me,” Jesus warned her, “because I have yet to ascend to the Father. Go to my brethren and tell them, ‘I will be ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’.”
Mary of Magdala went to see the disciples and announced, "I have seen the Master!" She told them what he had said.
On Sunday evening the doors of the house where the disciples were meeting were locked, for fear of the religious authorities. But Jesus appeared there and stood amongst them, saying, "Peace be with you." After that he showed them his wounded hands and side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Master. Jesus again said, "Peace be with you," and "As the Father has sent me, I send you." He breathed upon them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive someone's sins, they will be forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness, then such forgiveness will be withheld.”
Thomas (called the Twin), one of the twelve apostles, was not with the others when Jesus appeared. They told him, "We have seen the Master." He answered, "Well, I won't believe it until I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound on his side."
A week later the disciples were again in the same house and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were closed, Jesus appeared and stood among them. "Peace be with you," he declared. To Thomas he said, "Put your finger here and observe my hands. Stretch out your arm and place your hand into the wound at my side. Cast aside your doubts and --- believe!"
"My Master, my God!" Thomas responded.
Jesus said to him, "You have come to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe."
Jesus performed before his disciples many other miracles that are not recorded in this book. But these have been written down so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through that belief you may achieve in his name life everlasting.
Notes
1. Mary of Magdala come to the tomb early in the morning on Sunday. Jesus had already risen and left the tomb on Saturday at dusk. Since Jesus more than once prophesied, unambiguously, that he would spend three days and three nights in the grave, we must therefore assume that he was entombed at the end of the day on Wednesday, expiring on the cross in the mid afternoon. The following day, Thursday, the 15th day of Nisan was the first day of Passover, and the Passover seder was eaten the night before. (One must always remember that the new day begins just after sundown.) The day of crucifixion was not Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath, but Wednesday, the day before the holiday of Passover. This misunderstanding has resulted from confused translations and the failure to realize that during the week of Jesus’ crucifixion there were, in fact, two Sabbaths. Although there are some ambiguities and inconsistencies in the gospels, the preponderance of evidence points clearly to a Wednesday crucifixion. If the three-day-and-three-night prophecy is taken seriously (and if it didn't come to pass, it surely would have been deleted from the gospel narratives), then belief in a Friday crucifixion is indefensible. The false Good Friday, an error almost two millennium in duration, continues to be observed not because it is biblical, but because it is traditional. (The lengths to which biblical apologists will go to defend a Friday crucifixion is mind-blowing, especially the insistence that three days and three nights really can fit within a time period of less than 36 hours.) Knowing that the Passover was on Thursday, it can be determined that the crucifixion occurred on Wednesday, March 24, 34 AD, not on the commonly accepted dates of 30 AD (which is too early anyway) or 33 AD, when the Passovers were on Friday evenings. Since he was preceded by John the Baptist, Jesus’ ministry would have begun after 29 AD, the 15th year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when the evangelism of John the Baptist was reported to have begun (Gospel of Luke). There is sufficient time for all the gospel events to have taken place, which is doubtful if the earlier dates are accepted. And in 34 AD Caiaphas was still high priest and Pontius Pilate was still governor. The conversion of Paul, therefore, would have occurred in 35 AD, which is not too late to conform to other events of known chronology.
2. An important part of the Resurrection narrative is that the stone sealing the tomb is rolled away -- or maybe dragged away, or picked up and moved. The impression is given that the tomb opening is not that large. It is, of course, large enough to accommodate a body, but it seems that one must stoop to peer inside. Even so, the size of a boulder or dressed stone needed to block and close the entrance would have been fairly massive, too weighty for a man of normal strength to heave by himself. So, who moved the stone? Jesus, endowed posthumously with superhuman strength, or some other being or beings who had materialized inside the tomb could have moved it from the inside. Or some persons or otherworldly beings could have moved it from the outside. Or the stone could have been moved by some force acting upon it.
3. It is assumed that the stone was moved so that Jesus could exit the tomb. After he left the tomb, he didn't put the stone back, presumably to leave evidence of his departure from the grave and his resurrection. However, since Jesus was now able to materialize and dematerialize, he would not have needed to move the stone to free himself from his tomb. So the moving of the stone was strictly for show.
4. Jesus unwraps his grave clothes, the spiced linen strips in which his once dead body was wound, and leaves them lying on the ground. He removed the head cloth. For whatever reason, he doesn't discard it with the strips of linen, but folds (or rolls) it up, neatly one assumes, and places it elsewhere. This gives the impression that the resurrection was a mere reawakening, a returning to life. For instance, his grave clothes were not burned off his body in a numinous flash of light and lightning. There is no mention of a shroud and if a shroud had been laid across his body, which it might have been, it would not, like the still-controversial Shroud of Turin, have received the impression of his wounds, since his body was swathed in linen. (If the Shroud of Turin is genuine and was created in a burst of some divine energy produced during the resurrection process, as is often claimed, then the gospel accounts of a deceased Jesus undergoing normal burial procedure, being wrapped in linen, must be incorrect.)
5. Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved, presumably John, rush to the tomb, summoned by Mary of Magdala when she finds the stone has been removed from the entrance. John reaches the tomb first. Why? Well, the assumed author of the account must keep a little glory for himself. And it must be considered that Peter was a big guy and probably not as fast a runner as John was and therefore, would have gotten there last. But Peter was a rash, impetuous man, so he entered the tomb immediately without thinking. He was the apostle leader and it was his place to do so. However, it is Mary of Magdala who is able to see the risen Jesus first and not the apostles Peter and John. One may speculate as to the reason for this, but perhaps Jesus simply wasn't ready to face his disciples at that point and wanted to visit them when they were all together. Or he may have valued Mary of Magdala more than any of his disciples.
6. Looking into the tomb, Mary first sees the two beings dressed in white sitting on the place where Jesus' body had been placed. Why were they not seen before by Peter and John? Were they incorporeal and decided to reveal themselves only to Mary of Magdala? Why were they seated? Were they tired? Was the tomb too small for standing room? One assumes that the beings were from Heaven and had come to assist Jesus after the resurrection, or to facilitate the resurrection -- perhaps to remove the stone from the tomb entrance. But why would the Son of God need their assistance? Irrespective of their function, their appearance sets the stage for the revelation of the miraculous event. It suggests that Jesus, now risen, is no longer in the company of men, but of heavenly beings.
7. Mary of Magdala does not recognize Jesus when she first sees him. Is this because he has been physically altered after his resurrection, or because it is still dark and she wasn't able to get a good look at him? Jesus himself first treats her as if he doesn't know who she is, as if she is a stranger, only later addressing her by name. She is warned about touching or holding on to Jesus. Why? Is he radioactive? Will she get an electric shock? Obviously if Jesus is still inhabiting a reanimated physical body, it has been altered in some way. Or, if his spirit is manifest in an astral body that appears in all respects material, he may be fearful she will find that his body is not wholly corporeal and be freaked out. Later, though, when Jesus appears to Thomas, he has the doubting disciple touch the wounds he received on the cross. This would lead one to believe that his body was entirely physical, although Jesus feels no pain from his earthly wounds. Yet, he materializes in the presence of his disciples (he doesn't just walk in the door), something that he, despite being the self-declared Son of God, was not able or willing to do while he was alive. Is this the manifestation of a physical body or the total materialization of an astral one? If the astral body is being seen, then what has happened to the physical body? He could have just as easily have appeared before his disciples in astral form with his physical body still in the tomb, yet the gospels support the belief that Jesus appears postmortem in the same physical body he inhabited during his life.
8. A compelling question, seldom asked, is what happened to the 75 pounds of aloes and myrrh applied to Jesus' body and his grave clothes. Wouldn't he have reeked of the stuff when Mary of Magdala saw him, or did he have time to bathe? It is not mentioned how Jesus was clothed. I'm sure Mary would have noticed if he was still nude and covered with lash wounds. Did someone, the beings in white perhaps, present him with some resurrection-appropriate wardrobe?
9. Thomas, a man from the Holy Land equivalent of Missouri, does not believe the other disciples when they say they have seen the once dead Jesus alive. He is somewhat maligned in this regard. He is not doubting Jesus, he is doubting Jesus' disciples. He is merely questioning what seems preposterous and incredible. When, on his second appearance before them, Jesus allows him to examine and touch his wounds, Thomas is convinced. But Jesus does not compliment his common-sense caution, but praises those who do not need to see to believe. He and the religion promulgated under his name values faith above all: to believe without proof is nobler than believing after evidence has been presented and examined, and reasoned conclusions formed. Thomas, who evinces the skepticism of a man who thinks, who accepts nothing unquestioningly, is not the sort of sheep-like follower that Jesus is apparently seeking.
10. Jesus gives his apostles the authority to forgive or not to forgive sins, assuming what one would think would be the sole prerogative of God, or at least the Son of God. They were to be divine judges. Were the apostles faultless in their assessment of guilt? Did they have omniscient knowledge of facts or some infallible insight into the hearts of men?
11. Incidences of people, especially those suffering a sudden, traumatic death, appearing in apparently physical form after death are not uncommon. Sometimes ghostly apparitions are witnessed, but there are well authenticated cases of manifestations that are indistinguishable from a living person. These wraiths often communicate telepathically, but there are occasions as well when a total materialization allows for seemingly normal verbal communication.
12. The mystery of the resurrection, of what really happened -- whether it is a complete myth or utter fact or something between -- cannot be solved. With any mystery there are many things that are probably, but unprovably true, things which only might be true, but always a few things that can be accepted as incontrovertible fact. Here, there is nothing that can be accepted without question, nothing upon which a theory can be solidly built. For no historian contemporary with Jesus ever referred to him; there is no record of his life outside the gospels. The gospels are purportedly first-hand accounts, but we know that their authors were not the apostles to whom they were ascribed. They are, therefore, second-hand accounts at best. They were written decades after the fact. And they are religious propaganda intended to glorify its subject, indoctrinate the faithful, and convert the doubtful, not objective historical records. The gospels themselves disagree and present conflicting and incompatible accounts. In the end, the truth that Pilate inquired about cannot be known.
Early on Sunday morning while it was yet dark, Mary of Magdala visited the tomb and noticed that the stone had been removed from the entrance. She ran and fetched Simon-Peter and the other disciple (the one that Jesus loved). She told them, "They've taken the Master out of his tomb, and we don't know where they've put him!"
And so Peter and the other disciple went out to the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and peered inside the tomb. He saw strips of linen lying on the ground, but did not enter. When Peter arrived, he went right inside. He saw the strips of linen. He also saw the cloth that had covered Jesus' head; it had been folded and was lying by itself away from the other wrappings. Then, the other disciple, the one who had reached the tomb first, went inside. He saw and was convinced. (But they still didn't comprehend that, in accordance to the Scriptures, Jesus must rise from the dead.) The disciples then went back to where they were staying.
But Mary of Magdala remained outside the tomb, weeping. As she did so, she happened to gaze into the tomb. There, she saw two beings dressed in white, one sitting at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had lain.
"Madame, why are you weeping?" they asked her.
"Because they've taken away my master, and I don't know where they've taken him," she told them. She turned to leave, but someone else was standing there. It was Jesus! But she didn't recognize him.
"Madam, why are you weeping?" he asked her. "Who is it you're looking for?"
Assuming he was the gardener, she asked of him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, please tell me where you've put him so I can go there and get him."
Jesus called to her, "Mary!"
She turned and exclaimed, "Rabboni!" (which means "teacher" in Aramaic.)
“Please don’t touch me,” Jesus warned her, “because I have yet to ascend to the Father. Go to my brethren and tell them, ‘I will be ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’.”
Mary of Magdala went to see the disciples and announced, "I have seen the Master!" She told them what he had said.
On Sunday evening the doors of the house where the disciples were meeting were locked, for fear of the religious authorities. But Jesus appeared there and stood amongst them, saying, "Peace be with you." After that he showed them his wounded hands and side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Master. Jesus again said, "Peace be with you," and "As the Father has sent me, I send you." He breathed upon them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive someone's sins, they will be forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness, then such forgiveness will be withheld.”
Thomas (called the Twin), one of the twelve apostles, was not with the others when Jesus appeared. They told him, "We have seen the Master." He answered, "Well, I won't believe it until I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound on his side."
A week later the disciples were again in the same house and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were closed, Jesus appeared and stood among them. "Peace be with you," he declared. To Thomas he said, "Put your finger here and observe my hands. Stretch out your arm and place your hand into the wound at my side. Cast aside your doubts and --- believe!"
"My Master, my God!" Thomas responded.
Jesus said to him, "You have come to believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe."
Jesus performed before his disciples many other miracles that are not recorded in this book. But these have been written down so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through that belief you may achieve in his name life everlasting.
Notes
1. Mary of Magdala come to the tomb early in the morning on Sunday. Jesus had already risen and left the tomb on Saturday at dusk. Since Jesus more than once prophesied, unambiguously, that he would spend three days and three nights in the grave, we must therefore assume that he was entombed at the end of the day on Wednesday, expiring on the cross in the mid afternoon. The following day, Thursday, the 15th day of Nisan was the first day of Passover, and the Passover seder was eaten the night before. (One must always remember that the new day begins just after sundown.) The day of crucifixion was not Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath, but Wednesday, the day before the holiday of Passover. This misunderstanding has resulted from confused translations and the failure to realize that during the week of Jesus’ crucifixion there were, in fact, two Sabbaths. Although there are some ambiguities and inconsistencies in the gospels, the preponderance of evidence points clearly to a Wednesday crucifixion. If the three-day-and-three-night prophecy is taken seriously (and if it didn't come to pass, it surely would have been deleted from the gospel narratives), then belief in a Friday crucifixion is indefensible. The false Good Friday, an error almost two millennium in duration, continues to be observed not because it is biblical, but because it is traditional. (The lengths to which biblical apologists will go to defend a Friday crucifixion is mind-blowing, especially the insistence that three days and three nights really can fit within a time period of less than 36 hours.) Knowing that the Passover was on Thursday, it can be determined that the crucifixion occurred on Wednesday, March 24, 34 AD, not on the commonly accepted dates of 30 AD (which is too early anyway) or 33 AD, when the Passovers were on Friday evenings. Since he was preceded by John the Baptist, Jesus’ ministry would have begun after 29 AD, the 15th year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when the evangelism of John the Baptist was reported to have begun (Gospel of Luke). There is sufficient time for all the gospel events to have taken place, which is doubtful if the earlier dates are accepted. And in 34 AD Caiaphas was still high priest and Pontius Pilate was still governor. The conversion of Paul, therefore, would have occurred in 35 AD, which is not too late to conform to other events of known chronology.
2. An important part of the Resurrection narrative is that the stone sealing the tomb is rolled away -- or maybe dragged away, or picked up and moved. The impression is given that the tomb opening is not that large. It is, of course, large enough to accommodate a body, but it seems that one must stoop to peer inside. Even so, the size of a boulder or dressed stone needed to block and close the entrance would have been fairly massive, too weighty for a man of normal strength to heave by himself. So, who moved the stone? Jesus, endowed posthumously with superhuman strength, or some other being or beings who had materialized inside the tomb could have moved it from the inside. Or some persons or otherworldly beings could have moved it from the outside. Or the stone could have been moved by some force acting upon it.
3. It is assumed that the stone was moved so that Jesus could exit the tomb. After he left the tomb, he didn't put the stone back, presumably to leave evidence of his departure from the grave and his resurrection. However, since Jesus was now able to materialize and dematerialize, he would not have needed to move the stone to free himself from his tomb. So the moving of the stone was strictly for show.
4. Jesus unwraps his grave clothes, the spiced linen strips in which his once dead body was wound, and leaves them lying on the ground. He removed the head cloth. For whatever reason, he doesn't discard it with the strips of linen, but folds (or rolls) it up, neatly one assumes, and places it elsewhere. This gives the impression that the resurrection was a mere reawakening, a returning to life. For instance, his grave clothes were not burned off his body in a numinous flash of light and lightning. There is no mention of a shroud and if a shroud had been laid across his body, which it might have been, it would not, like the still-controversial Shroud of Turin, have received the impression of his wounds, since his body was swathed in linen. (If the Shroud of Turin is genuine and was created in a burst of some divine energy produced during the resurrection process, as is often claimed, then the gospel accounts of a deceased Jesus undergoing normal burial procedure, being wrapped in linen, must be incorrect.)
5. Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved, presumably John, rush to the tomb, summoned by Mary of Magdala when she finds the stone has been removed from the entrance. John reaches the tomb first. Why? Well, the assumed author of the account must keep a little glory for himself. And it must be considered that Peter was a big guy and probably not as fast a runner as John was and therefore, would have gotten there last. But Peter was a rash, impetuous man, so he entered the tomb immediately without thinking. He was the apostle leader and it was his place to do so. However, it is Mary of Magdala who is able to see the risen Jesus first and not the apostles Peter and John. One may speculate as to the reason for this, but perhaps Jesus simply wasn't ready to face his disciples at that point and wanted to visit them when they were all together. Or he may have valued Mary of Magdala more than any of his disciples.
6. Looking into the tomb, Mary first sees the two beings dressed in white sitting on the place where Jesus' body had been placed. Why were they not seen before by Peter and John? Were they incorporeal and decided to reveal themselves only to Mary of Magdala? Why were they seated? Were they tired? Was the tomb too small for standing room? One assumes that the beings were from Heaven and had come to assist Jesus after the resurrection, or to facilitate the resurrection -- perhaps to remove the stone from the tomb entrance. But why would the Son of God need their assistance? Irrespective of their function, their appearance sets the stage for the revelation of the miraculous event. It suggests that Jesus, now risen, is no longer in the company of men, but of heavenly beings.
7. Mary of Magdala does not recognize Jesus when she first sees him. Is this because he has been physically altered after his resurrection, or because it is still dark and she wasn't able to get a good look at him? Jesus himself first treats her as if he doesn't know who she is, as if she is a stranger, only later addressing her by name. She is warned about touching or holding on to Jesus. Why? Is he radioactive? Will she get an electric shock? Obviously if Jesus is still inhabiting a reanimated physical body, it has been altered in some way. Or, if his spirit is manifest in an astral body that appears in all respects material, he may be fearful she will find that his body is not wholly corporeal and be freaked out. Later, though, when Jesus appears to Thomas, he has the doubting disciple touch the wounds he received on the cross. This would lead one to believe that his body was entirely physical, although Jesus feels no pain from his earthly wounds. Yet, he materializes in the presence of his disciples (he doesn't just walk in the door), something that he, despite being the self-declared Son of God, was not able or willing to do while he was alive. Is this the manifestation of a physical body or the total materialization of an astral one? If the astral body is being seen, then what has happened to the physical body? He could have just as easily have appeared before his disciples in astral form with his physical body still in the tomb, yet the gospels support the belief that Jesus appears postmortem in the same physical body he inhabited during his life.
8. A compelling question, seldom asked, is what happened to the 75 pounds of aloes and myrrh applied to Jesus' body and his grave clothes. Wouldn't he have reeked of the stuff when Mary of Magdala saw him, or did he have time to bathe? It is not mentioned how Jesus was clothed. I'm sure Mary would have noticed if he was still nude and covered with lash wounds. Did someone, the beings in white perhaps, present him with some resurrection-appropriate wardrobe?
9. Thomas, a man from the Holy Land equivalent of Missouri, does not believe the other disciples when they say they have seen the once dead Jesus alive. He is somewhat maligned in this regard. He is not doubting Jesus, he is doubting Jesus' disciples. He is merely questioning what seems preposterous and incredible. When, on his second appearance before them, Jesus allows him to examine and touch his wounds, Thomas is convinced. But Jesus does not compliment his common-sense caution, but praises those who do not need to see to believe. He and the religion promulgated under his name values faith above all: to believe without proof is nobler than believing after evidence has been presented and examined, and reasoned conclusions formed. Thomas, who evinces the skepticism of a man who thinks, who accepts nothing unquestioningly, is not the sort of sheep-like follower that Jesus is apparently seeking.
10. Jesus gives his apostles the authority to forgive or not to forgive sins, assuming what one would think would be the sole prerogative of God, or at least the Son of God. They were to be divine judges. Were the apostles faultless in their assessment of guilt? Did they have omniscient knowledge of facts or some infallible insight into the hearts of men?
11. Incidences of people, especially those suffering a sudden, traumatic death, appearing in apparently physical form after death are not uncommon. Sometimes ghostly apparitions are witnessed, but there are well authenticated cases of manifestations that are indistinguishable from a living person. These wraiths often communicate telepathically, but there are occasions as well when a total materialization allows for seemingly normal verbal communication.
12. The mystery of the resurrection, of what really happened -- whether it is a complete myth or utter fact or something between -- cannot be solved. With any mystery there are many things that are probably, but unprovably true, things which only might be true, but always a few things that can be accepted as incontrovertible fact. Here, there is nothing that can be accepted without question, nothing upon which a theory can be solidly built. For no historian contemporary with Jesus ever referred to him; there is no record of his life outside the gospels. The gospels are purportedly first-hand accounts, but we know that their authors were not the apostles to whom they were ascribed. They are, therefore, second-hand accounts at best. They were written decades after the fact. And they are religious propaganda intended to glorify its subject, indoctrinate the faithful, and convert the doubtful, not objective historical records. The gospels themselves disagree and present conflicting and incompatible accounts. In the end, the truth that Pilate inquired about cannot be known.
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