tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55092073924813804572023-12-11T06:02:29.802-05:00The Wise FoolSkeptical Bible commentary and Bible book summaries.<br>
"Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools..." Romans 1:22TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.comBlogger312125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-7740520973626426912013-08-23T07:00:00.000-04:002013-08-23T07:00:00.663-04:00Welcome!'<br />
Welcome to The Wise Fool blog. Are you looking for a challenge to your faith, a second opinion on Scripture, or a skeptical perspective on the Bible? You are in the right place.<br />
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I have not <i>read</i> the Bible. I have <i>studied</i> it. ;-)<br />
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Focusing on the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah, or Law) and the first four of the New Testament (the Gospels), I have worked diligently to pass on what I have learned about its stories, its prophesies, its God, and Jesus, to you. So, please, allow me to show you around the blog:<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Are you looking for selected <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/04/laying-down-law.html">highlight studies on the Torah</a>? Oy vey! I have you covered right here.<br />
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Or perhaps you would like to baptize yourself with the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-good-news.html">Gospel study highlights</a> instead? Seek, and you shall find.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Over on the right sidebar, you will find some interesting links, including my chapter-by-chapter summary of the Bible, studies about what each of the first five books of the Bible reveal about God's character, and, under the search box, a link to the Site Map for a complete listing of posts.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Did the Old Testament really foreshadow the advent of Christianity? Start exploring the truth with <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2009/11/scapegoat.html">Scapegoat</a>, about the Day of Atonement, and continue with the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Foreshadowing">Foreshadowing</a> tag.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Christianity often claims to be beyond the (Jewish) Law, so to speak. Yet <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-am-law.html">this detailed study</a> on what God said about His Law contradicts that view, and several other tenets of Jesus' faith.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Learn more about God's nature by exploring the tags on God's <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/God%27s%20Heart">Heart</a>, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/God%27s%20Justice">Justice</a>, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/God%27s%20Omnipotence">Omnipotence</a>, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/God%27s%20Omniscience">Omniscience</a>, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/God%27s%20Plan">Plan</a>, and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/God%27s%20Promises">Promises</a>. See how God changes His promises in <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2010/02/gods-altered-promise.html">God's Altered Promise</a>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Women in the Bible, while sometimes honored, are often denigrated. See for yourself in <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/01/virginity-rape-and-bitter-justice.html">Virginity, Rape, and Bitter Justice</a>, and then follow through with the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Women">Women</a> tag.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Prophesies bolsters Jesus' claim on being the Messiah, but, following the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Prophesy">Prophesy</a> tag, you can see how they were all taken out of context. Even Isaiah 53, the best "match", is systematically countered in a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/10/isaiah-53-anatomy-of-prophesy.html">detailed study</a> of its context.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Free Will is often used to get God off the hook for condemning people, but the doctrine of the Elect counters that. Start exploring this theme through <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/12/by-invitation-only.html">By Invitation Only</a>, and continue studying through the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/the%20Elect">The Elect</a> tag.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Studying Judgement Day, you will find its anticipation within a life span from Jesus' time. Check out the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-end-back-then-part-5-be-ready.html">Be Ready</a> study, and continue with the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Judgement%20Day.html">Judgement Day</a> and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/End%20Is%20Near">End is Near</a> tags.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Hell was not just a metaphor for eternal separation from God. Read about the origin of Hell in <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/06/cut-off-your-reason.html">Cut Off Your Reason</a>, and see how the concept evolved by following the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Hell">Hell</a> tag.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">The Synoptic Problem; the issues in reconciling the disparate accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke... Want to study the Synoptic Problem? A great start is with <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/04/by-prayer-and-fasting.html">By Prayer and Fasting</a>. Then continue on to the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Mark%20the%20Source">Mark the Source</a>, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Matthew%20the%20Aggregator">Matthew the Aggregator</a>, and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Luke%20the%20Editor">Luke the Editor</a> tags.</td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="FFE4D8">Through incongruity in the anecdotes, recorded "unknowable" information, and the differences between the Gospels, we can see that some of the Gospel content is flat-out fiction. See for yourself in the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/08/inequity-of-time.html">Inequity of Time</a> study, and go further with the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Evidence%20of%20Fiction">Evidence of Fiction</a> tag.</td></tr>
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TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-63863223327288220962013-08-16T07:01:00.000-04:002013-08-16T07:01:00.204-04:00The Good News'<br />
<b>The Good News</b><br />
Almost five years ago, I began blogging the Bible, with detailed skeptical analysis covering the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the Gospels. Last week, I finally finished my intended scope of analysis. Overall, it has been a challenging and enriching experience, but I am ready for a break! :-)<br />
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Before I go, I thought I would give you some highlight posts from the Gospels, as I had done <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/04/laying-down-law.html">for the Torah</a> when I finished that about two years ago. So without further ado, here are the posts I would rank as the most important ones to consider. The top five from the Gospels are:<br />
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<ol>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2009/04/john-baptist-leads-way.html">John the Baptist Leads the Way?</a> - Ever wonder why baptism is so prominent in Christianity? It has to do with prophesy, but a closer look at these prophesies reveals considerable discrepancies to what we find in the Gospels.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-jesus-spoke-in-parables.html">Why Jesus Spoke in Parables</a> - Do you believe God/Jesus really wants to save everyone? Jesus' reference to an Old Testament prophesy proves otherwise.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/10/unforgivable-sin.html">The Unforgivable Sin</a> - Only one sin is explicitly claimed as being unforgivable. What does this one exemption say about God?</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/01/foundation-of-sand.html">Foundation of Sand</a> - Speaking of Jesus' teachings, at the completion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said those who did not obey were destined for disaster. A review of His teachings seems to illustrate just how few people actually do obey.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/09/background-jesus-has-just-revealed-that.html">An Easy Yoke</a> - According to Jesus, His burden is light, meaning that following Him is easy. However, another, more-complete review of His teachings up to that point would seem to prove otherwise.</li>
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Beyond those top five, below are a collection of hand-selected posts which, I believe, are also instrumental in more-fully revealing the truth of Christianity. If you missed these before, or this is your first time here, I think it is worth taking a look:<br />
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<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/06/damnation-by-association.html">Damnation by Association</a> - To those who believe that we each individually make the choice to accept or reject Jesus' offer of Salvation, Jesus' words suggest otherwise.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/07/fall-of-sparrow.html">The Fall of a Sparrow</a> - To those who believe that the accidents and catastrophic disasters in this life are not under the direct control of God, Jesus' words indicate differently.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/08/preparing-way-out-of-context.html">Preparing the Way Out of Context</a> - This is a deeper investigation into how the prophesy within Malachi, prophesy which contradicts Christianity, was inappropriately applied John the Baptist.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/09/misquoted-and-misguided.html">Misquoted and Misguided</a> - You know you are in trouble when Jesus misquotes Scripture, and this study examines one of those misquotes, and examines its true, contextual meaning.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/12/walking-on-fluid-myth.html">Walking on Fluid Myth</a> - With just a small amount of scrutiny, we can easily see that stories like Jesus walking on water are likely myth, and may have even originally been intended to communicate Gnostic knowledge.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/12/by-invitation-only.html">By Invitation Only</a> - To those who believe that your Salvation is an individual choice of free will, Jesus' (and Paul's) words explain that it is God who chooses the Saved, not the other way around.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/01/signs-of-times.html">The Signs of the Times</a> - Jesus berated a mostly illiterate audience for not knowing the Scriptural signs of the times, but a detailed look into Daniel's prophesy reveals that Jesus was the one in the wrong.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/03/tasting-deceased-kingdom.html">Tasting a Deceased Kingdom</a> - The end of the world is nigh! Or, at least it was near. That was the message preached by Jesus; that the Kingdom of God was coming soon, not 2000 years later.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/04/understanding-grief.html">Understanding Grief</a> - Everyone knows that there are apparent contradictions in the Gospel accounts. Most of them are only weak differences that can be explained away thanks to the lack of explicit language. But when the authors repeatedly took opposing sides on the same issues, like the Disciples understanding Jesus' fate, such differences cannot be reconciled.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/06/cut-off-your-reason.html">Cut Off Your Reason</a> - While there is a trend within Christianity now to accept the mantra "we are not perfect, just forgiven", Jesus advised taking extreme measures to avoid sin to live perfect, as you will see in this study, which also includes an investigation of prophetic Hell.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/08/inequity-of-time.html">Inequity of Time</a> - While there are many subtle differences in the Gospels, discrepancies like the one studied here illustrate how the Gospel authors manipulated the message as they saw fit.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/09/lazarus-lying-about.html">Lazarus, Lying About</a> - The story of Jesus resurrecting His beloved friend, Lazarus, is plagued by absurdities, and John's description of its impact creates one of the strongest possible arguments from silence of the other three Gospels against the story being true.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/09/enter-stage-jerusalem.html">Enter, Stage Jerusalem</a> - Jesus took measures to ensure that His entrance into Jerusalem appeared prophetic, yet a look at that prophesy reveals another extraction from context.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/10/entrapment-in-temple.html">Entrapment in the Temple</a> - Jesus zealously cleared the Temple courtyard of dove-sellers and money-changers, forgetting how God's Law essentially established their necessity there.</li>
<li>Near the end of Jesus' teaching career, He revealed many signs which would accompany the end of the world. I did a series of posts called "The End Back Then", with <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-end-back-then-part-3-temple-tragedy.html">Temple Tragedy</a>, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-end-back-then-part-4-jesus-return.html">Jesus' Return</a>, and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-end-back-then-part-5-be-ready.html">Be Ready</a> being particularly worthy of attention.</li>
<li><a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/denial-of-difference.html">Denial of a Difference</a> - This study of Jesus' prophesy of Peter's denial reveals, yet again, how the Gospels have some contradictions which are not possible to resolve, even though some Christians deny such contradictions exist.</li>
<li>Finally, everyone who knows of Christianity has likely heard the story of Judas' betrayal of Jesus. However, through a series entitled "Judas Fish", the details of the story appeared to be rather fishy. The stench of lies is most completely and thoroughly revealed in the study of <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">The Aftermath</a> of Judas' betrayal.</li>
</ul>
<br />TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-26046001896197187602013-08-09T07:07:00.000-04:002013-08-11T09:40:48.158-04:00Damage Control'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
The resurrected Jesus <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-touch-of-mary.html">appeared to Mary Magdalene</a>, to Peter, to two disciples who <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/jesus-reincarnated.html">did not recognize Him</a>, and to the Eleven Disciples (some of whom <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/seeing-is-not-believing.html">had doubts</a>).<br />
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According to John, Jesus also appeared to a group of seven disciples who had been on an overnight fishing trip. Jesus appeared on shore, helped them be successful at fishing, and then hosted a breakfast of fish and bread on the shore. None of the disciples dared ask Him "<a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/08/who-are-you.html">Who are you?</a>". This study picks up as a continuation of that appearance.<br />
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<b>Damage Control</b><br />
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The Gospels, as we know them today, came into their final forms decades after Jesus had died. Decades. Besides making it challenging to memory to recall exactly what was said, when, where, and by whom, this time lapse also created other problems, and opportunities, for advancing the Christian cause. As the Gospel of John wraps to a close, we come to a couple examples of how this lag was leveraged for advantage.<br />
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<b>Peter's Fate</b><br />
After a beach breakfast of bread and fish, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=15&end_verse=17">John 21:15-17</a> recorded that Jesus had a conversation with Peter, where Jesus famously asked Peter if he loved Him and told him to feed His sheep three times. This appears to be granting Peter special significance among all of the other Disciples. This is similar to, yet very different from, how <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=16&verse=17&end_verse=19">Matthew 16:17-19</a> granted that significance to Peter, which you may remember from a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/02/between-rock-and-heavenly-place.html">previous study</a>.<br />
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In John 21:18-19, Jesus continued on to tell Peter:<br />
<blockquote>
"I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this <b>to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God</b>. Then He said to him, "Follow Me!" NIV</blockquote>
It does seem odd that this information is juxtaposed next to Jesus' instructions to feed His sheep, as it would be difficult to feed anyone's sheep when you are dead, and hardly sounds like a reward for all of that sheep feeding! ;-)<br />
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More significant, though, is that the language used here, that extra clarification of what Jesus meant, suggests a "fulfilled prophesy", not one that was yet to be fulfilled. In other words, Peter was likely already dead by the time that the author wrote those words. The other three Gospels were also likely written after Peter's death, at least in the form we recognize them today.<br />
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Based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_peter#Martyrdom">information available</a>, it appears that Peter was killed around 64 AD, and that he likely died on a cross as well, but upside-down. The legend is that Peter requested that configuration, but soldiers carrying out crucifixions were known to occasionally nail people up in non-standard ways as a form of twisted entertainment for themselves. Regardless of which reason is more likely, we should recognize that it is entirely possible that Peter was crucified upside-down.<br />
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In looking back over the Gospels, and even ahead into Acts and some of the Epistles, Peter's prominence permeates the pages more so than any other Disciple, except, perhaps, for the later addition of Paul. I believe that it is important to consider this in attempting to piece together the puzzle of early Christianity. To that end, I submit the following theory:<br />
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Peter was a zealous believer. He did not "die for a lie", because he wholeheartedly believed in the resurrected Jesus without a trace of doubt. His zeal and confidence were inspirational to other believers, especially the new ones who had not witnessed Jesus personally. However, Peter was not the brightest light in the chandelier. He may have been a "fool for Christ" in a couple senses of the words.<br />
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So we find that the story of Peter assembled after his death becomes a tale of him acting and speaking rather foolishly at times while he was with Jesus in the Gospels, but eventually portrayed more as a champion of the faith after the Resurrection, and particularly after the receiving of the Holy Spirit. While Peter was (in my opinion) a real person, his story became that of a mythologized martyrdom; a flawed and foolish soul who became purified and perfected through faith in Jesus and the reception of the Holy Spirit. Peter became the banner, the rallying cry, that we mere mortals could hope to become like when the perfections of Jesus seemed a little too out of reach. His story was powerful, inspirational, and effective, and John leveraged that tool to persuade and encourage his flock of believers.<br />
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It should be noted that, while, in Peter's mind, he did not "die for a lie", that does not mean that it was true, especially given the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/seeing-is-not-believing.html">other disciples' doubts</a> after seeing the resurrected Jesus. Peter may have just been credulous, especially if his foolish nature recorded in the Gospels bears any resemblance to what was his true character. As it happens from time to time in life, we sometimes discover that that which we had resolved as real turns out to be a product of our own delusion.<br />
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<b>The Beloved Disciple's Fate</b><br />
As the story continues in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=13&end_verse=23http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=20&end_verse=23">John 21:20-23</a>, it seems that that "Follow Me!" command Jesus gave Peter was literal, not figurative. They started walking somewhere, and Peter noticed that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. Peter mentioned that to Jesus, but Jesus deflected his concern in an awkward, problem-creating way. In John 21:23, we read:<br />
<blockquote>
<b>Because of [how Jesus replied]</b>, the rumor spread among the brothers that <b>this disciple would not die</b>. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; He only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" NIV</blockquote>
This is an interesting verse for a several reasons.<br />
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First, we should consider that this rumor was strong enough that John felt the need to explicitly counter it in the Gospel.<br />
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Next, given the rumor's strength and the need to counter it, this beloved disciple was likely dead, or pretty close to being so, by the time that this Gospel was written. Based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Evangelist#Later_life">available information</a>, it appears that John died in 100 AD, and, as it happens, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_John#Date">most scholars</a> believe John to have been written in the 90-100 AD time frame.<br />
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Following those lines of thought, we should ask how it would be possible for a rumor to be that strong after so much time when it would have had plenty of chance for correction by the Disciples? A possible, if not probable, answer is that everyone thought that the rumor was a true statement, but the events of time forced John to re-evaluate reality to curtail the damage to the faith that this beloved disciple would enact upon his death.<br />
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Finally, we need to consider the divine aspect here. Jesus, if He was God and had omniscience, would have known how His words would be misconstrued to cause this rumor to be circulated. So for Jesus to have given that reply makes Him appear negligent with His word choices.<br />
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<b>Summary</b><br />
When you consider this claim of Peter's death as prophesy and a passage that would mitigate the damages potentially caused by the beloved disciple's death, it appears that John is making an effort to handle the delayed Second Coming to the best of his advantage. Without any of the other three Gospel to back him up, there are doubts as to whether or not this event happened, or if John simply dreamed up this scenario to bolster the faithful and to control a once-promising, now-damaging, "rumor".TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-7139871129245635092013-08-02T07:04:00.000-04:002013-08-02T07:04:00.198-04:00Who Are You?'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Jesus, resurrected, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-touch-of-mary.html">appeared to Mary Magdalene</a>, either while she was at Jesus' tomb alone or while she was headed back to tell the Disciples about the empty tomb. Jesus may have appeared to Peter. Then He <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/jesus-reincarnated.html">appeared to two disciples</a> who had difficulty recognizing Him.<br />
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Next came appearances to the Disciples, along with some contradictions, such as where the appearances occurred (Galilee or Jerusalem). Not only were there contradictions, but <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/seeing-is-not-believing.html">there were doubts</a> among the Disciples; some resolved, others not.<br />
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After that appearance, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=30&end_verse=31">John 20:30-31</a> contains a "false end" to his Gospel, which explains that Jesus did much more than just what was recorded in his Gospel, but that the author had selected what had been included "that you may believe". In the study below, we will examine some of what was appended to the Gospel beyond that point.<br />
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<b>Who Are You?</b><br />
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Mary Magdalene first thought the post-resurrected Jesus was a gardener. Jesus appeared in a "different form" to two other disciples. In one way or another, even among the inner circle of the remaining Eleven Disciples, there were doubts upon seeing Him again. This lack of recognition is as conspicuous as it is suspicious. Let us look at the final case of mistaken identity found in the Gospels; one presented exclusively by John.<br />
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You will find the story in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=1&end_verse=14">John 21:1-14</a>, and it goes like this:<br />
<blockquote>
Seven disciples of Jesus went out on an overnight fishing trip, but caught nothing. Jesus was on the shore in the morning, but they did not recognize Him. He instructed them to cast their net off the right side of the boat. When they did, they caught so many fish that the net almost broke, prompting "the disciple whom Jesus loved" to recognize that it must be Jesus standing on the shore. So they all went into the shore to meet with Him, and found that Jesus was already cooking fish and bread. Along with some of the fresh catch, Jesus gave thanks and gave it to them. This was Jesus' third appearance to the disciples. (My paraphrase)</blockquote>
These disciples did not recognize Jesus visually <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=4">(John 21:4</a>), and there is no indication of them recognizing His voice (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=5&end_verse=6">John 21:5-6</a>). This seems odd, especially in light of the fact that they already knew that Jesus was living again and could pop up anywhere. However, they were on the order of 100 yards (91.4 meters) away from Him, so perhaps we can just explain their lack of recognition with the distance...<br />
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Perhaps, until we factor in another rather peculiar verse which followed. In John 21:12 we read:<br />
<blockquote>
Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples <b>dared ask Him</b>, "Who are you?" <b>They knew it was the Lord</b>. NIV</blockquote>
The language here is bizarre, if we are referring to a visual and auditory recognition of Jesus. In other words, if Jesus looked like Jesus, and sounded like Jesus, why would there be any question in their minds tempting them to ask "Who are you?" They "knew" it was Jesus instead of seeing that it was Him. So what is going on here?<br />
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According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=14">John 21:14</a>, this was Jesus' third appearance to the disciples, with the first two happening when Jesus had appeared inside of locked houses (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=19">John 20:19</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=26">John 20:26</a>). In other words, according to John, this third appearance was Jesus' first public appearance where He could have easily been seen by anyone. Yet, based on the implications of John's chosen language, no one else would have recognized Jesus.<br />
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Adding this up, it appears that John may have been offering a defense as to why so few people saw this resurrected Jesus, and why it was only select disciples who did.* Jesus did not look and sound like Jesus anymore, so only certain people were able to recognize Him. That is suspicious, to say the least; suggesting that these appearances were but apparitions of the fictional kind, or, perhaps, those of an imposter.<br />
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(*Note: <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=53&chapter=15&verse=5&end_verse=8">1 Corinthians 15:5-8</a> records that Jesus had appeared to more than 500 disciples at once, but it also claims that Jesus appeared to the "Twelve", which would have been difficult, given that Judas had allegedly left the group and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">died by then</a>, thus leaving only Eleven. The 1 Corinthians' and Luke's accounts both contradict this anecdote here of this being Jesus' third appearance to the disciples.)TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-62332962545956854632013-07-26T07:03:00.000-04:002013-07-26T07:03:00.294-04:00Seeing Is Not Believing'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Before sunrise on the second morning since Jesus' burial, some women discovered that Jesus' <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/empty-recollection.html">tomb was empty</a>. An angel commanded the women to tell the Disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee. Afterward, either while she was still at the tomb alone or while she was going back to the Disciples, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-touch-of-mary.html">Jesus appeared</a> to Mary Magdalene.<br />
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Then, Jesus appeared in a different form to two disciples, who <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/jesus-reincarnated.html">failed to recognize Him</a> until He broke bread with them. As soon as they recognized Him, He disappeared. It seems that Jesus did not want a close, personal relationship with them.<br />
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<b>Seeing Is Not Believing</b><br />
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Seeing is believing. If I had been there when Jesus walked on water... If I had witnessed it Jesus healing the sick... If I could have seen Jesus die, and then see Him resurrected... then I could believe. Yet statements like that are not as true as they should be. Even the Disciples had their doubts about Jesus, as we will see in this study.<br />
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Note that, in the following, capitalized "Disciple" refers to those students of Jesus who were included as part of the inner circle of Twelve, who were now Eleven in number since Judas had committed treachery and suicide, and that lower case "disciple" refers to any other student/follower of Jesus.<br />
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<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="25%"></col> <col width="25%"></col> <col width="25%"></col> <col width="25%"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=16&end_verse=20"><i><b>Matthew 28:16-20</b></i></a></center>
</td> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=14&end_verse=18"><i><b>Mark 16:14-18</b></i></a></center>
</td> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=36&end_verse=49"><i><b>Luke 24:36-49</b></i></a></center>
</td> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=19&end_verse=29"><i><b>John 20:19-29</b></i></a></center>
</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%"><span style="color: black;">(A prior resurrected-Jesus encounter only with Mary Magdalene and the other Mary.)</span></td> <td width="25%"><span style="color: black;">(Prior resurrected-Jesus encounter with Mary Magdalene, and a different meeting with two other disciples.)</span></td> <td width="25%">(A prior <span style="color: black;">resurrected-Jesus </span>encounter with Simon/Peter and a different meeting with two other disciples.)</td> <td width="25%"><span style="color: black;">(A prior resurrected-Jesus encounter only with Mary Magdalene.)</span></td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Jesus appeared to the Eleven Disciples <b>in Galilee</b>, on a particular mountain, per His earlier instructions (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=32">Matthew 26:32</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=7">Matthew 28:7</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=10">Matthew 28:10</a>).</td> <td width="25%">Jesus appeared to the Eleven Disciples, implicitly <b>in Galilee</b>, in an unnamed location, per His earlier instruction (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=28">Mark 14:28</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=7">Mark 16:7</a>).</td> <td width="25%">Jesus appeared to the Eleven Disciples <b>in Jerusalem</b>, where they were assembled (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=33">Luke 24:33</a>).</td> <td width="25%">Jesus appeared to most of the Eleven Disciples, implicitly <b>in Jerusalem</b>, in a house (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=10">John 20:10</a>*).</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">The Disciples had gathered specifically to meet with Jesus.</td> <td width="25%">The Disciples had gathered for a meal.</td> <td width="25%">The Disciples were gathered, speaking with two other disciples who had recently seen Jesus.</td> <td width="25%">The Disciples were gathered in a locked house out of fear of the Jews.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">(No specifics on what Jesus said initially.)</td> <td width="25%">Jesus rebuked them for lacking faith and for not believing those who had reported seeing Jesus in a resurrected status.</td> <td width="25%">Jesus wished them peace, eased their fright by inviting them to look at His <b>hands and feet</b>, and touch His body to prove it was Him in the flesh, not a ghost.</td> <td width="25%">Jesus wished them peace, and showed them His <b>hands and side</b>.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">(No specifics on what Jesus did.)</td> <td width="25%">(No specifics on what Jesus did.)</td> <td width="25%">Jesus ate some broiled fish.</td> <td width="25%">Jesus <b>gave them the Holy Spirit</b> by breathing on them.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">They worshiped Jesus.</td> <td width="25%">(No mention of worshiping Jesus.)</td> <td width="25%">(No mention of worshiping Jesus.)</td> <td width="25%">(No mention of worshiping Jesus.)</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%"><b>Some doubted</b> it was Jesus.</td> <td width="25%">(No mention of doubting it was Jesus.)</td> <td width="25%">Some were in disbelief "because of joy and amazement".</td> <td width="25%">Thomas had missed the first group appearance, and claimed that he would not believe until he touched Jesus' wounds. A week later, Jesus appeared to the Disciples again with Thomas present, and Jesus blessed people who believed without seeing.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">(No mention of Jesus opening their minds.)</td> <td width="25%">(No mention of Jesus opening their minds.)</td> <td width="25%">Jesus <b>opened their minds</b> so they could understand all of the Scriptural prophesies.</td> <td width="25%">(No mention of Jesus opening their minds.)</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Jesus commanded them to "make disciples of all nations, <b>baptizing them</b> in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and <b>teaching them to obey</b> everything I have commanded you."</td> <td width="25%">Jesus commanded them to "preach the good news to all creation. <b>Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved</b>, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."</td> <td width="25%">Jesus said that they were witnesses such that "<b>repentance and forgiveness of sins</b> will be preached in His Name to all nations, <b>beginning at Jerusalem</b>."</td> <td width="25%">(There is no Great Commission commanded by Jesus.)</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Jesus told them that He would be with them until the end.</td> <td width="25%">Jesus said that believers "will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."</td> <td width="25%">Jesus commanded them to <b>stay in the city</b> until they <b>received the Holy Spirit</b> ("until you have been clothed with power from on high", <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=2&verse=1&end_verse=4">Acts 2:1-4</a>).</td> <td width="25%">(There were no extra recorded instructions or comments from Jesus at that time.)</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
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OK, so there are lots of differences, but let us concentrate on the biggest issues, starting with one of the five fundamental reporting questions: Where?<br />
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<b>Galilee or Jerusalem?</b><br />
Matthew explicitly, and Mark implicitly, hold this meeting between Jesus and the Disciples in Galilee. The meeting is in Galilee because that is where Jesus had commanded them to meet Him after His resurrection multiple times (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=32">Matthew 26:32</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=7">Matthew 28:7</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=10">Matthew 28:10</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=28">Mark 14:28</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=7">Mark 16:7</a>).<br />
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Luke explicitly, and John implicitly, hold this meeting between Jesus and the Disciples in Jerusalem. John is usually a bit unique, so that contradiction is no surprise. However, John's departure from using Galilee may be indicative of just how early John's version of the Gospel became isolated from the core original story, thus helping to explain why his Gospel is so different.<br />
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What about Luke? Luke was actively trying to fulfill a prophesy, probably <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=2&verse=3">Isaiah 2:3</a> in particular. His interpretation/use of that prophesy required the spread of Christianity to start in Jerusalem. In doing so, he created an irreconcilable contradiction with Matthew and Mark. Luke had Jesus command the Disciples not to leave Jerusalem until after they had received the Holy Spirit (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=49">Luke 24:49</a>), which happened after Jesus had ascended to Heaven (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=2&verse=1&end_verse=4">Acts 2:1-4</a>), making it impossible for Jesus to have met with the Disciples in Galilee.<br />
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<b>When Did They Get the Holy Spirit?</b><br />
While we are on the subject of the Holy Spirit, as noted above, Luke/Acts records that the Disciples received the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended to Heaven. However, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=22&end_verse=23">John 20:22-23</a> recorded the resurrected Jesus personally giving the Holy Spirit to the Disciples.<br />
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<b>Critical Difference in the Accounts of Jesus' Examined Wounds</b><br />
Next we come to touching Jesus. It appears as though Luke and John may both be telling different version of the same original story regarding the Disciples touching Jesus' wounds, but that appearance vaporizes with scrutiny.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=37">Luke 24:37</a> explicitly tells us his reason for the touchy-feely session; the Disciples were afraid, thinking that they had seen a ghost. So this was to prove that Jesus was flesh, not a ghost. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=39">Luke 24:39</a>, Jesus invited them <b>to touch Him</b> and <b>to look at</b> His hands and feet, presumably because they had the indications from the crucifixion. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=36&end_verse=49http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=42&end_verse=43">Luke 24:42-43</a> goes the extra mile to "prove" that this is Jesus in the flesh by having Him eat something.<br />
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In John, there is no mentioned suspicion that this was a ghost, and the Disciples were not frightened by Jesus' appearance. Instead, He showed them His wounds, and they were overjoyed to see Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=20">John 20:20</a>). When Thomas doubted, he wanted to put His fingers in the nail holes and in the gash in Jesus' side (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=25">John 20:25</a>). The implication behind Thomas' words is not one of proving that Jesus was flesh, but rather positively identifying Jesus as Jesus. Since Jesus had no tattoos, His crucifixion wounds were the next best thing to do that. ;-)<br />
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<b>John Struggling for Credibility</b><br />
Note that the gash in Jesus' side is mentioned three times in this anecdote, but only by John. If you remember from a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/post-mortem-epiphany.html">previous study</a>, the account of the soldier stabbing Jesus' side (also recorded only by John) was highly dubious, in no small part due to the liar's tell used when relaying that story. John is obviously trying to build up more credibility for that stabbing here.<br />
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<b>Resurrected with Flaws Intact</b><br />
What is really remarkable in light of both Luke and John is the implication that you will be resurrected in that bodily status that you had upon your death! According to these accounts, Jesus was resurrected with gaping bodily wounds! This is not so good for those who died in extremely disfiguring accidents. ;-)<br />
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<b>Matthew's Open-Ended Doubt</b><br />
Back to doubting Thomas, let us take a look at how the Disciples doubted. Mark did not record any doubts at all here. As we saw above, Luke wrote to dismiss doubts of Jesus being a mere ghost, and ends with some Disciples doubting only because they were still in shock about Jesus' return. John wrote with the intent of dismissing doubts that Jesus was, in fact Jesus, and all doubt had vanished after the show-and-tell session. What about Matthew? Matthew 28:17 states:<br />
<blockquote>
When they saw [Jesus], they worshiped Him; <b>but some doubted</b>. NIV</blockquote>
They saw Jesus. Some worshiped Him. Some doubted it was Him. Matthew offered no reconciliation for these skeptics. Implicitly, the doubters persisted in their doubts. Something about this "Jesus" did not seem right to them. It is difficult to say for sure, given the track record of error, story manipulation, and blatant fiction found Gospels, but, due to the inherently damaging nature of this verse, it may just be one of the most accurate in the New Testament. But why would Matthew include this potentially detrimental fact?<br />
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I suspect that man playing the part of the resurrected Jesus was a fraud in some way, shape, or form. There was some ugly truth about this man that became clear when he presented himself as being resurrected, and that caused some of the prominent disciples to lose their faith in him, possibly even becoming vocal opponents of the faith.<br />
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Or, if instead the post-resurrection appearances were completely fictional and so without an imposter present, maybe there were some disciples who just would not believe the story of Jesus returning without seeing for themselves, and thus rejected the direction this new faith was headed based on a lack of evidence.<br />
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Yet, regardless of what the "real" story was behind the post-resurrection appearances, Matthew's derivation of doubting disciples may not have even been related to it.<br />
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If Matthew was pastoring a flock for any significant length of time, he would have had to deal with apostates; those who had accepted the new faith, but eventually walked away. By including doubting disciples who had actually witnessed the resurrected Jesus, it may be that Matthew hoped to thwart contagious skepticism, because he could point to the doubts of these "eyewitnesses" to prove that some people will not believe the "truth" despite the evidence.<br />
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<b>Jesus' Opening of Minds Versus Free Will</b><br />
The next nugget of news to touch upon comes from Luke 24:45:<br />
<blockquote>
Then [Jesus] <b>opened their minds</b> so they could understand the Scriptures. NIV</blockquote>
If you have been following through Luke's Gospel, you know that, according to him, God has been <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/04/understanding-grief.html">actively preventing</a> the Disciples from understanding Jesus' fate. Now we find Jesus opening their minds so that they could fully understand Jesus' fate and the Scriptures.<br />
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We make decisions based on our understanding. Having God manipulate understanding, means that God manipulated free will. If that is the case, how can anyone truly claim that they have free will? There will always be a question of whether or not God is controlling your mind by controlling your understanding.<br />
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<b>Interesting Differences in the Great Commission</b><br />
Finally, we end with the Great Commission; Jesus' final command for the Disciples to spread the Gospel to the world. As you can see in the table above, none of the language matches from Gospel to Gospel, and John does not even include this commission. The language is similar in meaning enough to make calling it a contradiction a weak stance except from the strict verbatim aspect. However, there are some key differences.<br />
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Matthew included a phrase to enforce obedience to Jesus' commands, which also included <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/jesus-says-obey-law.html">fully obeying</a> God's Law.<br />
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Luke dropped baptism... partially. It was, after all, a "baptism of repentance". Luke's Gospel focused more strongly on repentance than any of the others, so finding this change is not surprising. Luke did not do so at the cost of baptism, though. His book of Acts brings baptism to the forefront. Baptism was important to link with John the Baptist, who was critical due to the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2009/04/john-baptist-leads-way.html">prophesy of a forerunner</a>. And, as noted above, Luke required Christianity to begin in Jerusalem.<br />
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<b>Summary</b><br />
So now you see. You see people doubted after seeing this "Jesus". You see the discrepancies and irreconcilable contradictions in the accounts. You see God manipulating human understanding. You see the blatant bastardization of the story to achieve the authors' objectives, such as disproving a ghost and fulfilling prophesy. You see all of this. It seems that seeing is <i>not</i> believing.<br />
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<hr />
* Most renderings of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=10">John 20:10</a> state that the Disciples returned to their homes, which may get you thinking that they went back to Galilee. However, that is really a poor translation of the transliterated Greek word "<a href="http://biblesuite.com/greek/848.htm">hautou</a>", which is primarily used to indicate "himself" or "themselves", making verse intend to say that the Disciples left the grave site and went back to whatever they were doing before. Where they were before was close enough that Mary could run to see them, so we are talking about Jerusalem here (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=2">John 20:2</a>).TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-73930128586215093642013-07-19T07:03:00.000-04:002013-07-20T13:00:24.670-04:00Jesus Reincarnated'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Joseph of Arimathea gave Jesus' body a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-spicy-grave.html">customary-Jewish burial</a> on the evening of the Passover. Before daybreak on the second day after the burial, a woman, or women, discovered that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/empty-recollection.html">Jesus' body was missing</a> from the tomb. However, an angel or angels instructed the woman or women to tell the Disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee, or just reminded them of Jesus' words regarding His resurrection.<br />
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Then Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, either when she was at the tomb or on her way back to tell the Disciples about the empty tomb. She either grabbed His feet and worshiped Him, or was told by Him <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-touch-of-mary.html">not to touch Him</a>.<br />
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If that is at all confusing, you have the disparate accounts in the Gospels to thank.<br />
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<b>Jesus Reincarnated</b><br />
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Besides the vast number of contradictions from one Gospel to the next, one of the strangest aspects of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances is the great difficulty with which people had in recognizing Him. People under stress or grief can experience “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamais_vu"><i>jamais vu</i></a>”, which is sort of the opposite of "<i>deja vu</i>". It is where a known face, word, or situation instead appears unfamiliar. That is a possible explanation, but what if Jesus did not look like Himself anymore? Let us take a closer look at one of these post-resurrection appearances to see if we can identify the real Jesus.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=13&end_verse=35">Luke 24:13-35</a> records the first and second appearances of Jesus since His resurrection, at least according to Luke, who skipped the Jesus-Mary encounter. The story goes like this:<br />
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The day that the empty tomb was discovered, "two of them" (Jesus' disciples, but not of the Eleven Disciples {12-1, Judas had <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">killed himself</a>}) were walking from Jerusalem to a town roughly seven miles (~11 kilometers) to the northwest, when Jesus came along and walked with them (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=13&end_verse=15">Luke 24:13-15</a>). As Luke 24:16 renders it:<br />
<blockquote>
but they <b>were kept</b> from recognizing [Jesus]. NIV</blockquote>
They "were kept" from recognizing Jesus? That speaks of some sort of active impediment or effort which prevented their recognition. That impediment may have been that Jesus neither looked nor sounded like He did before. Or, that effort may be God supernaturally inhibiting their recognition of Jesus, like how God <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/04/understanding-grief.html">prevented the Disciples from understanding</a> Jesus' prophesy of His fate in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=9&verse=43&end_verse=45">Luke 9:43-45</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=18&verse=31&end_verse=34">Luke 18:31-34</a>. Either way, there is clear implication that the reason why they could not recognize had nothing to do with either their innate abilities or their mental status. We will revisit this point later, but now let us continue on with the story.<br />
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<b>Jesus Misunderstood</b><br />
Jesus inquired about the discussion they had been having, and, shocked that this unrecognized Jesus did not know about what had recently happened, they briefly explained that Jesus had been a prophet who was crucified by the Chief Priests, and how the women had found the empty tomb and had an angelic encounter (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=16&end_verse=24">Luke 24:16-24</a>). The most interesting line in that summary comes from Luke 24:21:<br />
<blockquote>
"but we <b>had hoped</b> that He was the one who was going to <b>redeem Israel</b>. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place." NIV</blockquote>
Note the past tense here. They "had hoped", meaning that their hope had died with Jesus.<br />
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What hope was that? The redemption of Israel. If we take "redeem Israel" in its Old Testament Biblical context, it is more about re-establishing the Jewish nation, independent of foreign (Roman) rule, and enriched by God's blessing, similar to what we see in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=10&chapter=7&verse=23">2 Samuel 7:23</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=16&chapter=1&verse=8&end_verse=11">Nehemiah 1:8-11</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=40&chapter=6&verse=4">Micah 6:4</a> (among many other references). This appears to be the context of that statement, as opposed to a reference of a cleansing of sins and a shiny, happy afterlife.<br />
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Of course, that was a false expectation. So Jesus rebuked them for not believing the Scriptures, and then reviewed with and explained to them all of the Old Testament Messianic prophesies (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=25&end_verse=27">Luke 24:25-27</a>).<br />
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<b>The Birth of Christianity?</b> <br />
Wait a moment though. Why would these disciples have such wrong expectations and understanding? They were disciples, literally students of Jesus' teaching, so how could they get it so wrong?<br />
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It could be that Jesus was a poor teacher, but how could that be? Teaching was Jesus' thing! Or, at least, it was one of His major focuses.<br />
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It could be that, like what we noted above, God had prevented them from understanding. However, if that was the case, then Jesus' rebuke of their misunderstanding, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe", would seem misplaced; chiding them for something completely out of their control.<br />
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It could be that, although they had become Jesus' disciples, they had resisted His teaching and clung to the traditional interpretations, but why would they follow Him if they did not believe what He was teaching?<br />
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Or maybe, just maybe, it could be that this poorly thought-out work of fiction written with an intent. That intent? Simple. Show that those who had been eyewitnesses to Jesus' teaching, even those who had become disciples, did not fully understand His teaching of redemption.<br />
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At the hands of the early "church" leadership, this type of recorded misunderstanding would have allowed Jesus' message to evolve beyond anything which the historical Jesus had actually said, inferred, or intended. In other words, this change in understanding was how Christianity was born; "You only thought you understood. What Jesus really meant was... And it is only now that this truth is revealed to <i>us</i> by the Grace of God."<br />
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<b>Jesus of a Different Form</b><br />
Anyway, as the story continued, the disciples invited Jesus to stay with them that night. At dinner, after Jesus shared bread with them, they finally recognized Him and then He suddenly disappeared (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=28&end_verse=32">Luke 24:28-32</a>).<br />
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These disciples went back to tell the Eleven Disciples what had happened. The Eleven believed them, and reported that Simon/Peter had also been visited by Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=33&end_verse=35">Luke 24:33-35</a>).<br />
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OK, let us take a final look at how the disciples "were kept" from recognizing Jesus until the breaking of the bread. To do so, we will jump over to Mark, the original source of the story. In Mark 16:12-13 we read:<br />
<blockquote>
Afterward Jesus appeared <b>in a different form</b> to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but <b>they did not believe them either</b>. NIV</blockquote>
Jesus appeared "in a different form". In other words, Jesus did not look like Jesus. It was as if Jesus had been reincarnated as someone else, in a manner of speaking. Or, maybe it was someone else! Also, note the different outcome; the Eleven did not believe these disciples.<br />
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Jesus may not have been the only thing reincarnated. It may be that Luke, who has consistently been a bit of an editor, was using Mark for a source here, and did not like what he read. A different form? If he did not look like Jesus, how can you be certain that he was Jesus? That is a huge problem when you are trying to build up credibility in the story, because someone could suggest that an imposter had claimed to be the resurrected Jesus. That uncertainty had to die.<br />
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<b>Summary</b> <br />
Luke resurrected, polished, and expanded this snippet from Mark. Luke wanted to be sure to present Jesus as Jesus, without any possible doubt. So it was the same Jesus, but they were kept from identifying Him, presumably by God. Of course, as noted above, that makes Jesus' rebuke of the disciples' misunderstanding unwarranted. Luke was not <i>that</i> good of an editor. ;-)TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-57516778599132440422013-07-12T07:03:00.000-04:002013-07-12T07:03:00.955-04:00A Touch of Mary'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
After Jesus <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/pay-no-attention-to-dead-man-behind.html">died</a>, and those watching <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/post-mortem-epiphany.html">regretted killing Him</a>, Joseph of Arimathea <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-spicy-grave.html">buried Jesus' body</a> in a vacant tomb on the evening of the Passover. Before sunrise on the second calendar day since Jesus' death, one, two, three, or possibly several <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/07/empty-recollection.html">women went to Jesus' tomb</a>, but found that Jesus' body was not there. However, there may have been one or two angels there, who either instructed the women to tell the Disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee, or simply reminded them of Jesus' words regarding His resurrection.<br />
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The lack of clarity in the above summary is due to the disparity in the stories.<br />
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<b>A Touch of Mary</b><br />
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Throughout the Gospels, there are incidents recorded where the Disciples were not eyewitnesses. They had to rely on third party testimonies from time to time, witnesses from beyond the inner circle of the Twelve Disciples. Were the Gospel writers able to capture those testimonies with high fidelity? Were these anecdotes actual testimonies, or were they rather convenient constructs used to make a point?<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=8&end_verse=15"><i><b>Matthew 28:8-15</b></i></a></center>
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=9&end_verse=11"><i><b>Mark 16:9-11</b></i></a></center>
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<i><b>Luke</b></i></center>
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=10&end_verse=18"><i><b>John 20:10-18</b></i></a></center>
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<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%"><span style="color: black;">Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were on their way to tell the Disciples of the empty tomb.</span></td> <td width="25%"><span style="color: black;">(Jesus appeared "first" to Mary Magdalene, but there are no details of where this happened.)</span></td> <td width="25%">(There is no encounter between Mary<span style="color: black;"> Magdalene</span> and the resurrected Jesus.)</td> <td width="25%">Mary Magdalene was alone at Jesus' empty tomb after the Peter and the other Disciple had checked it out and left.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">(No angels mentioned.)</td> <td width="25%">(No angels mentioned.)</td> <td width="25%"><br />
<br /></td> <td width="25%">She saw two angels in the tomb who asked why she was crying.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Suddenly Jesus appeared to them.</td> <td width="25%">(No details of the appearance.)</td> <td width="25%"><br />
<br /></td> <td width="25%">Jesus appeared behind Mary outside the tomb.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">They reacted by <b>grabbing His feet</b> and worshiping Him.</td> <td width="25%">(No details of Mary's reaction.)</td> <td width="25%"><br />
<br /></td> <td width="25%">Mary first mistook Jesus for a gardener, and asked if He had taken the body.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Jesus told them to tell His "brothers" (the Disciples) to meet Him in Galilee.</td> <td width="25%">(No details of what Jesus said.)</td> <td width="25%"><br />
<br /></td> <td width="25%">Jesus told her <b>not to touch Him</b> because <b>He had not yet gone to God</b>, but would soon.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Meanwhile, the Chief Priests bribed the tomb-guarding soldiers to claim that the Disciples had stolen Jesus' body.</td> <td width="25%">The Disciples did not believe Mary when she told them that Jesus was alive.</td> <td width="25%"><br />
<br /></td> <td width="25%">Mary told the Disciples that she had seen Jesus, and told them what He had said to her.</td> </tr>
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Let us quickly discuss Mark and Luke. As mentioned in the previous post, the original version of Mark's Gospel actually ended with <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=8">Mark 16:8</a>. The verses of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=9&end_verse=20">Mark 16:9-20</a> were later appended to the Gospel, and they appear to be an abbreviated and concise summary of post-resurrection events covered in the other Gospels. Yet that "summary" is not without its own contradictions to the other Gospels.<br />
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Luke did use Mark as a primary source for creating his Gospel, and, given that the original Mark skipped this meeting between Jesus and Mary, Luke's omission of it suggests that he may have been using one of the earlier versions of Mark as a resource. However, we will see some evidence suggesting a late-Mark-version in the next study, so there may have been some other reason why Luke elected to drop Mary.<br />
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So now we come to Mary's account as recorded by Mathew and John, and they are as far apart as the east is from the west. Sure, there are some trivial differences; the number of women present, the location, the timing. However, there are two fundamental differences which contradict each other to the extent of rendering at least one version of the account fully fictitious.<br />
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The first deviant deviation is whether or not Mary touched Jesus when she saw Him. According to Matthew 28:9, she grabbed His feet. According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=17">John 20:17</a>, Jesus explicitly commanded her not to touch Him, as if He would become unclean by her touch.<br />
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That leads to the second deviation, because the reason Jesus explicitly gave Mary in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=17">John 20:17</a> for the forbidden touch was that He had not yet ascended to God. As you may remember from the previous study, according to John, the tomb was open by the time Mary had arrived to it, allowing Jesus plenty of time to walk out of it in non-glorified, bodily form. From that same study, Matthew's version tells us that Mary was there for the tomb opening, and the tomb was empty by the time it was opened, implying that Jesus, body and all, had gone up to God, as implied by the "He has risen!" statement made by the angel there. So by the time Mary grabbed Jesus' feet in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=9">Matthew 28:9</a>, He had already stopped by and said hello to His Dad.<br />
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Can we reconcile these two accounts? Sure, at the cost of all logic: Matthew forgot about Peter checking out the empty tomb, and that Mary had hung around the tomb weeping, and eventually saw two more angels plus Jesus. John forgot that it the tomb was actually sealed when Mary arrived there, that there was an earthquake and an angel opened the door, that prior to the tomb opening Jesus had teleported out of the tomb, but to some terrestrial location as opposed to going to see His Father. So Jesus appeared to Mary at the tomb, told her not to touch Him, went up to see His Father, came back down and appeared to Mary again in His fully glorified status, allowing her to touch Him this time. <br />
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Did that make sense? Obviously not. That means that at least one of these story versions is utter rubbish, which is the last thing you want in a book of "Truth", especially when you need credibility the most to establish that Jesus had actually risen. The fidelity of the eyewitness account was not preserved, not even roughly. Furthermore, it opens the door to speculation that these were not eyewitness accounts, but were rather fictitious narratives serving a purpose.<br />
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That purpose? It is not clear, but perhaps the authors wanted a witness to the resurrected Jesus in proximity to the tomb, or in Jerusalem (Matthew's and Mark's other appearances happen outside of Jerusalem), or perhaps to add a little more credibility to a bodily-resurrected Jesus as opposed to just a ghost, or perhaps they just wanted to fill-in-the-gap between the tomb and Jesus' later appearances.<br />
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Finally, let us consider the very interesting way that Matthew wrapped up his exclusive guarded-tomb narrative. The guards were bribed to say that Jesus' disciples came and took His body while they were sleeping. In the words of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=18">Matthew 28:18</a>, "this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day."<br />
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If the story that Jesus' disciples had taken the body was widely circulated, that indirectly supports an actual empty tomb. Why? Because, otherwise, if there was no empty tomb, there would not need to be any kind of explanation! So this appears to be a little gold nugget of truth which the faithful can bank on. Well, maybe...<br />
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Why maybe? Consider the source, or sources in this case. First, as mentioned before, the other three Gospels mention nothing about the guarded tomb or this conspiracy to hide the truth. Second, the other three have the tomb already open prior to Mary getting there, which, together with the lack of guards, obviously would allow for someone to have taken away Jesus' body.<br />
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It may be that Matthew, prior to writing his Gospel, started out orally with a similar story to the others, but in his particular region, there were one or two skeptics who put two and two together to counter with the idea that "Jesus' disciples must have stolen the body", and did so in front of an audience, which then helped to spread that idea throughout the region. This, in turn, made it appear to Matthew that there had been widespread circulation of this idea. So maybe Matthew reasoned that a slight tweak in the story could undermine this "widespread" objection, and thus he created the guarded tomb and the witnessed tomb opening.<br />
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Also, we should consider the nature of the claim of the empty tomb. There were only a finite number of eyewitnesses to where Jesus was buried; Joseph, Nicodemus, and "the women". So it would be very easy to claim to others that pretty much any empty tomb was <i>the</i> tomb where Jesus had been buried. Because of that fact, an empty tomb claim is pretty much meaningless. It is the post-resurrection appearances which much carry the bulk of the credibility. Unfortunately, as we have seen in this study and will see in the ones to come, that credibility crumbles with scrutiny.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-64023400020321034402013-07-05T07:04:00.000-04:002013-07-06T14:41:10.396-04:00Empty Recollection'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Jesus, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-cross-to-bear.html">crucified</a> between two thieves, after a few hours of darkness over the land, cried out to God asking <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/cross-talk.html">why He had forsaken Him</a>. When Jesus died, there was an earthquake, and the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/pay-no-attention-to-dead-man-behind.html">Temple's curtain tore</a>. Dead holy men came out of their graves. Those watching Jesus die realized, at the very least, that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/post-mortem-epiphany.html">it had been a mistake</a> to kill Him. <br />
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Joseph of Arimathea petitioned Pilate for Jesus' body. Upon receiving it, Joseph wrapped it with linen, may or may not have adorned it <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-spicy-grave.html">with lots of spices</a>, placed it a tomb, and rolled a rock door in front of the tomb.<br />
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<b>Empty Recollection</b><br />
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Regardless of how stable we believe it to be, memory is <a href="http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/02/how-memories-are-distorted-and-invented.php">prone to distortion</a>. So, if we are willing to cast aside the foolish notion of Biblical inerrancy, when we come across contradictions across the four Gospels, honest skeptics and truth-seekers should consider whether or not they represent distorted memories, or instead speak of crafted manipulations of the story. Let us take a look at the differences in the Gospel accounts of finding Jesus' empty tomb, and then discuss the implications.<br />
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<center>
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="25%"></col> <col width="25%"></col> <col width="25%"></col> <col width="25%"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=1&end_verse=8"><i><b>Matthew 28:1-8</b></i></a></center>
</td> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=1&end_verse=8"><i><b>Mark 16:1-8</b></i></a></center>
</td> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=1&end_verse=12"><i><b>Luke 24:1-12</b></i></a></center>
</td> <td width="25%"><center>
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=1&end_verse=9"><i><b>John 20:1-9</b></i></a></center>
</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Two women went to look at Jesus' tomb.</td> <td width="25%">Three women went to anoint Jesus' body with spices.</td> <td width="25%">"The women" went to anoint Jesus' body with spices.</td> <td width="25%">Mary Magdalene alone went to Jesus' tomb (no reason given).</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">There was an earthquake, and an angel rolled open the door, scaring the guards.</td> <td width="25%">The women found that the stone door had been removed.</td> <td width="25%">The women found that the stone door had been removed.</td> <td width="25%">Mary found that the stone door had been removed.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">The angel spoke to the women from on top of the door.</td> <td width="25%">The women entered the tomb, where they found an angel who spoke to them.</td> <td width="25%">The women entered the tomb. Two angels appeared there and spoke to them.</td> <td width="25%">No angels were seen or heard from yet. Mary saw the empty tomb and ran back to tell Peter.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">The angel invited the women inside the tomb to see that it was empty, and told them to tell the Disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee.</td> <td width="25%">The angel told them to tell the Disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee.</td> <td width="25%">The angels reminded them of what Jesus had said in Galilee about rising on the third day.</td> <td width="25%">(No angels there to speak, but two would appear there later with Jesus in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=10&end_verse=18">John 20:10-18</a>.)</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">Afraid yet joyous, the women went to tell the Disciples.</td> <td width="25%">The women were afraid, fled, and told no one.*</td> <td width="25%">The women told the Disciples.</td> <td width="25%">Mary told Peter and "the one Jesus loved" that Jesus' body had been taken.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="25%">(No Disciples visit the tomb.)</td> <td width="25%">(No Disciples visit the tomb, but later, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=11">Mark 16:11</a>, they would not believe the women's report.)</td> <td width="25%">The Disciples do not believe the women, but Peter alone went to the tomb. Finding it empty, he was puzzled.</td> <td width="25%">Peter and "the one Jesus loved" went to the tomb and found it empty, but they still did not understand that Jesus was to rise from the dead.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
OK, so obviously there are several contradictions here, but are they just innocent and honest errors in memory?<br />
<br />
On the side of corrupted memory, across all of the variations, there is a narrative skeleton of sorts running through these Gospel accounts; the door stone was removed for a female (at least one) eyewitness to observe the tomb in its empty state, who then informed Disciples of the finding. While an angel, or angels, did not appear in this section of John, they would appear later in the next section in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=10&end_verse=18">John 20:10-18</a>, so we could even include that element as part of the story skeleton.<br />
<br />
This common skeletal thread does, indeed, suggest a common original source. That opens the door for these accounts, no matter how disparate, to have been based on a true story, but that is just one possibility. Equally possible is that the story was constructed by and distributed from one person or group of persons. Either way, the great differences in the story versions suggest that this was passed as part of the early oral history, because some time, and some geographical isolation, was likely necessary to allow for these different versions to develop.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, and on the side of intentional alterations, there are some indications that these differences are not the result of corrupted memory, but rather demonstrate deliberate editing.<br />
<br />
The easiest case to perceive possible manipulation is in Matthew. As noted in the previous study, Matthew uniquely recorded that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-spicy-grave.html">Jesus' grave was guarded</a>. He appears to have been writing with a purpose, and that purpose was to communicate that there was no way that Jesus' body could have been removed from the grave by someone. Not only was Matthew's grave guarded, but it was not opened until its opening could be witnessed by the two Mary's, and that opening was accompanied by the supernatural events of an earthquake and an angel opening the grave. And when the grave was opened? The body was already gone.<br />
<br />
The other Gospels lack all mention of the guards at the tomb, the angelic tomb-opener, and the earthquake, and instead have the tomb open by the time a Mary arrives. With the tomb already open, who knows what could have happened to the body? (On the side of faith, the resurrected Jesus could have walked out of the tomb, which actually implied later in John, as we will see in the next study.) Without any support from the other three Gospels, and with an obvious motive for Matthew to have the tomb guarded and its opening witnessed, this appears to be a deliberate change that Matthew made.<br />
<br />
This change can be further demonstrated by comparing <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=5&end_verse=7">Matthew 28:5-7</a> to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=6&end_verse=7">Mark 16:6-7</a>. The wording there is very similar to one another. If these were truly independent accounts, it would be an incredible feat, if not a miracle, for the two authors to remember and record these words in a manner which almost matches each other after so much time had passed, and yet such a miracle would be blemished by Mark not remembering anything about the earthquake and the angelic tomb opener. Instead, it seems much more likely that Matthew was copying from Mark, but tweaking the copy to fit in the guarded-tomb narrative.<br />
<br />
Contrasting Matthew and Mark, where no Disciple visited the empty tomb, Luke and John have both recorded that Peter visited the tomb and was puzzled by its vacancy, thus demonstrating (explicitly in John) that the Disciples really did not understand that Jesus was to be resurrected. (Though it is uncertain, it is possible that this lack-of-understanding-the-resurrection meme was employed because the message of the historical Jesus turned out to be quite different than what would come to be known in the resurrected version of Jesus. In this way, the Disciples thereafter could claim to skeptical Jesus-witnesses that no one had really understood Jesus when He was alive.) This creates a couple of problems:<br />
<br />
First, as we observed in a previous post, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/04/understanding-grief.html">Matthew redacted</a> the Disciples' lack of understanding of Jesus' prophesied death and resurrection, and, in a different post, we cited how <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-spicy-grave.html">even Matthew's Pharisees understood</a> that Jesus claimed that He would be resurrected, which is why they requested the guard for the tomb! So there is a fundamental contradiction between two alleged Disciples; Matthew and John.<br />
<br />
Second, Mark, who was allegedly Peter's traveling companion, translator, and the writer of the earliest Gospel, does not record that Peter had even heard about the empty tomb from the women witnesses, let alone that he personally investigated it and was mystified by the fact that it was empty.<br />
<br />
Summing all of this information up, what we have here is many contradictions in this short account of finding Jesus' tomb empty. While it is possible to explain the differences to faulty memory, there are some significant changes which appear to go beyond the realm of rotted recall, and instead drift into deliberate dissertation with contrived intents. I will leave it to you to weigh the evidence in your mind.<br />
<br />
<b>* Mark's Asterisk</b><br />
The oldest manuscripts of Mark <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_16#Significance_of_ending_at_verse_8">end the Gospel with Mark 16:8</a>, without recording the women telling anyone about the empty tomb, and without any sightings of the resurrected Jesus. A series of later manuscripts append this onto the ending:<br />
<blockquote>
And they (the women) reported all the instructions briefly to Peter's companions. Afterwards Jesus Himself, through them, sent forth from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.</blockquote>
Still no appearances of Jesus, but at least the women passed on the instructions to the Disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-78043323537945734922013-06-28T07:06:00.000-04:002013-06-28T07:06:00.072-04:00A Spicy Grave'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Jesus was <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-cross-to-bear.html">crucified</a> between two thieves sharing the same fate, one of whom He <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/cross-talk.html">may have pardoned</a> eternally. While on the cross, from noon to 3 P.M. the land got dark. Jesus cried out to God asking why He had forsaken Him. When Jesus died, the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/pay-no-attention-to-dead-man-behind.html">Temple's curtain tore</a>, the earth shook, and dead holy men came back to life.<br />
<br />
According to the Synoptic Gospels, immediately after Jesus' death, the centurion watching over the crucified people, and possibly his soldiers and other onlookers, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/post-mortem-epiphany.html">finally realized</a> that Jesus had been the righteous Son of God. According to John, soldiers were instead surprised to find that Jesus had already died when they had come to remove the people from their crosses in order to respect the Passover holiday.<br />
<br />
<b>A Spicy Grave</b><br />
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An empty grave is hardly worth mentioning unless it was filled at one point in time. We have come to the point of the story where Jesus' body is placed into the grave, so that the tomb's subsequent vacancy would have some meaning to it. Let us quickly pay our last respects as we study the burial of Jesus.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=57&end_verse=66">Matthew 27:57-66</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=42&end_verse=47">Mark 15:42-47</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=50&end_verse=56">Luke 23:50-56</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=38&end_verse=42">John 19:38-42</a> each cover the entombment of Jesus, and do so with many similarities. Yet there are some distinct differences which are a little too striking for each account to have a stake on the truth. Let us being with John.<br />
<br />
John tells us that Joseph of Arimathea had been a disciple of Jesus, but secretly so, because he was afraid of the Jews, and that it was Joseph who asked Pilate to have Jesus' dead body (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=38">John 19:38</a>). Nicodemus, the Pharisee whom Jesus had confused with His discussion of being born again, who later defended Jesus to the other religious elite, helped Joseph take care of Jesus' body. Together they wrapped Jesus' body with linen and applied aromatic spices to it according to Jewish burial customs, but the amount of spices used, seventy-five pounds (34.1 kilograms) worth, was consistent with the quantity used for burying royalty (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=39&end_verse=40"> John 19:39-40</a>). It was quite a suitable honor for the King of Kings.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, wrapping Jesus' body while adorning it with that much spice did take some time, and it was already late in the day, so in John 19:41-42 we see:<br />
<blockquote>
At the place <b>where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb</b>, in which no one had ever been laid. <b>Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.</b> NIV</blockquote>
So we read that Jesus was buried close to where He was crucified in a new tomb. The implication of the next sentence is that that location was not one of preference, but one of convenience and need; because it was Passover and because the tomb was nearby, He was entombed there... not to mention it was already late in the day, and rubbing that much spice on a body takes some time! :-)<br />
<br />
Now, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=42&end_verse=47">Mark 15:42-47</a> tells us a slightly different story. Joseph boldly asked for Jesus body. Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead. (Maybe he had missed the whole three-hours-of-darkness-and-earthquake thing.) Anyway, Joseph wrapped Jesus' body in linen and placed it in a tomb carved from rock, with Mary and Mary witnessing the burial.<br />
<br />
There is no mention of Nicodemus. There is also no mention of anointing Jesus' body with the massive quantity of spices that John recorded, or any spices for that matter. The silence does not necessarily mean that Joseph's spice slathering did not happen, but Mark's version would seem to imply that it did not. In fact, when you look at the start of the next chapter, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=16&verse=1">Mark 16:1</a> you find Mary, Mary, and Salome going to anoint Jesus with spices. Had they seen John's version of the anointing, it would be as though they were bringing a cup of water to the ocean in trying to anoint Jesus' body with the little bit of spices they could likely afford, and their actions would be unnecessary because all of the proper procedures had already been followed according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=40">John 19:40</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=50&end_verse=56">Luke 23:50-56</a> is basically the same account as Mark, with a couple notable exceptions. First, Joseph is portrayed as being vocal against Jesus' sentencing, which does not necessarily contradict, but does cast some possible doubt on some version of the story, considering that John recorded that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus in secret. The second exception is that Luke dropped the reference Pilate being surprised of Jesus' hasty death.<br />
<br />
Just like Mark, Luke also had Mary and Mary preparing to anoint Jesus' body with spices.<br />
<br />
Finally we come to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=57&end_verse=66">Matthew 27:57-66</a>. Matthew made very significant changes in order to incorporate the guarded-body/guarded-tomb theme that he uniquely contributed to the story. Before we get to that, let us quickly note the other appreciable alterations.<br />
<br />
First, like Luke, Matthew dropped the reference to Pilate being surprised of Jesus' early exit from life. Second, Matthew makes this tomb one that Joseph himself had cut out of the rock, which is a far cry from John's version of just being a convenient resting place. Third, the burial anointment was dropped as well, including the second(?) one done by Mary and Mary. Instead, in the next chapter, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=1">Matthew 28:1</a> reported that Mary and Mary were simply going down to look at the tomb, not to anoint Jesus.<br />
<br />
Back to the guards, Matthew's unique content, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=62&end_verse=66">Matthew 27:62-66</a> has the Chief Priests and Pharisees asking Pilate to post guards at the tomb to prevent Jesus' body from being stolen. Of course, that is hilariously ludicrous, not only because Matthew has recorded private dialog of that request without having an allied eyewitness, but more so because it portrays the Chief Priests and Pharisees as having a better understanding of what Jesus had promised than His own Disciples! As the story will show as it continues, none of Jesus' Disciples were actually anticipating Jesus coming back to life when He did.<br />
<br />
While the stories have a similar backbone, they are quite different. Obviously, not each version can be true. That is not the important question though. The important one is whether or not this is based on a true story; if that backbone represents what actually occurred. Yet if events are recorded which we can be fairly certain did not occur, such as Chief Priests and Pharisees as having a better understanding of what Jesus had promised than His own Disciples, if something can be fabricated and passed of as truth for long enough, then what kind of certainty can you legitimately claim in knowing the truth of the matter?TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-64354474165402985732013-06-21T07:03:00.000-04:002013-06-21T07:03:00.271-04:00Post Mortem Epiphany'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Jesus, with <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-cross-to-bear.html">His cross</a>, was led to His fate; crucifixion. Hung there between a couple thieves, Jesus was ever the mild servant of God, taking insults graciously and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/cross-talk.html">granting Salvation</a> to a repentant thief. From noon to 3 P.M., the sun stopped shining, and Jesus asked why God had forsaken Him. Then <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/pay-no-attention-to-dead-man-behind.html">Jesus died</a>, the Temple's curtain was torn, there was an earthquake, and dead holy men were resurrected.<br />
<br />
<b>Post Mortem Epiphany</b><br />
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You do not know what you have got until it is gone. Or so it is often said. And it just so happens that that realization of loss is what we find portrayed by some unlikely sources immediately after Jesus' death. Let us take a look at the reactions of those standing by Jesus after His last breath.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=54&end_verse=56">Matthew 27:54-56</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=39&end_verse=41">Mark 15:39-41</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=47&end_verse=49">Luke 23:47-49</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=31&end_verse=37">John 19:31-37</a> reveal the reactions of people near Jesus at the time of His death. Let us begin this study with the first written Gospel of the set; Mark. Starting with Mark 15:39, we read:<br />
<blockquote>
And <b>when the centurion</b>, who stood there in front of Jesus, <b>heard His cry and saw how He died, he said</b>, "Surely <b>this man was the Son of God!</b>" NIV</blockquote>
So this is a centurion's reaction, a division leader in the Roman army. Implicitly, this man was Roman, and that makes it very likely both that he was polytheistic and that he recognized Caesar as divine. So it is strange, to say the least, that the centurion would claim that Jesus was the Son of the singular, Jewish God. However, it is possible that he had heard the story of Jesus and had come to believe. (As you may remember, earlier in the Gospels there were reports of <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/03/another-version-of-truth.html">other believing centurions</a>.)<br />
<br />
Note what had convinced this centurion of the "truth": hearing Jesus' cry and seeing how He died.<br />
<br />
Now, "how He died" may be intended to imply the greater picture of how Jesus reacted to being put on the cross, how He handled the taunting and insults while on the cross, the miraculous three hours of darkness prior to His death, etc.<br />
<br />
However, being coupled with the conjunction "and" to the cry that Jesus had made suggests a more immediate relationship; as in literally how Jesus died. It is probably safe to assume that this would not have been the first crucifixion that the centurion had witnessed, and there was something particularly different about the way that Jesus died. Perhaps it was the relative speed of Jesus' death, or an expression of peace and calm on His face, or a gentle transition from life to death, or even the possible witnessing of Jesus' spirit leaving His body. This is just speculation, given the lack of detail in the account, but the words seem to convey that there was something truly special in the manner in which Jesus died.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=39&end_verse=41http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=40&end_verse=41">Mark 15:40-41</a> adds that there were some women watching from a distance, including a couple Mary's and Salome, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, and "cared for His needs". Well, a man has got needs, you know. ;-) Despite the fact that this implies gender roles where certain burdens are placed on women as a higher priority than the "important work" which the male Disciples were doing, and despite the fact that it is odd for multiple women to have to care for Jesus' needs alone as opposed to having the women portrayed as helping with the needs of the larger group, specifically noting the contribution of these women is a respectable and honorable sentiment.<br />
<br />
Yet with the three hours of darkness preceding Jesus' death, it is a little odd that more people than just the centurion are not recognized as having the same epiphany that he did.<br />
<br />
Matthew 27:54 changes the scene a little to be more consistent with his <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/pay-no-attention-to-dead-man-behind.html">uniquely reported earthquake and mini-zombie apocalypse</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
When <b>the centurion and those with him</b> who were guarding Jesus <b>saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified</b>, and exclaimed, "Surely He was the Son of God!" NIV</blockquote>
So now we have the centurion and his accompanying soldiers claiming that Jesus was the Son of God. And why? Because of something special in the way He died? No. Because they had been frightened by the darkness and the earthquake.<br />
<br />
Like Mark, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=55&end_verse=56">Matthew 27:55-56</a> also mentions women, who had cared for Jesus' needs, watching from a distance, including a couple Mary's and the mother of the Zebedee brothers.<br />
<br />
Luke may have been a better editor than Matthew, in that he appears to have noticed some of the issues with Mark's version. Luke 23:47-48 reported::<br />
<blockquote>
<b>The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God</b> and said, "Surely this was <b>a righteous man</b>." When <b>all the people</b> who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they <b>beat their breasts</b> and went away. NIV</blockquote>
So Luke changed the centurion's expression into a more realistic one; not that he recognized Jesus as the Son of God, but that he recognized (presumably based on both Jesus' actions and God's reaction of stopping the sun from shining for three hours) that Jesus must have been a righteous man who was now wrongfully crucified.<br />
<br />
It was not only the centurion, or his soldiers, who had this epiphany. The rest of the crowd who had come to gaze at this spectacle had this same revelation, as is implied by the report of them beating their breasts; an cultural display of mourning, and possibly repentance, as observed in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=32&verse=12&end_verse=13">Isaiah 32:12-13</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=31&verse=19">Jeremiah 31:19</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=21&verse=12">Ezekiel 21:12</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=41&chapter=2&verse=7">Nahum 2:7</a>.<br />
<br />
This mourning crowd was not made up of Jesus' followers, as, according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=49">Luke 23:49</a>, those who believed in Jesus were watching from a distance, along with the women who had followed Jesus. Luke oddly left out the bit about these women caring for Jesus' needs. Perhaps he also recognized how strange it appeared that multiple women were addressing Jesus' needs, or may by he just got tired of copying.<br />
<br />
Now for something completely different. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=31&end_verse=37">John 19:31-37</a>, there is no epiphany, or even a centurion for that matter. Instead, submitting to a request from the Jews, Pilate ordered for the crucified people to have their legs broken and to be taken down from their crosses during the Passover Sabbath (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=31">John 19:31</a>). Strangely, the soldiers carrying out that task removed the thieves on either side of Jesus first (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=18">John 19:18</a>) as opposed to progressing across the lineup of hanging men in a serial pattern (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=32">John 19:32</a>).<br />
<br />
When they finally came to Jesus (in the non-religious sense of those words), they just then discovered that He was dead (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=33">John 19:33</a>). This is an huge contradiction to the Synoptic Gospels which record people reacting to Jesus' blatant moment of passing! But then, in John's version, Jesus' moment of death was much more reserved, having Jesus simply bow His head and give up His spirit, which would have been much easier to miss (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=30">John 19:30</a>).<br />
<br />
Anyway, the soldiers reacted like many guys do when they come across a corpse unexpectedly; they poked it with a stick. In this case, the stick was a spear, and they punctured Jesus' side with it, reportedly causing water and blood to rush out (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=34">John 19:34</a>).<br />
<br />
The next verse in John is what I would call a classic liar's tell. In John 19:35 we read:<br />
<blockquote>
<b>The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth</b>, and he testifies so that you also may believe. NIV</blockquote>
It is true. You can know that it is true, because the guy who saw it gave this report, and his report is the truth, because he knows that he tells the truth. Oh please. Why is it that all of the rest of the preceding Gospel of John has been given without any claim of a truth-telling eyewitness until this one point? I will tell you why:<br />
<br />
It is a lie. If it were true, there would have been more than just this one eyewitness to make the claim that this sequence of events actually occurred, like the group of Jesus-following witnesses watching from a distance reported by the other three Gospels. Furthermore, there would be no need to vehemently claim that it was true any more than for any of the other far-more-unbelievable events recorded previously in this Gospel. <i>Sure, Jesus <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/12/walking-on-fluid-myth.html">walked on water</a> and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/09/lazarus-lying-about.html">raised Lazarus back to life</a> after he had been dead for days, but this whole being stabbed on the cross and having water and blood come out of the opening, well, I am going to need a little proof for that...</i><br />
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Now, why would anyone lie about something like this? Well, to fulfill Scripture, of course! Any shred of apparent credibility to support your lie is always advantageous, and prophesy provides one of the best forms of that credibility. And if you are wiling to lie to make a connection to prophesy, why not tweak the Scriptures to make a prophetic match too?<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=36">John 19:36</a> tells us that these events transpired to fulfill the prophesy that "not one of His bones will be broken". Even favorably assuming that none of the bones in Jesus' ankles or wrists were broken in the process of being nailed to the cross (which is highly unlikely), the problem is that there is no such prophesy. The nearest match comes from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=34">Psalm 34</a>, which speaks of how God protects righteous people in general. Such is the sentiment we find in Psalm 34:19-20:<br />
<blockquote>
The righteous person may have many troubles, but <b>the Lord delivers him from them all</b>;<br />
He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. NIV</blockquote>
If the generalized sentiment is not strong enough to realize that this "prophesy" is not applicable, then consider that it says that God would save people from their troubles, which is pretty much the opposite of God letting an innocent, righteous person get killed on the cross.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=37">John 19:37</a> provides another prophetic match; that "They will look on the one they have pierced." At least this is an actual prophesy as opposed to being just part of a song. This comes from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=45&chapter=12&verse=10">Zachariah 12:10</a>, and, of the little bit of the verse copied here, John almost gets the wording correct. More significant than a minor word adjustment is the fact that it is this prophesy has been severed from its context to make the match. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=45&chapter=12">Zachariah 12</a> is a prophesy about God turning the leaders and people of Jerusalem into an unstoppable, militarily conquering force which consumes "all the surrounding peoples" as part of a counter-attack from the city of Jerusalem being under siege. The verse right before this noted prophesy, Zachariah 12:9, has God defiantly claim:<br />
<blockquote>
<b>On that day</b> I (God) will set out <b>to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.</b> NIV</blockquote>
If I know my history correctly, that did not happen the day that Jesus died, nor any time after that.<br />
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Furthermore, if you read the remainder of the prophesy, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=45&chapter=12&verse=10&end_verse=14">Zachariah 12:10-14</a>, what you encounter is each of the individual clans of Israelites in mourning; a reference to the old national layout when the Jewish clans each occupied a different region of the Promised Land.<br />
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And why are they weeping? Because they have done God wrongfully. If you know the background behind this prophesy, the reason that Jerusalem was under siege was as a punishment doled out by God for the people breaking the provisions of His covenant. So when God steps in to aid His Chosen People, as is foretold in the prophesy, it is then they will come to the full recognition of how poorly they have treated God, and they will appropriately weep in repentance.<br />
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Bringing this study to a close, Let us review. We have seen contradictions from one account to the next regarding what actually happened when Jesus died, a liar's tell in the claim of truth, and misapplied prophesies used to help support the claim of Jesus' Messiah status. None of these issues, individually or collectively, indicate that Jesus was not crucified. However, any claim beyond that should obviously be given a healthy dose of scrutiny.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-83666572692912688762013-06-14T07:04:00.000-04:002013-06-16T00:02:05.195-04:00Pay No Attention to the Dead Man Behind the Curtain'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Once sentenced to His fate, Jesus <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-cross-to-bear.html">carried the cross</a> to His own crucifixion, at least according to John. The other Gospels suggest that a man named Simon carried it for Him.<br />
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While hanging <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/cross-talk.html">on the cross</a>, Jesus possibly granted Salvation to one of the two thieves who were crucified at the same time as Him; "possibly" because Luke alone recorded this forgiveness of the repentant thief, while Matthew and Mark record that both thieves mocked Jesus instead. Then the sun stopped shining for three hours; which is an event unsubstantiated by John, or by resources outside of the Bible, or by physics, but we are talking about miracles here.<br />
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<b>Pay No Attention to the Dead Man Behind the Curtain</b><br />
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Jesus died. Like everyone else will experience, His mortal body stopped its life-sustaining functions. Of course, it was only a partial death for Him, because His spirit went on living, even before His body was resurrected. Unlike anyone else, Jesus' death was accompanied by miracles as He took His last breath. Let us take a fateful look at this moment of death.<br />
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We will examine <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=50&end_verse=53">Matthew 27:50-53</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=37&end_verse=38">Mark 15:37-38</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=45&end_verse=46">Luke 23:45-46</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=30">John 19:30</a>. This time, we will begin with John.<br />
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John 19:30 goes like this:<br />
<blockquote>
When He had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. NIV</blockquote>
It was a quiet, solemn release. Jesus' work was done, for now, so, with a bow of His head, He shed His mortal body. It was an understated, yet powerful scene. Even beautiful. Now let us turn to the Synoptic Gospels to see how they will mess it up, beginning with Mark, who was the source for the other two.<br />
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In Mark 15:37-38 we find:<br />
<blockquote>
<b>With a loud cry</b>, Jesus breathed His last. The <b>curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom</b>. NIV</blockquote>
So, no quiet, solemn release here. Instead, Jesus yelled. There are no details of what this cry was, so we can only guess, and given that it was the moment of death, a reasonable guess would certainly be something along the lines of a guttural gasp of pain or anguish.<br />
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The curtain of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple">Temple</a>... what curtain are they talking about? Well, we have dig a little into the background to understand this. The layout of the Temple was strongly inspired from the mobile version of the Temple called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabernacle">Tabernacle</a>. With the Tabernacle, a perimeter fence of curtains established the Tabernacle grounds, or courtyard, where the altar for burnt offerings was on display and put into use.<br />
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Inside that courtyard was a tent, sometimes referred to as the Tent of Meeting, and that tent was subdivided into two chambers.<br />
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The first tent chamber, known as the Holy Place, where the golden lampstand, altar of incense, and table of the showbread were kept according to God's instructions.<br />
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Separating the first chamber from the second was heavy, decorative, purple curtain (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=2&chapter=26&verse=31&end_verse=33">Exodus 26:31-33</a>).<br />
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The second tent chamber, known as the Most Holy Place (a.k.a. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_of_Holies">Holy of Holies</a>), contained (among other things) the Ark of the Covenant and the Atonement Cover (a.k.a. Mercy Seat), and hosted the very presence of God. Literally, God was there, which is why prayers were directed towards it (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=28&verse=2">Psalm 28:2</a>), and why in Leviticus 16:2 we read:<br />
<blockquote>
The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that <b>he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain</b> in front of the atonement cover on the ark, <b>or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover</b>. NIV</blockquote>
This verse was obviously written with no intent of the High Priest having a close, personal relationship with God, as God would kill him if he showed up at non-appointed times. Anyway, back to the torn curtain...<br />
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The curtain which Mark referenced is undoubtedly the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. While nearly every other part of the facade of the Tabernacle and Tent of Meeting were replaced by stone or wood, this curtain remained integral to the Temple design. So ripping open the only vale between God and the people would be both symbolic of removal of the barrier between God and man, as well as a more literal indication that God had left the building.<br />
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There is a big problem here though... how did anyone know about the curtain; that it was ripped, that the rip corresponded to Jesus' time of death, and that the direction of the rip was top to bottom?<br />
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It was torn in two, so to know the direction of the tear (other than with the assistance of modern CSI technology) would have been impossible without an eye witness, but that seems unlikely. Access to this holy place was very, very restricted, thanks largely to verses like Exodus 28:43:<br />
<blockquote>
Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, <b>so that they will not incur guilt and die</b>. "This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants." NIV</blockquote>
With this restricted access, and factoring that access is not permitted at non-appointed times, the chances of there being a witness to this event are statistically very small.<br />
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Yet even assume that there was a witness or two, we still have the fact that the witnesses would have been the religious elite, and would have been under no obligation, and certainly no motivation, to reveal to anyone that the curtain had been torn, let alone in what direction the tearing took place. Releasing such easily-concealed information would have been damning evidence against themselves. So, again, how is it that Mark knows anything about this curtain?<br />
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Now we come to Matthew. Matthew polished up Mark's verbiage a little more that usual, as Matthew 27:50 reveals:<br />
<blockquote>
And when Jesus had <b>cried out again</b> in a loud voice, <b>He gave up His spirit</b>. NIV</blockquote>
The "again" could convey a few different things. Least likely, but still possible, is inference of just some loud, nondescript utterance. Instead it may have been an intelligible cry, similar but different to the "Why have you forsaken me?" cry in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=46">Matthew 27:46</a>, but for some unknown reason the exact words not recorded. Also possible is that Matthew intended it to mean that Jesus made the exact same cry as in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=46">Matthew 27:46</a>.<br />
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Whatever the content of that scream, it was a far cry from being a quiet passing portrayed by John. Yet, conspicuously, we find in Matthew the "He gave up His spirit", as seen in John. Given that John's lack of mentioning a cry would not guarantee that there was not one, and with other queues from across the Gospels (at least for this particular section), believers can quite reasonably claim that these different versions appear to be be describing the same event, which enhances their credibility... at least until we consider what Matthew recorded soon thereafter.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=51">Matthew 27:51</a>, the Temple curtain is torn, top to bottom. No surprise there, but Matthew also aggregated onto the story that there was an earthquake at that moment too, one powerful enough to split rocks. And in Matthew 27:52-53, we find this remarkable addition:<br />
<blockquote>
The tombs broke open and the bodies of <b>many holy people who had died were raised to life</b>. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection <b>they went into the holy city and appeared to many people</b>. NIV</blockquote>
This mini-zombie-apocalypse is not mentioned in any other Gospel. As implied above, an argument from silence is not usually a strong one, and can never be taken as solid proof, but are degrees of strength based on the circumstances of the situation. We are not talking about whether or not some speech snippet was recorded, which was essentially unessential to the story here.<br />
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Sure, the Jesus'-death-synchronized earthquake could qualify as simply just another miracle which adds trivially to the story. However, resurrected holy people is <b>incredibly significant</b>, possibly even more than that of Jesus! Why?<br />
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Consider this: God made man by scooping up some dirt and blowing into it (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=2&verse=7">Genesis 2:7</a>). Any God that could do that could easily bring Himself, as Jesus, back to life in the flesh. Other than it being a miracle by our standards, it is no big deal. In fact, such a God could easily bring anyone back to life.<br />
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On the other hand, the resurrection of these saints represents the fulfillment of God's promise of resurrection for the rest of us. So even more than Jesus' resurrection, the resurrection of these holy people demonstrated the veracity of God's offer of Salvation through Jesus.<br />
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The absence of this resurrection anecdote from the other Gospels, which Matthew himself barely included with a single verse, creates one of the strongest types of arguments from silence that there can be. This is because, based on the implications of the content described above, it would have been extremely advantageous to include in the other Gospel accounts, as it both reassures Salvation and it could be used to explain to those who had heard about or seen these resurrected holy people why that had occurred.<br />
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And that is just it. It probably did not occur. It is not mentioned in any other Gospel, nor in the rest of the New Testament. When you read passages like <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=4">Acts 4</a>, where Peter and John are apprehended for preaching about resurrection of the dead, their obvious, go-to defensive evidence would have been to point to these holy people coming back to life because of Jesus, but we do not find that, not even as a footnote to their speech.<br />
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OK, enough about the zombies. Let us wrap this study up with a quick look at Luke, the editor. Luke had the curtain torn in two also, but had it happen just before Jesus' death and wisely dropped the "top to bottom" directionality. Then in Luke 23:46 we read the famous line:<br />
<blockquote>
Jesus called out <b>with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit My spirit."</b> When He had said this, He breathed His last. NIV</blockquote>
I have to applaud Luke here. Other than Jesus screaming this sentence, which seems unnecessary unless God is hard of hearing, Luke really portrayed Jesus in a beautiful moment of submission to God's Plan, but, in turn, that also portrayed Jesus as being subservient to God. So it is one more verse to muddy the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<br />
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<b>About the Image</b><br />
The image is of a triptych depicting Saint Anthony the Great (a.k.a. Anthony Abbot), with the third panel illustrating his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great#The_satyr_and_the_centaur">meeting with a centaur</a>. You cannot make this stuff up. :-)TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-21854016134655368442013-06-07T07:04:00.000-04:002013-06-13T09:06:12.479-04:00Cross Talk'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
After being <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">tried by the Priests</a> and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/jesus-is-my-co-pilate.html">investigated by Pilate</a>, Pilate relented to the crowd's demand to have Jesus crucified. So Pilate chose to flog Jesus, and then soldiers led Him away to face His fate. Those soldiers may have mocked Jesus with purple robe and false praise of kingship (Matthew, Mark), unless that happened before Jesus was sentenced, under Herod's watch (Luke). Then, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-cross-to-bear.html">Jesus carried His own cross</a> to the mount where He was crucified (John), unless a man named Simon carried it for Him (Matthew, Mark, Luke).<br />
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<b>Cross Talk</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1j9vLe5zBJOWd3atbbxVA4mb1opcFRbzVfy79ITEmhTd9w3gZBPJx9WMXe0NoLnPOPSVqp6VU71p4N14hs50EwTIv0BRV3aJGT75S1IoyvBYYTaAXnA0kBPrtPkiaGx46GSL2g75IDcP/s1600/europe_2004+243_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1j9vLe5zBJOWd3atbbxVA4mb1opcFRbzVfy79ITEmhTd9w3gZBPJx9WMXe0NoLnPOPSVqp6VU71p4N14hs50EwTIv0BRV3aJGT75S1IoyvBYYTaAXnA0kBPrtPkiaGx46GSL2g75IDcP/s200/europe_2004+243_.jpg" width="155" /></a></div>One of the aspects I enjoy about the Bible is that, like many other literary works, it captures human nature fairly well. The Bible provides an unusual slice of that nature because the Gospels, in particular, were written with an intent of building credibility behind the claim of Jesus being the Messiah, among other intents. Let us take a look at this facet of nature as we examine Jesus' time on the cross up to, but not including, His death.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=36&end_verse=49">Matthew 27:36-49</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=25&end_verse=36">Mark 15:25-36</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=35&end_verse=45">Luke 23:35-45</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=19&end_verse=29">John 19:19-29</a> all cover Jesus' hang time on the cross. Let us begin with Mark, shall we?<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=25">Mark 15:25</a> tells us that it was 9 A.M. (the third hour) when Jesus was put on the cross. The timer begins. There were two daily sacrifices that the Priests carried out on a regular basis. The first just happened to be at around 9 A.M. Coincidence, or deliberate writing? You know the answer. ;-)<br />
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In Mark 15:26 we read:<br />
<blockquote>The written notice of <b>the charge against Him</b> read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. NIV</blockquote>You may remember from the previous posts, the Priests charged Jesus with blaspheme, but instead they presented Jesus to Pilate as an insurrectionist claiming to be king.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=27">Mark 15:27</a>, you find Jesus was crucified between two thieves. This seemingly benign verse is used to tie in the prophesy of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=53">Isaiah 53</a>, in particular the verse of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=53&verse=12">Isaiah 53:12</a> where a suffering servant of God was "numbered with the transgressors".<br />
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Any association with prophesy would bolster credibility, and that of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=53">Isaiah 53</a> is one of two Old Testament prophesies which, as a whole, actually come close to matching parts of the Jesus story. The language in Isaiah 53 is a bit vague, and requires context to properly discern. Please see this <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/10/isaiah-53-anatomy-of-prophesy.html">very detailed post discussing Isaiah 53</a> if you are interested in the refuting of that prophesy.<br />
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With Jesus on such a shameful display, it is a fitting portrayal of human nature that we find Him being mocked. The mocking in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=29&end_verse=30">Mark 15:29-30</a> is particularly interesting, because people walking by mocked that Jesus said He would "destroy the Temple and build it in three days". However, despite the apparent commonality of the knowledge of this claim presented here, back <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">when Jesus was being questioned</a> before the Priests they could not get witnesses to agree that Jesus had actually made such a claim (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=58&end_verse=59">Mark 14:58-59</a>)! So to find people walking by using that statement as a point of mockery is strange, to say the least.<br />
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Of course, the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law also mocked Jesus, demanding that He miraculously come down from the cross to prove his Messianic status, and both of the thieves crucified with Him mocked Him as well (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=31&end_verse=32">Mark 15:31-32</a>). It is a great display of an unsavory side of human nature. Everyone around Jesus was united in mob mentality to pick on Him, given His lofty claims versus His then-present lowly situation.<br />
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Next, from noon to 3 P.M. (the ninth hour), it got dark outside. Three hours of darkness in "the whole land", and yet there is no recorded history of this event happening outside the Bible. This was probably just thrown in for dramatic effect. :-) The end was about to come...<br />
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3 P.M. was also the time of the second ritual, daily sacrifice for the Priests. Another likely contrived coincidence.<br />
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Speaking of contrived coincidences, in Mark 15:34 we read:<br />
<blockquote>And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, <b>why</b> have you forsaken me?" NIV</blockquote>The Christian story behind this cry, <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/matthew/gill/matthew27.htm">as Gill puts it</a>, was that Jesus was "now without a sense of the gracious presence of God" and was facing the divine wrath for the sins of mankind. It is a quaint story, but it does not hold up to scrutiny.<br />
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Given that Jesus was God, or at least some integral part of God, how could Jesus not feel the presence of God? That would be like not being aware of your own presence, which is fairly difficult to do when you are conscious. ;-)<br />
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Yet an even greater paradox than that bizarre scenario of God not feeling His own pretense is the question of "why". Not my "why", but rather Jesus' "why". For Jesus to ask why this was happening would indicate that He did not know His purpose and God's plan, and yet He did know. Why would Jesus ask such a question when He knew the answer?<br />
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I will tell you why. Because the author of this Gospel wanted you to know what "prophesy" he was using as a script for the crucifixion, so that it would appear that the prophesy was fulfilled and thus enhance his credibility. It is a quote of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=22&verse=1">Psalm 22:1</a>. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=22">Psalm 22</a> was allegedly written by King David, metaphorically describing the events before he was king, when King Saul had his men hunting down David. Saul had essentially labeled David as public enemy #1.<br />
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While quite a bit of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=22">Psalm 22</a> appears to be a good match for the Jesus story, <a href="http://foolishtongues.blogspot.com/2013/05/psalmcatch-22.html">refer to this post</a> to see that focusing on the details reveals that Psalm 22 has quite a bit that is not about Jesus at all, and even runs contrary to Jesus' story.<br />
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Anyway, people around Jesus thought that He was calling for Elijah when He made that yelp (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=35">Mark15:35</a>). If people standing near the cross could not understand Jesus, then it is a bit of a mystery how anyone did understand Him enough to record Jesus' cry of forsakenness.<br />
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Someone offered Jesus wine vinegar to drink, which is a tie in to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=69&verse=21">Psalm 69:21</a> (we discussed <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=69">Psalm 69</a> in the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-cross-to-bear.html">previous post</a>), and others mocked Jesus some more by saying that Elijah should save Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=36">Mark 15:36</a>).<br />
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OK, on to Matthew. Again, as is typical with Matthew, he essentially copied Mark with only slight wording changes, with two exceptions where he, also as typical, added material.<br />
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The first significant change is that, while the time of the beginning of the crucifixion is not mentioned, instead we have a reference to soldiers keeping watch on Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=36">Matthew 27:36</a>). This is unique to Matthew, and the vigilance displayed here portends the soldiers which would be used to guard Jesus tomb in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=62&end_verse=66">Matthew 27:62-66</a>. Matthew was trying to persuade his readers that there was no possible substitution or saving of Jesus, or taking of His body afterward.<br />
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The second addition comes in the form of a particular insult hurled at Jesus by the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=43">Matthew 27:43</a>, which is mostly unremarkable other than that they are quoted as saying "He (Jesus) trusts in God" as if they did not, providing a little more slander against the Jewish religious elite.<br />
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Now, to Luke. Luke edited and rearranged the story quite a bit.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=35">Luke 23:35</a> begins our study with people mocking Jesus on the cross. Noticeably absent is the mocking found in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=39&end_verse=40">Matthew 27:39-40</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=29&end_verse=30">Mark 15:29-30</a> regarding Jesus destroying the Temple and rebuilding it in three days. That is no surprise, but is rather a mark of consistency for Luke, who had earlier <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">edited out that charge</a> against Jesus.<br />
<br />
While Luke gets some points for consistency, we may need to subtract some for strangeness when we find in Luke 23:36-37:<br />
<blockquote><b>The soldiers</b> also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine vinegar and <b>said, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.</b>" NIV</blockquote>The soldiers, who are implicitly Roman, somehow manage to associate being King of the Jews with having miraculous powers. Of course, it is also reasonable to guess that they had heard of the Messianic prophesies, or possibly that some Jews had been conscripted as soldiers, so we can give Luke a pass on this oddity.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=38">Luke 23:38</a> is the sign on the cross, which is essentially the same as Mark.<br />
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Next we come to the thieves on the cross. Different than Matthew and Mark, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=39&end_verse=43">Luke 23:39-43</a> says that only one of the thieves mocked Jesus, while the other one claimed that Jesus was being punished without having done anything wrong. (Thanks, Luke, for that convenient, convincing reminder of Jesus' innocence.) That thief asked Jesus to remember him, and in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=43">Luke 23:43</a>, we find this remarkable reply:<br />
<blockquote>Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, <b>today you will be with me in paradise</b>." NIV</blockquote>This is a rather problematic verse on many levels, but the main issue is the "today" part for a few reasons.<br />
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The first reason is the technical detail that death by crucifixion would often take days, so it would be unlikely for that thief to have died that day in order to be in paradise with Jesus.<br />
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The second reason is the Scriptural contradiction versus <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=17">John 20:17</a>, where, after His resurrection, Jesus had said that He had not yet been to Heaven.<br />
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The third reason is the way in which it overturns so much dogma. But do not take my word for it. Here is what Christian <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/gill/luke23.htm">Dr. Charles R. Erdman</a> inserted into John Gill's biblical commentary:<br />
<blockquote>In the salvation of one of the thieves, theology finds one of its finest demonstrations. <b>Sacrementalism was refuted</b>, for the thief was saved <b>without recourse to baptism, the Lord's Supper, church, ceremony, or good works</b>. The dogma of <b>purgatory was refuted</b>, for this vile sinner was instantly transformed into a saint and made fit for paradise apart from his personal expiation of a single sin. The teaching of <b>universalism was refuted</b>, for only one was saved of all who might have been saved. Jesus did not say, "Today shall ye be with me in paradise," but "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." The notion of <b>soul-sleep was refuted</b>, for the clear implication of the entire incident is that the redeemed thief would be in conscious fellowship with his Saviour <b>in paradise even while his body disintegrated in some grave</b>. Too, it is doubtful whether any other gospel incident presents the plan of salvation more clearly or simply.</blockquote>Like Matthew and Mark, Luke also recorded three hours of darkness (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=44">Luke 23:44</a>), but Luke 23:45 added this interesting detail to explain why it was dark:<br />
<blockquote>for <b>the sun stopped shining</b>. NIV</blockquote>The sun stopped shining. When a skeptic asks why were there not contemporaneous reports about Jesus outside of the Bible, a common counter is that the religious elite suppressed the reporting of Jesus. However, even if they could have done such a thing, and somehow the rumors and stories the great teaching and miracles stayed within the bounds of Jewish influence, we should still see reports about the sun not shining all over the region, which, obviously, defies the laws of physics as we know them.<br />
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That is it for Luke. He edited out the claim of Jesus calling out, asking God why He had forsaken Him. Perhaps Luke realized how ludicrous such a cry would have been for Jesus to make, even at the expense of dropping a "prophetic" reference.<br />
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Finally, we come to John. If you have been following along, you already know that John will be different. ;-) However, it is not too different, suggesting that the story of the crucifixion was an early part of the Christian tradition. Anyway...<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=19&end_verse=22">John 19:19-22</a> also mentions the sign on the cross calling Jesus the "King of the Jews" (although each of the four Gospels disagree over the precise wording of the sign). John adds the details that it was written in three languages, and that the Chief Priests complained to Pilate regarding the sign.<br />
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Then <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=23&end_verse=24">John 19:23-24</a> discussed the casting of lots for Jesus' bloody underwear, as <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-cross-to-bear.html">we discussed previously</a>. It is a different order than the other Gospels mention this, but really that is a trivial change, given the simultaneous nature of the event.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=25&end_verse=27">John 19:25-27</a> then uniquely recorded the charming scene of Jesus giving His mother to "the disciple whom he loved" (who most Christians consider to be John), and recorded how Jesus' mom then stayed in the home of that disciple. Of course, this makes us question if Jesus' father dead at that time, or did Joseph kick Mary out of the house? There is no mention either way, so we are left with speculation.<br />
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Without either a perceived call for Elijah or soldiers mocking Him, Jesus prompted receiving a wine vinegar spong-drink by saying "I am thirsty" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=28&end_verse=29">John 19:28-29</a>).<br />
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And that is it! There was absolutely no mention of mocking Jesus on the cross, including any speech at all by the thieves recorded in John. That in and of itself is not so remarkable, as mocking was likely a common occurrence of the victims of crucifixion and therefore may not have been worth noting.<br />
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However, John does not even mention the land getting dark or the sun ceasing to shine for three hours. That is precisely the kind of detail you would want to include it it had actually happened, as you could easily say to a potential convert "Hey, do you remember years ago when the sun stopped shining in the middle of the day for three hours? That was because they crucified our Savior, Jesus, at that time."<br />
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Having all of these differences across the four Gospels, and some interesting conundrums within the accounts themselves, we have a blurry picture of what occurred in what is arguably the most important moment in Jesus' life. At best, it speaks of faulty memory and the fidelity loss in communicating between an eyewitness and a third party. At worst, it is fiction; a common story point in the myth which was tweaked as each author saw fit. Given the track record of the Gospels thus far, the latter case appears to be more likely.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-27180593011876102492013-05-31T07:06:00.000-04:002013-06-04T20:41:41.588-04:00A Cross to Bear'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
The Priests held a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">trial against Jesus</a>, but they had difficulty assigning any witnessed crime against Him until they came to blaspheme. Then they took Jesus to Pilate to have justice rendered.<br />
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Pilate conducted his own, apparently superficial, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/jesus-is-my-co-pilate.html">investigation of Jesus</a>, and ultimately decided that He was innocent of any crime deserving death. So Pilate declared Jesus' innocence and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/premature-exoneration.html">tried to get Jesus released</a>, but the crowd asked for a different son-of-the-father to be released instead, and demanded Jesus' crucifixion. Pilate reluctantly relented to the crowd's demand to have the Jesus killed, and inexplicably had Jesus flogged as an unrequested, unrequired bonus-punishment despite finding Him innocent.<br />
<br />
<b>A Cross to Bear</b><br />
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Each of us has a little cross to bear; a little challenging act of self-sacrifice for the sake of righteousness. Or so it is said. The metaphor comes from the literal act of Jesus carrying His own cross to the site of His crucifixion. Let us take a look at the steps taken by Jesus from condemnation to crucifixion.<br />
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The time from sentencing to the crucifixion is covered by <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=27&end_verse=35">Matthew 27:27-35</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=16&end_verse=24">Mark 15:16-24</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=26&end_verse=34">Luke 23:26-34</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=17&end_verse=18">John 19:17-18</a> + <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=23&end_verse=24">John 19:23-24</a>. As usual, we will begin by looking at Mark first, given his influence over Matthew and Luke.<br />
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Mark began by telling us that, right after Jesus was sentenced and flogged, soldiers took Him inside the palace (the Praetorium), where they put a purple robe and a crown of thorns on Him, beat Him up, and mocked Him as the "King of the Jews", before leading Him out for the crucifixion (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=16&end_verse=20">Mark 15:16-20</a>).<br />
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Anyone familiar with the story of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib facility can understand this kind of behavior out of the soldiers handling Jesus. It seems very plausible... until you remember that there were no Gospel-writing eyewitnesses to what went on inside of the palace, and Jesus left the palace without that purple robe. At best, this mockery and beating is hearsay, but we will see indications later on suggesting that it is a work of fiction.<br />
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Next we have the strange bit where, on the way to the crucifixion, the soldiers forced a man named Simon to carry Jesus' cross (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=16&end_verse=24http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=21&end_verse=22">Mark 15:21-22</a>). There is no explanation as to why that occurred, which is odd. Most believers came to the conclusion that Jesus was buckling under the load of the cross due to his flogging and beating injuries. That is a plausible explanation.<br />
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On the other hand, on the skeptical side of the fence, the odd name dropping and cross transference without explicit reason is suspicious. Perhaps a man named Simon was used as a "celebrity" eyewitness to help make converts in the early days of the movement by claiming to have carried Jesus' cross for Him. But that is fairly wild speculation...<br />
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Next, we get to a rather curious verse, Mark 15:23:<br />
<blockquote>
Then they offered Him <b>wine mixed with myrrh</b>, but <b>He did not take it</b>. NIV</blockquote>
Wine mixed with myrrh? Myrrh? Myrrh was one of the gifts to the baby Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=2&verse=11">Matthew 2:11</a>). Myrrh was also used as part of Jesus burial dressing (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=39">John 19:39</a>). Myrrh was a highly aromatic oil, used in the nearly-illicit verse of Song of Songs 1:13:<br />
<blockquote>
My beloved is to me <b>a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts</b>. NIV</blockquote>
I am not sure how myrrh would taste, especially myrrh resting between breasts, but it certainly appears to be a highly desirable substance, none-the-less. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrrh#Traditional_Chinese_medicine">Wikipedia</a> suggests bitter and spicy, as it was used medicinally.) Beyond that, there appears to be no significance to this myrrh-wine offering, but do not worry. We will find one in a moment.<br />
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After the offering, they crucified Jesus and then cast lots to see who would get Jesus' clothes. If you are not familiar with "casting lots", it is essentially like rolling dice to see who rolls the highest number. It is somewhat easy to imagine soldiers wanting to cash in on the misfortune of their charges, but you have to keep in mind that Jesus was freshly flogged (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=15">Mark 15:15</a>) and beaten up (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=19">Mark 15:19</a>). If so, that would be a rather repugnant garment, full of blood, and perhaps little bits of flesh and scabs. It is hard to believe that anyone would want that... but believers do want to fulfill "prophesy", which is why that is in there. Enter Psalm 22:18:<br />
<blockquote>
They divide my clothes among them and <b>cast lots for my garment</b>. NIV</blockquote>
Wow. Another prophetic match. Until you read the next three verses where the speaker/prayer of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=22">Psalm 22</a> is pleading with God to save his life from the fate which was set before him. There is no humble submission to God's will (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=39">Matthew 26:39</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=36">Mark 14:36</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=42">Luke 22:42</a>), or recognition that this was going according to God's plan (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=12&verse=27">John 12:27</a>) which would be thwarted if God intervened. Then of course you have the possible cognitive dissonance of God (Jesus) wanting something different than God (the Father). There are many other issues in this Psalm as well, which you can read about in my <a href="http://foolishtongues.blogspot.com/2013/05/psalmcatch-22.html">thorough analysis of Psalm 22</a>.<br />
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OK, what about Matthew? Matthew makes my work easy. He essentially copied Mark, so much so that it reminds me of a report I did in third grade where I copied the text from the encyclopedia, making only minor word changes. :-)<br />
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There was one important change in Matthew. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=34">Matthew 27:34</a>, they mixed gall, not myrrh, into the wine offering. That we have a Scriptural "prophesy" match for. In Psalm 69:21, you find:<br />
<blockquote>
They put <b>gall in my food</b> and gave me vinegar for my thirst. NIV</blockquote>
This does not appear to be a good match, as the gall was put into food, not into drink (wine). However, according to the Jewish poetic structure of the verse, the gall-in-food and vinegar-for-thirst are really meaning the same things: they gave me horrible tasting stuff on which to sustain myself. So in that sense, it does match.<br />
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Yet the "prophesy" as whole does not match. You may remember from the post about <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">Judas being replaced</a> that this same "prophesy" was used in regards to how Judas would be killed, but Judas was not the one giving out the gall here. However, while there are issues with <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=69">Psalm 69</a> (mostly do to the speaker praying for God to get him out of the fate before him), it is a far better match here than in Peter's pathetic tie-in to Judas in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=1&verse=20">Acts 1:20</a>.<br />
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Note that it could also be a reference to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=31&chapter=3&verse=15">Lamentations 3:15</a>, where gall is imbibed. However, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=31&chapter=3">Lamentations 3</a>, it was God who made the speaker drink the gall. :-) Plus, we should remember that Jesus refused this wine mixture, whatever it was.<br />
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On to Luke. As we have noticed before, in this latter section of the Scriptures involving Jesus' Passion play, Luke took some artistic liberties in rewriting this story.<br />
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Luke never mentioned that Jesus was given a crown of thorns. That omission is very odd, as it seems like such a powerful visual image; one found in the other three Gospels. My guess is that Luke accidentally lost this detail in the act of re-crafting the story. Luke also dropped the bitter wine offering, quite likely because he saw it as being redundant with the wine vinegar offering which would occur later (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=36">Luke 23:36</a>).<br />
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Speaking of re-crafting, you may also remember that Luke had the episode with Jesus given a purple robe occur back when Jesus was sent to Herod, before Jesus was sentenced to crucifixion (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=11">Luke 23:11</a>). The advantage of Luke's version is that there could have been eyewitnesses to the robe, as Herod sent the robe-wearing Jesus back to Pilate.<br />
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Like Matthew and Mark, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=26">Luke 23:26</a> does mention Simon carrying Jesus' cross.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=27&end_verse=31">Luke 23:27-31</a> uniquely includes a report of a large crowd following Jesus to the cross, weeping and moaning along the way. Of course, that really makes you wonder... where was this large crowd when the crowd was demanding unanimously that Jesus be crucified? ;-)<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=32&end_verse=34">Luke 23:32-34</a> then concludes with the crucifixion and the soldiers casting lots for Jesus' bloody garment. Luke did add detail in those verses about thieves who were crucified with Jesus (which Matthew and Mark will cover later), and added Jesus' interesting, often-quoted words from the first part of Luke 23:34:<br />
<blockquote>
Jesus said, "Father, <b>forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing</b>." NIV</blockquote>
That is really a kind and wonderful sentiment. Of course, it is easily argued that none of Jesus' opposition really knew what they were doing in condemning Jesus to crucifixion. So if ignorance is an excuse worthy of forgiveness, everyone is off the hook, especially non-believers! ;-)<br />
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That brings us to John. John, always the rebel, claimed that Jesus did His own cross-carrying (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=17">John 19:17</a>)! We cannot necessarily call this a contradiction with the other Gospels, as presumably for some amount of time Jesus did carry His own cross before Simon was forced to carry it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=18">John 19:18</a> also mentions the two other people crucified with Jesus.<br />
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There is a fairly insignificant twist where John discussed the dividing of Jesus' clothes. According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=23&end_verse=24">John 19:23-24</a>, Jesus was wearing (at least) five pieces of clothing, and only Jesus' underwear (certainly the bloodiest piece) was the subject of the lot casting.<br />
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Summing all of this up, what do we have? Reports without eyewitnesses. Name dropping and forced-cross-carrying without reason. "Prophetic" references which do not match well when the entire "prophesy" is compared against the circumstances. A discrepancy regarding when and where Jesus received His purple robe. A crowd of Jesus-supporters who were conspicuously absent during Jesus' sentencing. An huge loophole of forgiveness to those who lack understanding. And strangers strangely desiring Jesus' bloody clothing. It is just a little too odd to be true, right? I would not make an answer solely based off of this study, but you really should ponder these things more deeply.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-86339336464819906182013-05-24T07:03:00.000-04:002013-05-27T14:09:06.738-04:00Premature Exoneration'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
After Jesus was arrested, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">a trial was held</a> against Him by the Priests. They had difficulty convicting Jesus of any wrongdoing, until they decided that Jesus had blasphemed by calling Himself the Son of God. (At some point in time either before {<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=63&end_verse=65">Luke 22:63-65</a>} or after {<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=67">Matthew 26:67</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=65">Mark 14:65</a>}, that trial, Jesus was mocked and beat by soldiers.) With the charge of blaspheme, they sent Jesus to Pilate.<br />
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Yet when Jesus was before Pilate, there was no mention of a blaspheme charge from the Priests. Instead, Pilate questioned Jesus about being the King of the Jews. After that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/jesus-is-my-co-pilate.html">light inquisition</a>, Pilate determined that Jesus was innocent.<br />
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Meanwhile, Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Jesus, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">repented of his actions</a> and hung himself in shame.<br />
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<b>Premature Exoneration</b><br />
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Innocent! Innocent, I tell you! Pontius Pilate stood there at the cusp of exonerating Jesus; realizing that He was an innocent man. This was the moment where Pilate would become either an angelic administrator or a despicable devil. You may know the rest of the story, but do you know the details? Do they add up? Let us take a look at the moment that defined Pilate's legacy in Christian lore.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=15&end_verse=26">Matthew 27:15-26</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=6&end_verse=15">Mark 15:6-15</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=15&end_verse=25">Luke 23:15-25</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=38&end_verse=40">John 18:38-40</a> + <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=1&end_verse=16">19:1-16</a> all cover Pilate's handling of Jesus after he had found Him not guilty. We will begin with the Synoptic source; Mark.<br />
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In Mark, Pilate had not yet claimed Jesus' innocence. Mark began by informing us that there was a custom of releasing a prisoner during the Passover feast, that a Jewish rebel named Barabbas was in prison, and that the crowd had come forward to ask Pilate for the customary prisoner release (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=6&end_verse=8">Mark 15:6-8</a>). Remember that: Jesus' potential release was prompted by the crowd.<br />
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It is worthy to note as well that the name of the rebel was Barabbas, which literally means in Aramaic "son of the father"... strange to say the least. What makes it even more odd is that some early manuscripts give his full name as "Jesus Barabbas". So we have Jesus, son of the father, and Jesus, Son of the Father. Some critical scholars have suggested that there may have only been one Jesus (THE Jesus) in the original story. I speculate that this play on words was an intentional literary device; the name was used to emphasize the choice of these people between God and man. Anyway...<br />
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Pilate offered to release "the King of the Jews" to the crowd, suspecting that envy had driven the Chief Priests to arrest Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=9&end_verse=10">Mark 15:9-10</a>). It seems odd that Pilate would have used "King of the Jews" as opposed to Jesus' name, but, again here, I suspect that it is a literary device used to emphasize Jesus' role and the Jewish denial of it.<br />
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Speaking of strange, in Mark 15:11 we see:<br />
<blockquote>
But the <b>Chief Priests stirred up the crowd</b> to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. NIV</blockquote>
That is quite the wondrous turn of events! We have gone from the Chief Priests being afraid of the crowd's reactions (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=21&verse=26">Matthew 21:26</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=21&verse=46">Mathew 21:46</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=11&verse=32">Mark 11:32</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=12&verse=12">Mark 12:12</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=2">Luke 22:2</a>) and having large crowds following Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=21&verse=8">Matthew 21:8</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=12&verse=37">Mark 12:37</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=14&verse=25">Luke 14:25</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=12&verse=19">John 12:19</a>), to having the Chief Priests being able to manipulate the crowd against Jesus! How did that happen? Easy. Just refer to the plot of nearly any summer blockbuster movie. The story is driven by emotion, not internal consistency.<br />
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So the crowd asked for Barabbas' release, Pilate asked what he should do with Jesus, and they demanded His crucifixion (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=12&end_verse=13">Mark 15:12-13</a>). Of course, we should question why Pilate was giving them the option of selecting Jesus' punishment. Jesus was in the hands of the Roman authority now, so why would the Roman authority be asking the Jews how justice should be enacted on a prisoner? Well, because it must be that way in order for the story to make sense, that is why! As we see in Mark 15:14, the Roman authority found Jesus to be innocent:<br />
<blockquote>
"Why? <b>What crime has he committed?</b>" asked Pilate.<br />
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" NIV</blockquote>
Pilate's reaction in Mark 15:15 is even more peculiar:<br />
<blockquote>
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. <b>He had Jesus flogged</b>, and handed him over to be crucified. NIV</blockquote>
OK. So Pilate yielded to the rowdy crowd. So he released Barabbas. So he sent Jesus to be crucified. But flogged? Flogged?!?! That is just adding insult to injury, and ridiculousness to dubiousness. If Pilate thought that Jesus was innocent, and was only reluctantly submitting to the will of the crowd, why would he go the extra mile to have Jesus flogged?<br />
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Mark's version just does not add up. What about Matthew? Just like in our <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/jesus-is-my-co-pilate.html">previous study</a>, Matthew is essentially the same as Mark, but with some aggregations. The only really significant wording change is a refinement in Pilate's initial question to the crowd. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=17">Matthew 27:17</a>, Pilate gave the crowd an explicit choice between Barabbas and Jesus, and, unlike Mark's "King" account, Pilate labeled Jesus more colloquially "Jesus who is called Christ".<br />
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As for the aggregations, one is trivial, while the other is epically memorable.<br />
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The first insertion involves Pilate's wife. She sent Pilate a message during the process of the judgement which told Pilate that she had a nightmare about poor, innocent Jesus, so he should leave Jesus alone (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=19">Matthew 27:19</a>). Of course, we have to wonder how we could possibly know about this message, which is unlikely to have been public knowledge.<br />
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The second insertion is the classic scene where Pilate, convinced of Jesus' innocence and yet remarkably subject to the will of the crowd, washed his hands in front of the crowd, metaphorically washing the guilt of Jesus' judgement off of himself (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=24&end_verse=25">Matthew 27:24-25</a>). Yet even with this defiantly passively-aggressive stance against killing an innocent man, Matthew's Pilate, of his own volition, still had Jesus flogged before being crucified (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=26">Matthew 27:26</a>).<br />
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While Luke is not immune to issues himself, he was a better editor than Matthew, and was not afraid to rewrite the story to make it smoother.<br />
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As opposed to Matthew and Mark, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=15&end_verse=25http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=14&end_verse=16">Luke 23:14-16</a> began with a statement to the crowd that Jesus had "done nothing to deserve death" and so He would be punished and then released. Nothing deserving death... That is a well crafted phrase. Unlike Matthew and Mark which effectively pronounced Jesus as completely innocent, Luke leaves it a little bit murky. Nothing deserving death, just a little punishment instead...<br />
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Depending on which Bible version you read, you may or may not have <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=17">Luke 23:17</a>. It is absent from early manuscripts, and it speaks explicitly about Pilate's obligation to release a prisoner at the feast. It is hard to tell with certainty if that verse should be dropped or not, as it does reasonably fit into the context of what happened next. Different to Matthew and Mark, Luke's Pilate voluntarily offered to release Jesus without provocation from the crowd, but similar to Matthew and Mark, the crowd demanded Barabbas' release instead (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=18&end_verse=19">Luke 23:18-19</a>).<br />
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Luke enhanced the story by adding a triple rejection of Jesus by the crowd, having Pilate appeal twice more to the crowd to only punish Jesus since He had not committed any capital crime (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=20&end_verse=23">Luke 23:20-23</a>).<br />
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Luke must have realized how awkward it was to flog the innocent Jesus on top of sentencing Him to crucifixion, so in his version of Pilate's capitulation, there is no reference to that punishment (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=24&end_verse=25">Luke 23:24-25</a>).<br />
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Finally we come to John. John's version is similar, yet quite different. Like Luke, John began with a declaration that Jesus was innocent (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=38">John 18:38</a>).<br />
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Like Mark, Pilate offered to release "the King of the Jews" as opposed to saying Jesus' name, but he made the offer unprompted by the crowd, like Luke (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=39">John 18:39</a>).<br />
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Of course, "they" requested Barabbas instead (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=40">John 18:40</a>), but John's "they" is quite different. In the other Gospels, Pilate was addressing a crowd of Jewish people which included consisted of lay people, not only the religious elite (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=15&end_verse=17">Matthew 27:15-17</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=8">Mark 15:8</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=13&end_verse=14">Luke 23:13-14</a>). On the other hand, John's Pilate was addressing only the religious elite; the same ones who had questioned Jesus and had brought Him to Pilate (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=28">John 18:28</a>).<br />
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That little twist makes John's account ludicrous, because we have Pilate offering to release Jesus to the same people who had voluntarily arrested, tried, and sent Jesus to Pilate to be killed. Why would Pilate expect, or even bother asking, if they wanted Jesus to be released. If they had, they would not have brought Jesus to Pilate in the first place!<br />
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John's account becomes even more bizarre, as Pilate immediately had Jesus flogged (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=1">John 19:1</a>). That flogging got coupled to a scene which would happen later in the other Gospels, where the soldiers mocked Jesus with a robe a crown of thorns (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=2&end_verse=3">John 19:2-3</a>).<br />
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That cruelty was immediately followed up with Pilate claiming that Jesus was innocent of any charges, coupled with an implicit appeal to those same religious elite to let Jesus go (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=4&end_verse=5">John 19:4-5</a>). Not surprisingly, they (explicitly the Chief Priests and their officials) demanded crucifixion, to which Pilate told them to do it themselves (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=6">John 19:6</a>).<br />
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(At that point, it is a real mystery why the religious elite did not accept the offer to do just that!)<br />
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These "Jews" fired back that Jesus had committed blaspheme; claiming to be God's Son (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=7">John 19:7</a>).<br />
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At that point, John got ahead of himself again, making Pilate "even more afraid" (despite never making him afraid to begin with), which prompted Pilate to ask Jesus' origin (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=8&end_verse=9">John 19:8-9</a>).<br />
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Jesus did not answer, so Pilate asked Jesus if He realized the power that he had over Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=10">John 19:10</a>). In John 19:11, we find an interesting response:<br />
<blockquote>
Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me <b>if it were not given to you from above</b>. Therefore the one who handed me over to you <b>is guilty of a greater sin</b>." NIV</blockquote>
First, we see a confirmation of the Old Testament philosophy. The "if it were not given to you from above" implies that God is the one who controls who rules nations. All human authority ultimately comes from God. Hitler. Stalin. Castro. Kim Jong-un. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Thank God.<br />
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Second, we see a gradation of sin; "a greater sin." That destroys the modern Christian mantra of all sins being equal before God.<br />
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Following this, we find in John 19:12 a persistence from Pilate:<br />
<blockquote>
From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. <b>Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar</b>." NIV</blockquote>
That sounds like a reasonable objection from the "Jews", except for the fact that they were asking for an insurrectionist/murderer to be freed instead of Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=7">Mark 15:7</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=19">Luke 23:19</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=40">John 18:40</a>)! No one who releases an insurrectionist is a friend of Caesar either, but that is what Pilate did in the other three Gospels (John does not mention Barabbas actually being freed).<br />
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Despite the logic loop, John ends similarly to the other Gospels. Pilate made a last appeal, but finally relented to the crucifixion request (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=13&end_verse=16">John 19:13-16</a>). Again, with John's version, the outcome is even less of a surprise, given that Pilate was making the appeals to the Chief Priests (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=19&verse=15">John 19:15</a>).<br />
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Adding all of this up results in the square root of a negative number. ;-) It is imaginary. In each account, there is one implausibility after another, which collectively should not be ignored. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, so some remnant of the truth could be in these texts. Yet as they are in the Bible, they appear to have issues.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-79290760757609196822013-05-17T07:03:00.000-04:002013-05-18T11:21:39.540-04:00Jesus Is My Co-Pilate'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Judas left Jesus and the other Disciples to enact his betrayal. After meeting with the authorities, he led them back to where Jesus was. <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/judas-fish-part-3-kiss-of-death.html">Judas then identified Jesus</a> to the authorities by kissing Him (Matthew, Mark), unless Jesus stopped the kiss from happening (Luke), or instead Jesus identified Himself and for arrest as soon as the authorities arrived (John).<br />
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After the arrest, the Priests <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">struggled to find any charges</a> against Jesus, but they ultimately decided that Jesus had blasphemed by calling Himself the Son of God. So they bound Him up, and sent Him to Pilate. (Before {<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=63&end_verse=65">Luke 22:63-65</a>} and/or after {<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=67">Matthew 26:67</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=65">Mark 14:65</a>}, that trial, Jesus was mocked and beat by the soldiers who had custody of Him.)<br />
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Meanwhile, Peter, who had been waiting outside the High Priest's house, ended up denying three times that he had known Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=69&end_verse=75">Matthew 26:69-75</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=66&end_verse=72">Mark 14:66-72</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=56&end_verse=62">Luke 22:56-62</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=17&end_verse=27">John 18:17-27</a>). That happened just as <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/denial-of-difference.html">Jesus had predicted</a>.<br />
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<b>Jesus Is My Co-Pilate</b><br />
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Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Besides the more mundane administrative affairs of state, one crucial role is ensuring that the rule of law is enforced. Without law, you have chaos. You might as well be ruling cats. Law requires some form of justice. Let us take a look at the justice rendered by arguably the most infamous prefect in history; Pontius Pilate.<br />
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The Priests had bound Jesus, and delivered Him to Pilate for ultimate justice. Like any good minister of justice, Pilate questioned Jesus about His crimes. Well, not really. In this post, we will cover that inquisition captured in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=1&end_verse=14">Matthew 27:1-14</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=1&end_verse=5">Mark 15:1-5</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=1&end_verse=16">Luke 23:1-16</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=28&end_verse=38">John 18:28-38</a>.<br />
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We will start with the source, Mark. According to Mark, right after Jesus was handed over to Pilate (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=1">Mark 15:1</a>), in Mark 15:2 we see this question and answer:<br />
<blockquote>
"Are you the King of the Jews?" asked Pilate.<br />
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. NIV</blockquote>
This leaves us with the question of how Pilate came to think that Jesus should be called the "King of the Jews". As we know from last time, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">blaspheme was the charge</a> against Jesus, so when did it come up that Jesus was a King?<br />
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Plus, there is the even bigger question of how this little snippet of dialog is recorded! There were no Disciple eye-witnesses here.<br />
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Anyway, after that question, the Chief Priests accused Jesus of "many things", and Pilate was amazed that Jesus gave no reply to these multiple charges against Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=3&end_verse=5">Mark 15:3-5</a>). What are these "many" accusations, when there was only the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">charge of blaspheme</a> against Him? Who knows? Of course, again, we should also ask who knows that there were actually "many" accusations, given the lack of Jesus-aligned eye-witnesses?<br />
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That is it. With that paltry investigation, Pilate was allegedly able to discern both that Jesus had been arrested out of jealousy (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=9&end_verse=10">Mark 15:9-10</a>) and that Jesus was innocent (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=14">Mark 15:14</a>). That would make for a pretty shoddy episode of CSI!<br />
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Seriously though, while we should not assume that all of the pertinent information about the investigation is recorded here, we do have a lack of details which are critical to Pilate reaching a judgement on Jesus, which is odd, to say the least. It is as though the story-teller could not think of a crafty way to reasonably resolve the dialog in Jesus' favor, and so chose to leave a gap instead.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=1&end_verse=14">Matthew 27:1-14</a>, with some clarifying word changes, is essentially identical to Mark's account, except that Matthew aggregated into that passage the parallel account of <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">Judas repenting</a> his act of betrayal, throwing his money back to the Priests, and then hanging himself in shame.<br />
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Luke, of course, was a better editor than Matthew. While Luke missed the lack-of-eye-witnesses issue, he fixed the issue with the out-of-nowhere question from Pilate about Jesus being a King by having the Priests make their accusations first, as Luke 23:2 shows:<br />
<blockquote>
And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He <b>opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
So now we know why Pilate asked Jesus about being a King, but Luke created some other problems. For starters, where is the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/truth-trying-trial.html">blaspheme charge</a>? Next, why are the Priests accusing Jesus of opposing taxes when <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/11/give-to-god-what-is-gods.html">He did not oppose taxes</a>? Of course, this does paint the Priests as being all the more evil, as they were willing to distort the truth in order to have Jesus killed by appealing to Roman law as opposed to God's Law.<br />
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Yet with that fix, it makes Pilate's investigation appear all-the-more inadequate, as Pilate goes straight from asking Jesus if He is King (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=1&end_verse=16http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=3">Luke 23:3</a>) to declaring Jesus' innocence (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=4">Luke 23:4</a>).<br />
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Luke also added in more detail. After Pilate (miraculously?) found no basis for charges against Jesus, the Priests mentioned how Jesus had been stirring up people all the way from Galilee. Galilee was Herod's district, who just happened to be in Jerusalem, so Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for investigation. Herod asked Jesus "many" questions, and the Priests accused Jesus in front of Herod, but Jesus gave no replies. So Herod sent Jesus (with an elegant robe) back to Pilate (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=5&end_verse=11">Luke 23:5-11</a>). Pilate gathered the Priests and the people together (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=23&verse=12&end_verse=13">Luke 23:12-13</a>) to make the public (and therefore witness-able) declaration we find in Luke 23:13-15:<br />
<blockquote>
and [Pilate] said to them, "You brought me this man (Jesus) as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. <b>I have</b> examined Him in your presence and have <b>found no basis for your charges</b> against Him. <b>Neither has Herod</b>, for he sent Him back to us; as you can see, He has done nothing to deserve death." NIV</blockquote>
It is strange that this public declaration, including the mention Herod's judgement, is not covered by any of the other three Gospels. (In fact, Herod is not mentioned at all in John; not for the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2009/01/massacre-of-innocent-prophesies.html">Massacre of the Innocents</a>, for the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/12/beheading-legend.html">beheading of John the Baptist</a>, or for his role in examining Jesus.)<br />
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Even more strange is how Luke later spun Herod's involvement in Jesus' death. Referencing the first couple of verses of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=2">Psalm 2</a> as "prophesy", in Acts 4:25-28 we see:<br />
<blockquote>
"You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David:<br />
<ul>‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the <b>rulers band together against the Lord and against His anointed one.</b>’</ul>
Indeed <b>Herod and Pontius Pilate met</b> together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city <b>to conspire against Your holy servant Jesus</b>, whom You anointed. They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen." NIV</blockquote>
So somehow Pilate and Herod finding Jesus to be innocent adds up to conspiring against Jesus! That is ludicrous! This is yet another instance were we find the truth stretched to fulfill a prophesy.<br />
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If Luke is ludicrous, John is laughable. There, Pilate's investigation of Jesus happens inside the palace with no eye-witnesses, because the Jews did not want to sully themselves on the holiday (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=28">John 18:28</a>). So Pilate went out and asked the Priests what charges they had against Jesus, to which they responded that Jesus was a criminal, without giving any specific charge (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=29&end_verse=30">John 18:29-30</a>).<br />
<br />
Pilate then did what any Roman law keeper would do: he told the Priests to judge Jesus according to Jewish Law (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=31">John 18:31</a>)! Ha! That seems extremely unlikely, but it certainly is possible, especially if Pilate was just trying to get rid of this annoyance so early in the morning. Anyway, the Priests objected because they did not have the authority to conduct executions (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=32">John 18:32</a>).<br />
<br />
So Pilate went back inside the palace to question Jesus. And his first question? You guessed it. From out of nowhere, Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=33">John 18:33</a>). Instead of Jesus essentially answering "yup" as in the other Gospels, we get more dialog (recorded without eye-witnesses) of Jesus explaining that His Kingdom was "not of this world" and "from another place", and that people "on the side of truth" listen to Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=34&end_verse=37">John 18:34-37</a>).<br />
<br />
Based on that, ahem, painstakingly thorough line of questioning, Pilate asked "What is truth?" and then went out to tell the Priests that he finds that Jesus is innocent (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=38">John 18:38</a>).<br />
<br />
Lacking any sense of jurisprudence, in all four of the Gospels, Pilate is portrayed as absolutely inept at getting to the truth of the matter and thereby rendering effective justice. Jesus is declared innocent with only the most superficial and indirect line of questioning. Although many Christians like to vilify Pilate, in a way, he is a model of Jesus. Not that Pilate was a sin-free self-offering of God, but that it is Jesus who will allegedly serve as the mediator of God's wrath, and His ultimate qualifying question determining your guilt or innocence will be of the most superficial nature: did you believe in Me?TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-36158375475864706272013-05-10T07:05:00.000-04:002013-05-10T07:05:00.060-04:00Truth Trying Trial'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Jesus knew that the end was near for Him. Of course, that end was really a beginning, but even the prospect of future glory could not smooth over the rough road ahead for Him. So <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/false-prayers.html">Jesus either prayed</a> for God to change His fate if God was willing, or instead prayed for the protection of the Disciples and the future believers. Immediately after Jesus finished those prayers (or maybe after praying and when He and the Disciples went to an olive grove across the Kidron Valley) Judas returned to their group, accompanied by men intent on arresting Jesus. <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/judas-fish-part-3-kiss-of-death.html">Judas identified Jesus</a> to the arresting party by kissing Him, or maybe Jesus stopped the kiss from happening, or maybe Jesus short-circuited the identification process by volunteering Himself for arrest when the party came forward.<br />
<br />
It is tough to tell what really happened. The eyewitnesses had Jesus' arrest etched into their minds, but, based on the discrepancies, it appears that those etchings were never proofed for fidelity.<br />
<br />
<b>Truth Trying Trial</b><br />
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Most serious skeptics suspect that there was a real man who was the impetus for the Christian religion; some form of a real Jesus. Time will tell if this guy was a self-proclaimed prophet, a mystic, a progressive activist, a conservative activist, a devout and ascetic Jew, or the actual Son of God. We may not know what the real Jesus was, but we do know that Jesus died. Did He die at the hands of Roman justice acting in Judea? If so, what capital crime did this Jesus commit? Let us turn to the Scriptures as they begin to explanation of what happened at the hands of the priests.<br />
<br />
After Jesus was arrested, all of the Gospels agree that He was taken to see some priests, but they do not agree on much beyond that. According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=57&end_verse=72">Matthew 26:57-72</a> & <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=1&end_verse=2">27:1-2</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=53&end_verse=72">Mark 14:53-72</a> & <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=15&verse=1">15:1</a>, the trial at the hands of the priests appears to have begun the evening of the arrest. Yet according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=66&end_verse=71">Luke 22:66-71</a>, the trial did not begin until the following morning.<br />
<br />
While <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=57">Matthew 26:57</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=23">Mark 14:23</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=54">Luke 22:54</a> all agree that Jesus was taken to the High Priest for questioning, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=12&end_verse=13">John 18:12-13</a> instead records that it was Annas, the father-in-law of the High Priest, who questioned Jesus.<br />
<br />
Apparently, just to make it extra confusing, Annas is also bestowed the honor of being called High Priest (even though "<i>there can be only one</i>") while questioning Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=19">John 18:19</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=22">John 18:22</a>), but Annas then sent Jesus to the High Priest, Caiaphas, after the questioning (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=24">John 18:24</a>)!<br />
<br />
Obviously, the technical details of timing and course of events have some issues. What about the content of the priestly trial? Well, let us start with Mark 14:55:<br />
<blockquote>
The Chief Priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death, but <b>they did not find any</b>. NIV</blockquote>
That is not surprising, right? With Jesus being perfectly sin-free, how could they find a legal reason to put Him to death... except for the reasons why they had wanted to arrest and kill Jesus in the first place. As John 5:18 puts it:<br />
<blockquote>
For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill [Jesus]; <b>not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making himself equal with God</b>. NIV</blockquote>
For those reasons, they had tried to seize, and even to stone Jesus before (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=12&verse=9&end_verse=14">Matthew 12:9-14</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=3&verse=1&end_verse=6">Mark 3:1-6</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=5&verse=1&end_verse=18">John 5:1-18</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=7&verse=19&end_verse=27">John 7:19-27</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=7&verse=28&end_verse=30">John 7:28-30</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=7&verse=32">John 7:32</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=7&verse=37&end_verse=44">John 7:37-44</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=8&verse=19&end_verse=20">John 8:19-20</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=8&verse=56&end_verse=59">John 8:56-59</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=10&verse=30&end_verse=39">John 10:30-39</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=11&verse=57">John 11:57</a>). So to have Jesus arrested, and yet have the priests scrambling to find some sort of charge to lay on Jesus just does not make sense, let alone not finding any suitable charge to apply to Him. The charge of breaking the Sabbath was enough alone warrant death by stoning, just as God had commanded for the poor <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2010/06/do-not-follow-your-heart.html">man who picked up some sticks on a Sabbath</a> in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=4&chapter=15&verse=32&end_verse=36">Numbers 15:32-36</a>.<br />
<br />
Yet if we believe <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=59&end_verse=62">Matthew 26:59-62</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=55&end_verse=60">Mark 14:55-60</a>, scrambling for charges against Jesus is exactly what the priests did. Ultimately, they were able to get some witnesses to claim that Jesus would (Mark) or could (Matthew) destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. (We discussed this Temple destruction in an <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2009/12/tale-of-two-temples.html">earlier post</a>.) Those witnesses either agreed (Matthew) or disagreed (Mark) with each other, but whatever the case, saying such words in and of themselves were not against God's Law, and so they did not carry a death sentence, making that line of questioning pointless. It is no wonder that Luke edited that section out from his Gospel.<br />
<br />
Let us jump over to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=19&end_verse=24">John 18:19-24</a>, where Annas, the non-High-Priest High Priest, questioned Jesus. Strangely, there are no charges, but rather an inquisition regarding what Jesus had been teaching in general. Jesus rightfully told them to ask the witnesses about His teaching. Other than Jesus getting unjustifiably smacked for that response, that was it. Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=24">John 18:24</a>), and then Caiaphas sent Jesus to Pilate (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=28">John 18:28</a>), with no mention of accusations or charges against Jesus, or even any mention of further questioning. Of course, that is not to say that those types of things did not happen. Actually, we should not expect there to be much of any recorded dialog except what was made publicly, because there were no Jesus-allied witnesses to have passed on the events to the Disciples for recording in the Gospels; not that lacking an eyewitness account usually stopped the Gospel writers from filling in the blanks! ;-)<br />
<br />
Speaking of filling in blanks, and returning to the Synoptic Gospels, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=63&end_verse=66">Matthew 26:63-66</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=61&end_verse=64">Mark 14:61-64</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=66&end_verse=71">Luke 22:66-71</a> each record the line of questioning which finally led to the death sentence by the priests; that which (as noted above) John 5:18 had pointed out long ago about Jesus claiming to be the Son of God. Well, some people are slower than others...<br />
<br />
That tardy realization should be the only notable issue with the condemnation of Jesus, but it is not. Check out the High Priest's demand of Jesus in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=63">Matthew 26:63</a> (essentially the same as <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=61">Mark 14:61</a>):<br />
<blockquote>
"I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are <b>the Christ, the Son of God.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
The "Christ" is the Messiah. The problem is that there are no prophesies where the Messiah would be the literal Son of God. At best, you have a metaphorical adoption, like we see in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=13&chapter=22&verse=7&end_verse=10">1 Chronicles 22:7-10</a>, but that is not worth getting upset about, or killed about for that matter. So you have the High Priest acknowledging that the Messiah is supposed to be the Son of God, even though there are no prophesies to that effect... that is not right.<br />
<br />
The Messiah as the Son of God is a uniquely Christian interpretation. For the Gospel writers to put these words into the High Priest's mouth shows a willful distortion of the truth based on their own propaganda. To Luke's credit, he did redact that "Son of God" phrase (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=67">Luke 22:67</a>), and restructured the conversation to have the "Son of God" title applied separately from the Messiah labeling (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=69&end_verse=70">Luke 22:69-70</a>). Even so, Luke cannot escape the logical issue of unnecessary questioning, because Jesus had freely admitted to being the Son of God before in front of many witnesses before that trial.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-488088138621885172013-05-03T07:02:00.000-04:002013-06-13T09:05:27.085-04:00Judas Fish, Part 4: The Aftermath'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
This background will run a little differently than most posts, focusing on the background of Judas Iscariot, as we wrap up his story and this series. It is a story which has been fishy from the beginning...<br />
<br />
From the time when the Twelve Disciples/Apostles are introduced to us, Judas Iscariot was labeled a traitor (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=10&verse=2&end_verse=4">Matthew 10:2-4</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=2&verse=16&end_verse=19">Mark 3:16-19</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=6&verse=13&end_verse=16">Luke 6:13-16</a>). In the Synoptic Gospels, that is all you know about Judas until he actively began to betray Jesus, but in John, Jesus implied that Judas would betray Him long before that (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=70&end_verse=71">John 6:70-71</a>) and Judas was <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/mary-mary-quite-contrary.html">branded both a thief and a traitor</a> when he was given the dishonor of being the one who complained about the waste of money in anointing Jesus with expensive perfume (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=12&verse=4&end_verse=6">John 12:4-6</a>).<br />
<br />
When Judas allegedly <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/judas-fish-part-1-setup.html">initiated the betrayal</a> of Jesus with the Chief Priests, the Gospels are unclear as to whether he did so on his own, or was controlled by Satan, or was merely influenced by Satan. Even more suspiciously, the Gospel writers recorded more than they could have possibly known regarding the conspiracy, including timing and precise details of this clandestine meeting, as well as Satan's level of influence. Conspicuously, one of the known unknowables is the sum of money exchanged for the betrayal; a sum that conveniently tied into a prophesy. (As usual, this "prophesy" did not hold up to scrutiny when its context was considered.)<br />
<br />
During the Last Supper, Jesus revealed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">one of the Disciples would betray Him</a>. According to Matthew and John, Judas was explicitly identified as the traitor, but only John records Judas leaving the dinner party at that point, while the other Gospels imply through silence that he stayed with them. Another prophesy referenced Jesus' betrayal by a trusted friend, despite the fact that, according to John, Jesus never trusted Judas. Also according to John, Satan entered Judas once he was identified as the traitor, and yet the other Disciples are portrayed as being clueless as to why Judas left the dinner.<br />
<br />
When the hour came, Judas sprang into action, leading men to Jesus to arrest Him. For some strange reason, Judas needed to identify Jesus to the arresting party, despite all of Jesus' miracles and public teaching sessions, and he did so <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/judas-fish-part-3-kiss-of-death.html">with a kiss</a>... at least according to Matthew and Mark. Luke had Jesus stop the kiss from happening, and John has no reference of a kiss whatsoever, but instead has the arresting party fall down in reaction to Jesus' willingness to let Himself be arrested. In the scuffle, or lack thereof, one of the Disciples cuts an ear off of the High Priest's servant, but only in Luke is there a mention of Jesus miraculously healing of that ear, and Luke curiously neglects to provide any details of the reactions to that miracle.<br />
<br />
Sorting through all of these inconsistencies makes the whole story of Judas as the evil traitor seem a bit fishy. Let us see what fleshes out as we follow the aftermath of this Pisces plot.<br />
<br />
This is Part 4 of a four part series entitled "Judas Fish." The series entries are:<br />
<ul><li>Part 1: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/judas-fish-part-1-setup.html"> The Setup</a></li>
<li>Part 2: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">Betrayer Revealed</a></li>
<li>Part 3: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/judas-fish-part-3-kiss-of-death.html">The Kiss of Death</a></li>
<li>Part 4: The Aftermath</li>
</ul><br />
<b>Judas Fish, Part 4: The Aftermath</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfWU5uPYF9Yg2f4WbcQgaDwRD_tqwirLei7xmEBrxn-n6AOh8xwx04HmSnpk7e3NXTQZ3uPhEtNin6h9emYOH8Y45xt2loWFonIRkwcAIhC9swEM0w49DPCRCl2awbJRIzj2NP5xLedOJ/s1600/Decatur_CainStreet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfWU5uPYF9Yg2f4WbcQgaDwRD_tqwirLei7xmEBrxn-n6AOh8xwx04HmSnpk7e3NXTQZ3uPhEtNin6h9emYOH8Y45xt2loWFonIRkwcAIhC9swEM0w49DPCRCl2awbJRIzj2NP5xLedOJ/s200/Decatur_CainStreet.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Anyone who is familiar with Christianity knows the aftermath of Jesus' arrest; the trial, rejection by the crowd, hanging on the cross, death, and resurrection. However, not nearly as many people are familiar with the story of what happened to the man who betrayed Jesus; Judas. So, what did happen to Judas after the arrest? That depends on who you ask...<br />
<br />
Do not "ask" the Gospels of Mark and John, because they do have an answer. And why should they? After all, if Judas was really a traitor, how and why would any of the Disciples know about his whereabouts and activities after the arrest? He was no longer with them. All that we know from Mark 14:21 (copied word-for-word in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=17">Matthew 26:24</a> and partially in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=22">Luke 22:22</a>) is that his fate would not have been not good:<br />
<blockquote>"The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! <b>It would be better for him if he had not been born.</b>" NIV</blockquote>Of course, not knowing what happened to the man who was responsible for the death of the Savior is not satisfying to our sense of justice! How could Judas have turned against an innocent man and his Salvation?!?! Well, do not worry. Justice was served... possibly. That really depends on your idea of justice.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=1&end_verse=10">Matthew 27:1-10</a>, you will find one type of "justice". Seeing Jesus arrested finally made it all clear to Judas, as we discover from Matthew 27:3-5:<br />
<blockquote>When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, <b>he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."</b><br />
"What is that to us?" they replied. "That’s your responsibility."<br />
<b>Judas </b><b>threw the money into the temple</b> and left. Then <b>he went away and hanged himself.</b> NIV</blockquote>Judas repented. That "evil" man had a change of heart, one that pained him so much that he would rather be dead than to live with memory of his incredible failing. It was the ultimate contrition, as in how Psalm 51:17 renders it:<br />
<blockquote>My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. NIV</blockquote>Yet if we are to believe Jesus' words noted above about Judas' fate, God did despise Judas' repentant heart, despite the words of Isaiah 59:20:<br />
<blockquote>"The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob <b>who repent of their sins</b>," declares the Lord NIV</blockquote>and Jesus' own words in Luke 15:7:<br />
<blockquote>"I tell you that in the same way there will be <b>more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents</b> than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." NIV</blockquote>To have Judas repent, but still be punished for his sins, does not mesh well with the message of Salvation. Matthew created quite a paradox in punishing a repentant sinner, even with a sinner as "vile" as Judas.<br />
<br />
That is not the only issue Matthew created either. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=27&verse=6&end_verse=10">Matthew 27:6-10</a> records the dilemma the Chief Priests had with what to do with the money Judas had thrown at them. They chose to buy a field with it in which to bury foreigners which they called "The Field of Blood" as a reference to the blood money which bought it; an action which had greater significance than they realized, as Matthew 27:9-10 tells us:<br />
<blockquote>Then what was spoken <b>by Jeremiah the prophet</b> was fulfilled: "They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and <b>they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.</b>" NIV</blockquote>If you search Jeremiah, you will not find this prophesy at all, nor in the entire Bible, yet Matthew quotes this as if it is in there. Matthew was likely using some corrupted version of the Scriptures. Yet even in that degenerate version, like we see in too many other NT prophesy references, Matthew ignores the verse's own context. The verse clearly states that they used the money to buy a field per God's command, but the Chief Priests were under no such direction!<br />
<br />
The closest reference in the "legitimate" version of Jeremiah is <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=32&verse=6&end_verse=9">Jeremiah 32:6-9</a>, where someone is fulfilling a prophesy and buying a field for silver, but there is no blood money, no potter, and the price was seventeen silver pieces. The closest reference in all of the Bible comes from Zechariah 11:12-13<br />
<blockquote>I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So<br />
<b>they paid me thirty pieces of silver</b>.<br />
And the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-the handsome price<br />
at which they priced me! <b>So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them</b><br />
<b>into the House of the Lord</b> to the potter. NIV</blockquote>Not surprisingly, this prophesy, too, misses the mark for many reasons, including the lack of a field purchase, but at least there is a potter, a thirty-piece silver payment, and those pieces of silver being thrown into the Temple. <br />
<br />
So Matthew has issues, even without considering who was around to record Judas' conversation and money throwing. What about Luke? Luke does not actually mention anything in his Gospel about Judas' fate. Instead, we have to go to Acts, which he also had a hand in authoring.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=1&verse=15&end_verse=26">Acts 1:15-26</a>, after Jesus went up into Heaven (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=1&verse=9&end_verse=11">Acts 1:9-11</a>, because we all know that Heaven is "up", right?), the eleven remaining Disciples decide that the leadership gap left by Judas' departure should be filled. Acts 1:18-19 revealed Judas' fate:<br />
<blockquote>(With the payment he received for his wickedness, <b>Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.</b> Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so <b>they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood</b>.) NIV</blockquote>This is quite a different story than the one told by Matthew; one that drips with the blood of vengeance. Judas does not repent. Nor does he give back his ill-gotten wages, but rather uses them to buy a field. In a case of sweet irony, Judas tripped and fell in that same field, incurring a mortal injury in that "accident". Contrary to Matthew, Acts claims that it is Judas' blood, not Jesus' blood, which gives the field its name.<br />
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Why is the account in Acts so different than Matthew? Well, to fulfill prophesy, of course! We see in Acts 1:20:<br />
<blockquote>"For," said Peter, "it is written in the Book of Psalms:<br />
'May <b>his</b> place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’<br />
and,<br />
'May another take his place of leadership.'" NIV</blockquote>Ah, we have two different prophetic verses to explore. What will we find?<br />
<br />
The first one comes from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=69&verse=25">Psalm 69:25</a>. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=69">Psalm 69</a> is essentially a prayer request to God. Looking at Psalm 69:24-26 for more context, we find:<br />
<blockquote>Pour out your wrath <b>on them</b>; let your fierce anger overtake them.<br />
May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell <b>in their tents</b>.<br />
For they persecute those you wound and talk about <b>the pain of those you hurt</b>. NIV</blockquote>First, let us consider that these verses are asking God to apply His wrath, not to change hearts and minds for Salvation.<br />
<br />
Next, we see that there is a pronoun agreement error between Peter's version (his) and the actual psalm (their). Maybe that is acceptable if we include Judas as one of a larger group, but that is unlikely.<br />
<br />
Even more significantly, we find that Peter changed the ending of the verse he quoted; from "in their tents" to "in it". People "in their tents" may refer to laborers, militia, or family. In other words, the prayer is about God making "them" less prosperous. Meanwhile, Peter's "in it" alters the intent, just making it about the land being barren.<br />
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Finally, it is amusing to note that the very next verse states that the reason God should apply His wrath to "them" has nothing to do with betrayal, but rather involves mocking those who God is hurting! Yes, God hurts people purposefully. The Father will spank you! ;-)<br />
<br />
How about the next prophesy (using that term loosely)? It comes from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=1&verse=15&end_verse=26http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=109&verse=8">Psalm 109:8</a>. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=109">Psalm 109</a> is yet another prayer for wrath. Looking at Psalm 109:6-8 for expanded context, we find:<br />
<blockquote><b>Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy</b>; let <b>an accuser [a.k.a. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Chr%2021:1,%20Job%201:6,%20Zech%203:1&version=NIV">Satan</a>]</b> stand at his right hand. <br />
When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.<br />
May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. NIV</blockquote>Strangely enough, in Psalm 109:6, "an accuser" is called to oppose this target of wrath. That "accuser" is the same word you find interpreted as <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Chr%2021:1,%20Job%201:6,%20Zech%203:1&version=NIV">Satan</a>. In other words, the prayer is for Satan to oppose this person; for to Satan oppose Judas, as if Satan is working for God... That is perfectly consistent with the Old Testament portrayal of Satan, but less consistent with Christianity. Anyway, Satan did not oppose Judas, but rather (possibly) spurred him on in the act of betrayal of Jesus.<br />
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The bulk of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=109">Psalm 109</a> is spiteful, and not at all consistent with turning the other cheek and offering forgiveness. For example, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=109&verse=10">Psalm 109:10</a> calls for the man's children to become beggars, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=109&verse=14">Psalm 109:14</a> asks that his father and his mother also have their sins never forgiven them.<br />
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Speaking of spiteful, and of Judas' leadership opening being replaced, we see in Acts1:25 an interesting allusion:<br />
<blockquote>"...to take over this apostolic ministry, which <b>Judas left to go where he belongs</b>.” NIV</blockquote>Where exactly does Judas belong? As discussed previously, Luke was a firm believer in <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/06/luke-in-hell.html">Hell</a>, as in the fire-and-brimstone, eternal torture version. So, to Luke, that is where a traitor like Judas belongs.<br />
<br />
At least, that may be somewhat of a fitting end for Judas if he had not repented, if his story had not been so inconsistent and self-contradictory, and if the referenced prophesies had not been cherry-picked out of context and altered. In other words, if we had any kind of notion of what the truth was back then, then maybe we could make a judgement of Judas' worthiness for Hell...<br />
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But, wait a moment. Maybe we do have some information. Maybe there was a Freudian slip somewhere in Scriptures to reveal a hint at the truth. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, we find:<br />
<blockquote>For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and <b>then to the Twelve</b>. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to [Paul] also, as to one abnormally born. NIV</blockquote>Paul records that Jesus appeared to the Twelve after His resurrection, not the Eleven. Judas was with the other Disciples, which is exceedingly odd for a man who had hung himself prior to Jesus getting hung on the cross... unless the whole, rotten, fishy story of the betrayal was made up.<br />
<br />
This makes me wonder: What if Judas' betrayal was not of Jesus, but of the Disciples? What if Jesus was never resurrected, but instead His Disciples came up with that idea, and at some later point Judas refused to go along with that scheme?<br />
<br />
Or, what if an imposter claimed to be Jesus resurrected, and, while the other Disciples bought off on him, Judas remained skeptical? That latter suggestion actually has some strength to it, as the Disciples and others are recorded as having difficulty recognizing Jesus after the resurrection (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=28&verse=16&end_verse=17">Matthew 28:16-17</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=24&verse=13&end_verse=35">Luke 24:13-35</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=20&verse=14">John 20:14</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=21&verse=4">John 21:4</a>). In other words, what if Judas was not as much a traitor than a whistle blower, who was killed mafia-style for becoming a threat to the "family" of believers? That sure makes more sense to me than what is being passed off as the "truth" here.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-29350970803544477202013-04-26T07:03:00.000-04:002013-08-08T22:54:22.791-04:00Judas Fish, Part 3: The Kiss of Death'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
The Disciple <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/judas-fish-part-1-setup.html">Judas secretly met</a> with the Chief Priests, conspiring to have Jesus arrested. Later, during the Last Supper, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/playing-footsie.html">Jesus washed the feet</a> of the Disciples. This incredibly shocking display of humility is amazingly only recorded by the Gospel of John.<br />
<br />
Also during that supper, Jesus revealed that He knew that one of the Disciples (possibly Judas) <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">would betray Him</a>. This (may have) caused Judas to leave the gathering. Then, or before that, Jesus symbolically shared His body and blood with His Disciples; represented as <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/body-and-blood.html">bread and wine</a>. Sometime around then, Jesus revealed that Peter would <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/denial-of-difference.html">thrice deny knowing Jesus</a> that night. According to Luke, Jesus then told the Disciples to prepare for His absence by <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/two-swords.html">buying swords</a>. Then, either before or after going to the Mount of Olives, and possibly going to Gethsemane, Jesus prayed <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/false-prayers.html">His last prayer</a> before His arrest.<br />
<br />
If it seems that the order of events is a little confusing, that is only because we are following the Gospels, taking it on faith that they are accurate. ;-).<br />
<br />
This is Part 3 of a four part series entitled "Judas Fish." The series entries are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Part 1: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/judas-fish-part-1-setup.html">The Setup</a></li>
<li>Part 2: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">Betrayer Revealed</a></li>
<li>Part 3: The Kiss of Death</li>
<li>Part 4: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">The Aftermath</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Judas Fish, Part 3: The Kiss of Death</b><br />
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In the Christian world, Judas represents the epitome of treachery; a sin so vile that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_%28Dante%29">Dante</a> reserved it for the ninth and final circle of Hell, with Satan in its center and Judas occupying the realm just before the center. Perhaps what makes Judas' sin stand out even more, besides betraying his companion and Savior, is the way in which he did it; with a kiss. Or did he? Let us take a closer look at the account of the betrayal made manifest.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=47&end_verse=56">Matthew 26:47-56</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=43&end_verse=52">Mark 14:43-52</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=47&end_verse=53">Luke 22:47-53</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=2&end_verse=12">John 18:2-12</a>, you will find the accounts of Judas leading the squad and the arrest of Jesus. Let us again start with Mark, one of the primary sources for Matthew and Luke.<br />
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According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=43&end_verse=52">Mark 14:43-52,</a> it went down like this:<br />
<blockquote>
As Jesus was scolding the three sleepy Disciples, Judas arrived with men to arrest Jesus. Judas <b>identified Jesus to the arresting party by kissing Him</b>. Jesus was seized. A follower of Jesus, with a sword, struck the High Priest's servant's, cutting off his ear. Jesus scolded the arrest party for not arresting Him while He was teaching them in the Temple, but relented that the Scriptures must be fulfilled. All of Jesus' followers fled, including one man who fled naked when they seized his garment. (My Paraphrase)</blockquote>
Betrayed with a kiss!?!? How wicked! How vile! How... highly dubious. It does not take much consideration of the story before it all falls apart. What do I mean?<br />
<br />
Well, for starters, we are informed that Judas had arranged to identify Jesus with that kiss, and we are even provided a quote of Judas' words from when he made the arrangement (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=44">Mark 14:44</a>). No Disciple (other than Judas) would have been an eyewitness to this arrangement. This means that someone must have created Judas' words for him... In other words, someone wrote fiction, like the record <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/false-prayers.html">Jesus' prayer</a> which He made alone.<br />
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Then we have to wonder how Judas managed to find Jesus and the group that evening, since presumably he was not with them as they went to Gethsemane. (We will see this objection answered in a moment by Luke and John.)<br />
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Next we have the curious fact that the man who lost his ear was the High Priest's servant. How likely is it that the servant of the High Priest, the type of servant that the High Priest obviously had to take care of business for him, had never seen Jesus, and therefor needed Jesus to be identified by Judas.<br />
<br />
(Furthermore, why was the guy who cut off the ear not arrested?)<br />
<br />
(By the way, this ear-less servant probably did exist, because the fact that he was ear-less would have been used as evidence to support the story. We will discuss this a little more later.)<br />
<br />
Yet the main objection comes from Jesus' own objection. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=49">Mark 14:49</a>, Jesus began the verse with "Every day I was with you...". With "you"... as in with them... as in with the people who were arresting Him at that moment. Even if the High Priest's servant did not know Jesus from Adam, it sure seems as though Jesus had been speaking to some people of the arresting party based on His words, some people who knew precisely who He was, and therefor would not have needed any help identifying Him. The kiss is pointless.<br />
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Then, of course, there is the soft, circumstantial evidence against the episode from the Epistles. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=16&verse=16">Romans 16:16</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=53&chapter=16&verse=20">1 Corinthians 16:20</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=54&chapter=13&verse=12">2 Corinthians 13:12</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=59&chapter=5&verse=26">1 Thessalonians 5:26</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=67&chapter=5&verse=14">1 Peter 5:14</a>, you will find a call for fellow believers to greet each other with a kiss. That just seems a little strange if Jesus was betrayed by a kiss, no?<br />
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Scholars think that most of the Epistles were written before the Gospels, meaning that these commands for kiss-greetings were established within the Christian community prior to the Gospels being written. Neither Jesus nor the Disciples are recorded as having kissed anyone in the Gospels, at least until you see this act by Judas. With the precedence of kiss-greetings already set in the community, the act of betrayal with a kiss would appear all the more repugnant, as if included by an author for the purpose of evoking a strong emotional response... On the other hand, if the Judas-kiss was in the story first, then greeting each other with a kiss would be like constantly acting out Jesus' betrayal. Which order seems more reasonable to you?<br />
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Now, on to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=47&end_verse=56">Matthew 26:47-56</a>, where you will find that Mark's account has been repeated largely repeated, even word-for-word in some sections. Yet there are differences. In keeping with Matthew's skill of aggregation, the differences are largely additions.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=50">Matthew 26:50</a>, we have Jesus' added replied to Judas after the kiss, telling him to do what he came to do, which is odd because Judas had just done what he had come to do!<br />
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After the High Priest's servant's ear was cut off, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=52">Matthew 26:52</a> we have an added rebuke, where Jesus scolded the sword user, and claimed that "all who draw the sword will die by the sword." That appears contradictory to the recent study of Luke, where Jesus told His Disciples to buy swords for their protection.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=53&end_verse=54">Matthew 26:53-54</a> directly appends the sword verse; having Jesus sort of bragging about the power at His disposal, and, at the same time, implicitly emphasizing His choice not to use that power, and the reason given for not using that power is so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled. Of course, this makes Jesus' earlier prayer about getting out of His fate slightly awkward and contradictory.<br />
<br />
Plus, with Matthew's addition, we have a redundant reference to Scripture needing to be fulfilled in this same anecdote, as Matthew followed this up with Jesus' rebuke of the arresting party not arresting Him earlier, and yet needing to fulfill Scriptures (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=55&end_verse=56">Matthew 26:55-56</a>). Perhaps this is evidence of Matthew attempting to reconcile two different accounts of the betrayal, but he was not willing to drop the details from either one, given that he did not know for sure which one was true.<br />
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Matthew's only other change of significance is dropping the naked man running away, but that was not really important anyway! ;-)<br />
<br />
On to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=47&end_verse=53">Luke 22:47-53</a>, where you will find evidence of Luke's editing expertise. Luke made many changes, which resolved many issues in the other two accounts. For starters, back in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=47&end_verse=53http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=39">Luke 22:39</a>, Luke recorded that the path Jesus and His Disciples took that evening was part of a normal practice, making it completely reasonable for Judas to have known where to look for Jesus.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=48">Luke 22:48</a>, Jesus stopped Judas from kissing Him, thereby keeping the sacrament of the kiss-greeting pure, even at the cost of contradicting Matthew and Mark. In the process of that revision, Luke also dropped the reference to Judas establishing the kiss as the signal with which to identify Jesus.<br />
<br />
What about that unsightly scene of the ear lopping? Well, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=49&end_verse=51">Luke 22:49-51</a>, Jesus told His followers to stop their aggression, and then Jesus healed the man's ear on the spot! That certainly makes Jesus seem more Jesus-like than bragging about His power, but it is probably not true. Why? Well, first, none of the other three Gospels mention this miracle, and second, Luke records absolutely no reaction by either followers or those in the arresting party to this miracle, which just seems rather strange again. Plus, if Jesus healed the ear, the reference to the High Priest's servant is no longer as important, because he could not be pointed to for an easy, visible "proof" of the encounter.<br />
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Finally, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=52&end_verse=53">Luke 22:52-53</a> sort of fixed another oddity. Instead of Jesus scolding the arresting party for not arresting Him sooner followed by Jesus noting how an earlier arrest would have broken Scripture, in Luke's version Jesus did the same scolding but then explained that this was their hour. It is essentially the same message, but Luke's version is a little more polished, making the contradiction there much less noticeable.<br />
<br />
What about <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=2&end_verse=12">John 18:2-12</a>? His account is the same, and yet very, very different. There is no kiss, or any hint at one. Instead, it goes like this:<br />
<blockquote>
Jesus and the Disciples went to their usual hangout spot; an olive grove. Judas guided soldiers and officials there to arrest Jesus. Jesus presented Himself for arrest, <b>which made the soldiers and officials fall to the ground</b>. Jesus presented Himself again, and requested that the arresting party let His followers go because the arresting party only wanted Him. Simon Peter cut off an official's ear (who was named Malchus), but Jesus told Simon Peter to stop resisting because this was part of God's plan. Jesus was arrested. (My Paraphrase)</blockquote>
So in John, there is a reason why Judas could find Jesus, there is no kiss and instead has a scene of the arresting party falling to the ground, Jesus acted preemptively to save the others from arrest, and there was no scolding of the arresting party for not arresting Him earlier, but instead the we see Jesus completely accepting this turn of events as all being part of God's plan.<br />
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The fact that the High Priest's servant is named again suggests that there was a real servant of the High Priest who had lost an ear (and did not have it miraculously healed), and therefore could have been pointed to in order to add circumstantial evidence to this story.<br />
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And a story it is, because there is no way to truly reconcile the events described across these four Gospels exactly as described. This fact is obvious, not only due to the contradictions from one Gospel to the other, but also due to the internal logical contradictions within them, particularly Matthew and Mark.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-69276664879669194802013-04-19T07:03:00.000-04:002013-04-19T07:03:00.133-04:00False Prayers'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
At the Last Supper, Jesus metaphorically shared <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/body-and-blood.html">His body and blood</a> with His Disciples through sharing bread and wine. According to John, Jesus explained that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-is-me-it-is-him.html">seeing Jesus and seeing God was one and the same</a>. He also explain that, because people had witnessed His teachings and miracles, people were <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/now-you-are-guilty.html">guilty of their sins</a> for not believing in Him. In the same time frame, Jesus revealed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/denial-of-difference.html">Peter would deny knowing Jesus three times</a> that same evening. According to Luke, Jesus then told the Disciples to prepare for His absence by <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/two-swords.html">buying swords</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>False Prayers</b><br />
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We all understand what an eyewitness is; someone who has seen, heard, and/or otherwise experienced an event first-hand. So what do you call someone who did not hear what was said by someone, and yet records what was said by that person? The word "liar" comes to mind. When those made-up words coincide with one of the most important moments in Christian history, then what do you have? Let us explore that answer, as we look at Jesus' final prayers before His arrest.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=36&end_verse=46">Matthew 26:36-46</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=32&end_verse=42">Mark 14:32-42</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=39&end_verse=46">Luke 22:39-46</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17">John 17</a> all record Jesus' prayers that He made before being betrayed by Judas. Surprisingly, these accounts vary quite a bit as to what actually happened. We will let Mark set the stage for us...<br />
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From the Mount of Olives (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=26">Mark 14:26</a>), Jesus and the Disciples went to Gethsemane (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=32">Mark 14:32</a>). (In case you are wondering, no one is really sure where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gethsemane">Gethsemane</a> is, but most scholars place it near the base of the hill of the Mount of Olives.) There, Jesus told all but three of the Disciples to wait, and then took those special three with Him somewhere else, where He told them to stand watch, while He went off by Himself to pray in a greatly distressed state (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=33&end_verse=35">Mark 14:33-35</a>). According to Mark 14:36, Jesus prayed:<br />
<blockquote>
"Abba, Father," He said, "<b>everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me.</b> Yet not what I will, but what You will." NIV</blockquote>
This is an incredibly fascinating prayer, in many ways. Let us explore a few of those facets, quickly.<br />
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Note that "everything is possible" for God. Both in context and in the all-inclusive term "everything", this highlights one of the critically points that I have often argued with apologists; Jesus' death on the cross was not mandatory for our Salvation! If everything is possible for God, then so is granting forgiveness without the blood of animal or man, guilty or innocent.<br />
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Next, note how Jesus asked to get out of this fate fast approaching Him. If prophesies must be fulfilled, and the prophesies allegedly pointed to Jesus' own crucifixion, then it was pointless for Him to try to escape His fate. He should have known that escape was impossible, because God cannot lie (despite everything being possible for Him), especially regarding prophesies and promises. Because if God can lie, then what real assurance does anyone have in an eternal Salvation? Changing up God's Plan to let Jesus off the hook would effectively make God's words untrue... at least if you really think that the Old Testament prophesies were about Jesus! ;-)<br />
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For the next important facet to explore, we must take into account the next couple of verses. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=37&end_verse=38">Mark 14:37-38</a>, Jesus returned to find those three Disciples closest to Him to be asleep. So, if they were asleep, who was the eyewitness to Jesus' prayer? Who was it that remembered and recorded Jesus' words? The answer is "nobody". Through this scene's very setup, the recorded words are blatantly works of fiction, because the anecdote describes both Jesus going alone to pray and any possible eyewitnesses as having fallen asleep.<br />
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Strangely enough, Mark records that Jesus went away two more times to pray, with each time Jesus returning to find the three Disciples asleep, and on the third time Jesus announced that His betrayer was there (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=39&end_verse=42">Mark 14:39-42</a>). It seems a bit odd that Jesus would do this triple prayer session, and find the Disciples thrice sleeping as well, other than, in a way, it parallels Peter's triple denial which Jesus had just prophesied.<br />
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On to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=36&end_verse=46">Matthew 26:36-46</a>. Matthew essentially copied Mark, but he did make some changes. Among the more interesting changes was that in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=39">Matthew 26:39</a>, "everything is possible" gets changed to "if it is possible". That partially fixes the one theological issue that Mark created of forgiveness without crucifixion, but it does still portray Jesus as being ignorant of the need to fulfill prophesy and the necessity of His role, which threatens the case for claiming that Jesus was divine. Another, less-significant but notable change is that in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=42">Matthew 26:42</a>, a second prayer from Jesus is recorded; again sans eyewitnesses.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=39&end_verse=46">Luke 22:39-46</a>, we again find Luke to be a consistently better editor than Matthew. Luke attempted to fix several of the issues seen in Mark and Matthew. Luke dropped that major stumbling block of mentioning possibilities, with Luke 22:42 rendering Jesus' first prayer there as:<br />
<blockquote>
"Father, <b>if You are willing</b>, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." NIV</blockquote>
No more wondering about what is possible. Jesus is only asking for something according to God's will. Of course, it can, or should, be easily argued that God's will was already known through those previously-mentioned Old Testament prophesies, leaving Jesus' prayer still essentially pointless.<br />
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Luke also realized just how silly the scene was described by Mark and Matthew. So he edited out Jesus separating the three particular Disciples form the group only to leave them behind while He prayed apart from them, changed the "keep watch" command to a command for the Disciples to pray, and reduced the number of the prayer sessions and findings of sleeping Disciples to one instance.<br />
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However, Luke did not catch the issue of recording Jesus' prayer without eyewitnesses. In fact, he even went a step further in story enhancement, adding an angel who ministered to Jesus in His time of grief (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=43">Luke 22:43</a>). Given that the Disciples were asleep at this time (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=45">Luke 22:45</a>), they must have dreamed up both Jesus' prayer and this angel. ;-)<br />
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Finally, we come to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17">John 17</a>. John records a final prayer as well, but at a completely different location, at a completely different time, and of a completely different nature. In John's version of Jesus' prayer, it happened at the scene of the Last Supper, and before they went out into the olive grove (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=1">John 18:1</a>). Plus, this prayer was presumably done in front of all of the Disciples, which then makes it possible for the prayer to have been remembered, as well as making it remarkable that none of the other three Gospels recorded that such a prayer took place.<br />
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As for the topic of the prayer, well, as you may remember from a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2008/10/john-gets-it-right.html">much earlier study of John's Gospel</a>, Jesus had mocked the idea of asking for an escape from His fate, so you will not find that. Instead, John's version of Jesus' prayer is closer to what we would expect from a God-turned-man, in the sense that there is no sniveling for His own safety, but rather there is a concentration on a call for protection and unity of others, both for the Disciples (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=9&end_verse=19">John 17:9-19</a>) and for those that would later believe the Gospel (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=20&end_verse=23">John 17:20-23</a>).<br />
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While John's version is better than the other three, it is far from perfect. For example, it suggests some rather odd enigmas, like how Jesus is the one who grants eternal life (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=13&end_verse=23http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=1&end_verse=3">John 17:1-3</a>), and yet God needs to further sanctify people beyond what Jesus is capable of doing (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=17&end_verse=19">John 17:17-19</a>).<br />
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Also, Jesus was explicitly not praying for the world (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=9">John 17:9</a>), and yet Jesus prayed for unity among believers so that the world would believe as well (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=20&end_verse=23">John 17:20-23</a>). Of course, in the light of this prayer, it is rather amusing just how non-unified and schismatic the church is! Even Jesus cannot get an answer to His prayers!<br />
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Then there are linguistic issues to consider, like how the phrase "the world" is mentioned only fifteen times in the other three Gospels combined, and yet John records the phrase "the world" seventeen times in this one chapter!<br />
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All of that to say that no matter which Gospel you look at to find Jesus' last prayer before His arrest, you will find evidence suggesting that it is most likely a work of fiction. Well, you will find that evidence if you are really looking for the truth, that is. And if it is not the truth, but it is told with the intent of making you believe it, I believe that makes it a lie.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-32210397255654790022013-04-12T07:03:00.000-04:002013-04-12T21:28:29.320-04:00Two Swords'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
During the Last Supper, Jesus revealed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">Judas would betray Him</a>. Jesus also shared <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/body-and-blood.html">bread and wine</a> with His Disciples, calling them His body and blood respectively, and told the Disciples to repeat this meal gathering in the future in remembrance of Him. In John, Jesus then explained that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-is-me-it-is-him.html">seeing Jesus was the same as seeing God</a>, and <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/now-you-are-guilty.html">that people were guilty</a> because they had heard and seen Jesus' magnificence, and yet still did not believe. Instead in Luke, the Disciples argued about who would be <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-greatest-seat-warmers.html">the greatest among them</a>. Sometime around then, Jesus also revealed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/denial-of-difference.html">Peter would deny knowing Jesus</a> three times that same evening, despite his passionate claims of loyalty.<br />
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<b>Two Swords</b><br />
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Some of the most interesting content in the Gospels is often the content which is unique to particular Gospels. There is a broad scale of those peculiarities, ranging from nearly no unique material in Mark, to John's Gospel consisting mostly of unique material. John, being so different, suggests a possible early divide in traditions. On the other hand, the differences in Matthew and Luke may instead represent a refinement of the same thread of tradition. Let us take a closer look at one of these unique anecdotes found in Luke; a wake-up call for the Disciples. <br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=35&end_verse=38">Luke 22:35-38</a>, Jesus tried to prepare the Disciples for the harsh realities they would face after He was gone.<br />
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Jesus began by reminding the Disciple how, during <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/06/damnation-by-association.html">their First Mission</a>, God had worked to provide everything for them, despite the fact that they started their mission without money, or even shoes on their feet (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=35">Luke 22:35</a>). Yet that <i>modus operandi</i> was about to change, as we see in Luke 22:36:<br />
<blockquote>
[Jesus] said to them, "But <b>now</b> if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and <b>if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one</b>." NIV</blockquote>
That seems pretty clear, right? Your cloak, which would keep you warm at night, or help insulate you from the rain, would be of little use for you in a situation when you would need a sword. So if you have to choose between a cloak and a sword, sell your cloak and get a sword. The implication is that there are dangerous times ahead; times when a sword will keep you alive.<br />
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So it is clear, but do not worry. The message will become muddied. In fact, it already is, because you cannot reconcile <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2010/08/bend-over-and-take-it-like-jesus.html">turning the other cheek and giving to anyone who takes from you</a> with standing your ground; sword in hand. Yet before we get to the part where Luke himself muddied the water of life within this same section of verses, Jesus provided some prophesy that He would soon fulfill.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=37">Luke 22:37</a>, Jesus partially quoted <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=53&verse=12">Isaiah 53:12</a>, referencing the prophesy that He would be "numbered with the transgressors. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=53">Isaiah 53</a> is the one Old Testament prophesy which seems closest to actually being about Jesus. Long-time readers of this blog may remember that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/10/isaiah-53-anatomy-of-prophesy.html">the detailed study on Isaiah 53</a> revealed that prophesy as a whole to be unlikely to pertain to Jesus, but that it took some digging into its context to really see that. Although, there were certainly clues within particular verses, like how <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=29&chapter=53&verse=12">Isaiah 53:12</a> begins with "Therefore I will give him a portion among the great". This speaks of honor on the same level as other Jewish heroes, not an elevated position above all, such as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Nope. Just a "portion" of the glory of the great ones before him. Please refer to the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/10/isaiah-53-anatomy-of-prophesy.html">detailed study of Isaiah 53</a> for more information.<br />
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OK, back to the point of the message... preparing for the dangers ahead. The Disciples took Jesus at His word, and so in Luke 22:38 we see:<br />
<blockquote>
The Disciples said, "See, Lord, <b>here are two swords</b>."<br />
"<b>That is enough</b>," [Jesus] replied. NIV</blockquote>
Hmmm. Two swords... enough for eleven people? Is that right? Something seems amiss... First, let us take a quick look at what some classic Christian commentaries say about this, and then we will discuss the real meaning. ;-)<br />
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Most of the classic Christian commentaries, such as <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/darby/luke22.htm">John Darby</a>, and <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/gill/luke22.htm">John Gill</a>, suggest that this is obviously meant as a figurative message. Some of them, such as <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/four/luke22.htm">McGarvey and Pendleton</a>, and <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/gill/luke22.htm">John Gill</a>, support this case off of the fact that two swords would not literally be enough for eleven people. What was this figurative message, according to them? That depends on who you refer to.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/mh/luke22.htm">Matthew Henry</a>, and <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/four/luke22.htm">McGarvey and Pendleton</a>, suggest a more spiritual arming; as in the "sword of the Spirit", i.e. the Word of God (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=56&chapter=6&verse=17">Ephesians 6:17</a>). However, to suggest this spiritual perspective is to rip the sword from the stone of its context, which is obviously a prescription for physical preparations. Having a sword was just one of those preparations.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/gill/luke22.htm">John Gill</a> and <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/wesley/luke22.htm">John Wesley</a> both agree that Jesus was really just trying to express that they were entering a dangerous time, but had no intention of them literally buying swords. Yes, indeed, this was a warning to prepare yourself against dangers; dangers like those mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:26. However, the message was also very literal. It would not make sense for Jesus to instruct them to buy swords, when He did not mean for them to buy swords. So what was going on here?<br />
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Well, one commentary did get it right. <a href="http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/luke/jfb/luke22.htm">Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown</a> did recognize the correct literal meaning in Jesus' words, as well as the figurative part. That figurative part was "now". Jesus was not providing instruction for that particular instant, but rather for the future time; the time after Jesus would no longer be with them. So two swords were enough... <i>for now</i>.<br />
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As always, it has been humorous to see how various Bible experts interpret the same passage differently, and wrongly at that, but the big question is why is this anecdote even here? Why did Luke include it?<br />
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I believe that it was because Luke was forced to face reality. The fledgling faithful Christians were likely experiencing some tough times by the time that Luke got around to writing his Gospel. The trouble was that there was nothing in the Gospel story about defending yourself, and rightfully so. After all, if you are defending yourself, you are relying on yourself, not on God. God had promised to protect and prosper those who obey Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=5&chapter=28&verse=1&end_verse=14">Deuteronomy 28:1-14</a>), but Luke was not seeing any evidence of that, so he adjusted the message to prepare the believers for the rough ride on their own... without a real God.<br />
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(Well, Luke probably still believed in God, but the net effect was the same.)TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-28051934420590358132013-04-05T07:02:00.000-04:002013-04-05T07:02:00.213-04:00Denial of a Difference'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Sometime during the Last Supper, Jesus revealed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">one of the Disciples would betray Him</a>. Depending on which Gospel you read, that revelation occurred either before or after Jesus told His Disciples to get together to eat bread and drink wine <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/body-and-blood.html">in remembrance of Him</a>. According to John, that dialog about bread-body, wine-blood, and remembrance did not happen, but Judas did leave the group right after Jesus identified him as a traitor. So then in John, Jesus explained to the remaining Disciples that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-is-me-it-is-him.html">seeing Jesus was the same as seeing God</a>, and that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/now-you-are-guilty.html">people were now guilty</a> because they had heard Him and had seen His miracles. Sometime around then, another shocking prophesy was revealed.<br />
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<b>Denial of a Difference</b><br />
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There are Christians who claim that there are no contradictions in the Bible at all. Its words are witnesses against them. Some of the most remarkable contradictions in the Gospels are accounts of the most remarkable events; events leading to the Crucifixion and Jesus' resurrected appearances. Memory is far from perfect, but the eyewitnesses should have had nearly indelible imprints on their minds of these particular, dramatic events. If they had any doubts, they could always confer with the other eyewitnesses in their group to figure out the truth, but that is not what we see. Take Jesus' prophesy of Peter's denial, for example.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=31&end_verse=35">Matthew 26:31-35</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=27&end_verse=31">Mark 14:27-31</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=31&end_verse=34">Luke 22:31-34</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=36&end_verse=38">John 13:36-38</a> each record how Jesus revealed to Peter that he would soon deny knowing Him.<br />
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Where does this announcement occur? According to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=30">Matthew 26:30</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=26">Mark 14:26</a>, this is either at, or on their way to, the Mount of Olives. However, according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=39">Luke 22:39</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=18&verse=1">John 18:1</a>, this happened before they left dinner. So already we are off to an infallible start! ;-)<br />
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Speaking of starting, we will begin with Mark's account, and Mark 14:27 begins with a prophesy:<br />
<blockquote>
"You will all fall away," Jesus told them, "for it is written:<br />
" 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' " NIV</blockquote>
It is written where? (You may ask.) Jesus provided a partial misquote of Zechariah 13:7. Not only is it a misquote, but it is also incredibly out of context. Just looking at the full verse of Zechariah 13:7 begins to show that:<br />
<blockquote>
“Awake, <b>sword</b>, against My shepherd, against the man who is close to Me!” <b>declares the Lord Almighty</b>. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and <b>I will turn my hand against the little ones.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
The "sword" is a reference of an invading army. Jesus was not killed, or struck, by a sword. Note that this is God speaking. Note how God plans on turning His hand against the "little ones". That is not at all what happened when Jesus was struck down. Just who were these "little ones"? Let us find out.<br />
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Take a moment to read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=45&chapter=13">Zechariah 13</a>. It is only nine verses long. You will see that it starts out pretty strong. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=45&chapter=13&verse=1">Zechariah 13:1</a> speaks of some day when "a fountain" will allow the Jews to be cleansed of sin and impurity. That kind of sounds like Jesus, right?<br />
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Then <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=45&chapter=13&verse=2&end_verse=6">Zechariah 13:2-6</a> tells how on that same day, God will banish idols and prophets. Prophets would so utterly ashamed to be prophets that they would deny claiming that profession. Even a prophet's own parents would kill him. This is all under God's direction, yet compare that to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=12&verse=6">Romans 12:6</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=53&chapter=14&verse=1&end_verse=5">1 Corinthians 14:1-5</a>, where prophesy was one of the desirable "gifts of the Spirit", or <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=51&chapter=11&verse=28">Acts 11:28</a> where a man was applauded for his prophesy, or <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=10&verse=11">Revelation 10:11</a> where John was told to give prophesies, or <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=11&verse=3">Revelation 11:3</a>, where there will be two prophets during the end times. Something is not quite right here, and we will soon see why.<br />
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Where were we? Oh yes, the "little ones" in Zechariah 13:7. Well, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=45&chapter=13&verse=8&end_verse=9">Zechariah 13:8-9</a> helps to clear that up. In those verses, we see that two-thirds of the people will be killed, and the rest will be put through some sort of refining trial, where they will learn to call God their Lord. So the "little ones" who God will turn His hand against appear to be the two-thirds who will be killed, but what is going on here? This does not sound anything like what happened when Jesus was around.<br />
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If you have read through the Old Testament, you may know what this prophesy is about, because it all aligns to one particular epic event. Prior to the Jewish exile from the Promised Land, there were lying prophets who were giving the leaders false assurance against God's will (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=23&verse=36">Jeremiah 23:36</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=13&verse=9">Ezekiel 13:9</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=22&verse=28">Ezekiel 22:28</a>). Idol worship was also a problem at time (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=2&verse=11">Jeremiah 2:11</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=23&verse=31&end_verse=34http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=7&verse=30">Jeremiah 7:30</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=6&verse=5">Ezekiel 6:5</a>). So God's plan was to kill Jerusalem's leaders and these false prophets, as well as kill a large number of the Jews as He brought a mighty army to lay siege to them (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=4&verse=5&end_verse=9">Jeremiah 4:5-9</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=13&verse=12&end_verse=14">Jeremiah 13:12-14</a>). Then, while in pain of exile, they would remember to worship only God (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=30&chapter=51&verse=50">Jeremiah 51:50</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=33&chapter=6&verse=8&end_verse=10">Ezekiel 6:8-10</a>). With that background knowledge, the intended meaning in Zechariah's prophesy obvious. It is also obvious that Jesus, or whoever authored the words behind Mark 14:27, cherry-picked the verse right out of its context in a pathetic attempt to bolster Jesus' credibility.<br />
<br />
OK, back to Peter's denial. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=27&end_verse=31http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=28">Mark 14:28</a>, Jesus told the Disciples that He would meet up with them in Galilee after He was resurrected. Then Peter said that he would not fall away, but Jesus said that Peter would deny knowing Jesus three times before the rooster crowed twice (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=29&end_verse=30">Mark 14:29-30</a>). Yet Peter, and <b>all the other Disciples</b>, claimed that they would not disown Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=31">Mark 14:31</a>). So while this story is usually presented with only Peter not believing Jesus' prophesy, actually none of the Disciples did.<br />
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Matthew tells the story essentially the same as Mark, including the misused prophetic quote. The only significant change is that Matthew's rooster is only crowing once (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=34">Matthew 26:34</a>).<br />
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Luke has consistently been a better editor. Perhaps he realized just how poorly the prophesy was cherry-picked, because he removed it completely. Yet while Luke was better at editing out Mark's mistakes than Matthew, he was not always so good with theology in general. Luke 22:31-32 begins with this:<br />
<blockquote>
"Simon, Simon, <b>Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you</b>, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." NIV</blockquote>
Satan has asked??? Asked who??? There is only one, uh... two, um... maybe a trinity of beings who Satan would be asking; God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. That actually makes some sense based on the Old Testament portrayal of Satan in the book of Job, where Satan is merely a servant of God. However, in Christianity, Satan is a rebel. Rebels do not ask for permission! Secondly, why did Jesus pray for Simon instead of just telling Satan; "No, you cannot have Simon. In fact, you cannot have anyone, because your will is against the will of God." <br />
<br />
Anyway, besides cutting out the false prophesy and inappropriately adding Satan into the story, Luke also dropped any reference to the other Disciples falling away, and also had a single-crowing rooster.<br />
<br />
That leaves us with John. Of course, John had to be different. John's Jesus was discussing going to see God, not how the Disciples would be scattered (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=36">John 13:36</a>). Peter's protest was about his willingness to follow Jesus wherever He went, not about sticking by Jesus despite the coming crucifixion (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=36&end_verse=38http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=37">John 13:37</a>). And yet, despite these differences, Jesus still revealed that on that very night, Peter would disown Jesus three times before the rooster crowed (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=38">John 13:38</a>).<br />
<br />
How is it that John can be so different and yet contain essentially the same prophesy from Jesus? Just like we saw in the <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/body-and-blood.html">previous study</a>, and several others, this simultaneous commonality and difference indicates both that this particular story of Peter's denial originated early in the legend of Jesus and that the story evolved over time; something which the truth rarely does.<br />
<br />
Despite these blatant differences, there are believers who claim that the Bible is infallible and without contradiction. This perfectly illustrates how humanity is both capable and willing to overlook the facts when we want to believe something.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-40370880408727383332013-03-29T07:04:00.000-04:002013-03-29T07:04:00.570-04:00Body and Blood'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
It was time for the last meal that Jesus would share with His Disciples before His death. According to John, during the meal, Jesus humbly <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/playing-footsie.html">washed the Disciples' feet</a>. Then, according to Matthew, Mark, and John, Jesus revealed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">one of the Disciples would betray Him</a>. According to Luke, that revelation came after the subject of the following study. According to John, there is no record of the subject of the following study, and Judas left the group right after Jesus identified his treachery. So then in John, Jesus explained to the remaining Disciples that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-is-me-it-is-him.html">seeing Jesus was the same as seeing God</a>, and that people <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/now-you-are-guilty.html">were now guilty</a> because they had heard Him and had seen His miracles.<br />
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Is that clear? Well, do not worry. All will be revealed.<br />
<br />
<b>Body and Blood</b><br />
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The Eucharist, "The Lord's Supper", Communion or "Holy Communion", "Divine Liturgy", "Blessed Sacrament" or Sacrament; that little wafer of bread and sip of (possibly) wine you can get from your local church. Given the wide variety of names for the same activity, it seems only natural that different churches hold different understandings of this rite; everything from a simple symbolic mnemonic to a transubstantiation where the bread literally becomes Jesus' body, and the wine literally becomes Jesus' blood. In turn, this results in a wide degree of the rules and restrictions governing the ceremony, as I discovered in an <a href="http://foolishtongues.blogspot.com/2011/10/communionus-interruptus.html">awkward way</a>. Let us take a closer look at this divine snack.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=26&end_verse=30">Matthew 26:26-30</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=22&end_verse=26">Mark 14:22-26</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=14&end_verse=20">Luke 22:14-20</a> each cover this sacred meal. Mark was obviously the draft for the other two, so we will start with his account.<br />
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Jesus gave thanks for bread, and then shared it with the Disciples, saying that it was His body (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=22">Mark 14:22</a>). He then gave thanks for the "fruit of the vine", and then shared it with them, saying that it was His "blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=23&end_verse=24">Mark 14:23-24</a>). He explained that He would not drink that again until doing so "in the Kingdom of God" (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=25">Mark 14:25</a>). Then they all sang a song and went to the Mount of Olives (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=26">Mark 14:26</a>).<br />
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As opposed to our standards, where bread is something we may have with dinner, this scene depicts the bread as an actual meal itself. Bread was a common meal by itself in those times, particularly among the poorer classes, which is why <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2010/09/pray-you-be-private.html">The Lord's Prayer</a> speaks of "daily bread," not daily steak with a side of mashed potatoes. So getting a little wafer from the pulpit is a far cry from the actual intention of eating a meal together.<br />
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"Fruit of the vine" is a bit ambiguous, given that many different fruits which grow on vines. Plus, there is no reference here about it being either fruit juice or a fermented fruit wine instead. However, tradition suggests that it was grape wine, and when you read Paul's chastisement of some members of the church performing this rite all wrong in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=53&chapter=11&verse=20&end_verse=22">1 Corinthians 11:20-22</a>, it is obvious that it is wine that is to be shared, just not in excess.<br />
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Matthew's account is nearly identical with Mark's, so much so that it is obvious that he was copying from some version of Mark, but there are a couple of notable changes.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=28">Matthew 26:28</a>, explicitly claims that Jesus' blood is poured out "for the forgiveness of sins." This makes Jesus' blood multipurpose; both forming a covenant and cleansing sins. That is not at all foreshadowed by the Old Testament, where there were separate acts for confirming a covenant and for cleansing sins.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=29">Matthew 26:29</a>, Jesus said that He would not drink wine again until He did so with the Disciples "in My Father's Kingdom." Much to the Baptist's dismay, there will be alcohol in God's Kingdom. Of course, that softly implies a very physical existence in the afterlife; having both fermented beverages and presumably feeling their intoxicating effects.<br />
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Luke edited things a bit more. As you may remember, according to Matthew and Mark, before this meal Jesus revealed that He would be betrayed, and, in Matthew, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">Judas is identified as the betrayer</a>. They make this meal awkward, because they never mention Judas leaving before the meal. Luke moved Jesus' announcement to after the meal, presumably to make it less awkward. There are a few other, more minor changes in Luke.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=15&end_verse=16">Luke 22:15-16</a>, Jesus stated that He would not eat the Passover feast again "until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God." This particular sentiment is unique to Luke, and it appears to have been used to emphasize the fulfillment of the "prophesy" of the Passover, even though there is no noted future prophetic significance given to it <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2009/05/exodus-plagues-part-4-holy-massacre-of.html">in the original text</a>. It is instead explicitly a remembrance of God of God's slaughter of firstborn children and the subsequent hasty exodus from Egypt.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=18">Luke 22:18</a>, Jesus said that He would not drink wine again until "the Kingdom of God comes." While Matthew and Mark versions left it a little open as to whether or not the Kingdom of God existed at that time, Luke's version suggests that it had not yet been established.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=19&end_verse=20">Luke 22:19-20</a>, the personal relationship aspect is emphasized with the addition of "given for you" regarding Jesus' bread-body, and the change from "poured out for many" to "poured out for you" regarding Jesus' wine-blood. This was a wise revision by Luke, as pointing at "you" evokes a much greater emotional response than a generic gesture at "many." That is just good marketing. ;-)<br />
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As mentioned above, this was an actual meal. Bread and wine were as common as potatoes and soda in the American diet, and that was the point. Each time this staple meal was eaten, they would now be thinking of Jesus. Yet this particular meal was more than common; it was communal. Everyone shared in it. There was no magic transubstantiation going on here, nor was it implied for the future. This rite was simply a call to get together with fellow believers, to share a meal while remembering Jesus. That is why <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=19">Luke 22:19</a> adds "do this in remembrance of Me."<br />
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Now, you may be asking: Did John have anything to say about this memorable meal? No, but yes. John does not record this particular meal. Yet as we discussed in a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/12/crumby-teaching.html">previous study</a>, John's Jesus did tell people that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to gain eternal life (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=53&end_verse=58">John 6:53-58</a>). It was a necessity for Salvation, not a communal meal held in remembrance. Not only that, but in John's version, Jesus was clearly speaking figuratively; implying that a reliance on Jesus' ways and commands to lead to Salvation.<br />
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For John to not have the same Last Supper communion, and yet to contain a reference of eating Jesus' flesh and drinking His blood, suggests that some form of the saying of eating Jesus' flesh and drinking His blood was part of the early, oral doctrine of early Christianity. John's sect was likely split off, or perhaps geographically isolated, from the sect that followed traditions we find in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke early in the development of the church. So the difference we see between the Synoptics and John indicates and records the evolution of the original message. Which version is closer to the original? God only knows.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-83821426150095224202013-03-22T07:05:00.000-04:002013-03-22T07:05:00.485-04:00Now You Are Guilty'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Following the Gospel of John, after <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">Jesus identified Judas as a traitor</a>, Judas immediately left the group. This prompted Jesus to begin what is known as the "Farewell Discourse" with the other eleven Disciples. We discussed roughly the first third of the discourse last time, where we saw some oddities, signs of crafted dialog, and contradictions, and discussed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-is-me-it-is-him.html">seeing Jesus was equivalent to seeing God</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Now You Are Guilty</b><br />
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At the end of the previous study, we noted how Jesus ended with a call to action ("Come now, let us leave."), but His "Farewell Discourse" continued for three more chapters. That call to action has prompted some liberal Bible scholars to suggest that the real end of the discourse came at the end of John 14, and the next three chapters were insertions from a later author/editor. Let us take a look at the next couple of chapters in the discourse to discover why those scholars may be so anxious to trim them out of the Bible.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=15&verse=1&end_verse=8">John 15:1-8</a>, Jesus metaphorically called Himself a vine. Immediately, we run into a tangled mess of contradictions. In John 15:1-2 we read:<br />
<blockquote>
"I am the true vine, and <b>My Father is the gardener. He cuts off</b> every branch <b>in Me</b> that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." NIV</blockquote>
The language here is fairy clear. God will somehow remove non-productive followers of Jesus; removing indicated by the cutting off of the branches, followers of Jesus indicated by the "in Me." Of course, we reviewed in the previous study that people are only "in" Jesus if they obey His commands (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=15&end_verse=20">John 14:15-20</a>), which would seem to make it impossible for them to be unproductive. Not only that, but the people who are led to Jesus are supposed to be the "good" ones already, because as <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=37">John 6:37</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=44&end_verse=45">John 6:44-45</a>, and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=65">John 6:65</a> indicate, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2011/12/by-invitation-only.html">it requires God's selection to follow Jesus</a>. It seems rather odd that God would lead someone to Jesus, only to get rid of them soon after they had become a follower.<br />
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Just two verses later, John 15:4 contradicts what Jesus had just said:<br />
<blockquote>
"<b>Remain in Me, and I will remain in you.</b> No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me." NIV</blockquote>
Here, Jesus commands His followers to remain in Him, but as John 15:1-2 explained, it was God who was controlling whether or not the branches remained "in" the vine!<br />
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The rest of the verses using the extended, twisted, vine metaphor divulged how lopped off branches would be gathered and burned, meanwhile those who remain in Jesus would have anything they wished.<br />
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In the next section of verses, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=15&verse=9&end_verse=17">John 15:9-17</a> mostly speaks of love and obedience; how if they obey Jesus, they will be loved by Him, and how they should love each other to the point of giving up their lives for one another. It also explains how Jesus considered the Disciples to be friends, not servants, because He has told them what He is planning. This is a pretty nice section overall, but most friends do not say to other friends that they are only friends "if you do what I command"! ;-) There is another apparent contradiction found in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=15&verse=16">John 15:16</a>, where Jesus said that He chose the Disciples, but <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=10&verse=29">John 10:29</a> suggests that it was God, the Father, who instead chose them for Jesus. Although, it is hard to call that a true contradiction if Jesus and God are one and the same! ;-)<br />
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Next, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=15&verse=18&end_verse=21">John 15:18-21</a> Jesus warned that they would be persecuted by the world for following Jesus.<br />
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Speaking of the people in the world, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=15&verse=22&end_verse=25">John 15:22-25</a> Jesus explained why they are now guilty. Check out John 15:22 and John 15:24, respectively below:<br />
<blockquote>
"<b>If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin.</b> Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin." NIV<br />
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"<b>If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.</b> But <b>now they have seen these miracles</b>, and yet they have hated both Me and My Father." NIV</blockquote>
Pffeeww! We are all off the hook! Obviously, if Jesus' words are true here, we cannot be guilty because Jesus has not spoken to us, and we have not seen any miracles! Now, Christians may object that "Jesus has spoken to you through the Bible!" Wrong! Such Christians are missing the point here. Jesus did not say that they were guilty for ignoring the Scriptures, of which they had plenty that allegedly speak of Jesus. No, they were guilty because they had personally heard Jesus and were eyewitnesses to His miracles. Us? Not so much.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=15&verse=26&end_verse=27">John 15:26-27</a> closes the chapter with a reminder that Jesus would give followers the Holy Spirit.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=1&end_verse=4">John 16:1-4</a>, Jesus warned them that they would be persecuted, even to death. John 16:2 is particularly interesting:<br />
<blockquote>
"They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when <b>anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
Why would anyone think that? As we discussed in <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2010/11/intolerance-for-all.html">a study long ago</a>, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=5&chapter=13&verse=1&end_verse=18">Deuteronomy 13:1-18</a> God demanded zero tolerance for deviations from His brand of religion, even to the point of slaughtering entire towns. That includes killing miracle-working prophets (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=13&end_verse=23http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=5&chapter=13&verse=1&end_verse=5">Deuteronomy 13:1-5</a>) and even your dearest friend or family member (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=5&chapter=13&verse=6&end_verse=11">Deuteronomy 13:6-11</a>). As Deuteronomy 13:5 makes it clear:<br />
<blockquote>
"That prophet or dreamer <b>must be put to death</b>, because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; <b>he has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=5&end_verse=11">John 16:5-11</a>, Jesus explained again that He was going way for their good, that He would send them the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit would convict people and Satan. Nothing too exciting there, except that Jesus began with yet another contradiction, saying that none of the Disciples asked Jesus where He was going, despite Simon Peter asking Jesus that exact question earlier in this self-same Farewell Discourse in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=36">John 13:36</a>!<br />
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Anyway, Jesus then explained more about what the Holy Spirit would do (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=12&end_verse=15">John 16:12-15</a>). Then He went into how they would soon be grieving, but their grief would turn to joy, alluding to His resurrection (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=16&end_verse=22">John 16:16-22</a>). After He was resurrected, they could have anything for which they asked (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=23&end_verse=24">John 16:23-24</a>).<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=25&end_verse=31">John 16:25-31</a>, Jesus and the Disciples discussed communication and belief. In John 16:25, Jesus started with:<br />
<blockquote>
"Though I have been speaking figuratively, <b>a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about My Father.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
Why would Jesus have purposely obfuscated His message? The logical reason is that He did not want people to understand. It blows a hole through the Christian apologist's mantra that God is too difficult to understand, because Jesus identified that He had the option to explain about God plain language, but He chose not to do so.<br />
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So when was that time coming, when we would get this plain message from Jesus? Apparently, not too long afterward, because just a few verses later we find in John 16:29-30:<br />
<blockquote>
Then Jesus' disciples said, "<b>Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech.</b> Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. <b>This makes us believe that you came from God.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
There was not anything in what Jesus had just said which had made Him more or less believable, or that made Him appear more or less clear, at least by comparison with the rest of the Gospel of John, and yet we are supposed to believe that that was the tipping point of when the Disciples finally believed? That is ridiculous, largely because they had already believed (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=1&verse=41">John 1:41</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=1&verse=45">John 1:45</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=1&verse=49">John 1:49</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=68&end_verse=69">John 6:68-69</a>)!<br />
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The chapter closes out in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=16&verse=32&end_verse=35">John 16:32-35</a>, with Jesus telling them that they would become scattered, but that they should have peace because He has overcome the world. I do not know about Him overcoming the world, but He sure has overcome some bad storytelling to continue to be believed, even in our times.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-25890397225950212382013-03-15T07:07:00.000-04:002013-03-15T07:07:00.187-04:00It Is Me, It Is Him'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
It had been an exciting time. It was the Last Supper Jesus would eat prior to His crucifixion, but it was not the food which was so exciting. Jesus, divinity in the flesh, humbly served His Disciples by <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/playing-footsie.html">washing their feet </a>at the meal. Then, while the Disciples were still marveling at Jesus' leadership by example, Jesus announced that one of the Disciples would betray Him. Depending on which Gospel you read, Jesus revealed that <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/judas-fish-part-2-betrayer-revealed.html">Judas was the treacherous one</a>.<br />
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According to John, Judas then immediately left the dinner, and Jesus dropped some heavy knowledge on the rest of the Disciples...<br />
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<b>It Is Me, It Is Him</b><br />
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The Gospel of John both beautiful and confusing at times. There are glimpses of brilliance, wrapped up and tangled around logical knots and bizarre statements. In some respects, the Gospel itself is a perfect analogy for Christianity today.<br />
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From <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=31">John 13:31</a> to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=17&verse=28">John 17:28</a>, Jesus had a dialog with His Disciples, known as the "Farewell Discourse." Its content is almost completely exclusive to John's Gospel. We will take a quick look at that discourse, up to the end of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14">John 14</a>, in this study.<br />
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We will start on an odd note with <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=31&end_verse=32">John 13:31-32</a>, which says that, because God is glorified in Jesus, God will glorify Jesus in Himself. Clear? No. Important for the Disciples to know? No. So why is it in there? I do not know, but it sure sounds spiritual and mystical, does it not? ;-)<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=33">John 13:33</a>, Jesus told the Disciples that they cannot go where He is going, only to contradict, or at least clarify, Himself a few verses later.<br />
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We see a glimpse of beauty in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=34&end_verse=35">John 13:34-35</a>, where Jesus commands the Disciples to love one another, which will prove to other people that they are His Disciples. It is a great sentiment, but unfortunately it is infrequently found in the church.<br />
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Next, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=36&end_verse=38">John 13:36-38</a>, Jesus clarified to Peter that they will go where Jesus is going, but not now, and then prophesied that Peter, despite his enthusiasm to follow Jesus, would disown Jesus three times that same night. Peter's denial is one small point of overlap with the other Gospels, which we may discuss later in a different study.<br />
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Trust God, and Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=1">John 14:1</a>). That makes sense. Jesus is going to prepare a place in God's house-of-many-rooms for the Disciples, and then He will come back for them (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=2&end_verse=3">John 14:2-3</a>). That does not make sense, at least not when you really think about. God made the entire universe, and has already chosen who would be Saved (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=13&verse=20">Mark 13:20</a>), but He waited until the last minute to prepare a place for the Saved? That just seems a little... odd.<br />
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On the other hand, what does not seem odd, but rather appears to be well-crafted dialog, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=4">John 14:4</a> Jesus told them that they knew the way to where He was going. That left a Disciple confused, so Jesus explained that Jesus is the only way to get to God (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=5&end_verse=6">John 14:5-6</a>).<br />
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Now, why would I call that a "crafted" dialog as opposed to a real one? There was no reason for Jesus to say that the Disciples knew the way, when He had just told them that He was coming back to bring them there (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=3">John 14:3</a>). It is about the equivalent of an airline pilot telling you that you know the way to Denver, because you know the pilot who is flying the plane there. Plus, if the Disciples had not asked about it, then that all-important "truth," that people can only get to God through Jesus, would not have been revealed. This suggests someone writing a dialog, someone who is deliberately choosing the path of discussion to get their message out. That requires knowledge, or control of how participants would react. So either it is Jesus' omniscience at work here, or the work of an author who is not subtle enough at his craft to cloak his message manipulation.<br />
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With that subject out of the way, what comes next is likely another crafted conversation, but let us focus on the content here in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=7&end_verse=11">John 14:7-11</a>. There, Jesus explained that the Disciples have seen God, the Father, because the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Of course, this is in contradiction to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=1&verse=18">John 1:18</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=46">John 6:46</a>, both of which claim that nobody has seen the Father except for Jesus, with the latter verse being Jesus' own words.<br />
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Then we come to some more contradictory verses, but these are more contradictory to real life as opposed to Bible verses. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=12&end_verse=14">John 14:12-14</a>, Jesus tells His followers that they will be able to work even greater miracles than what Jesus had done, and that Jesus would do <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/07/is-there-anything-we-can-agree-on.html">anything that they ask Him to do</a>. Today we have a wealth of unanswered prayers and a plentiful lack of miracles which prove Jesus' words to be untrue. Biblically speaking, while there are accounts in Acts of the Disciples working some miracles, they fall short of everything Jesus did, and in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=54&chapter=12&verse=7&end_verse=10">2 Corinthians 12:7-10</a>, Paul prayed for Jesus to do something for him, but Jesus rejected his request.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=15&end_verse=20">John 14:15-20</a> speaks of how Jesus would prompt God to send them the Holy Spirit, which will be with them forever! Not only that, the Holy Spirit will help them recognize that Jesus is in God, that they are in Jesus, and that Jesus is in them. It is kind of like one of those Russian nesting dolls combined with a Möbius strip. ;-)<br />
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<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=21">John 14:21</a> is pretty straightforward: If you love Jesus, you will obey His commands. However, as we will discuss in a moment, His commands are really God's commands, so that should mean obeying everything that God had commanded as well.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=22&end_verse=24">John 14:22-24</a>, a Disciple asked Jesus why He did not intend to show Himself to everyone in the world. That is a great question, because, presumably, if more people saw Jesus, they would believe. Yet Jesus' answer appears to suggest otherwise; stating that those who love Him will obey Him, but those who do not love Him will not obey. While it is difficult to know for sure with such an indirect answer, Jesus appears to be saying "I will not waste my time going throughout all of the world, because that will not really change whether or not people will follow me," which is sort of contradictory to the message found in <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/06/prodigal-guilt-trip.html">Parable of the Lost Sheep</a> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=18&verse=10&end_verse=14">Matthew 18:10-14</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=15&verse=1&end_verse=7">Luke 15:1-7</a>) where Jesus described a willingness to search all over for the lost souls.<br />
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John 14:24 ended with a rather interesting sentence:<br />
<blockquote>
"These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me." NIV</blockquote>
This is not really news. If you have been reading along in John's Gospel, you would know that (allegedly) everything that Jesus said or did was instructed by God, the Father, making Jesus essentially just a vessel for the words and actions of God (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=38">John 6:38</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=7&verse=16">John 7:16</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=8&verse=28">John 8:28</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=8&verse=42">John 8:42</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=10">John 14:10</a>). So, as mentioned above, when Jesus spoke about obeying His commands, He is inherently referring to obeying what God commanded, which should also mean obeying God's Law from the Old Testament. That message seems to be lost in Christianity.<br />
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Let us wrap this up this study in the way that may have Jesus wrapped up this "Farewell Discourse." In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=14&verse=25&end_verse=31">John 14:25-31</a>, Jesus reminded the Disciples that they will get the Holy Spirit, wished them peace, reminded them that He is going away for there benefit and that his time with them was short. And verse 14:31 ends with:<br />
<blockquote>
"Come now, let us leave." NIV</blockquote>
Summarizing what had just been said and then ending on this call to action implies the end of the discourse, and yet there are three more chapters of Jesus speaking before any action is taken. Some scholars have suggested that this content is a later insertion by another author or editor. That may be the case, but in reviewing the content of those chapters, to me it does not seem any more strange or unworthy than anything else we have already seen in John! :-)TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509207392481380457.post-66524883296114509252013-03-08T07:03:00.000-05:002013-10-30T19:51:02.690-04:00Judas Fish, Part 2: Betrayer Revealed'<br />
<b>Background</b><br />
Judas, one of the Twelve Apostles, had a <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/judas-fish-part-1-setup.html">clandestine meeting</a> with the Chief Priests to have Jesus arrested. This helped set up the ultimate fate of Jesus, but left us with many questions.<br />
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But it was the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so Jesus had His Disciples arrange a place for them to feast in Jerusalem with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarius_%28astrology%29">man carrying a jar of water</a> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=17&end_verse=19">Matthew 26:17-19</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=12&end_verse=16">Mark 14:12-16</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=7&end_verse=13">Luke 22:7-13</a>).<br />
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During the feast, known commonly as the Last Supper, according to the Gospel of John, <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/03/playing-footsie.html">Jesus washed the feet</a> of the Disciples to demonstrate His love for them and emphasize how they should treat each other. This incredibly memorable, if not shocking, display is somehow forgotten by other Disciples, omitted from the other three Gospels. But what happened next would not be forgotten so easily...<br />
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This is Part 2 of a four part series entitled "Judas Fish." The series entries are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Part 1: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/judas-fish-part-1-setup.html">The Setup</a></li>
<li>Part 2: Betrayer Revealed</li>
<li>Part 3: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/04/judas-fish-part-3-kiss-of-death.html">The Kiss of Death</a></li>
<li>Part 4: <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2013/05/judas-fish-part-4-aftermath.html">The Aftermath</a></li>
</ul>
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<b>Judas Fish, Part 2: Betrayer Revealed</b><br />
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Judas Iscariot is the ultimate human symbol of betrayal in the Christian world. It may not have always been that way, as the Apocryphal, Gnostic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_judas">Gospel of Judas</a> renders him as somewhat of the archetype of willing obedience to Jesus. However, those traditions are long dead. So to us, Judas is a villain. On the night when Judas' treachery would be revealed, Jesus let it be known that He knew the deceitful plan.<br />
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We will begin with Gospel closest to the original source for the Synoptics. In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=17&end_verse=21">Mark 14:17-21</a>, we find Jesus eating the Last Supper with the Twelve Apostles. In Mark 14:18, Jesus dropped the bomb:<br />
<blockquote>
While they were reclining at the table eating, [Jesus] said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray Me—<b>one who is eating with Me</b>." NIV</blockquote>
Now, it was just Jesus and the Twelve Disciples eating there, so the "one who is eating with Me" part seems a bit redundant. However, that phrase was very carefully placed there. We will see why in a moment.<br />
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As you may imagine, the Disciples were shocked to discover this, and so they each started telling Jesus that they would not betray Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=19">Mark 14:19</a>). But Jesus verified that it would be one of the Twelve, one of the ones dipping bread with Him (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=20">Mark 14:20</a>), and in Mark 14:21 revealed:<br />
<blockquote>
"The Son of Man will go <b>just as it is written about Him</b>. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! <b>It would be better for him if he had not been born.</b>" NIV</blockquote>
"...just as it is written about Him." What is Jesus talking about here? Written where? It is difficult to say if this is meant to be a reference to one specific prophesy or a more-general notion of God's plan as revealed in many prophesies. However, the references to the traitor eating bread with Him do loosely imply a specific prophesy. While it is vague here, there is an explicit reference which is given by John that helps us find that specific prophesy, but we will cover that in a moment.<br />
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Yet, before we move on, we should stop for just a moment at that last sentence. That part about being better for the betrayer if he had never been born; that implies a future punishment in store for him. Without specifics, it is hard to know what is meant, but the implication falls in line with the traditional view of a Hell of eternal torture.<br />
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Moving on, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=20&end_verse=25">Matthew 26:20-25</a> is almost word-for-word identical with Mark's account; a sure sign of copying as opposed to independent witness. However, Matthew does append one large twist at the end. After the better-not-born verse, in Matthew 26:25 we read:<br />
<blockquote>
Then Judas, the one who would betray Him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?"<br />
<b>Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."</b> NIV</blockquote>
Wow! How shocking that would have been to the rest of the Disciples! Not only did they know one of their own group would betray Jesus, but now they knew exactly who it would be... assuming, of course, that Jesus and Judas had this little discussion loud enough for others to hear. And that should be a safe assumption, given that it is recorded dialog in Matthew. But that just makes it rather incredible that this trust-shattering news was not relayed in Mark. That seems like kind of an important detail.<br />
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Speaking of important details, Judas is not mentioned again in Matthew until he shows up with the squad to arrest Jesus, starting at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=17&end_verse=19http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=26&verse=46">Matthew 26:46</a>. That matches the pattern written by Mark, but, as noted above, Mark never claimed that Judas was identified specifically as the traitor, and that makes it awkward. Why? Well, following Mark, you can just assume that Judas sneaked away to coordinate the later arrest. With Matthew, however, Judas is identified as the traitor, but he is never given an exit. In other words, it seems like right after Judas was revealed as the betrayer, they all just continued to eat dinner together, including moving on to the Communion Ceremony, like nothing had happened!<br />
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Turning to Luke, you will find his account has been adjusted. According to him, Jesus does the Communion Ceremony first (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=14&end_verse=20">Luke 22:14-20</a>) and then announced that there was a traitor in the ranks (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=21&end_verse=23">Luke 22:21-23</a>). Just like in Mark, Luke does not claim that Judas was explicitly identified as the traitor, which is very surprising if Matthew's account is accurate. Perhaps even more surprising is that, according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=22&verse=24&end_verse=27">Luke 22:24-27</a> the Disciples got over their shock regarding a traitor so quickly that they next began to squabble about which of them <a href="http://ponderingtruth.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-greatest-seat-warmers.html">would be the greatest</a>! How bizarre!<br />
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John's account of this episode is quite different, and is found in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=18&end_verse=30">John 13:18-30</a> as an immediate continuation of Jesus' foot-washing ceremony. Right after Jesus announced that most of the Disciples were now clean, and they should follow the example that Jesus had set Himself, He said this in John 13:18:<br />
<blockquote>
"I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.'" NIV</blockquote>
Jesus provided a partial quote of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=41&verse=9">Psalm 41:9</a>, and it is a good thing that He truncated it, because to would have begun unraveling the truth. Psalm 41:9 reads:<br />
<blockquote>
"Even my close friend, <b>someone I trusted</b>, one who <b>shared my bread</b>, has raised his heal against me." NIV</blockquote>
Indeed, this is a verse about betrayal, but this is betrayal from a trusted friend. As noted in our previous study, according to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=6&verse=60&end_verse=71">John 6:60-71</a> Jesus knew that Judas could not be trusted from early on, and even implied that that his yet-to-be-manifest treachery was why Jesus had chosen him.<br />
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However, it only seems blatantly out of its own context when looking at John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not mention Jesus' early mistrust of Judas, and thereby they leave the door open (at the cost of omniscience) for Jesus to have trusted him. And so, as those other three all emphasize Judas sharing bread with Jesus, presumably as a connection to this same "prophesy" from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=41">Psalm 41</a>, their accounts still provide some leeway for Jesus to have trusted Judas originally.<br />
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The preceding verses in this "prophesy," <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=41&verse=7&end_verse=8">Psalm 41:7-8</a>, speak of enemies imagining that the Psalm's speaker was struck with a deadly illness, which is a far cry from them actively conspiring in his death. So we see that, regardless of which Gospel you look at, this is yet another cherry-picked Christian prophesy, where verses taken out of context are used to support the case for Christ.<br />
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Moving on, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=19&end_verse=21">John 13:19-21</a>, Jesus explained that He was letting them know about the treachery in advance as more proof of His own identity. The Disciples were shocked, and eventually got up the courage to ask Jesus who the traitor was (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=22&end_verse=25">John 13:22-25</a>). In John 13:26...<br />
<blockquote>
Jesus answered, "It is the one to <b>whom I will give this piece of bread</b> when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, <b>He gave it to Judas Iscariot</b>, son of Simon. NIV</blockquote>
So we see that, whether or not Matthew's Judas-to-Jesus conversation was private, here in John Jesus has explicitly identified Judas as the traitor using a non-mistakable, public gesture. Can you imagine, being one of the Twelve Disciples, hanging on Jesus' every word and motion as He revealed His betrayer? It would have been shocking, and incredibly memorable, which is precisely why it is so odd that this scene does not show up in any of the other Gospels. That suggests that either John or the other three are not accurate, and/or they are not based on original eyewitness accounts.<br />
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What follows next in John is strange as well. There, as soon as Judas took the bread from Jesus, Satan entered him, which is an odd event to record given that it (presumably) would have been impossible to witness (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=27">John 13:27</a>). Not too surprisingly, Judas left the group as soon as he was identified as the traitor (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=30">John 13:30</a>). On the other hand, what is surprising is that the other Disciples do not have a clue as to why Judas just left (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=13&verse=28&end_verse=29">John 13:28-29</a>)! Even if they had not seen Satan just enter Judas, they would have at least noticed that Jesus identified Judas as the traitor.<br />
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This is all really bad fiction. It does not show the sign of memory which was corroborated over and over again by eyewitnesses. Instead it shows stories which developed on independent paths, with only the most fundamental elements shared in common; Jesus, the Disciples, and the betrayer Judas.<br />
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And, as usual, John's Gospel show signs of someone who is writing without fully considering the strange and disparate details within his own story because he is too focused on getting another message out to the public. Our politicians make this same mistake all too often.<br />
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Maybe this is not enough to convince believers that their faith is unjustified, but it should, at the bare minimum, be enough evidence to prove that not everything in the Bible is the truth. They have been betrayed by (at least parts of) the Gospels.TWFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06016277303703254572noreply@blogger.com8