The Gospels

by Sarah Ruden

  *201 See Esther 6:6–9 concerning the splendor and power implied by ceremonious riding.

  *202 See Psalms 118:26. This last sentence in the chant is likely a statement of fact and not a wish or a plea.

  *203 This describes the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E., and it suggests a Roman viewpoint. There is perhaps even an allusion to the signature Roman circumvallation, or siege enclosure, barring both the escape of anyone in the city and the arrival of relief forces or supplies from elsewhere. The “pacification” of a polity is also one way Romans termed its reduction and decimation. But at the end of the passage, the idea often translated as “visitation” (in Greek, literally “looking-on,” though the Hebrew word is the less pointed pagad), or the gracious attention of God, brings home that Jews in particular are being punished, and for the reason often adduced: they disregarded God’s favor and tried his patience too long. The passage has been used to date the Gospel of Luke as definitely after the year 70.

  *204 See the note at Mark 11:17. The verses quoted are Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.

  *205 Probably meaning that they raped him.

  *206 I.e., the Jewish inheritance, their covenant, will go to Gentiles.

  *207 Psalms 118:22: “for the head of the corner” is an architecturally vague image of one stone stabilizing a building.

  *208 Though the Jewish authorities rule in religious matters, they are wary of impinging on Roman law-enforcement prerogatives.

  *209 See the note, the note, and the note on the Mark passage at 12:13–17.

  *210 As characterized by the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus, the Sadducees were an elite sect overlapping with the priesthood.

  *211 Levirate marriage, as described in Genesis 38:8 and Deuteronomy 25:5–6.

  *212 Literally “of this age,” but tricky to translate with the full meaning. See “time” in the Glossary.

  *213 See the note, the note, and the note on the Mark version of the passage at 12:18–27.

  *214 This is the literal meaning of “psalms,” our English word for which is based on the Greek and Hebrew title for this biblical book.

  *215 The quotation is from the beginning of Psalm 110 but is construed here as David addressing the Messiah, not (which is probable) as a court musician representing God addressing David.

  *216 Literally, they sit in the “first chairs” (our word “cathedral” comes from a Christian bishop’s claim to such a seat) and lie on the “first couches.”

  *217 In their (for us not well defined) capacity as experts in jurisprudence or as magistrates in practice.

  *218 A vanishingly small currency.

  *219 There was scriptural allowance for freewill, votive, and other supplementary offerings (Deuteronomy 12:5–6 and 11), which could take the form of implements and decorations. Openly personal and specific votive offerings—images of healed body parts, for example—to pay for divine help were usual in pagan temples, but a do ut des (“I give so that you give”) attitude toward divinity was not characteristic of Jews.

  *220 The magnificent renovated Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.

  *221 The wordplay here is intense and not really within the scope of English usage: I render only “starvation and contagion” for the near-twins limoi and loimoi.

  *222 Especially in Luke, with its style that is on average closer to formal oratory, the advice not to bother preparing a speech in defense of one’s life must have sounded strange. The prevailing Greek and Roman education systems aimed above all at rhetorical excellence.

  *223 See the note at Matthew 10:23.

  *224 Events of 70 C.E.

  *225 Daniel 7:13.

  *226 These two sets of distractions sound incongruous, but fairly exuberant nightly socializing was considered normal and respectable for Greek and Roman men.

  *227 Literally, the “generals”; the Jews were allowed a contingent of their own to keep order in the Temple and to deal with internal religious enforcement. These may be the same people the Gospels elsewhere call the Temple hierarchy’s “retainers.” Police forces in the modern sense did not exist in the ancient world, and law enforcement, such as it was, often depended on leaders’ bodyguards.

  *228 See the note at Mark 14:14.

  *229 The shared cup was customary.

  *230 Jesus’ abstention from meat and wine on this festival dedicated to their enjoyment is shocking, as (again) is the idea of eating human flesh, and of drinking sacrificial blood like wine, as if the vessels in which it was caught for disposal had been hijacked. Note that in Luke the “dispensation” or covenant is a new one.

  *231 A “hand” stands for a person’s power and willed activity.

  *232 A “benefactor” might be, for example, the person named in an inscription on a building he has donated. The larger situation Jesus suggests is that “good deeds” among the pagans are acknowledged networks of control, whereas for Jews they are supposed to be religious duties.

  *233 Other Gospel prescriptions for traveling gear, including defensive weapons, are largely explainable in terms of Essene rules, but these swords are anomalous: they cannot be hidden by clothes (as could the daggers of the “dagger-men” assassins), and carrying them defies the Roman occupiers and the Jewish authorities as well. Probably this account is distorted to accommodate the expanding tradition of the slave’s hacked-off ear; see below at Verses 49–51.

  *234 See the note at Mark 14:43.

  *235 “Bandits” were groups who had strongholds in the wilderness and could function as insurrectionists.

  *236 They “veil him around,” possibly an insult with gender overtones.

  *237 See the note at Mark 14:61 on how unusual the literal claim would be in this religious context.

  *238 Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, who was client king of Galilee and Perea.

  *239 Verse 17 has been deleted as spurious. It reads: “He was compelled to release one person to them at every festival.” See the note at Mark 15:6.

  *240 See the note at Mark 15:7.

  *241 See the note at Mark 15:13.

  *242 An anti-Semitic authorial dodge; of course Jesus remains in Roman custody and is executed by the Romans.

  *243 Creating porters by impression was a (purportedly regulated) right of Roman soldiers. It was normal for the condemned to carry only the horizontal crosspiece.

  *244 Women played special roles in mourning, as in burial.

  *245 Verse 30 quotes Hosea 10:8. These predictions seem to refer to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 C.E.), during which the Temple was destroyed and Judea brutally reduced. The wet and dry wood probably mean the relatively mild unrest at the time of Jesus’ execution versus the full-scale rebellion that ended Roman patience with the province.

  *246 By tradition, the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Even in antiquity, a busy thoroughfare passed by it.

  *247 This quotation is thought to be an early insertion in the textual tradition.

  *248 Their own standard drink when on duty.

  *249 A titulus explaining the offense was customarily posted over the head of the crucified.

  *250 Joseph is a member of the Sanhedrin or Jewish governing council. There is wordplay here between bouleutēs (councilor) and boulē (counsel or plan).

  *251 Since it has to be identified in such a basic way, it was probably no more familiar to contemporary readers than it is to us.

  *252 The double luxury of the gift is stressed: tombs made out of solid rock were expensive and special, and archaeology shows that they were often abundantly shared. Jesus has a brand-new one all to
himself.

  *253 The Sabbath with its prohibition of many activities would presumably start at nightfall, as in postantique times, so Jesus’ body would have needed to be taken down and buried before then. Also, Deuteronomy 21:22–23 forbids corpses of the executed ever to be hung on display overnight.

  *254 One of the Ten Commandments: see Exodus 20:8–11 and Deuteronomy 5:12–15.

  *255 By this measure about eleven and a half kilometers or seven miles from Jerusalem, the village has not been firmly identified and may no longer exist.

  *256 A traveler in the Near East might not necessarily be recognizable anyway, as his cloak would be worn over his head during any long journey, to prevent sunstroke.

  *257 Literally, the speaker calls Jesus a “man prophet,” using the respectful term for “man.” (See the Glossary.) He is perhaps shown groping for the right way to describe Jesus.

  *258 Moses was said to be the author of the Torah, or first five books of the Hebrew Bible, which along with the prophetic books were the core of Jewish scripture.

  *259 A rare term, likely ironic and meaning just what I have rendered.

  *260 The Psalms are poems that had musical settings; they were associated with King David and were performed in the Temple by a Levite choir.

  *261 See Joel 2:28. This verse has also been connected to promises of the Holy Spirit in the Gospels texts, as at John 14:26. The preposition epi echoes scenes of Jesus’ baptism in which the Spirit “alights” or “settles” on him like a dove.

  The Good News According to Iōannēs

  Chapter 1

  1 At the inauguration was the true account, and this true account was with god, and god was the true account. 2 He was, at the inauguration, with god. 3 Everything came into being through him, and apart from him not even a single thing came into being. What came into being 4 in him was life, and that life was the light of humankind. 5 And the light appears, radiant in the darkness, and the darkness did not take hold of it.*1

  6 There arose a man, sent by god, and his name was Iōannēs. 7 He came to give testimony, to testify about the light, so that everyone could believe through him. 8 But he was not the light; instead, he came to testify about the light.

  9 It was the true light, which, as it comes into the universe, gives light to every human being.*2 10 And he was in the universe, and the universe arose through him, but the universe didn’t recognize him.*3 11 He came into what belonged to him, but the people who belonged to him didn’t accept him for themselves. 12 But to all those who accepted him, he gave the power to become, to be born, children of god, if they trusted in his name.*4 13 These are the people who have been engendered not in a blood relationship, and not from what the body wants, and not from what a husband wants, but from god.*5

  14 And the spoken word, the true account, became flesh and blood, and built a shelter and sojourned*6 among us, and we gazed on his splendor, a splendor that a father’s only son has, full of joyful favor and truth.*7 15 Iōannēs testified about him and shouted these words: “This was the one I spoke of: ‘The one coming after me arose before me, because he was first, at the head of me.’ 16 Out of what fills him to the full, we have all been given a share, joyful favor in exchange for joyful favor.*8 17 The law was given through Mōüsēs,*9 but favor and truth came into being through Iēsous, the Anointed One. 18 No one has ever seen god. But the only-born god, who is in the father’s lap,*10 made the father understandable.”

  19 And this was the testimony of Iōannēs, when the Ioudaioi*11 dispatched priests and Leuitai*12 out of Hierosoluma [to him] to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 And he admitted who he wasn’t, without any denial: he admitted, “I am not the anointed one.” 21 So they asked him, “What, then? Are you Ēlias?” And he said, “I am not.” “The prophet—is that who you are?”*13 And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? Allow us to give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said,

  “I’m the voice of someone shouting in the wasteland,

  ‘Make the lord’s road straight!’

  as Ēsaïas the prophet said.”*14

  24 Now, they had been sent from the Farisaioi,*15 25 and they questioned him, saying to him, “So why do you baptize,*16 if you’re not the anointed one, and not Ēlias, and not the prophet?” 26 Iōannēs answered them with these words: “I baptize with water. Among you stands someone you don’t know, 27 who is coming after me, and whose sandal thong I [myself] don’t deserve to untie.”*17 28 These things happened in Bēthania, across the Iordanēs,*18 where Iōannēs was baptizing.

  29 The next day, he saw Iēsous coming toward him, and he said, “Look, it’s god’s lamb, who takes away the world’s wrongdoing.*19 30 This is the one I told you about when I said, ‘The man coming after me arose before me, because he was first, at the head of me.’ 31 And I myself didn’t know him then, but the purpose for which I came, baptizing in water, was for him to be revealed to Israēl.” 32 Iōannēs also testified by saying, “I’ve watched the life-breath coming down out of the sky, appearing as a dove, and it settled on him. 33 But I myself didn’t know him; no, the one who sent me to baptize in water—he told me, ‘On whomever you see the life-breath coming down and settling, this is the one who baptizes people in the holy life-breath.’ 34 So I’ve seen and testified that this is god’s son.”*20

  35 The next day, Iōannēs was again standing with two of his students, 36 and when he saw Iēsous walking around, he said, “Look, it’s god’s lamb.” 37 And his two students heard him speaking and followed Iēsous. 38 Now, Iēsous turned around and gazed at them following him, and he said to them, “What are you looking for?” And they said to him, “Rabbí”—which means, when translated, “teacher”*21—“where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying and stayed with him the rest of that day; it was about the tenth hour after dawn.

  40 Andreas the brother of Simōn Petros was one of the two men who heard what Iōannēs said and followed Iēsous. 41 The first thing he did was to find his own brother Simōn and say to him, “We’ve found the Messias,” which is translated as “anointed.”*22 42 Andreas took him to Iēsous. Iēsous looked closely at him and said, “You’re Simōn the son of Iōannēs: you’re going to be called Kēfas,” which translates as Petros or “Stone.”*23

  43 The next day, he wanted to set out for Galilaia,*24 so he found Filippos. And Iēsous said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now, Filippos was from Bēthsaïda,*25 the same town Andreas and Petros were from. 45 Filippos found Nathanaēl and said to him, “The one Mōüsēs wrote about in the book of the law, and the one the prophets wrote about—we’ve found him. He’s Iēsous the son of Iōsēf from Nazaret.” 46 But Nathanaēl said to him, “Can anything worthwhile come out of Nazaret?” Filippos told him, “Come and see!” 47 Iēsous saw Nathanaēl coming toward him, and spoke about him: “Look, this is truly an Israēlitēs—nothing underhand in him!” 48 And Nathanaēl said to him, “How is it you know me?” Iēsous answered by telling him, “Before Filippos called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” 49 Nathanaēl replied to him, “Rabbí, you’re god’s son, you’re the king of Israēl.” 50 Iēsous answered by telling him, “Just because I told you I saw you underneath the fig tree, you believe? You’re going to see greater things than this!” 51 Then he said to him, “Amēn amēn I say to you all: you’ll see the sky opened and the messengers of god going up and coming down in the presence of mankind’s son.”*26

  Chapter 2

  1 On the third day after this, there was a wedding in Kana in Galilaia,*27 and Iēsous’ mother was there. 2 And Iēsous as well, along with his students, was invited to the wedding. 3 And when the wine fell short, Iēsous’ mother said to him, “They don’t have any more wine.”*28 4 [Then] Iēsous said to her, “What business could you have with me, woman? My time has
n’t come yet.” 5 His mother said to the servers, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” 6 In that place there were, lying on the floor, six water jars, such as the Ioudaioi use for cleansing themselves, and each of the jars was big enough for two or three measures of liquid.*29 7 Iēsous told the people, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the top. 8 Then he said to them, “Now draw out some of what’s inside and take it to the man presiding over the dining room.” They took it to him. 9 When the man presiding tasted the water, now turned into wine, he didn’t know where it had come from—but the servers who had drawn the water knew. The man presiding called the bridegroom aside 10 and said to him: “Everybody serves the good wine first, and then when they’re drunk, the wine that’s not so good. You’ve kept back the good wine until now.” 11 In Kana, which is in Galilaia, Iēsous performed this as the first of his signs, and he made his glory bright and clear, and his students trusted in him.