Acts of the Apostles: Chapters 8 to 14

Click here for the first part of Acts.

CHAPTER 8

Well, after Stephen has been killed, people have to scatter.  We’re told that they go across the area, and only the apostles stay in Jerusalem.  People kept trying to destroy the church – with Saul leading the charge against them.

But enough about that, because we get an oddly placed segue that focuses on the apostle Phillip.  We’re told he goes to Samaria (which is odd, because just three verses earlier this book explicitly told us the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. 

Anyhow, Phillip does good deeds, and wins over some supporters, most notably a magician named Simon (who becomes devoted to Philip). Tales of Phillip’s accomplishments reaches Jerusalem, and they send Peter and John down to help.  The apostles pray to lay the Holy Spirit on the new followers.  Simon sees this and offers Peter money to know how to do it.  To put it mildly, Peter doesn’t think much of this plan.  He demands Simon repent, and it appears he does.

Phillip takes to the road in search of new converts, and finds a doozy.  Actually, it’s a scene I remember from the TV mini-series “A.D.” – it’s Phillip and the Ethiopian treasurer.  Essentially, the treasurer picks Phillip up in an ancient version of hitchhiking.  Phil spreads the good news about Christ, and the treasurer is tickled to hear it, and converts as soon as they come to a river (for water to baptize him with).  Mission accomplished, God immediately snatched Phillip away to go elsewhere. 

It’s a little weird, because we had just been introduced into the Saul-Paul cycle of stories right before the Phillip stories, and now that this little detour is over, we’ll go back to Saul next chapter.  Maybe it was just some stories Luke didn’t know how to incorporate otherwise.  But to me it reads like a possible later addition.  This was the book about the apostles, and a guy knew some Phillip stories left out of the original, and so added them here.  May as well put them here – it is after people started leaving Jerusalem but before the Saul-Paul stories really get going. (One problem: we end up with Phillip converting a gentile before the apostles decide doing so is a good idea.  So yeah, these stories are probably a later addition). 

There is one other thing about this story that is remarkable – Ethiopia would be a Christian land until, well, essentially it still is. Christianity worked its way down there during the Roman/Byzantine times and managed to survive.  It lost out in some other places it had once been established in, but survived there.  It’s the historic stronghold for Christ in Africa.  And wouldn’t you know it, you get the story of Phillip with an Ethiopian. 

CHAPTER 9

Back to Saul.  He’s on the hunt to persecute more Christians, when something happens.  He’s going to Damascus to help Jews there persecute Christians where one of the most famous incidents of the Bible occurs.  He’s blinded by a heavenly light, and hears a voice ask, “Why are you persecuting me?”  When Saul asks who is talking, the voice says it’s Jesus. 

Interestingly, there are some people with Saul.  I think the story works better if it’s just a personal Saul-Jesus meeting with no one else there.  But then again, if he is blind and on the road by himself, he won’t survive.  The others hear the voice as well, by the way.  It scares them – a voice and no face to go with it!

Blind Saul enters the town, and after a few days, he gets some unexpected help.  Jesus has spoken in a dream to a good Christian named Ananias.  Jesus tells Ananias to go to Saul and offer help.  Use the power Christ is now giving him, and let Saul see again.  Ananias is rather skittish when he first hears this – you want me to help the top persecutor of Christians?  Are you sure you’ve thought this one through, oh Lord?  Jesus assures him that yes, this is the way to go.  Saul is an instrument of Jesus, and will later preach the word to the gentiles.  So Ananias goes off to help.

After a quick applying of the hands and prayer, scales fall from Saul’s eyes.  He’s been blind for three days (during which time he neither ate nor drink, which sound like bad ideas to me, but never mind).  Anyhow, the most famous conversion of all-time has just taken place.  Saul is now on the side of those he had been persecuted.

Saul (and yes, the Bible still calls him Saul here, and for a little bit later) starts spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to the people of Damascus.  The Jews are floored – this is not the message they expected to hear from this guy.  Eventually, they get upset and the situation is now too hot for Saul.  His followers help him escape, lowering Saul from the walls of Damascus hiding in a basket.

Immediately after that, Saul goes to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles.  He wins them over and learns from them.  At least, that’s the version we get in Acts.  Later, in one of his letters, Paul tells a different story.  He’ll say he didn’t go to Jerusalem and argue that his knowledge of Christ comes not from some third party source like the apostles, but directly from Christ in heaven.  This’ll be an issue later on.  For now, I’ll just note that sometimes the stories told of Paul here are at odds with the words by Paul about Paul.  (Note: at this point in Acts he’s still called Saul, though).

Meanwhile, Peter performs some miracles, most notably bringing a girl named Tabitha back from the dead.  But she wasn’t nearly as dead as Lazarus had been, so no one remembers this story.  That seems to be a shame.

CHAPTER 10

Now we see a historical shift in focus begin.  So far, the apostles had looked just to Jews for converts.  (Well, aside from Phillip and the Ethiopian, that is). In Chapter 10, the decision is made to convert gentiles.

It begins with a vision.  A Roman centurion named Cornelius is a believer in God.  He is Jewish in everything but circumcision – but that means he isn’t Jewish.  He has a vision from God telling him to see Peter, who is in town.

While Cornelius is processing that, God sends a second vision to Peter.  Basically, it’s a vision of pork chops.  No, not exactly – but God gives Peter a vision of all sorts of animals (including some which Jews are not to eat according to the laws of Moses).  God tells Peter to feast on them, but Peter protests – he knows the rules.  God responds with a great line, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”  Yeah, nice line.  The laws are in place not because Moses said so – but because God said so.  And if God says, “Never mind” that means you don’t have to mind the laws.  This makes lots of sense.  Just to drive the point home, God repeats the message three times in all.  (Boy, I guess Peter went to be hungry to have so much food in his holy vision).

At any rate, Peter is trying to figure out what the vision of righteous bacon meant, when Cornelius sees him.  Ah!  Now it all makes sense!  OK, so Cornelius isn’t snipped, but if God thinks he is clean, who is Peter to say Cornelius is profane?  And so Peter welcomes him into the church. 

This is the key moment.  Peter is now on board with converting gentiles to the religion without making them undergo traditional Jewish rituals – like circumcision.  You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Christian.  The Jesus movement is becoming a completely different religion instead of a new variation on Judaism. 

CHAPTER 11

Peter, convinced of converting gentiles, now convinces the other apostles of this approach.  It’s a short chapter and half of it basically repeats what was said in Chapter 10, but the upshot: everyone is on board with this new approach. Let’s start converting gentiles as well.

With the new approach, a church dedicated to Christ is established in the gentile town of Antioch.  And there, we get a new name for the followers of Christ: Christians.  They get the name from gentiles in order to distinguish them from Jews.  That’s why the name emerges with the new approach. And it’s just another step in become a different religion – having a different name. 

CHAPTER 12

Meanwhile, persecution of the Christians continues.  King Herod apparently really hates them.  He has the apostle James – the brother of John one, not the other James – is killed by a sword.  The Jews liked this, so Herod arrests Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  He puts pretty elaborate security precautions in place, putting four squads of four soldiers each with Peter in double chains.  Man, that’s some serious overkill, isn’t it?  All these precautions are only needed if you really think the Lord is going to help Peter.  Wait – no, then they’d be futile (spoiler!) because – dude: Lord! Thank you.  There is one other reason to engage in all these security precautions: it makes a more dramatic story when Peter does escape (spoiler!).  Yeah, I think that this story is either inflated greatly or just a fable.

Peter is in jail, and the Lord stages a jailbreak.  The shackles fall from his wrists.  An angel guides him out past the guards.  Peter recovers his senses and dashes to the house of Mary, “the mother of John who is called Mark.”  So this Mary isn’t one of our famous Marys from the gospel.  But “John who is called Mark” happens to be the Mark as in Gospel of Mark.  (You can’t have two Gospels According to John, so they went with his nickname).  Everyone is amazed to see Peter.  In fact, when some are first told that Peter is there, the replay is “You are out of your mind.”  Heh.  Even in a book people full of miracles people aren’t expecting to se Peter again. 

Well, Peter tells people to report his escape to James.  According to the footnotes, this James isn’t the surviving apostle James.  No, it’s the brother of Jesus – James Christ.  He’ll come up again in the epistles portion of the New Testament.  Why, he ever wrote one of the epistles.  And our first non-Christian report on the Christians – Josepheus’s history of the Jews, notes that James the brother of Jesus was the leader of the Christian movement in Jerusalem after his brother’s death.  (Note: Josepheus wasn’t just a historian, but essentially a contemporary.  He survived the big 66-70 AD rebellion and wrote his history after it.  He was at best a small boy when Christ died, but he certainly overlapped with the apostles).

Anyhow, the point is this – while we always think of the early church being Jesus and the apostles and then St. Paul – the leader of the main branch of the movement was James Christ in Jerusalem.  But his branch got snipped off by the big 66-70 uprising that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem.  (According to Josepheus, James was already dead by the time the Romans stormed the city).  We’ll see James keep appearing throughout, and sometimes he is referred to as the brother of Jesus.  And he always is a guy with juice.  The most important pre-Paul figures in the church were James Christ, Peter, and John.

Oh, Herod orders the execution of the 16 guards on duty when Peter escaped.  Bummer.  These are incidental casualties, ones caught in the crossfire; just like the babies murdered in the slaughter of innocents in the Gospel According to Matthew.  Well, the good news is that I doubt either incident happened, so let’s move on.

Herod dies.  And I do believe this is the last chapter in the book not to primarily focus on Saul/Paul. He comes up at the end, though.  We learn that he and Barnabas have finished a mission and returned to Jerusalem.  Then they go out again, taking “John who is called Mark.”  Man, that’s a confusing nickname.

CHAPTER 13

This chapter recounts some wanderings on behalf of Christ by Saul/Paul and his posse (Barnabas and John/Mark). 

Most notably, we finally change names on Saul.  He’s now called Paul.  I thought his name change was supposed to signify his religious conversion.  He’s become a new man so he gets a new name.  Nope.  It’s nothing like that.  Paul is just the gentile name for Saul.  Now that he’ll primarily being working the gentile beat, he’s known by their variation on his name.  He thus never really changes his name.  Huh.  I didn’t know that. 

Paul defeats a magician named Bar-Jesus in Cyprus.  He then gives a long sermon at a synagogue at Antioch, which most rehashes the Old Testament, but (naturally) culminates with the coming of Jesus Christ.  This makes a big impact and draws a sizable crowd – almost the whole city, we’re told.  But they’re not all happy.  The Jews were jealous and violently contradict Paul. 

In fact, they have Paul and Barnabas expelled from town.  I like the line that describes what Paul and Barnabas did next: “So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.”  I just love how that’s put.  Starting the sentence with “So” makes it all seem so matter of act.  “So I got out of bed after waking up.”  “So I belched after eating.”  These guys have just been kicked out of town – but, hey – no biggee.  They’ll survive.  I also like the phrase “shook the dusty from their feet.”  It’s not terribly original, but it just paints a picture in my mind of guys matter of factly responding to their setback by getting up and moving on.  They’re not going to let some hostility prevent them from spreading God’s word.  As we’ll see, Paul can take a licking and keep on ticking.

CHAPTER 14

Now in Iconium, Paul and Barnabas have the same problems as before.  They found some converts among the Jews and Greeks, but, “the disbelieving Jews stirred up and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against the brothers.”  Things get pretty heated.  In fact, we’re told that an attempt was made to stone Paul and Barnabas, so they had to leave.  The passage isn’t really clear is there was a stoning – “When there was an attempt by both Gentiles and the Jews, together with their leaders, to attack and stone them” – so were rocks thrown or not?  I guess not, because later we get an actual attempted stoning, and it’s clear what happened.  Still, Paul and Barnabas all kinds of problems.  But hey – Jesus did say he came to bring not peace but the sword.

Next, they come to the Greek town of Lystra.  They have a different sort of problem here.  When the locals see them perform miracles and acts of heeling, they have their own classically Greek interpretation – they are Greek gods.  They call Barnabas “Zeus” and figure that Paul is Hermes.  OK, now that’s funny for two reasons.  First, I get a kick of these guys missing the point and declaring the messengers to be gods – and part of the wrong god system at that!  Also, it’s funny that Paul doesn’t get top billing.  The Bible explains he’s called Hermes because he’s the mouthpiece.  I guess they figure Barnabas is The Man behind The Man. 

Well, Paul and Barnabas try to set everyone straight, but run into new problems instead.  Some Jews from Antioch come up and rile everyone up against the Christian missionaries.  It was the people of Antioch, you might recall, that wanted Paul and Barnabas stoned.  Well, they finally get their stoning.  Paul is stoned and dragged out of town, believed to be dead.  But he wasn’t dead.  I don’t know if he was unconscious or just playing possum, but once he’s dumped outside town (for the wild animals to eat up, I guess), he gets up.  He and Barnabas leave for Derbe.

Well, the chapter ends with the boys retracing their steps, going back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch to bolster the spirits of the Christians in each town.  Huh.  So despite their horrible treatment, they had set their seeds.  (It’s just like the parables of Christ – start with a small seed, but plant in rich soil and watch it grown into a mighty plant.  That’s exactly what Paul is doing. He is the Johnny Appleseed of the early Christian church).  However hated Paul and Barnabas were when they left towns, things had apparently cooled down enough to allow them to return in peace.  It sounds like they’re mostly looking after the Christians already there instead of preaching and trying to convert the masses.  Yeah, that’ll help.  They’d be less in people’s faces, and keeping a lower profile. 

Click here for the next part of Acts.

Acts of the Apostles: Chapters 1 to 7

Click here for the end of the Gospel According to John.

CHAPTER 1

I wondered why this was considered to be written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, but wow – it’s pretty dang clear.  This book starts with an introduction – just like Luke did.  (And Luke was the only gospel to do so).  This intro flatly states that this is the second volume, and the first volume was a history of Jesus Christ.  Oh, and the topper is that the author refers to the readers as “Theophilus” which apparently means “friend of God.”  I assume that modern Bibles don’t translate the word into modern vernacular as a way to hang out a sign saying “Same Guy Wrote Luke and Acts.”  There is really no reason not to translate it, unless you want to draw readers’ attention that the same guy wrote both.

I guess technically it could be someone else writing it and aping the style of the first, but as far as I know, no notable Biblical scholars think that.

When Acts begin, Christ is still with the apostles.  It’s post-crucifixion, but he’s returned.  Oh, and this is where we learn that Christ ascended to heaven after spending 40 days with his apostles.  So that’s where that detail comes from.  I assumed it was in one of the gospels, but didn’t know which one and figured I’d missed that detail.  Ah, I hadn’t.  Good to know.

Before he goes, Jesus promises his apostles that the Holy Spirit will come to them.  After he goes, they apostles hang out in Jerusalem, basically waiting to be Holy Spirit-ed.  Luke lists the apostles – and the list really throws me for a loop.  There are 11 listed. OK, that’s fine.  12 minus Judas.  Fine – but the 11^th and last guy listed is “Judas, son of James.”  Wait – what?  There is still a Judas.  I got my list of apostles from one of the gospels and I see one name missing: Thaddeus.  Where is he?

Looking it up, Thaddeus is also known as St. Jude, and sometimes called Judas.  Apparently, I wrote down names from the wrong gospel, as at least one calls him Thaddeus, but he’s typically referred to as St. Jude.  Well, that sure was needlessly confusing.

Speaking of Judas (the betrayer, not Thaddeus), the apostles need to pick a replacement for him.  That makes sense.  They have two contestants: “Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.”  My God – how confusing is that.  His name was McGill, but he called himself Lil, but everyone knew him as Nancy.  I get the feeling Luke has a garbled notion of who or what was going on.

Anyhow, we’re told that the apostles, “gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.”  Well thank God.  It sure would be annoyingly confusing if Joseph/Barsabbas/Justus was the new guy.   I just got over my Thaddeus/Judas/Jude confusion and don’t need another one.  Yeah, well – guess what?  In Chapter 4, there will be a reference to J/B/J as if he’s the new apostle.  The fuck?

Yeah, Luke really has a shaky sense of how the Miss Apostle Pageant went.

CHAPTER 2

When I was a kid, there was a miniseries called A.D.  It’s the Roman Empire from right after the execution of Christ until the 64 AD executions of Peter and Paul.  It wasn’t just on Christianity, but also on the various Roman empires, and some other stuff.  (James Mason played Emperor Tiberius in one of his last roles, for instance).  But the heart of it was on the early Christian Church, of course.  And some of the stuff in this chapter reminded me of that mini-series.

Here, the apostles get the Holy Spirit.  I remember this from the miniseries – a bright light above them, then they all start dancing around or something, and run outside to an ecstatic crowd.  It’s not the firmest memory, but there it is. 

It’s an attempt to capture Chapter 2 of Acts of the Apostles.  The Holy Spirit does come to them, appearing as “tongues as of fire.”  So that’s the birth light.  Then they began to speak in tongues, which is something Christ told them would happen before ascending to heaven.  This allows them to speak with people all over the world in their native tongue.  Basically, they’ve undone the Tower of Babel. 

They do go outside, and Peter gives a big speech.  It’s mostly what you’d expect – rejoice!  For Christ will lead to salvation!  He also says it fulfills a prophecy of Joel.  Huh, I remember him.  He was one of the Minor Prophets.  Also, notes how Jesus was the Messiah who “you killed.”  That’s not the last time we’ll see someone say that in Acts.  I doubt it was stated like that initially, because it sure is off-putting. 

And apparently Peter’s speech is anything but off-putting.  We’re told that right then and there he converted 3,000 souls to Jesus Christ that very day.  So yeah, he probably didn’t say, “you killed.”  Those are more the words of a Gentile (like Luke) who deals mostly with other Gentiles.

The depiction of the original Christian community sure is interesting: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need.”   Folks, that’s communal living.  They lived on a commune together.  And commune is the root word for communism.  They are practically a religious form of communism.  As a write this, it’s a month or so since new Pope Francis condemned trickle-down economics and the like – and it’s easy to see why he’d do that.  The Bible is rather far from “Atlas Shrugged.”  Rather funny how some people like Paul Ryan can claim that the twin pillars of his world view are the Bible and Ayn Rand without even bothering to acknowledge the huge differences in them, let alone try to explain/rationalize them away. 

CHAPTER 3

It’s more of the Peter show.  He cures the sick, and gives speeches about Christ.  Actually, this is another thing I remember from A.D.  In the miniseries, Peter goes up to a crippled beggar and says, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, [rise] and walk.”  (Brackets in my Bible).  Sure enough, that’s Acts 3:6.  I remember being amazed seeing that on TV.  OK, I knew Jesus did that, but that was because he was the Son of God, how come someone else could do it?  (Answer, the Holy Spirit.  I didn’t really get the point of that Holy Spirit scene as a kid). 

The speech is what you’d expect.  Peter tells people they killed Christ, but they did it out of ignorance.  Well, that’s a nicer way of putting it, giving them some sort of out.  But I can see why the movement will really pick up more with the gentiles than the Jews. 

Oh, and Peter tells people to repent.  That’ll be a big theme for Christians for the next 2,000+ years.

CHAPTER 4

Peter and the boys have been having some success – they’re up to 5,000 converts now – but it’s too much success.  They’ve drawn the attention of the Jewish leaders.  That makes sense.  They are in Jerusalem, after all. 

They’re arrested and grilled by the religious leaders.  I assume it’s the same guys who grilled Christ earlier.  Given what Peter says, I’m amazed he isn’t executed.  Peter and friends stand their ground, noting that Jesus – “whom you crucified” is the real deal.  They’re actually impressed that a bunch of guys the priests perceive as “uneducated, ordinary men” make their case as strongly as they do. 

No one is executed, because the guy Peter cured is there and will testify on their behalf.  So that helps.  Peter is released and gives another speech about how great Jesus Christ is.

We get another look at the early Christian community, and it’s clearly an ideal time.  “The community of believers was of one heart and mind.”  I’m a tad skeptical; things are always perfect and pure in the past.  In reality, there are always some differences – heck, we’ll see some examples next chapter, in fact.  But I get the general gist.  These guys were living in a utopia. 

Our author informs us, “There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.”  Right there you can see a key part of the appeal of the community: they look after one another; they care for each other.  This is a real community; not just a collection of individuals.  (In fact, it’s clear that the early community isn’t big on individualism – look after the all, not just yourself).

The quote above can also show the limitations of the community.  You must sell your house and give up the proceeds?  Man, really?  That won’t last long.  It’s asking too much for most.  That’s a practice for saints, not for the masses.  It’s also a sign that the early Christian community didn’t expect the world to last much longer. (Why should they?  Hadn’t they repeatedly been told that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand?)  If the second coming is coming soon, why not sell all your good?  But if it’ll be many generations until it get here, you don’t want to sell your goods.  You got kids, after all.

CHAPTER 5

We have the first notable internal discord in that idyllic, early Christian utopia.  It turns out that a husband and wife named Ananias and Sapphira have joined church.  As such, they’re supposed to sell their house and donate all the proceeds to the community for them all to live on.  Well, they do sell it, but they donate only some of the proceeds.  They claim they’re giving the apostles all, but they’re really pocketing a bit. 

Problem: Peter is on to them.  The Bible doesn’t note how he finds out.   He could have an inside source, or it could be the Holy Spirit giving him solid info on real estate values in the Greater Jerusalem Metropolitan Region.  What matters is that Peter knows.  And he’s not going to take this lying down.

He calls in Ananias first.  Peter asks if he gave all the money and Ananias says yup, it was.  Cue the thunderous denouncement.  Peter blasts the guy and blasts him good for lying.  To put it mildly, it has an impact.  Ananias falls down dead.  He’s been denounced to death.  That’s something you don’t see everyday on the coroner’s report.  His body is hauled away and the wife enters.  The exact same thing plays out – question, lie, denouncing, and death. St. Peter: capable of curing cripples with his touch, or berating liars to death. (Maybe he just has really bad breath?)

That’s impressive, but if nothing else it shows just how seriously the early church took its Christian communism.  No, you aren’t supposed to have ANY private property.  Give it ALL to the collective good.  This must be one of those stories that the modern vocal Christian conservative movement must pretend isn’t there. 

Anyhow, the apostles keep growing the community and performing noble deeds until they get arrested again.  They aren’t in jail very long, though.  God breaks them out of prison.  God causes the doors to open and they all are able to leave. 

Now, it should be easy to round them up again.  When the Jewish leaders have a meeting, that’s exactly what they’re calling for.  Some even call for death.  That’s not surprising, given what happened to Jesus, that they’d want his followers executed as well.

But it doesn’t happen.  Instead, a Pharisee named Gamaliel has an alternate approach.  Guys  - let’s not get hysterical here.  OK, so the Jesus movement hasn’t petered out immediately after the death of their leader.  Guess what?  Give it time.  We’ve had these movements before. We’ve seen these occasional charismatic leaders spark up something and get executed.  Their movement always collapses.  We don’t need to kill more Christ followers to kill their movement.  Time will do it for us. 

It’s the soft sell approach, and by and large it works.  There really have been a ton of charismatic religious leaders popping up over the centuries, and yeah – typically these things peter out after the leader dies.  But wouldn’t you know it?  That won’t be the case this time.  Still, it makes an interesting alternate history question.  How is the world different if it isn’t for Gamaliel the Pharisee?  If the apostles are killed off a year or two after Jesus dies, does the movement survive at all?  Probably not.

So the apostles aren’t killed. They’re just flogged. But they don’t learn their lesson and keep teaching Christ’s message.

CHAPTER 6

This is a short chapter (just 15 verses – so far the New Testament  has been full of very long chapters instead).  Two things happen.  First, the apostles decide they need some assistants.  They community is too big just for them. 

Second, we meet Stephen, a strong Christian who is arrested for teaching Christ’s ways.  He’s antagonized some Jewish leaders, so they have people bear false witness against him in ensure a conviction.  We meet Stephen here, but his main event is next chapter.

CHAPTER 7

This chapter is all Stephen.  He gives a big speech in his defense.  Well, maybe that’s a poor way of putting it.  He really isn’t trying to defend himself so much as defend his message.  And he figures the best defense is a good offense, so his speech is mostly an attack against the Jewish leaders and his accusers.

It’s a long speech and most of it isn’t very memorable.  Basically, he recaps the Old Testament.  There is a lot of Genesis here, plenty of Exodus, then some Joshua and some name-drops of others, like David and Solomon. 

After this too long of a build up, Stephen finally gets to his main point.  “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit, and you are just like your ancestors.  Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?  They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.  You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”

This isn’t just mild criticism.  The leaders are so offended, that they take Stephen out and stone him right there and then.  This is a turning point.  There is no going back.  Christians and Jews are different religions.  Reading Stephen’s speech, he already makes them different people saying “your ancestors” (they were your ancestors, too, Stephen).  Stephen is the first martyr to the cause.  Well, I guess Jesus Christ is the first martyr. Yeah, there’s that one. But he martyred himself for all mankind.  Stephen is the first person to die for Christ. 

Oh, and we’re told one little detail, seemingly just in passing.  The stoners laid down their cloaks by a young man named Saul. We’ll hear more from him later.  

Click here for the next part of Acts.

Acts of the Apostles main page

Chapters 1 to 7
Chapters 8 to 14
Chapters 15 to 21
Chapters 22 to 28

John: Chapters 15 to 21

Click here for the previous part of John.

CHAPTER 15

Jesus tells us new variations of the same old statements about how important he is. He also tells everyone that his commandment is: “love one another as I love you.”  I’m intrigued by his ideas and wish to subscribe to his newsletter if he has one.

Right after he discusses the importance of loving one another, he immediately shits and tells his followers that they’ll be hated.  Yeah, this gospel was written after persecution of Christians had begun.

CHAPTER 16

This chapter picks up right where the other one left off – talking about how the faithful will be persecuted.  The second sentence of the chapter says, “They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.”  That is a bleak statement – and an intriguing one.  It helps explain the problem this gospel has with Jews.  Throughout it an undifferentiated mass of Jews constantly wants to kill Jesus and on multiple attempts start gather rocks to stone him to death.  Yes, he’ll die in all gospels, but there is a much more pervasive and literal threat to Christ’s life in this gospel – and the threats start much, much earlier than in the other gospel.  Now we have Christ talking about how people from the synagogues will do that to you.  Maybe there is a connection.

This reminds me of a theory mentioned in “Jesus, Interrupted” by Bart D. Ehrman.  He notes a theory (not original to him) about John.  This began with a community of Jewish believers in Christ who had increasingly worsening relations with the others, leading to full expulsion from the community. It’s just a theory and it could be wrong, but late Chapter 15 and especially early Chapter 16 serve as good pieces of evidence for it.

Anyhow, after discussing the horrors the Christians will have to endure, Jesus saves it with a wonderful analogy – a parable, if you will.  He compares the suffering of the Christians during their time of strife to the pains of a woman experiencing labor.  But, just as a woman who has gone through so much agony will feel so much joy once she has her kid, so will the Christians feel so wonderful and blessed once they’ve come out the other side of persecution.  OK, that’s a terrific analogy!  Way to go, Jesus!  It’s a damn shame this gospel writer doesn’t do more analogy, because he sure is good at it here.

CHAPTER 17

Christ gives a final prayer before he’s arrested.  Hey wait – I didn’t see the Last Supper scene at all.  That’s odd, especially since John spends so much time on this last night.  But for John, the last night is a time for a last speech – it’s like an abbreviated version of Deuteronomy or something.  Still, giving how important it is to Christianity, you’d figure John would remember to include it. Nah.  Christ does give some Last Supper-ish talks earlier in this gospel, but that’s as close as he gets here. 

Previous gospels had Christ pray to his Father to avoid his fate, but here he begins by saying, “Father, the hour has come.  Give glory to your son so that your son my glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him.”  Yeah, the other gospels are mostly about what happened, but the theology is more central to John – and the theology is a lot more developed here as well.

Later on, Jesus makes a comment about “the evil one” and I realize – there really isn’t that much Satan in these gospels. Oh sure – he’s there.  He certainly plays a bigger role than in the Old Testament.  But he’s still barely around.  He’s the bad guy, but Christ’s teachings really aren’t about Satan at all.  He’s much more marginal to Christ than he’ll later be to Christianity in general.

CHAPTER 18

No more time for talk.  Now we start the real end game, as Jesus gets arrested.  The arrest story isn’t as poetic as in previous editions.  There is no kiss of betrayal by Judas.  Instead, Judas comes with soldiers and the soldiers ask who Christ is.  (Why bring Judas along if you’re just going to ask?)  Jesus says, “I AM” (all caps in the original) and the soldiers, “turned away and fell to the ground.”  Huh?  That’s ….huh?  Yeah, I know, he’s the Son of God – but the soldiers clearly don’t feel that way. 

Well, they get up eventually and are going to arrest him, when the ear slicing incident occurs.  Odd – John left out the kiss but left in the gory part.  In fact, he even provides names.  Malchus is the servant who loses the ear (actually, John calls him a slave; the other gospels said servant).  The man with the sword is St. Peter himself.

St. Peter denies Christ thrice.  Meanwhile, Jesus is brought before Jewish authorities, who turn him over to Roman authorities. 

Christ has his first interview with Pilate.  When asked if Christ is king of the Jews, Jesus responds, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.  If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.”  (Brackets in the original).  Hmmm… This response is supposed to show that Pilate finds no grounds to execute Christ (which is exactly what he says 17 seconds later), but I don’t know if that’s a good answer.  If I’m Pilate, I get that Jesus is denying the main charge, sure – but there is also an undercurrent of a threat.  Hey – about this if stuff – what if you turn around and decide that your kingdom really is in this world after all?  Then what? 

Folks, Pilate is a Roman official.  He isn’t looking for justice above all else.  He’s looking to maintain power and control over all else.  Jesus isn’t innocent until proven guilty.  Pilate isn’t looking for a reason to release an accused rebel, but a reason to execute one.  The undercurrent is reason enough.  Besides, in order to preserve peace and justice, why not execute the troublemaker the local religious leaders want you to whack?  All roads lead to Pilate wanting to kill Jesus.  All the gospels try to play this down or deny it.  They don’t want to anger Roman authorities (especially not after the big failed rebellion ended in 70 AD).  And the main problems for Christ come from Jewish leaders, not Roman.  But the image of Pilate here isn’t realistic at all.  It’s designed just to fit the purposes of the narrative for the new religion.

CHAPTER 19

The first half of this is more back-and-forth between Pilate and the Jewish leaders over whether or not Christ should be executed.  This is the same as all the other gospels – the point is to blame the Jews, not that Roman official Pilate for Christ’s execution (even though it was inarguably ordered by Pilate).  In this account, the Jews just bully and wear down Pilate.  They finally find the winning argument with, “If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar.  Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 

EXACTLY!  This is exactly right!  This is exactly why the real Pilate had Christ executed with hardly any second thought.  He shouldn’t need a bunch of locals to point it out to him.  The historical record on the real Pilate shows he was willing to be ruthless.  But the Bible had to downplay that.  (Otherwise, they’re worshipping a guy executed by authorities as a Jewish rebel – and he lived just a generation before the Big Jewish Rebellion in the region).

Jesus is crucified.  John goes to great pains to repeatedly inform us that it takes place the day before Passover.  The other gospels had it occur on Passover itself, but here it’s the day before.  This points to theological differences in the gospels. I forget the significance of crucifying Christ the day before Passover (it’s in “Jesus, Interrupted” by Bart D. Ehrman), though.  Rats.  (A death on Passover is easy to understand – Christ is the sacrificial lamb). 

The soldiers divide up Christ’s good, just as they do in the previous gospels.  There is an extra element here, though.  The soldiers cast lots in order to fulfill a prophecy in scripture.  Oh, sure – like the soldiers know/care about Jewish scripture! 

Christ is dying, but sees his mother and “the disciple who he loved.”  Who was that?  Again, this book never says.  Mary of Magdala (Magdalene) is there with a few others.  They give him some wine when he thirsts.  He dies, and a Roman soldier pushes his lance into Christ’s side to make sure he really is dead.  Christ is buried and the chapter ends.

CHAPTER 20

Unlike the other gospels, we get a pair of chapters on the resurrection.  Sure, why not – he sure shows himself to enough people this time. 

First, Mary of Magdala notices the stone is rolled away. Rather than go in, she reports back to the apostles.  Peter and “the other disciple whom Jesus loved” find the tomb empty.  While they were in the tomb, Mary of Magdala waited outside and saw two angels.  Then Jesus appears to her, so she’s still the first to see him. 

Later, the disciples are locked in a room.  They’re staying behind closed doors in Jerusalem, in case anyone wants to come after them next.  Suddenly, in their locked room, Christ is there.  Yeah, they’re pretty happy.  But it turns out that all the apostles weren’t there.  Thomas wasn’t. (Well, neither was Judas I assume, but never mind that right now). 

Thomas hears about it and – of course – doubts.  That’s what he’s famous for, after all.  That’s where we get the phrase “Doubting Thomas” from.  (It’s not much of a claim to fame, but then again we really don’t know a damn thing about apostles Thaddeus or Bartholomew).  Thomas says he’ll only believe Christ is back if he can put his finger into the nail marks on Christ’s hand.  Naturally, Christ shows up to him and lets Thomas do just that. 

CHAPTER 21

The gang goes back to Galilee, and Christ appears to seven of them: Simon, Thomas, Nathaniel, Zebedee’s sons (John and James) and “two others of his disciples.”  That’s right – the Bible never makes clear who they are.  Between Andrew, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, James of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot only two were on hand.

Also, the statement of “Zebedee’s sons” is the only direct referent to John and James in the entire gospel. Between that and all the cryptic references to “the apostle Christ loved” (as well to what happens at the end of this chapter – people generally feel that John is the beloved apostle who wrote this gospel. 

Anyhow, they don’t recognize Christ – not until he does a miracle.  He helps them gather an enormous amount of fish very quickly.  It’s the same miracle Christ does to win over Peter at the beginning of Luke’s gospel, only now it happens here at the end.  They all celebrate Christ’s glory together.

Unless I missed it, Jesus doesn’t ascend to heaven at the end. Interesting.  I wonder where the story of him spending 40 days on earth after the resurrection comes from?  I assume it’s one of the gospels, but I missed which one gives us a day count.  Probably Luke.

At any rate, at the end, the gospel writer tells us that he is Christ’s beloved disciple and this is his account of Jesus’s life.  Yeah, I don’t but that.  All signs point to it being written later, and much doesn’t make sense.  Biblical scholars noted that not only was it written in Greek, but some of its wordplay indicates that ancient Greek was the author’s primary language. 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

This one has some great moments, like the “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”  But it’s probably my least favorite gospel.  All throughout the Bible I’ve found myself more engaged when the Bible is at its most human; when it deals with the real problems and issues and emotions of humanity.  This gospel is almost all Christ and virtually no  Jesus.  He is portrayed so much as the Son of God that there is no room left over to be Mary’s kid. 

It’s not bad, but it’s hard for me to be that engaged.  I guess the gospels are ordered pretty well.  Matthew is the best, then Mark, then Luke, then John.  None are bad, but that’s how I’d order them, too.

Click here to begin Acts of the Apostles.

John: Chapters 8 to 14

Click here for the first part of John.

CHAPTER 8

Now for one of the most famous stories in the Bible.  Christ comes upon a woman who has just been found committing adultery. (Where is the guy?  Nothing is ever said about him). The Pharisees bring her before Jesus and ask him what should be done.  It’s another attempted trap.  The law says she should be stoned to death – but will Jesus actually call for that? 

As is typically the case, Christ replies indirectly. He starts writing in the ground with his finger.  Then he simply says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  (The King James translation is a bit more poetic, but this is probably more accurate to the original).  Well, one by one, they all walk away, leaving just Jesus and the woman.  He asks her if anyone has condemned her.  Nope, no one.  Then neither do I.  “From now on do not sin any more.”  Then Christ drops the mike and walks off the stage.

That’s a great story, isn’t it?  The appeal is that it goes to the heart of what people want out of religion in general and Christianity in particular.  They want forgiveness.  They want to be absolved.  They don’t want fire and brimstone.  They don’t want harsh punishments.  But neither do people want to be told that everything they do is good. They know they sin. (We know we sin).  But then again – everyone sins, including the Holier Than Thous.  So let’s accept people for what they are, and seek to work with them instead of punish them. 

Great story, eh?  Yeah – and one other thing about it: this story wasn’t in the original John.  In our oldest copies of the gospel, it isn’t there.  In fact, in some really old copies of the gospels, it shows up in different places.  In some copies it comes later in John.  In at least one surviving copy, it’s stuck in Luke.  Bart D. Ehrman, in “Misquoting Jesus” notes that it’s likely something from oral tradition – a story that people told about Jesus.  Then they needed a place to put it in one of the gospels.  This isn’t necessarily different from the rest of the gospels.  All the stories were first oral tradition before getting written down.  But this was a later addition.  I believe the writing is even grammatically different in its ancient Greek original compared to much of John.  (I think).  Ehrman also says that what happens just before and after this story reads better if you cut it out.  (He said that, but I can’t really say I noticed it when reading this book).

I wonder what Christ was writing down in the dirt.  That’s always been a question, but John itself doesn’t say.

Anyhow, Chris goes out and gives teachings and jousts with his enemies.  Famous lines include: “I am the light of the world,” and “The truth will set you free.”  Huh.  I had no idea that the truth-freeing line came from the Bible.  Yeah, that makes sense. 

At one point Jesus speaks and the Jews listening to him start to believe him.  But then in the next paragraph Jesus says to the Jews, “But you are trying to kill me.”  It’s like they’re all the same to Jesus. Some Jews want him dead, so he says they’re all trying to kill him.  That is distasteful.  He accuses them of abandoning God and Abraham, saying that “You belong to your father the devil.”  You can see some very clear, very obvious early Christian anti-Semitism.  This is a book written for a new religion; not something part of the Jewish tradition, even if it grew out of the Jewish religion. 

At one point, Christ tells the people he’s not possessed, and then explains what he stands for.  Their response? “Now we are sure that you are possessed.”  Heh.  That was funny.  The people get so upset at him, that the chapter ends with people looking to stone him to death.  That makes quite the contrast with the beginning of the chapter, doesn’t it?

Whereas Matthew and the others made Christ’s enemies the Pharisees or the scribes, here it’s just the masses. Sure, some believe in him – but it’s just a mass of people picking up stones to kill Jesus as Chapter 8 ends. 

CHAPTER 9

Time for another miracle.  Christ cures a man blind from birth.  It has a memorable way of doing it, too – miracle spit!  He spits in some dirt to make clay and applies the clay to the man’s eyes.  His Immaculate Saliva does the trick. 

This leads to a back and forth when the people find out that Old Blindy needs a new nickname.  It actually gets a bit legalistic, as they get a hold of Blindy’s parents and get them to acknowledge that he really was blind from birth until five minutes ago. As always in the case of Jesus, the miracle is done to show to everyone that he is the Son of God.

Actually, in a debate the breaks out in Christ’s divinity, his opponents make an interesting point.  We know that God spoke to Moses, but how do we know God spoke to you?  This would be a good argument – if he hadn’t just done a miracle.  (Well, they need proof he isn’t in league with Satan).  But the gospels always give the impression that people ought to know and should know who Christ is.  The Baptist, Peter, and other recognize his divinity on sight in John.  Others learn after listening to him for a bit.  It’s obvious.  That’s the gospel’s take.  Yeah – but that’s naïve.  I don’t blame people for needing more to go on than that.  But --- the guy just did a miracle!  This is a legitimate counter-argument they’re making, but at the worst time possible.  (Actually, it makes sense that the gospel writer would place the counter-argument in a place where it can be so easily refuted.  The writer is trying to convince us of Christ’s divinity; not that the other side has a point).

CHAPTER 10

This chapter’s start caught me off-guard.  It’s unlike nearly everything else in John.  It’s ….(drum roll, please) … a parable!  Remember those guys?  This is how Christ laid down almost all of his teachings until the chapter.  But you get the first traditional Christly parable here to lead of Chapter 10. 

It’s about thieves going through gates to rob shepherds.  People don’t get it though (just like old times!) so Jesus explains.  Jesus is the fate, the sheep are the people.  The thieves are those who would lead you down the wrong path.  Jesus goes on to explain that he’ll be the good shepherd who will lay down his life for his sheep.  Yeah, that’s exactly how the story ends, too.  (It does press the analogy to the breaking point though: a shepherd laying down his life for his sheep?  That just sounds a little silly.  But maybe that’s just me).  There has always been a lot of sheep/shepherd talk/imagery in Christianity, and it comes off stronger in John than any other gospel.

He keeps talking and again gets a bad reaction.  For the second time in three chapters, people start picking up rocks to throw at him.  Christ asks them why they are doing this and they respond that he’s committing blasphemy. This is a bit silly.  If they’re picking up rocks, they are done with debate.  They wouldn’t here him out and explain themselves to him.  They’d stone him in mid-sentence, and that would be that. 

They try to arrest him, but he escapes.  The Bible doesn’t explain how.  But I bet if Jerry Bruckheimer ever directed The Gospel of John: The Movie” we’d get an extended 25-minute chase sequences based on John 10:39. 

CHAPTER 11

Now for the main event (and rather conveniently, it’s in the exact middle of this 21 chapter gospel) – the raising of Lazarus! 

Christ has done many wonderful deeds so far in John; and they’re all done with the explicit purpose of proving that he really is the Son of God.  Now for the showstopper, the miracle to end all miracles – raising a dead man.  Yes, there have been miracles like this before.  As early as Matthew, Christ raised a girl believed to be dead.  But then some ambiguity existed.  Christ said she wasn’t really dead, but just sleeping. 

There is no mistaking it this time. Lazarus is dead – four days dead to be exact.  Smelly, rotting, flies-buzzing dead.  But Christ raises him.  In fact, Christ waits until he’s been dead for a while, just to make this the miracles of all miracles.  After hearing Lazarus was ill, Christ waits for two days before heading out.  He doesn’t set any land speed records in getting back, either.  He knows what he’s doing.  He knows that as Son of God, he can bring the dead back to life whenever he wants.  So he will. So he does.

Oh, quick side note – we learn at the top of the chapter that Lazarus is from the same village as Mary.  No last name is given, but you just assume it’s Mary Magdalene, right?  Well, this gospel tells us hat “Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair.”

OK, that’s interesting for a few reasons.  First, that runs together two stories from previous gospels.  The others had a woman – name never given – anointed him with perfumed oil just before he’s arrested.  The other, completely different story from Luke, has a prostitute bathing Christ’s feet with her tears and wiping it with her hair.  No name was given, there either.  This gospel writer has heard a version that apparently combines them – and ascribed an identity to both.  That identity is simply referred to as “Mary.”  People have just naturally come to assume it means Magdalene.  That makes sense, but she’s never listed as the person doing that in the other gospels (or here, technically, as it’s just “Mary”).  So this is where we get the notion that she’s a prostitute from – because John combined two stories and gave them to her.  So that explains that.  No gospel ever calls her a prostitute, though.  But that’s her image.

Anyhow, the miracle itself if pretty anti-climactic.  Christ tells Lazarus to rise, and Lazarus does.  Michael Bay will probably punch that one up when Bruckheimer gives it to him to direct. 

The Messiah also gives an explanation for his action that is all Christ, no Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.”  That’s not how he talked in any of the previous gospels.  It does sound pretty, though.  I should note that this most famous of Christ’s miracles only appears in this, the last written of the gospels.  Either it just slipped the minds of people closer in time to the event, or it’s an example of tall tales getting taller the more Christ recedes into the past.

The chapter doesn’t end there, though.  The Jewish leaders have a meeting to discuss the Christ Problem.  And here, to my surprise frankly, John actually gives them a motive for wanting to kill Christ.  They say, “If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come, and take away our land and our land.”  They think he’s not worth the hassle.  We can’t beat Rome, not even with Christ.

A few things about that.  First – this shows a complete lack of faith.  They are addressing this purely in terms of power politics.  If they really had faith, they wouldn’t do that.  That’s a pretty damning indictment given that their identity (and their own person positions) are based on religion. Second, purely in terms of power politics, they have a decent point.  Third, if what they say is true, then it makes all the sense in the world for Rome to execute Christ.  Let’s nip all of this in the bud, shall we.  (Of course, a Christian could then say the future 66-70 AD Jewish revolt was doomed to fail because they’d already turned their back on their true leader).

Ultimately, the leaders decent to kill Christ.  This is – by my rough approximation – the 3,167^th time that’s been mentioned in John.

Oh, and now we approach the last Passover, the one where Jesus Christ dies.  And we’re only halfway through the gospel.

CHAPTER 12

Now, as noted last chapter, Mary goes to Christ with the perfumed oil and then dries it with her hair.  This is the only gospel to associate a name with this activity. 

And John does more than that.  Previous gospels (Matthew and Mark to be exact) noted how the apostles were upset at this action, that it was a waste of money.  Matthew just said the apostles protested.  Mark gave us a clearer sense of how much the perfumed oil cost – 300 days wages, which could’ve been used to spend on the poor.  But John goes even one step further. It isn’t some general “apostles” that protest, but one in particular who protests over blowing 300 days worth of wages: Judas.  He is the one who complains.  Huh.  They’re giving Judas a motive to betray Christ.

Well, no.  As soon as the gospel brings up this possible motive, it swats it down, saying: “[Judas] said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.”  Actual fact, or attempt to deny Judas a more legitimate sounding motivation? – You make the call. 

Oh, and in a throwaway line, we’re told the priests want to kill Lazarus, too. My goodness Christ’s enemies are bloodthirsty in this book.  The other chapters just had a gradual progression of disputes resulting in crucifixion.  In John, killing seems to be the default mentality. 

Well, Christ comes into Jerusalem. His purpose is clear – he’s here to fulfill his destiny.  It’s controversial because so many believe in him and others hate him.  In fact, the gospel tells us that many who hate him also believe in him.  John claims, “Nevertheless, many, even among the authorities, believed in him, but because the Pharisees they did not acknowledge it openly in order not to be expelled from the synagogue.  For they preferred human praise to the glory of God.”  First, it’s nice to see John not lump all Jews together.  But beyond that – man, he’s not giving them an inch.  Ever heard the phrase “Give the devil his due”?  Well, this gospel writer sure hasn’t.  I really doubt that Christ’s opponents believed he was the Son of God.  I’ll give them so credit for having religious faith.  They just didn’t think that he was the actual Messiah; just a carpenter’s kid with an attitude.

CHAPTER 13

It’s the night of the Last Supper. Yes, already. John really spends a lot of time over the last moments of Christ’s life (and first moments of his afterlife).  Heck, we don’t even get to the Last Supper in this chapter – it’s just pre-dinner festivities.

Actually, the main event here is one of the sweetest scenes in the Bible – Christ washing the feet of his disciples.  It’s a touching scene, where Christ – who for much of this gospel has quite the ego – shows a sense of humility.  It shows if you serve Christ, then Christ will serve you.  Sometimes it’s those little things that make the biggest differences.  It’s the little gestures that shows someone cares and that you’re appreciated.  And it’s rather humbling if the person doing that little gesture is, y’know, the freaking Son of God.  There is something just wonderful about this little scene that I can’t quite find the words for.

Jesus then tells him he’ll be betrayed by one.  The gospel then gives us a really cryptic bit: “One of the disciples, the one whom Jesus loved” – wait, who was that?  Well, the gospel never says.  There’s just this apostle Jesus is especially loves, and it never tells us.  Normally, you’d figure it means Peter.  He’s the one closest to Jesus so far, but no.  The gospel tells us that Peter nods to the beloved disciple.  So not him. 

Then who?  The gospel never says, but the tradition is it must be John.  He is a leading apostle; one who gets to see Jesus with Elijah and Moses (not in this gospel mind you, but in others).  So he becomes the beloved one.  And from there, tradition has it that John wrote this gospel – thus it becomes “The Gospel According to John.”  Nowhere does the gospel itself say that the apostle John wrote this. 

As the chapter ends, Christ tells them to love one another.  Oh, and Peter will deny me.  Got that prediction in all four gospels now.

CHAPTER 14

Christ talks with his apostles some more. Thomas asks, “we don not know where you are going, how can we know the way?”  Christ responds, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  I imagine Buddha would get a kick out of that statement.

Next, Phillip asks to be shown the father.  Jesus thinks Phillip is dense.  You’ve known me long enough, Jesus says, to realize you see the Father through me.  Silly Phillip. 

Christ ends up giving us some proto-Trinity theology: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  Not only is that proto-Trinity, but it’s also proto-genetics.  I wonder how Christian theology would be different if this gospel had never been written?  It’s certainly the most advanced gospel theologically.  And Christianity needs some complexities, because it wishes the Son of God, but God is the only God, so what does that make the Son?  Are there then two gods?  Could there be others?  The very nature of having a Son of God in a monotheistic religion opens up all these damn loose ends that need stitching up. The Islam religion avoids this by explicitly stating that Muhammad is a prophet, not the Son of God. 

Click here for the conclusion of John.