Yeshua/Yehoshua/Jesus as a Young Man

Whether Jesus was descended from Abraham and Adam, through David, or was present at creation as the Word, and was born in Bethlehem or Nazareth, he began life as a somewhat public figure in his late 20s.

 Somewhat public? John Meier aptly calls him "marginal" in 5 volumes (soon to be 6!).

 Imagine a guy named Theodore (the 10th most popular boy name, according to the Social Security Administration). Ted from Hutchinson, Kansas, a town of 42,000, where his father has taught him carpet installing. (Jesus was not a carpenter in the construction industry sense, he was a woodworker.)

 He goes to Potter Lake, near Lawrence (twice the size of Hutchinson), where he meets with a man some later thought was his cousin Emmet, who baptizes him by immersion. Emmet points Ted out to the crowd as the guy to follow.

 It probably should be some towns in Nepal or Afghanistan (before the Soviets). In any case, places and people of which no one anywhere half-important has ever heard. Hence, their marginal status. Ten to 15 years after Ted's death, the President was asking his aides "who is this Jed fellow?" (True story: Claudius re "Chrestus.")

 Let's further imagine -- although Nepal or pre-Soviet-invasion Afghanistan would be better for this one -- that Emmet and Ted are such small-town preachers that no media even bothers to report about them. Much less their meeting in Potter Lake.

 So no one who wasn't actually there -- one of what, 300 people max? -- has any clue about the significance of the event. Much less of the ministry (the what?) that would follow.

 Ted is talking to fellow Kansans and his talk is full of farming references a New Yorker would never understand in a million years. Trust me: I was born in Manhattan and didn't know that milk didn't originally come from cartons for years!

 He argues with small town fundamentalist evangelical preachers who wouldn't cause Episcopalians a moment's sleeplessness. They speak in corn-pone English about issues ... you wouldn't understand.

 No NATO general has ever worried about such rabble. Wall Street i-bankers are too busy making money to care.

 This rounds up the portrait of the preacher as a young man. He speaks a language no one does today, to people who were spread throughout the world 40 years after he spoke, about issues that a minuscule proportion of his own people still around even understand.

Apocalypse of John

 The final book of the New Testament is distinctive and in a class of its own. Its name comes from the everyday ancient Greek apokalypsis (apocalypse), meaning "uncovering," "disclosure," or, as its English title suggests, "revelation."

 The book purports to tell, in highly symbolic language and the form of a particular  biblical genre found in passages from the books of Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel, a series of visions of one John of Patmos concerning the end of the world and the Second Coming, or return of Jesus to rule over creation. This is the promised setting aright of all things promised to the apostles.

 Revelation explores the Christian view of eschatology, or the theology of "last things," also known as the end of the world as we know it. The work expands on the Christian break with the Saducees of Jesus' time, who did not believe in an afterlife. It also expands on the Pharisees' belief in an end-times resurrection of the dead, based on passages such as Daniel 12:2: "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt."

 The symbolism and images are not meant for the 21st century reader; they will be puzzling and should not be taken literally. However, written near the end of the fierce persecutions of Christians by Emperor Domitian (AD 81–96), the author's message that not even the most powerful men are ultimately in charge: only God is the sovereign of history. Thus, the intended readership of persecuted Christians had a reason to hope that, in then end, God and their Way, would prevail.

 The author of the book calls himself John, a man exiled to the rocky island of Patmos, a Roman penal colony, because of his Christian faith. He does not explicitly identify himself with the apostle John -- although many Christian Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries did (and some explicitly did not). Most likely, given similar concerns in the gospel of John and Revelation, along with some distinct dissimilarities in vocabulary, grammar, and style, the author was a disciple of John, writing in his style and inspired by his teaching.

 Without going into detail, Revelation can be seen as having an epistolary prologue and epilogue, between which are: 

• letters to the churches of Asia (1:4–3:22), offering specific encouragement to those persecuted communities;
• a vision of heaven, with the presence of God and "the Lamb" (the risen Christ who was offered as a sacrifice, albeit with seven horns and seven eyes), (4:1–5:14);
• a series of violent catastrophes unleashed on humanity, with references to seven seals, trumpets, and plagues (6:1–16:21);
• the punishment of Babylon (a stand-in for the Roman Empire) and the destruction of pagan nations (17:1–20:15);
• and a happy ending of a new creation (21:1–22:5).

 Although a broad variety of symbolic colors, metals and garments appear in Revelation, the easiest symbols to decrypt are numbers. In ancient Jewish and rabbinical numerology 4 stands for the world, 6 for imperfection, 7 for totality or perfection, 1,000 is immensity.

 The number 12 deserves special attention. It references Israel’s tribes or the apostles. Historically, however, it draws from the duodecimal number system used in Abraham's Asian Mesopotamia, with 12 taking the place of our 10. Thus when Revelation speaks of 144,000 saved, it means a huge number (12 x 12 x 1000), rather than what we moderns, with a global population in the billions and cities with millions of residents, might deem a relatively small number of people.

 Similarly, Revelation's harsh-sounding cries for vengeance on the lips of Christian martyrs are a fact literary device. The author is evoking the reader's likely feeling of horror for apostasy and rebellion against the Way of Christ.

 To Christians of that time, falling away from the faith, repentance, and forgiveness of baptism was an irreversible abandonment of the faith. It wasn't until after Domitian's persecution that churches allowed members who fell into sin -- including especially apostasy to avoid execution -- forms of prayerful post-baptismal repentance and signs of forgiveness that evolved into confession and absolution.

 In all, Revelation offers a very suitable -- if challenging to read -- message for 21st century believers who face the greed and materialism that is literally killing our planet, along with the recent surges of authoritarianism and hatred around the world. God will prevail. The Messianic kingdom that seems nowhere in evidence will arise when we least expect it.

The Epistles

 I first came across the word "epistle" in church. In its original Latin form epistola means "a letter," and the Greek ἐπιστολή (epistolé) means "message, letter, command, commission." However, the word was acquired into Old English around the year 1200 directly from Latin, with the specific meaning of "letter from an apostle forming part of canonical scripture."

 That last meaning is what is intended in the case of the New Testament books known by that name. There is some debate as to whether they are actual letters from one person to a community or communities, or literary compositions in the form of a letter designed to convey apostolic teaching.

 Of course, there is a lot of debate about authorship. The generally applicable consensus is that they were either written by a particular apostle, or in his style by his followers, for the purpose of conveying the apostles' response to issues as they arose.

 This is why the context is hugely important. To understand what is meant, one needs some sense of the author, actual or attributed, but also the intended audience -- which, as with everything biblical, is not 21st century Christians of the West.

 Of the 27 NT books, 22 have the form of a letter -- even Revelation, or the Apocalypse of John, begins with an epistle's classic greeting and ends with a closing salutation. For these purposes, I'll exclude Revelation, which is in a genre all its own.

 Of the remaining 21 books, 13 are attributed in the text or by tradition to Paul. These break into two sets.

 First are 9 letters to Christian communities in the Mediterranean that knew of Paul or were known by him. These include a letter to the Romans, two to Corinthians, one each to Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and two to Thessalonians. These have in common that they address particular issues in these communities and assume that the reader knows to what he is referring.

 Four additional letters, are addressed to individuals, are the two letters to Timothy, one to Titus and one to Philemon. Again, we are reading a communication between two people who know each other and also know the circumstances that prompt the letter.

 The Epistle to the Hebrews, is anonymous but has long been counted as Paul's, although scholars as far as St. Jerome, who produced the 4th century Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, have doubted Pauline authorship. Moreover, it is not really in the form of a letter.

 All of these 15 letters were written, according to scholarly consensus, between the years 48 and 67 of our era -- or about 18 to 37 years after the crucifixion, if one accepts the year 30 for that event.

 An additional seven epistles are known as "catholic" letters because they are not addressed to any particular community or person. Thus they are universal letters to all Christians of the time.

 These are the letter of James (often identified with James, called the brother of Jesus), two of Peter (who headed the original 12), three ascribed to John (the Apostle), and one by Jude (called the brother of Jesus and James).

 Questions of authorship and date do not affect the traditional Christian doctrine that these letters are inspired Scripture and accurately convey the teaching of the Apostles. I will read them in that spirit.

To Theophilus

 The second part of the book scholars call Luke-Acts is a bridge between the gospels and 22 other books, most of them teaching letters (or epistles) and one containing a phantasmagoric prophecy of the end of our world.

 Dedicated to the general God lover (Theou = God; philos = love), as was the gospel, the Acts of the Apostles is the story of some of the earliest God-lovers who believed in Jesus. They were taunted — “in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians” (Acts 11:26) — much the way as in our era the followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon were called “Moonies.” (Not equating the two, just pointing out how followers of a new religion get called.)

 The book begins with a short ending of the story of Jesus, with the apostles' last request that he now set everything aright, his response that the Spirit will guide them through what has to happen. and finally his Ascension into the heavens. Two men (angels?) appear and ask them "why are you standing there looking at the sky?" (Acts 1:11). 

 I have often imagined myself staring up agape. I have also experienced a version of the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost in the Charismatic Movement. What I have not witnessed is preaching as fearlessly convincing as Peter's in Jerusalem.

 In Acts 2:42-47 Luke gives us an indelible image of the first community of believers, as follows:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

 Just like our churches today, eh?

 The assemblies of new believers, originally called Nazarene, then Christian, and just after NT times the katholiké (universal in Greek), changed dramatically during the missions to the west. Jesus' original followers were mostly Jews. Paul opened the door to Greek and Roman Gentiles and relieved them of observing Mosaic Law, including circumcision, arguing that they received a circumcision in their hearts.

 Luke follows Peter and Paul spread the good news of the way of Jesus from Jerusalem, the city of Jesus' crucifixion, death, and rising, to Rome, the capital of the era's civilized world. It is said James went further to Spain, where his reputed remains are buried (in Compostela, Galicia), and Thomas as far east as India, where the reformed Orthodox episcopal church in Kerala claims the doubting apostle as its founder.

 Yet Luke sticks with Peter and Paul. It is the central ekklesia of his time. The communities' issues are discussed at length in the 14 letters attributed to Paul and also in the seven universal letters from James, Peter, John and Jude.

 Thus we turn now to the Pauline letters as a whole. Then we can make some distinctions.

The Galilean Woodworker

 In the four gospels, even with disparities and contradictions, we get an overall picture of the sayings and deeds attributed to a Galilean woodworker from the edges of the Roman Empire, who was executed, then -- surprise! -- rose from the dead.

 These four texts were purposely selected among many to teach us about Yeshua bar Yosif.

 They contain often faulty human recollections of stories told and retold about him until some scribes close to the evangelist decided to set it down in writing.

 Whatever we think of him, he was an unusual guy. He healed the sick sometimes by just speaking to them. He made sweeping statements about human life and reality. He challenged the true teaching and practice of the day among his people. He was brought to trial and executed.

 So far, we have one of hundreds of men in robes from ancient times.

 But then he rose, appeared to his disciples and, at least to them, confirmed his roles as Savior and Son of God. Indeed, the resurrection is what made Jesus singular and appealing even to many those who days earlier were clamoring for his execution.

 Storytellers and writers had, of course, to begin with an august origin of Jesus: a son of David, Abraham, Adam and, ultimately, God. This was literary form in antiquity when speaking of important people. People believed someone important had to be born amid signs foretelling his greateness.

 In collecting the sayings and retelling them, each evangelist has his own theological agenda and his own sources. They chose events and words that fit the major point.

 To Mark, Jesus is a mysterious teacher how slowly reveals his identity. To Matthew, Jesus was first and foremost a Jew, challenging common interpretations of Moses' law, yet in synch with all previous Judaic revelation of God, To Luke, Jesus is a historical subject of a lush and dramatic story birth to death and resurrection. To John, Jesus is the divine Logos (Word) made flesh to teach us, save us and rise to await for our eventual reunion with him.

 The important point to keep in mind is that Jesus was all of these things -- and probably more.

 Was he concerned only with the pious poor in spirit or people who lacked needed goods? Probably both. If he loved everyone, how come he cursed some? He probably loved even those he cursed, in frustration. If he was God and Messiah, why didn't he just fix the world 2,000 years ago? Only God literally knows.

 In the end, his followers spawned a movement that is today the most widespread and populous in the world -- yet still enbraces only little more than one-third of humanity (2.22 billion followers, or 31.5% of the Earth's human population).

 The New Testament is not just about Jesus, but about his early followers and their communities. Let's go look at that next.

The Fourth Gospel

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

 One need only read the prologue to realize that the Gospel of John is different. The author doesn’t bother with Adam, Abraham, or David to point to Jesus’ origin: he goes back to when everything was void and formless and there was only God.

 The Fourth Gospel offers what is known as a high Christology, or study of Christ. High because it starts from above, with the divine Christ.

 In the other three, the identity of Jesus is something of a mystery until the resurrection. Jesus himself only hints he is the “Son of Man” — which points the Hebrew speaker to Adam (אָדָם‎ , 'adam, either man, the gender-neutral “human,” or the plural “humankind.”).

  In John, we are shown that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) as Jesus of Nazareth.

 The author identifies himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in John 21:20–25, but does not give his name. Irenaeus of Smyrna, 2nd-century bishop of modern Lyons, said the disciple was the Apostle John. This meshes with the gospel’s controversial use of “the Jews” for people in conflict with Jesus. 

 The companions of John who wrote down and edited his story had not lived in the boisterous Jewish bazaar of ideas in pre-70 Palestine seen in Matthew, Mark and Luke. To them, the rabbis and congregants of the Jewish diaspora, who fiercely rejected Jesus as Messiah, were the folks who kicked them out of synagogues and even fingered fellow believers to Roman persecutors.

 Add to that their high Christology clashing with the Jewish understanding of a divine Jesus as a blasphemous betrayal of monotheism. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” (Deut. 6:4) is even today the most revered affirmation of Jewish faith.

 The Gospel of John has also a distinctive structure. Opening with Jesus as the Word present at creation, John offers a series of signs of his extraordinary character during the ministry, concluding with post-resurrection appearances that seal the divine claim as reality.

 In sum, the Fourth Gospel is the critical theological text that wraps up the original eyewitness-based preaching about Jesus as God, man and savior.

NT's Sitz im Leben

Now I will turn to the setting of the events and writings of the New Testament, which are hugely important for understanding the collection.

(The synoptic contradictions I have not explored center around the crucifixion and resurrection — the former is the most historically accepted event in the life of Jesus and the latter a matter of faith widely disputed — hence I am abandoning that, for the moment.)

What's more important, before we tackle even a summary on the Fourth Gospel, is to focus on the NT’s Sitz im Leben  (German, setting in life). This phrase has been used in biblical criticism since the 19th century, to speak of its political, social, and cultural setting.

The NT’s people and texts developed within the eastern half of the Roman Empire — Jerusalem to Rome — from about 6 BC to 100 AD. The Empire was a one-man rule of territories from Britain to Spain and from Spain to the Holy Land and Syria. It preserved legal republican forms, such as the Senate, but functioned as a massive military and taxation extortion system serving the Emperor, who at times was regarded as at least a demigod.

The society out of which Jesus and his apostles emerged was a subject Jewish people permitted to practice their religion within certain limits. The Jews were mostly Pharisee, Sadducee, or Essenes. 

The Pharisees were the upstanding and legalistic conventional Jews from whom came the rabbinical tradition after the year 70. Sadducees are most easily remembered as “sad, you see,” because they didn’t believe in life after death. The Essenes were one of several monastic groups that lived in caves near the desert; Jesus and John the Baptist probably lived with them some time in their youths.

In addition, were the Kana’im (or zealots), who eventually led a rebellion against the Romans, from 66 to 70. The civil war led to the siege to starvation of Jerusalem and the razing of the Temple compound, one of whose remaining structures is today called the “Wailing Wall.”

Significantly for the faith and the NT, it also led to the expulsion and  dispersal of Jews throughout the Mediterranean and later Europe. The events of the gospels took place before this earthshaking event; the NT texts were mostly written after.

Jesus was a woodworker, or craftsman, rather than a carpenter in the modern construction sense. The disciples had similar specialized crafts. They likely spoke some koiné, or marketplace Greek, and Aramaic, a Galilean Hebrew dialect — but not biblical Hebrew.

Their people lived in one-room dwellings, traveled no more than 30 miles from their birthplaces in their lifetimes, and lived an average of 30 to 40 years. Perhaps one of the easiest-to-read non-specialist books on the subject is Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Henri Daniel-Rops.

All of this is to make clear that the New Testament people and authors had no idea of things such as democracy, middle class comforts, nor the particular ethnic diversity of the American continent.