Reflection on the WORD for the Sunday of March 27, 2022
Repent and sin no more – Gospel of Luke
15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." ………………………………..………………………...…………………
In the popular mindset Jesus was very lenient but holy, and the Pharisees were very strict and were hypocrites. Actually, this is not the case. Jesus was very strict like most of the Essenes, and the Pharisees were mostly not hypocrites, but genuinely observing Jews. In the popular view, Jesus did, or at least should hang out with obvious sinners, in order to practice the allegedly most divine activity, the lenient forgiveness.
This view is not only not accurate, but technically repeats over again the accusation of the hypocrites, found in the Gospel against Jesus. Most of these hypocrites accused him not because of the religion, but because of the power politics of the day, Romans involved. It should not be forgotten that according to the Gospels, Jesus was sentenced to death by the Roman Empire, for sedition.
Nonetheless, there is an interesting corresponding blame, which was put on Jesus in the Talmud. The Talmud, itself, is a collection of rabbinical opinions regarding the Law of Moses, tradition and religion. Both the Gospels and the Talmud were written way later than the life of Jesus happened, though the Talmud account looks slightly younger then the Gospels. It is interesting, that the fragments in the Talmud about Jesus show the very influence of the Christian tradition, or the pagan Greek and Roman anti-Christian rumors.
Some modern scholars hold that the Yeshu, mentioned in that particular Talmud story, could not have been Jesus, because a century earlier lived Rabbi, Joshua Ben Perechiah is named, as the teacher of Jesus. However, the Talmud explicitly says that this Yeshu was exactly Yeshu HaNotzri, aka Jesus Nasarenus or Jesus of Nazareth in English.
However, it was very common, not only in the Talmudic literature, but in other cultural traditions, that some ostracized personalities were often placed by the storytellers into an other century, in order not to maintain the proper memory of a person, who was judged to be better forgotten.
Thus, likely, the Talmud story is deliberately not accurate historically, but still contains some elements, which are more than interesting. The Gospels list a lot of accusations against Jesus beside unjustifiable leniency. Among them were exorcism and wizardry.
It meant that they accused him that he chased out demons by sorcery, by dark art, connected to the evil dark side, and he exercised wizardry to perform miracles in order to lead the people astray. In the correlating Gospel story, written an all three synoptic Gospels, scribes came to blame him, that "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons."
He summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can't stand, but has an end. (…) But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.”
In the Talmud story the exorcism itself is not even the accusation, but it is very talkative, that the named teacher of Jesus was historically famous of practicing exorcism, Rabbi Joshua ben Perechiah, himself. The Talmud also says, that “When King Jannaeus persecuted heavily the Pharisees, (executing and imprisoning thousands of them), Rabbi Perachiah fled to Alexandria in Egypt. He came back only after the death of King Jannaeus.
According to the Talmud, he was accompanied by his student, Jesus.
Legends has it, that when Rabbi Perechiah returned to the Land of Israel and found himself in a certain inn, where they paid him great respect. He said: 'How beautiful is this 'inn'!
Yeshu the Nasarene said to him, 'My master, but the eyes of the innkeeper’s wife eyes are narrow!'
He replied to him, ' Wicked person! Is it with such thoughts that you occupy yourself! '
He sent forth four hundred horns and excommunicated him. The student came before him on many occasions, saying 'Receive me'; but he refused to notice him.
One day while the Rabbi was praying, his student came before him. His intention was to receive him and he made a sign to him with his hand, but the disciple thought he was repelling him. So he went and set up a brick and worshiped it. (...). An (other) sage said: The disciple practiced magic and led Israel astray."
It is conspicuous that this story was created as a paradigm story, molded first by the story of prophet Elisha and his excommunicated servant Gehazi, and then by the polemies found in the Gospels, themselves. However, there are hints of core events in it.
Like, Jesus fled and returned from Egypt. He must have had a famous or extraordinary teacher, as Rabbi ben Perechiah was the very head, the president of the Sanhedrin, the Nasi, the Prince of Judea, at that time. His teacher must have taught him the prayful art of exorcism and maybe even more.
Jesus was accused of sorcery, because of the fame of his miracles. Even, regarding, the eyes of the innkeeper’s wife, of course, it is a made up blame, but it itself was also based on the Gospels, that non-conventionally Jesus had female disciples, among them the famous Mary Magdalene.
It is written in the Gospel of John, chapter 8 that once the " Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery,
“Having set her in the middle, they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?” He said to them that, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
All left.
Finally, Jesus told the woman that go and “from now on, sin no more.”
The Gospel story sounds very polemic in its tone, but it looks like it was written for the very sake of making an argumentative point. However, when Jesus also said, that "You have heard, that 'You shall not commit adultery;' but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart”, it just sounds as new moral code. It was not new.
Jesus sounded very casuistic and strict, however it is not only parallel with the Tenth Commandments, which says, that You shall not (EVEN) covet, but surprisingly it is also parallel to the Talmud, where in the Tractate Kallah (1:22) reads, that also the Rabbis condemn the mere gazing at a woman as adultery.
Jesus did not invent a new moral code, but he declared that speeches are cheap and the Commandments must be Reflection on the WORD for the Sunday of March 27, 2022
Repent and sin no more – Gospel of Luke
15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." ………………………………..………………………...…………………
In the popular mindset Jesus was very lenient but holy, and the Pharisees were very strict and were hypocrites. Actually, this is not the case. Jesus was very strict like most of the Essenes, and the Pharisees were mostly not hypocrites, but genuinely observing Jews. In the popular view, Jesus did, or at least should hang out with obvious sinners, in order to practice the allegedly most divine activity, the lenient forgiveness.
This view is not only not accurate, but technically repeats over again the accusation of the hypocrites, found in the Gospel against Jesus. Most of these hypocrites accused him not because of the religion, but because of the power politics of the day, Romans involved. It should not be forgotten that according to the Gospels, Jesus was sentenced to death by the Roman Empire, for sedition.
Nonetheless, there is an interesting corresponding blame, which was put on Jesus in the Talmud. The Talmud, itself, is a collection of rabbinical opinions regarding the Law of Moses, tradition and religion. Both the Gospels and the Talmud were written way later than the life of Jesus happened, though the Talmud account looks slightly younger then the Gospels. It is interesting, that the fragments in the Talmud about Jesus show the very influence of the Christian tradition, or the pagan Greek and Roman anti-Christian rumors.
Some modern scholars hold that the Yeshu, mentioned in that particular Talmud story, could not have been Jesus, because a century earlier lived Rabbi, Joshua Ben Perechiah is named, as the teacher of Jesus. However, the Talmud explicitly says that this Yeshu was exactly Yeshu HaNotzri, aka Jesus Nasarenus or Jesus of Nazareth in English.
However, it was very common, not only in the Talmudic literature, but in other cultural traditions, that some ostracized personalities were often placed by the storytellers into an other century, in order not to maintain the proper memory of a person, who was judged to be better forgotten.
Thus, likely, the Talmud story is deliberately not accurate historically, but still contains some elements, which are more than interesting. The Gospels list a lot of accusations against Jesus beside unjustifiable leniency. Among them were exorcism and wizardry.
It meant that they accused him that he chased out demons by sorcery, by dark art, connected to the evil dark side, and he exercised wizardry to perform miracles in order to lead the people astray. In the correlating Gospel story, written an all three synoptic Gospels, scribes came to blame him, that "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons."
He summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can't stand, but has an end. (…) But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.”
In the Talmud story the exorcism itself is not even the accusation, but it is very talkative, that the named teacher of Jesus was historically famous of practicing exorcism, Rabbi Joshua ben Perechiah, himself. The Talmud also says, that “When King Jannaeus persecuted heavily the Pharisees, (executing and imprisoning thousands of them), Rabbi Perachiah fled to Alexandria in Egypt. He came back only after the death of King Jannaeus.
According to the Talmud, he was accompanied by his student, Jesus.
Legends has it, that when Rabbi Perechiah returned to the Land of Israel and found himself in a certain inn, where they paid him great respect. He said: 'How beautiful is this 'inn'!
Yeshu the Nasarene said to him, 'My master, but the eyes of the innskeeper’s wife eyes are narrow!'
He replied to him, ' Wicked person! Is it with such thoughts that you occupy yourself! '
He sent forth four hundred horns and excommunicated him. The student came before him on many occasions, saying 'Receive me'; but he refused to notice him.
One day while the Rabbi was praying, his student came before him. His intention was to receive him and he made a sign to him with his hand, but the disciple thought he was repelling him. So he went and set up a brick and worshiped it. (...). An (other) sage said: The disciple practiced magic and led Israel astray."
It is conspicuous that this story was created as a paradigm story, molded first by the story of prophet Elisha and his excommunicated servant Gehazi, and then by the polemies found in the Gospels, themselves. However, there are hints of core events in it.
Like, Jesus fled and returned from Egypt. He must have had a famous or extraordinary teacher, as Rabbi ben Perechiah was the very head, the president of the Sanhedrin, the Nasi, the Prince of Judea, at that time. His teacher must have taught him the prayful art of exorcism and maybe even more.
Jesus was accused of sorcery, because of the fame of his miracles. Even, regarding, the eyes of the innkeeper’s wife, of course, it is a made up blame, but it itself was also based on the Gospels, that non-conventionally Jesus had female disciples, among them the famous Mary Magdalene.
It is written in the Gospel of John, chapter 8 that once the " Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery,
“Having set her in the middle, they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?” He said to them that, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
All left.
Finally, Jesus told the woman that go and “from now on, sin no more.”
The Gospel story sounds very polemic in its tone, but it looks like it was written for the very sake of making an argumentative point. However, when Jesus also said, that "You have heard, that 'You shall not commit adultery;' but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart”, it just sounds as new moral code. It was not new.
Jesus sounded very casuistic and strict, however it is not only parallel with the Tenth Commandments, which says, that You shall not (EVEN) covet, but surprisingly it is also parallel to the Talmud, where in the Tractate Kallah (1:22) reads, that also the Rabbis condemn the mere gazing at a woman as adultery.
Jesus did not invent a new moral code, but he declared that speeches are cheap and the Commandments must be meticulously kept and their purpose must be fulfilled.
In the Gospels, Jesus talked to the sinners, not because he supported their wicked ways, but to call them to repent and change course 180 degree. As a teacher himself,he requested from his students the very striving for perfection. He was not lenient, though neither inflexible, but he demanded full repentance from all.
Thus, Jesus was not looking for some chit-chat with sinners, but to call them to repent, exactly as he called also Zacchaeus, the tax collector, certainly and profoundly a very hated person by most people in Jericho, at that time. Where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness, as it can not be possible. Sinners must repent and change their ways. Other than that might be a mere lip service.
May we all listen to the call of the Lord, in order to repent for the sake of Heaven. Amen and their purpose must be fulfilled.
Repent and sin no more – Gospel of Luke
15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." ………………………………..………………………...…………………
In the popular mindset Jesus was very lenient but holy, and the Pharisees were very strict and were hypocrites. Actually, this is not the case. Jesus was very strict like most of the Essenes, and the Pharisees were mostly not hypocrites, but genuinely observing Jews. In the popular view, Jesus did, or at least should hang out with obvious sinners, in order to practice the allegedly most divine activity, the lenient forgiveness.
This view is not only not accurate, but technically repeats over again the accusation of the hypocrites, found in the Gospel against Jesus. Most of these hypocrites accused him not because of the religion, but because of the power politics of the day, Romans involved. It should not be forgotten that according to the Gospels, Jesus was sentenced to death by the Roman Empire, for sedition.
Nonetheless, there is an interesting corresponding blame, which was put on Jesus in the Talmud. The Talmud, itself, is a collection of rabbinical opinions regarding the Law of Moses, tradition and religion. Both the Gospels and the Talmud were written way later than the life of Jesus happened, though the Talmud account looks slightly younger then the Gospels. It is interesting, that the fragments in the Talmud about Jesus show the very influence of the Christian tradition, or the pagan Greek and Roman anti-Christian rumors.
Some modern scholars hold that the Yeshu, mentioned in that particular Talmud story, could not have been Jesus, because a century earlier lived Rabbi, Joshua Ben Perechiah is named, as the teacher of Jesus. However, the Talmud explicitly says that this Yeshu was exactly Yeshu HaNotzri, aka Jesus Nasarenus or Jesus of Nazareth in English.
However, it was very common, not only in the Talmudic literature, but in other cultural traditions, that some ostracized personalities were often placed by the storytellers into an other century, in order not to maintain the proper memory of a person, who was judged to be better forgotten.
Thus, likely, the Talmud story is deliberately not accurate historically, but still contains some elements, which are more than interesting. The Gospels list a lot of accusations against Jesus beside unjustifiable leniency. Among them were exorcism and wizardry.
It meant that they accused him that he chased out demons by sorcery, by dark art, connected to the evil dark side, and he exercised wizardry to perform miracles in order to lead the people astray. In the correlating Gospel story, written an all three synoptic Gospels, scribes came to blame him, that "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons."
He summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can't stand, but has an end. (…) But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.”
In the Talmud story the exorcism itself is not even the accusation, but it is very talkative, that the named teacher of Jesus was historically famous of practicing exorcism, Rabbi Joshua ben Perechiah, himself. The Talmud also says, that “When King Jannaeus persecuted heavily the Pharisees, (executing and imprisoning thousands of them), Rabbi Perachiah fled to Alexandria in Egypt. He came back only after the death of King Jannaeus.
According to the Talmud, he was accompanied by his student, Jesus.
Legends has it, that when Rabbi Perechiah returned to the Land of Israel and found himself in a certain inn, where they paid him great respect. He said: 'How beautiful is this 'inn'!
Yeshu the Nasarene said to him, 'My master, but the eyes of the innskeeper’s wife eyes are narrow!'
He replied to him, ' Wicked person! Is it with such thoughts that you occupy yourself! '
He sent forth four hundred horns and excommunicated him. The student came before him on many occasions, saying 'Receive me'; but he refused to notice him.
One day while the Rabbi was praying, his student came before him. His intention was to receive him and he made a sign to him with his hand, but the disciple thought he was repelling him. So he went and set up a brick and worshiped it. (...). An (other) sage said: The disciple practiced magic and led Israel astray."
It is conspicuous that this story was created as a paradigm story, molded first by the story of prophet Elisha and his excommunicated servant Gehazi, and then by the polemies found in the Gospels, themselves. However, there are hints of core events in it.
Like, Jesus fled and returned from Egypt. He must have had a famous or extraordinary teacher, as Rabbi ben Perechiah was the very head, the president of the Sanhedrin, the Nasi, the Prince of Judea, at that time. His teacher must have taught him the prayful art of exorcism and maybe even more.
Jesus was accused of sorcery, because of the fame of his miracles. Even, regarding, the eyes of the innkeeper’s wife, of course, it is a made up blame, but it itself was also based on the Gospels, that non-conventionally Jesus had female disciples, among them the famous Mary Magdalene.
It is written in the Gospel of John, chapter 8 that once the " Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery,
“Having set her in the middle, they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?” He said to them that, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
All left.
Finally, Jesus told the woman that go and “from now on, sin no more.”
The Gospel story sounds very polemic in its tone, but it looks like it was written for the very sake of making an argumentative point. However, when Jesus also said, that "You have heard, that 'You shall not commit adultery;' but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart”, it just sounds as new moral code. It was not new.
Jesus sounded very casuistic and strict, however it is not only parallel with the Tenth Commandments, which says, that You shall not (EVEN) covet, but surprisingly it is also parallel to the Talmud, where in the Tractate Kallah (1:22) reads, that also the Rabbis condemn the mere gazing at a woman as adultery.
Jesus did not invent a new moral code, but he declared that speeches are cheap and the Commandments must be meticulously kept and their purpose must be fulfilled.
In the Gospels, Jesus talked to the sinners, not because he supported their wicked ways, but to call them to repent and change course 180 degree. As a teacher himself,he requested from his students the very striving for perfection. He was not lenient, though neither inflexible, but he demanded full repentance from all.
Thus, Jesus was not looking for some chit-chat with sinners, but to call them to repent, exactly as he called also Zacchaeus, the tax collector, certainly and profoundly a very hated person by most people in Jericho, at that time. Where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness, as it can not be possible. Sinners must repent and change their ways. Other than that might be a mere lip service.
May we all listen to the call of the Lord, in order to repent for the sake of Heaven. Amen and their purpose must be fulfilled.
In the Gospels, Jesus talked to the sinners, not because he supported their wicked ways, but to call them to repent and change course 180 degree. As a teacher himself, he requested from his students the very striving for perfection. He was not lenient, though neither inflexible, but he demanded full repentance from all.
Thus, Jesus was not looking for some chit-chat with sinners, but to call them to repent, exactly as he called also Zacchaeus, the tax collector, certainly and profoundly a very hated person by most people in Jericho, at that time. Where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness, as it can not be possible. Sinners must repent and change their ways. Other than that might be a mere lip service.
May we all listen to the call of the Lord, in order to repent for the sake of Heaven. Amen
