Jerusalem

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus.

Story N. 14 (see previous posts).

Jerusalem was Jesus’ destination and aim. He came down from the Mount of Olives riding a colt, and as he rode the people were spreading their cloaks on the road so that the dust wouldn’t touch him. The all multitude of his disciples praised him, the king who came in Yahweh’s name, but he wept over the city:
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace! But it is hidden from your eyes.”

And now, having left the crowds behind, Jesus and his disciples are entering the temple. Anya is dumbfounded at the sight of its grandiosity and magnificence. Its walls are higher than anything she has ever seen before: Layer after layer of stone, they climb towards the sky. But the inside of the temple is not what she had expected. In her imagination the sacred place was silent, and the sound of the footsteps echoed the humming of the prayers. Instead people are bargaining in loud voices. Doves are bought to be sacrificed for worship and the money changers are piling coins on the tables.

Jesus grows furious. He has never acted with so much violence before. He paces the floor with heavy strides. He overturns the tables of the money changers and  vendors and drives them out, crying out:
“It is written, ’my house shall be a home of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!”
He threatens the teachers of the law with harshness:
“You brood of vipers! How can you say good things when you are evil? From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. I tell you, by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned!”

Flattened against the wall, Anya is trembling in fear. Maybe this is the moment, she thinks. Maybe these wicked sly men dressed in dark robes will arrest him right now. The Pharisees wear tall black hats which frame their menacing faces and, by contrast, their complexion appears cadaveric. In spite of her fear Anya lingers in their proximity. She listens to broken but unequivocal conversations, learning that they are plotting to kill Jesus. They’ll wait for the right moment, when his followers won’t be around. They’ll find a way.

Jesus and his disciples have left the temple unarmed. It’s a starry night and they are resting by a stream. The moon is shining on the flowing water, drawing silvery lines on the dark blue surface. Anya is listening to its murmur, unable to sleep. She longs for someone who can understand her pain, offer advice. Mary of Magdala is also awake, keenly aware of her friend’s restlessness.
“Anya,” she calls softly, “are you troubled tonight?”
“Oh Mary! How could I not be? Jesus is taking great risks, putting his life at stake! Why, in the name of God! Why?”
“I don’t know, Anya. I don’t understand, but I trust him.”
“I know I’m being selfish,” Anya goes on, “but I feel so lonely. I’ve left my family to follow him, and it’s so hard not to be part of their life anymore. I don’t know if my husband is alive. I miss my son terribly. I never stopped thinking about them, but I used to find comfort in Jesus’ presence. Now there is no relief for me, only worries and pain. Maybe I should go back home.”
“Yes, maybe you should,” answers Mary, “but I don’t think you will. Jesus is our life. How can we leave him?”
Anya remains silent, pondering upon Mary’s words. And suddenly she realizes how truthful they are. She can’t go. Where would she go? She would lose herself. Her home wouldn’t be her home anymore. Jesus is part of her deepest essence. The love that she has inside her can only be bestowed through Jesus, for he is the one who made it blossom. She left her family, yet she can’t leave Jesus, not because she loves him more but because she wouldn’t be herself without him. He has given her a new heart and a new mind and he inhabits them
I’ll stay, she thinks. I’ll stay until the end.

The Prediction of The Passion

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman from the time of Jesus.

Story n. 13 (see previous posts)

A few months have passed and Anya has witnessed many events. The apostles have been traveling on their own, proclaiming the Kingdom of heaven to the Jews. Before sending them on the road Jesus warned them that they might have been persecuted, but told them not to fear anything, for the Spirit of the Father would be with them. He gave them authority to heal and teach, and said to them:

“Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul”

When they returned from their mission they learned that John the Baptist had been beheaded.        

King Herod had him arrested and killed because he had condemned his illicit relationship with his brother’s wife. John’s disciples gave him proper burial and informed Jesus of the execution. He withdrew to a desert place to pray, but the crowds followed him by the thousand. He was like a shepherd who knows his sheep, and stilled their hunger with bread and fish that materialized like manna from the heavens. They claimed him as their Messiah, but he said to them:

“It is I who am the bread of life; he who comes to me will never be hungry; he who has faith in me will never thirst.”

He wanted them to seek spiritual nourishment, and told them many parables so that their heart may be stirred and tore from its rest. But to the apostles Jesus revealed the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and they saw them with their eyes and heard them with their ears.

Then they resumed their journey.                      

Majestic mountains look down upon the broad valley crossed by the Jordan River. Reddish hills and gray rocks stand in every direction. The Sea of Galilee draws a cobalt blue stripe. Everything is part of a colossal whole, seemingly sentient and in tune with the Creator. Solitary figures walk on the sand, dragging blue shadows under their feet. They are Jesus and his disciples on the road to Jerusalem. Spent by hours of incessant march, they sit under a sycamore tree to rest. Jesus leans against the trunk and closes his eyes. A light breeze is messing up his hair. Anya wonders what unimaginable thoughts are taking form behind his frowning forehead. When a sudden gust of wind brings him back to reality, Jesus stares at the apostles one by one. 

Finally he asks:                                                                                                                        

“Who do people say that I am?”

“Some say that you are Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets,” James answers.

“Elijah has already come,” he replies, “and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.”

Anya brings her lips near Andrew’s ear and whispers:

“What does he mean?”

“John the Baptist. Elijah was John the Baptist,” he answers in a low voice.

“But who do YOU say that I am?” Jesus presses on.

After a long silence, Simon replies gravely:

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus stands up and stretches his hands toward him.

“Blessed are you, Simon,” he says, “for my heavenly Father has revealed this to you. And so I say to you, your name is Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

Peter falls on his knees and buries his face in Jesus’ cloak. Not another word is spoken as the sun sinks into the sea. A single cloud spreads on the horizon, like a long stripe of pinkish vapor. The moon appears in the darkening sky, its rays glowering in the mist. It is at that moment that Jesus speaks again.

“My hour is about to come,” he says. “I, the Son of Man, will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes in Jerusalem. They will condemn the Son of Man to death and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified. And behold, he will be raised on the third day."                                                                                                                              

Flabbergasted, the apostles remain silent, but Peter takes him aside and whispers:

“God forbid, Lord! No such thing will ever happen to you!”

“Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus utters in a hoarse voice. “You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.’

Trembling and humiliated, Peter retreats to his pallet. Anya lies down and stares at the black sky. She doesn’t comprehend Jesus’ words. About to fall asleep, she’s incapable of attributing to them the right weight. He can’t be willing to be tortured and die. And no one can he be raised from the dead. That can’t be true, she thinks while the singing of the nocturnal birds lull her to sleep.

Anya wakes up in the middle of the night with the vivid memory of an event that took place a few

months earlier. A man named Jairus, an official of the synagogue, begged Jesus to come to his house to heal his daughter, who was only twelve years old and  was dying. As Jesus went  large crowd followed him, pressing on him and forcing him to slow down his pace. After a while someone from the house reached the grieving father and said:

“Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any longer.”

The man burst into tears, but Jesus laid his hands on his shoulders and told him not to cry.

“Do not be afraid,” he said. “Just have faith and she will be saved.”

Finally they arrived at the house, where all the relatives were already mourning the girl. She was lying on her back, her delicate body dressed in white. On her hands and temples blue veins were visible under the transparent skin. The color had disappeared from her lips, and her cheeks were as pale as wax. Jesus looked at her with infinite compassion, then took her by the hand and told her:

“Child, arise!”

Immediately a feeble glow flushed up her features. Her limbs relaxed and moved slightly as life returned flowing through her frame. She emitted a deep breath and arose, opening her dark wondering eyes on the unknown man who was still holding her hands.

“Give her something to eat,” he said.

Death is not irredeemable, Anya thinks. Jesus showed us that it isn’t. He said that he will die and rise again. I believe him, because I’ve always believed him. He shall be with us, always. 

       

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Love Of Enemies

　

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus.

Story n. 12 (see previous posts)

The synagogue is lit by flickering torches. People’s faces glow reddened by the flames. The farther corners of the large room are swallowed in darkness. Anya is sitting on the floor between Neri and Heli. She has persuaded them to come and listen to Jesus’ teachings.
“Aren’t you even curious?” she pressed them. “We have seen him working miracles! Ask Simon if you don’t believe me. Come tonight. Do it to make me happy if nothing else.”

But now she’s wondering if they’ll be able to open their mind to Jesus. He made clear how difficult it is to be receptive to his message. One day, a few weeks earlier, a small group of young mothers approached Jesus asking him to touch their nursing infants, so that they could live a blessed life. The apostles wanted to send them away, but Jesus said:
“Let the children come to me and do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
“What do you mean, Master?” Andrew asked him. “Should we become as pure and innocent as them?"
Jesus answered:
“Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
Later, while Jesus was praying in solitude, the disciples sat around the fire and pondered his words.
“Children have clarity of vision, “said James" They have no preconceived ideas. To them everything is possible. That‘s what it takes to believe”

Anya gazes at her husband. He’s not at all like a child, she thinks. He’s self-asserted and full of pride. And Heli is just like him. Please, God, open their hearts!
She looks for Jesus in the crowd. He’s sitting on the steps, his arms around his knees. The torches’ light outlines his figure in dramatic contrasts of black and iridescent white. His face seems sculpted in bronze, but is voice is sweet like honey:
“You have heard that it was said, ’You shall love you neighbor and hate your enemy‘. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners love those who love them. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Give to everyone who asks you, and offer no resistance to the one who is evil.”

Anya can feel the disappointment rising in her husband and her son. Heli is the first one to express it.
“What’s he talking about, mother?” he whispers. “I don’t care if he gives sight to the blinds or turns water into wine. This man is no Messiah. The Messiah is supposed to free us from our oppressors, not to pray for them!”
“Only when you’ll learn how to forgive your soul will be free,” Anya protests. But Neri and Heli are already headed for the door.

Later at home, Anya must say good-bye again. Her heart is heavy, but she knows that she’s doing the right thing.
“You want justice,” she tells her husband, “but there is something nobler than that, and it is the universal love, the mercy that Jesus preaches. You are enslaved by your thirst for revenge. And you know no justice either, for there is no such thing as a just person. Jesus said that we must stop judging and we must remove the wooden beam from our own eye before we can see clearly.”
“Words, words and more words!” Neri exclaims. “That man has filled up your head with crazy ideas. This nonsense has been going on long enough! Besides, there are only a handful of women among many men who follow Jesus. How do I know that you are not sleeping with one of his disciples? Maybe that’s why you are so eager to follow them!”
“Oh Neri, that’s absurd!”
“Moreover, I am tired of living without a woman!”
“You are the one who first decided to go,” Anya retorts, “and I don’t agree with your motives either. Yet, I love you more now than I did before I met Jesus. He taught me how to love you and accept you as you are. I’ve learned to forget, bear and forgive. But my love for you is an earthly love. It won’t fulfill my soul. That’s why I must go.”
She had no doubts this time, but still cried many tears. 　

The Calming of the Storm at Sea

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus.

Story N.11 (see previous posts)

In a stormy whether the sea howls, screams and sheds tears. It turns dark, inscrutable and restless. Its waves implacably whip the rocks. They can strangle a man in their whirls of salty water and tear a boat apart with white claws of foam.
Anya is standing on the shore, anxiously scanning the treacherous sea in search of Simon’s fisher boat. Jesus and his disciples are out there, on their way back to Capernaum. She has preceded them to attend Heli’s wedding. Thanks to God Neri was at home, alive and well. Anya recalls the moment when she saw him. He was chopping wood in the courtyard, raising his ax with both hands and driving it down in a steady motion. Her first impulse was to call his name and run to him, but she refrained from doing it. Instead, she slackened her pace to give herself some time to unravel her feelings.
She was relieved and overjoyed, but her emotions were earthly emotions. It is different when she is with Jesus… With him she isn’t simply happy, but rather ecstatic, with a depth that she has never experienced before. Seeing her husband after such a long separation brought tears to her eyes, but they were tears of a tender, familiar joy. They fell into each other’s arms, and then Neri said to her:
“You have arrived just in time to start cooking for Heli’s wedding, wife! I just finished chopping wood to light the fire. We are still a team, aren’t we?”
“Of course we are!” she answered. “We both want the best for our son. It will be the greatest ceremony ever. How is he?
“His happiness will be complete when he’ll find out that you’re here.”
“I missed you both, Neri,” she said. “I love you.”


Waiting for Simon’s boat after Heli’s wedding Anya recalls Jesus’ teachings to her mind, trying to look at her marriage from the right perspective.
“Don’t think”, he had said,” that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother; and one’s enemies will be those in his household.”
Jesus knew that some would believe in him and others would reject him, just like it’s happening with Anya and Neri. But Anya isn’t ready to give up on her husband. She’s determined to have him listening to Jesus preaching at least once. If only he could do it with an open heart he would fall in love with him and would be saved. Marriage is supposed to last forever. Jesus said that husband and wife are one flesh, and that what God has joined together no human being can separate. And so she’ll do whatever is in her power to make Neri leave the rebels.
The wind has suddenly subsided and the sea is calm. Simon’s fisher boat is in sight. In its wake small waves rise and then break, foam sliding down their hollow. When it finally reaches the bank Anya is there to welcome Jesus and his disciples. Andrew is the first one to disembark. Rushing toward him, she exclaims:
“Thank God you are safe! I was so worried! The weather was awful!”
“You won’t believe what just happened out there, Anya! The boat was being swamped by waves. We were sure that we were going to perish, but Jesus was sleeping, oblivious of the storm. When we woke him up he scolded us for having little faith in him, then he rebuked the winds and the sea. And all of a sudden there was great calm and the storm was over!”
Anya watches Jesus jumping off the boat, his solemn face relaxed in that beautiful smile that she knows so well by now.
“I believe you, Andrew,” she says. “I believe all powers were given to him and nothing can resist his will, not even the sea. For he’s the Son of the living God.”

The Sermon on the Mount

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus.

Story N. 10 (see previous posts).

The sun was hiding behind thick clouds, but as soon as Jesus reached the hilltop a light wind blew them away. Now a golden iridescence illuminates the crowds, glittering on their languid faces. Jesus’ voice echoes for miles around and its hypnotic sound raptures the senses. Spell-bounded, Anya is listening.

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”
The Kingdom of heaven, she wonders…how will it be like? Will it be like a palace, with pillars sculpted in marble which stretch away as far as the eye can see? Or will it be a blue empty space where the angels rest on the clouds like graceful butterflies on white roses?
It will not be anything of this sort, she thinks as an ineffable image of the dawning of the Kingdom takes form in her mind. Jesus’ gaze will spread all over the earth. It will be a gaze of sorrow. His tears will become rivers carving their beds on the mountainsides. His breath will be the wind, and will restore to true life those who have gone astray….

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
Anya watches Jesus’ mantle blowing gently around his shoulders. One day it will expand into infinity, sheltering the entire world, and all evil will fade away in its shadow….

“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Jesus’ wavy hair will become the ocean’s waves. They will carry silvery fishes on every bank, and people will feed in that overflowing abundance. His words will last forever. Their echo will be heard in the rumble of the torrents plunging from the hills and in the whispering of the leaves in the morning breeze. But Anya can hear them from his mouth, and it’s like being swept away into eternity.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Anya is filled with the most unspeakable bliss. It’s true, she thinks, your yoke is easy. Even the hardest endeavor becomes easy in the light of your love. Everything that you touch turns into pure joy. All I want is to be near you, rest in you shadow…

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
With open arms, Jesus is offering his all-embracing message of hope. Seen from above the crowd is like a field of crop, which the wind softly bends according to its will. The people are reaching out to Jesus with all their beings.
Anya smiles, thinking: The Kingdom of heaven is right here. I’m living it.

The Healing of a Paralytic

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus.

Story n. 9 (see previous posts)

“How are you feeling? Would you like some water?”
Anya is nursing an old dying man who wishes to see Jesus before the coming of his last hour. He stretches his callused hand to get the cup.
“Thank you, my dear”, he answers in a raucous voice.
He is dreadfully pale, but his eyes are full of tenderness. He’s awaiting death peacefully. Every remaining moment on earth carries him closer to everlasting repose. His body is just a shred that hangs on to life, but in his eyes Anya sees his soul shining through.
For the first time she’s not afraid of the corruption of the flesh.
She had never witnessed so much physical pain and decay before embarking on her journey as one of Jesus retinues. The sick gravitate toward him, but they are not the only ones. All sort of people seek him; some need hope, others look for answers.
Today, in the synagogue where Jesus is teaching, there are many scribes and Pharisees who have come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.

Leaving the old man asleep on his pallet Anya blends with the crowd. People are marveling at Jesus’ familiarity with the scriptures. Unnoticed, she listens to their comments:
“Isn’t he the son of Joseph? How can a carpenter be so knowledgeable?”
Hearing some commotion, Anya looks around: A paralytic on his stretcher is being lowered through the roof, right at Jesus’ feet. The place is so crowded that it was impossible to bring him in through the door. Jesus observes the maneuver in silence, then he kneels down next to him. When he finally speaks, his voice is filled with compassion.
“Your sins are forgiven”, he says.
Anya feels the tension rising in the room. Jesus’ words have engendered an immediate reaction among the teachers of the law. Scandalized, they turn to each other whispering:
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
As if reading their minds, Jesus addresses them from the center of the synagogue.
“Which is easier to say, ’Your sins are forgiven’, or to say ’Rise and walk’?”
Standing above the lying man, Jesus lifts up his arms and commands:
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher and go home.”
For a long moment the paralytic remains still. Then, levering up on his elbows, he slowly sits up. Uncertain, he stretches out his trembling hand and Jesus grabs it. The man gets on his feet and, shedding tears of joy, he exclaims:
“Blessed is the Lord, whose power is with you!”
The crowd is struck with awe and many cry out to Jesus:
"Son of David, have pity on us!”
A blind man falls on his knees in front of him. Moved, Jesus touches his eyes and they open up. Then lays his hands on a mute and he finds his voice. Many reach out to him and are restored to health. Mesmerized, Anya is watching the unfolding of the events. Her heart is galloping, but her mind is on alert. The scribes are afraid of Jesus’ charismatic power and they might try to have him arrested. It has happened before, but she soon realizes that it’s no going to happen today. What they have witnessed today is just too incredible for them not to glorify God.

Relieved, Anya goes back to the dying man’s bedside. He’s awake, but there is something ethereal about him.
“Don’t you wish that you could live longer?” she asks him, wondering why he never pleaded to Jesus for healing.
“No”, he answers. ”My children are gone and my wife passed away. My time has come.”
Upon hearing these words Anya bends under the weight of her past. The years she has left behind wrap her in a heavy mantle of sadness. The comfort and the emptiness of her life overwhelm her once again. Why did she leave? Was it really because of Jesus or was it wanderlust? It’s so difficult to discern true faith from selfish needs! Tonight, she decides, I’ll talk to Jesus.

When the afternoon begins to give away before the night and the disciples are resting around the fire Anya approaches him, feeling that her whole life is suspended within that moment.
“Lord, why did I leave?” she asks him.
Invisible birds begin to sing as the truth is revealed, crystal clear, through Jesus’ words:
“Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Shrouded by a new certitude, Anya lies down and goes to sleep at last.

Helping Others

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus

Story N. 8 (see previous posts)


Anya is sitting all by herself, trying to regain her good spirit. The elated state of mind of the first weeks on the road is already vanishing. Too many people are following Jesus, and they bring with them so much misery. They follow him because they are hungry, scarred by life, in need of hope. Some of them are sick and it’s difficult to watch them suffering. Crippled and ashamed of their diseases as if they were God’s willed punishments, they carry themselves in Jesus’ presence asking for a miracle. And it always happens for those who have faith in him. At the end of the day he’s so exhausted that he has nothing left to give to his disciples: He needs to be alone and pray.
Anya prays too, for Yahweh to keep her husband safe. Neri has always been hot-blooded and maybe that’s why she fell for him. But now she wishes that he would calm down, abandon his thirst for revenge and just believe. Believe in Jesus.


There are few women among the disciples, and one of them is Mary of Magdala. Anya has a lot of respect for her because she understands Jesus’ message better than anyone else. The apostles are often astounded by his teachings, sometimes even embarrassed, but not Mary. She seems to capture the essence of his words in all their beauty. Anya makes up her mind: She needs to talk to her. Mary is sitting next to the fire, broiling some fish. Anya sits next to her.
“Are you hungry?” Mary asks her.
“No, thanks. I’m just sad.”
“Thinking about your family?”
“Yes, but that’s only one of the reasons for my sadness. When I left, I new that I was going to miss them and worry about them. But I was sure that following Jesus was the right thing to do if I wanted to find peace. Now I feel betrayed. There is no peace among the crowds that follow him asking for justice and relief. It breaks my heart to see all that desperation.”
Mary looks at her with empathy.
“Oh Anya! Can’t you see? Jesus’ actions ARE his teachings! We must learn not to recoil before distorted limbs or even before leprosy. Only through compassion the Kingdom of heaven will come on earth. We are witnessing the creation of a new, unspoiled life!”
“But those people scare me, Mary! And the compassion that I feel is too much to bear. “
“Those people are your brothers and sisters, Anya. Don’t listen to the righteous who say that their illnesses are a punishment for their sins or even for those of their parents. There are sinners among the unfortunates just like there are among us. And when you feel that your pity is too much to bear, try to remember that they are the ones who are suffering. Compassion is good only when it’s directed outward, when makes you act on it for the well being of your fellow human beings. Don’t stall in your pity. Help them instead, like Jesus does. You’ll be the first one to gain from it.”

As Anya and Mary are talking, Jesus comes down from the hill where he has been praying to the Father. That’s how he calls Yahweh: Our Father in heaven. It’s full moon. Its rays illuminates softly Jesus’ radiant figure. Smiling, he opens his arms and turns to his disciples:
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did it for me.”

The evening sounds are echoing his words. Crickets are screeching, leaves are murmuring, waves are breaking rhythmically on the rocks to sing a hymn of joy.
Maybe this music has been playing all along, Anya thinks, but I’m hearing it for the first time. The sound of a new earth.

The Cleansing of a Leper

Witness: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus

Story N. 7 (see previous posts)

Today, as always, a flock of followers has gathered around Jesus. It’s a hot sunny day, but inside the large stable a small crowd rests in the shadow. Thin rays of light filter through gaps in the ceiling. Crouched down on the floor made of beaten earth, people are listening attentively. Jesus is teaching them how to pray.
“When you pray,” he says, “do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
People whisper to each other in amazement. Jesus is speaking against the teachers of the law! Anya grabs James’ arm.
“We are headed for trouble,” she tells him.
“I’m afraid this is only the beginning,” he answers.

“In praying,” Jesus goes on, “do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
Anya feels a pang of shame: She doubts Jesus’ words. Our Father knows what we need, she thinks, but will He deliver? So many people are desperately poor! They don’t know if they will have the means to survive the next day. But Jesus seems to read her thoughts
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” he says, “where moth and decay destroys, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there also your heart be. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, and do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

All of a sudden Jesus stands up and walks out of the stable. He looks up. The clouds are like snowy mountains in the sky. Birds fly from tree to tree. A hoopoe spreads his black and white wings before landing on a pink oleander. A red and yellow hummingbird flies in circle above a sweet- smelling eucalyptus. The world is opulent and Jesus radiates ardor and vitality. The crowd has left the stable and is following him on the dusty road. But not everyone can rejoice on that glorious day. A man, horribly disfigured by leprosy, is standing in a corner. Upon seeing Jesus he falls on his knees and pleads:
“Lord, if you wish you can make me clean.”
Moved, Jesus stops in front of him.
“Do you believe that I can do this?” he asks.
“I do.”
“Then let it be done, according to your faith“.
Jesus touches him and the man is immediately healed of his disease. Bewildered, he looks at his hands and skims them over his face. Crying with joy he says:
“Son of David, the entire world must know that you have cleansed me, for you are the Messiah!”
Jesus sternly orders him not to tell anyone, but from that moment on rumors about his healing power start spreading. More and more people will seek his help and will follow him wherever he goes. Anya will miss the privilege of being one of the few elected to share his life, but she doesn’t know it yet. I’m healed too, she thinks. I know the way, the truth and the life. I see them in Jesus’ eyes.

Jesus and Beelzebul: The healing of a demoniac.

Narrator: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus.
Story N. 6 (see previous posts)

If one stares long enough at that line where the sea blends with the horizon, one will lose his borders and expand into the infinity. Following Jesus, Anya has traveled day after day along the sea and has become unbounded. At night the moon reverberates in a straight path on the sea surface, breaking into thousands of silvery splinters. The disciples build a fire and rest, listening to Jesus’ teachings. Anya is one of them at last. Her mind is clear, there are no more shadows. She’s like the stretch of sand that covers the dry land and then slides under water: Jesus’ words are the waves that lap her soul.

Many are falling under his spell. As he walks across Galilee, people accompany him from town to town. Tonight he’s teaching in the synagogue, where a large crowd has gathered to see him. The most spectacular sunset shines as a background to the columns. The sun has already disappeared behind the roofs, torches have been lit and the sky is as luminous as their fires, streaked in orange and gold. Jesus’ soothing voice seems to come from above. No one has ever heard anything so beautiful. But suddenly a cry breaks the harmony of the moment.
“Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?”
A man is pushing his way through the crowd. He’s grimacing with pain, groaning and swearing. Anya shivers with fear: He’s possessed by demons! Stretching his hands towards him, Jesus orders:
“Be quiet!”
The man crouches down in front of him, howling and muttering sinister curses.
“Come out of him!” Jesus commands.

The demoniac falls at his feet and remains still, his eyes closed. The crowd held their breath, until the man slowly gets up and looks around, astonished. The demon has left him. He’s free.

As people cry in wonder, one of the scribes who have come from Jerusalem points his finger at Jesus and shouts:
“He’s possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he drives out demons!”
Jesus turns around slowly, his gaze running on the crowds.
“How can Satan drive out Satan?” he asks quietly. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. Amen, I say to you, it is by the Spirit that I drive out demons. All sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.”

Shaken, Anya steps in front of him, as if shielding him. For the first time someone has openly turned against Jesus. The peace she was hoping to find when she followed him has become only a pious dream. There is going to be war, she can see that now. But Jesus is the awaited Messiah. He will win.

The Cure of Simon's Mother-in-Law

Luke Chapter 4, 38-39
Narrator: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus

Story N. 5 (see previous posts)

The Sea of Galilee sparkles in the sun like a floating stretch of sapphire. It’s so clear that looking into its depth is like reading its most secret thoughts. Its waves are crowned with shining foam and they swell with pride. When they hit the rocks they turn into fountains of white sprinkles blowing in the air.

If you walk along the bank with your head down you will find small gifts to bring home to your children. They will build castles out of those shells and conches and give them back to you as a present. But there are no children waiting at home for Anya. No one needs her anymore, she’s free. That’s what she told Neri and Heli when she said good bye. Her husband protested that he didn’t want to find an empty home returning from the fields.
“You mean battlefields, in truth,” she retorted. “I won’t sit in our house wondering if you are still alive.”
Then it was Heli’s turn to argue with her. He insisted that she had to be there for his wedding. How were they going to organize a banquet without her?
“I’ll be back,” she promised. “I’ll count the days from now to the day of your wedding and I’ll do my best to come home in time. But Jesus and his disciples are leaving tomorrow and I have to follow them.
She cried a little, and then she was gone.

Anya is walking fast, afraid of a change of heart that would bring her back. Exhausted, she leans against a tree to rest for a moment. She looks toward the sky for a sign. Is she doing the right thing abandoning her family? But she sees only clouds, slowly spreading out against the blue sky. Her determination is already faltering. Neri and Heli are all she has in this world.
Remembering their life together, Anya is overwhelmed with sorrow. Where am I going?, she asks herself. And to do what? I must have lost my mind! Yet she resumes her walking toward Simon’s home and soon she’s running, as if haunted by her past.

Simon’s wife is sitting by her mother-in-law bedside. The older woman is feverish and pale. Anya wets her forehead, full of compassion. Do they know that the man of the house is about to leave them? The children are quietly playing outside. Will they miss their father? Doubts are assailing her again. Jesus…the disciples are about to leave everything behind to follow him. Simon believes that he’s the awaited Messiah, but what if he’s mistaken? As for her, she doesn’t care who he is. She just wants to be around him.

While Anya is entertaining these thoughts Jesus and his disciples appear at the door. The room is slowly filled with the sweet smell of roses and the golden phosphorescence of the sunset. Even the dusty corners are lightened by that soft luminescence. Jesus is shining of an inner power, so much so that everybody else around him seems opaque, as if swallowed by fog. He approaches the sick woman and takes her hand. The two of them are enveloped in a whirl of pure love. She gets up and looks at him, confused. Then she smiles.
“Sit down,” she says. “I’ll make you a nice dinner.”

The Wedding at Cana

John Chapter 2
Narrator: Anya, a Jewish paesant woman of the time of Jesus

Story N. 4 (see previous posts)

Anya is returning home with her load of fruit and the fish that Simon has given to her.
“Make a good soup for your men”, he had said. “You people need a good meal to get ready for the trip.”
Anya had told him that she and her family had been invited to a wedding at Cana, three days from now. On that occasion Heli will announce his engagement: He’s getting married too. Anya is delighted. She knows that, with a wife and a baby soon on the way, her son won’t think of joining the rebels anymore.
He and his father refused to be baptized by John because he was preaching peace and repentance. They don’t believe in peace, they hate the Romans. But now Heli has something else to think about. It’s time for him to be on his own. Jewish people are expected to marry before their twentieth birthday and Heli is eighteen. It seems only yesterday that he was a toddler! Anya suffered a lot during childbirth and didn’t have other children after Heli was born. She wonders what she’s going to do with her life once her son will be gone. Neri is usually in the fields till dusk and he couldn’t fill her life anymore anyway.
Anya isn’t sad but restless. She is searching for something, but she doesn’t know what.

Three days later, at the wedding, Anya’s thoughts have shifted. It’s a joyful moment and she doesn’t have a worry in the world. From a distance, she and Neri are looking at their son holding hands with his fiancée. Fantasying about grandchildren Anya goes for a stroll in the courtyard, and unexpectedly Jesus appears before her eyes. Simon and his other disciples are surrounding him. Once again Anya is struck by a strong emotion. In the crowd, he alone seems to be moving harmoniously, as if in unison with the wind, the singing of the birds and the laughter of young people in love. Anya is filled with expectation. Something incredible is going to happen because of this man and she wants to be part of it.
“Simon!’ she calls. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming? We could have traveled together!”
“We were invited at the last minute by Jesus’ mother. We came with her. But look, Anya! The wine that people are drinking… it was water, and Jesus turned it into wine! I saw it happening!”
Anya smiles, incredulous. But she takes the cup that Simon is offering her and pours the exquisitely refreshing liquid down her throat. It tastes wonderful and all of a sudden she feels buoyant. I can do anything I want, she thinks, I just drank Yahweh’s nectar. She looks for Jesus in the crowd and there he is, smiling. She had never seen him smiling before. It’s as if the entire world is rejoicing with him. She takes Simon’s hand and starts dancing around him, laughing.
“You are acting crazy, woman,” he says.
‘Oh, you are going to see a lot more of it,” she answers. “From now on I’ll be at the beach every day. I want to listen to everything Jesus has to say. If he turned water into wine he can give me a new life!”
Simon looks troubled. “We are not going to be at the beach. Anya. Jesus is going to travel and preach all around Galilee and maybe further. We‘ll leave soon”
Anya stands still for a few moments, petrified. She wants to ask why Jesus has decided to be on the road, but deep down she knows. More people need to see him and listen to his words.
“And you are going with him?” she finally asks. “What about your family?”
“I know,” Simon answers, “It’s a hard decision. But I must follow him. He’s the Messiah. I’ve been waiting for him all my life.”

Lowering her head Anya walks away. A shadow has settled upon her heart and a hint of desperation is lurking in the back of her mind. But she smiles bravely. After all, her son just got engaged. Instinctively she looks for her husband and finds him in the garden, talking to a stranger. As soon as he sees her Neri interrupts the conversation and takes her arm, leading her away. Anya gazes at him.
“Soon enough it’s going to be just you and me,” she says.
We have to talk, Anya,” he answers. “I’m afraid that you’ll have to get used to be on your own most of the time. Now that I don’t have to worry about Heli following me, I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to join the rebels.” 　
　
______________________________________

Anya's Dream

Narrator: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus

Story n.3 (see previous posts)

Anya is walking on the beach. She’s barefoot and the hot sand is burning her toes. Jesus is sitting by the sea, silent and motionless, his gaze lost on the horizon. The breeze is messing up his long black hair. Anya wishes that she could lay down at his feet and just sleep, but she doesn’t dare. If only she could touch his robe! Anya envies the fishermen because he spends time in their company. James, John and Andrew move cautiously around Jesus. They know that his thoughts are elsewhere entirely, exploring a dimension unknown to them. But Simon is not the kind of man who can stay quiet for too long. He’s complaining loudly about the shortage of fish: They haven’t caught a lot last night.
“Stop grumbling, Simon,” says Anya. “A little catch is better than no catch at all.”
He turns toward her:
“Are you in a bad mood, woman?”
“As a matter of fact I am. Last night I had a bad dream. I was a fisherman, just like you, can you imagine? I even had my own boat. But when I came to the shore I found a woman lying next to it. She couldn’t talk nor move. I don’t know why, but I felt I had to carry her home. So I lifted her dead load on my shoulders. She was so heavy! I put her in my bed and came back, but somehow she had managed to come back too. I had to carry her home again and again, one day after another. I never got to get on my boat. It was as if a corpse was sucking the life out of me. It was awful. What do you think it means, Simon?”
“I’m not good at interpreting dreams, woman. But you can ask James. Jesus says that he can see clearly into people’s heart.”

James is quietly working on his net. When Anya tells him her story he looks at her with fathomless eyes.
“You are that corpse, woman,” he says. “You want to sail away onto the open sea, but you can only carry your dead self with you, every day. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Peace and joy are inside you and all around you. Your anxiety is not real. Let it go. God sustains your life and He doesn’t know anxiety. He’s the only reality. How magnificent is the world! How orderly! Pay attention and you’ll experience nothing but gratitude. Find your unshakable soul. Fill it with inner silence.”
Anya closes her eyes and feels the warm sun on her face. She longs for peace, but it’s not easy to achieve it. She needs time. She wants to be there when Jesus talks to these men. He will tell them how to find their soul and she needs to know.

But now she must go. Her family is coming home. She’s going to light a fire and cook some dinner. Her husband likes fish. Maybe Simon will give her a small one, just to give taste to her soup. For her son Anya will buy some fresh fruit. There is never enough fruit in the house for him, or enough of anything, for that matter. He’s growing up fast and working hard. A fine young man, respectful to his mother but restless like his father. Will they ever know redemption?

The Temptation of Jesus

Matthew Chapter 4
Narrator: Anya, a Jewish paesant woman of the time of Jesus.

Story N. 2 (see previous post for N.1)

Jesus has been living in Capernaum for some time and rumors about him are spreading. People say that he has been fasting in the desert for forty days and forty nights, fighting temptation. They say that he saw the Devil. Anya wonders if that is true. Isn’t Satan the Big Deceiver? Alas, he wouldn’t have revealed his identity to Jesus. Many times the Devil tricked her into thinking that he was righteousness itself and she was stupid enough to believe him. But Jesus would have been able to tell the difference.
Anya heard that he could have turned stones into loaves of bread, had he surrendered to Satan. But he refused. And yet, he must have been hungry after forty days in the desert. Jewish people are hungry most of the time. They are poor, yet they must pay taxes to the Romans. If Jesus had said yes to Satan he could have fed them all. He would have been king of the world, as the Devil offered him. Jesus is just, and he would have been a just king. The Jews would have lived in a peaceful, prosperous world, until Jesus had stayed alive. But after his death chaos would have taken over again. The people of Israel would have been condemned, for their king had sold his soul to Satan.
Jesus is a wise man, so he resisted temptation. And he loves his people. He’ll find a way to free them from the oppressor. All they have to do is to wait.
                                        __________________________________

Rumors have recently spread in Italy about the lavish lifestyle of some politicians members of Communion and Liberation, the movement founded by the late Monsignor Giiussani. Father Carron, his successor, has taken responsibility for the sins of those members and the poet Davide Rondoni has written in defense of the movement for an Italian newspaper. His article moved me to tears, because it shows that the religious mentality of the Italian people has fundamentally changed. The lukewarm, watered-down Catholicism which had negatively affected my religious upbringing is fading away, leaving room for a new kind of religiosity based on the everyday loving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Let me attempt the translation of a few paragraphs.
"The Christian doesn't know what Christianity is. He learns by following Someone, today. We are those whose  hearts tremble when they see the Nazarene God nailed on the cross. Those who look at people as an infinite abyss that only His Abyss can fill up. Those who have the Resurrection like a hard joy in their eyes, happiness in the shadows of the days, like a breath.
To be Christians is not a merit. It's a grace. A kind of fortune, of an encounter that has been going on for 2000 years, like in the beginning of the Nazarene's adventure. Christians know this, but those who talk about Christianity unfortunately do not.
By now traditional Christianity doesn't exist anymore, it was mostly bigotry. Instead of being perceived as an exceptional Presence that makes life a hundred times more intense, Jesus Christ was perceived as an old father-in-law. One against life.
Faith is not a moral or social program, nor a scheme for power. It is an assent that moves: You know I love you, Lord.
They attempt sociological and political analysis about us, but they are doomed to fail. A faith that is alive undermines the principle of non-contradiction, on which is founded every pretence of right analysis.
Since God became man, ……..He has chosen not to show Himself as an idea or a moral epiphany, but through real men and in spite of their life".

The Baptism of Jesus

Matthew Chapter 3
Narrator: Anya, a Jewish peasant woman of the time of Jesus
 
Story N. 1

The Jordan River flows calmly between whitish rocks, murmuring echoes of ancient prayers. Its tiny waves spread in ripples around every stone emerging from the water. Here and there shrubs of green grass color the landscape. Anya is kneeling on the river bank. Her hands cover her face and a veil hides her long chestnut hair. Now and then she raises her eyes toward the sky, imploring:
“Lord, oh Lord, save their souls!”

She left her home early in the morning, after her husband and her son went out to work in the fields. She has been spying on them and she knows that they haven’t joined the rebels, but for how long will they resist the temptation? They are so full of hatred! Anya no longer knows happiness. When Heli was still a child she and Neri had many good moments together. Who wouldn’t enjoy life with such a joyful little boy around the house? But he grew up fast and he realized that he wasn’t free. His people are under the dominium of the Roman emperor and if they try to rebel they pay with their lives. Anya is afraid. She worries about her family’s well being, but even more about her husband and son’s salvation. Neri and Heli don’t pray anymore. They are angry at their God.
In the distance Anya sees a crowd bathing in the Jordan River. She rises and walks along the bank.

People are standing in line before a wild looking man dressed in camel’s skin. One by one he casts them under the water surface in a sort of baptismal rite. Anya has heard about him:
He’s John the Baptist.
“Repent!” he’s crying out, “Repent and your sins will be forgiven!”
Captivated, Anya observes the people emerging from the river. There is something about them, like a new light into their eyes. Maybe this is Yahweh’s answer to my fear, she thinks. Maybe tomorrow I’ll talk Neri and Heli into receiving baptism and they’ll be saved.

And then a man in a white robe approaches John who remains still, as if transfixed. Everything is still, even the grass doesn’t bend in the wind. The river is sparkling in the sun and that man seems to absorb its brightness. In that light Anya can’t see clearly the contours of his body. His dark wavy hair is so shiny that she has to turn her gaze away. Dazzled, Anya looks around. Every single wave carries its glitter. Every single leaf reflects the sunshine. In the breeze a myriad of sparkles tremble on the man’s face and all around him. Anya looks into his eyes and a wonderful peace takes over her soul. Not for a moment do they rest on her, yet she feels his love. He knows her and he loves her. A white dove flies above his head while he plunges into the water. Anya kneels on the river bank and prays:
”Lord, oh Lord, be my light!”


Almost two months have passed since that day on the Jordan River and Anya hasn’t seen that man anymore. She has left her home every time she had a chance, walking tirelessly on the dusty roads looking for him. After so many days, the impact that the sight of him had on her soul has faded. She reasons that the luminosity that emanated from his body was just an optical illusion triggered by the sun sparkling on the water. Nevertheless she keeps looking, to find out if there is still so much love into his eyes. And one day she sees him on Capernaum beach. He’s talking to a small group of fishermen. Anya is quite familiar with them because they occasionally offer her some fish. She could approach them, but she chooses to observe the stranger from a distance. She can’t see his eyes from where she stands, but she feels inexplicably drawn to him. The sense of peace that she experienced the first time she saw him overwhelms her again. When Simon, one of the fishermen, leaves the group and starts walking along the beach she runs after him.
“Simon, wait!” Who is that man?” she asks him.
“His name is Jesus of Nazareth.”

The Many Faces of Jesus

When I read about Jesus I prefer historical books to theological books because I want to know the real Jesus in all His exceptionality and courage. A serious historical investigation doesn't undermine the idea of Jesus as the Son of God in any way; on the contrary, it argues against certain thesis that depict Him as nothing more than a spiritual teacher.

For example, one might think that He was so incredibly charismatic that He prompted the birth of the Church simply with His words, actions and deeds. One may think that the apostles were so enamored with Him that they faced torture and death to spread His message, the message of a man crucified by the Romans. N.T. Wright's historical investigation undermines precisely these possibilities. He writes that Jesus was an eschatological prophet while the apostles were fishermen, peasants and tax collectors; he writes that Jesus could read the Hebrew Scriptures whereas the apostles could not; he writes that Jesus identified Himself with the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 and Zachariah while the apostles thought He was the classic messiah who was awaited to vindicate the Jews. In one word, the apostles couldn't fully understand understand Him.

Jesus believed that He could save His people only by defeating the Devil and that this could be accomplished not by the sword, but rather by offering the other cheek to the point of self-immolation. Instead the apostles believed that Jesus, as the messiah, would defeat the Romans and become king of the Jews. At that time, the messiah was so awaited that at least half a dozen prophets were believed to be him. Most of them were killed by the Romans and soon forgotten. Not so in Jesus' case.

Josephus, a Jewish historian of the time of Jesus, wrote that scripture oracles incited the Jews to rise against Rome. This is how the majority of the Jewish people understood what was told to them about Israel's God: He would send the messiah to bring them back from exile. For the fishermen, the peasants, the tax collectors, Jesus' shameful death could only mean the He was not the person the Jews were waiting for.
So there it is: the historical investigation leads us straight to the reality of the resurrection, for that's what it took to make the apostles change their minds. Atheist scholars maintain that the gospels were written to support the case of the early Church which, according to them, was born for obscure reasons. But in the gospels there are plenty of stories that represented an inconvenience for the early Church. One of them is the portrait of Peter: The evangelists wrote that he denied Jesus and fled, and it's only natural to think that Peter spoke about his denial and this oral history was passed to the next generation. Peter was the father of the Church; it doesn't make sense to think that the Church would deliberately choose to depict him as a coward.

Jesus died because He believed that Yahweh would act through His suffering, so that Israel would become the light of the world. As a prophet, He aimed to give voice to the God of Israel, from whom He gained His authority and in whom He put sheer trust. In spite of the persecution, the early Christians celebrated the victory of Jesus over evil as something that had already happened because they were witness of His resurrection.

I just love the ending of Wright's "Jesus and The Victory of God". He writes:
"But when we approached Jesus as we have tried to do in this book, we find him running to us as one well known, whom we have spurned in the name of scholarship or even of faith, but who was still patiently waiting to be sought and found once more…"

More on Easter Apparitions

A few weeks ago I published a post about John Dominic Crossan's view of Jesus' resurrection. He's a former catholic priest, currently professor emeritus of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago, whereas I'm just an Italian restorer of antiques who recently fell in love with Jesus. Nevertheless, I feel that I must respectfully reiterate my opinion: He's a deeply confused individual.
 
I found at the library a book that he published in 2001 titles Excavating Jesus, which confirmed my first impression. In spite of the numerous references to history and archeology, his conclusions aren't based on historical facts but rather on some sort of psychological guessing game where he guesses how ancient people would act or react to certain events. He climbs on mirrors to prove his points, which sadly don't point anywhere at all. He expresses beautiful ideas about the impact that Jesus has had on the world and the work we must do to continue the cosmic transformation He started, but I'm inclined to think that this is not enough to claim to be a Christian.

Let me give you a few examples of how he argues to disprove the resurrection. He has an issue with the name of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built by Constantine the Great in Jerusalem in the fourth century. If this is the site of Jesus' burial, it is also the site of Jesus' resurrection. Why then, if the resurrection really happened, wasn't it called the Blessed Resurrection instead of the Holy Sepulcher? This is the question posed by Crossan. Because, I would answer, it was built on top of the sepulcher from which Jesus was raised! The place was physically a sepulcher, for God's sake!

Crossan goes on acknowledging that apparition is not the same as resurrection. Apparitions are not even the manifestation of a mental disorder but, according to psychology, common characteristics of grief. However, he implies that the resurrection accounts in the gospels are basically accounts of apparitions, which is an assumption that goes against what the evangelists actually describe. Apparitions, in fact, don't talk at length offering detailed instructions about how to spread the faith.

He dismisses what scholars such as N.T. Wright maintain, namely that only Jesus' resurrection can explain historically how the apostles recovered their faith and how others converted to Christianity despite His crucifixion. And how does he dismiss this thesis? I quote: "To lose your nerve is not to lose your faith". Does this look like an argument to you? What about the fact that the apostles believed that Jesus was the Messiah, therefore He wasn't supposed to be crucified by the Romans?

Crossan goes on saying that nothing was seen as impossible by ancient people, therefore, and I quote, "To assert empty tomb and/or risen apparitions is not enough to explain anything, let alone everything in that ancient world…'Wow' was not enough, because there were too many 'wows' around."
I think that this quote doesn't even deserve a comment. I believe that any Christian, at some point in his/her life, has imagined that Jesus would appear to her, for it's a fantasy that stems from longing for Him. And has also imagined her feelings in His presence. I don't think He would be welcomed with a simple "wow'.

Crossan a Christian? I don't think so. And not so much because of what he believes, but because of his relationship with Jesus Christ. Apparently, when there is no wow, there is also no awe.

The Resurrection According to N.T.Wright

As we have seen in the previous posts, even some scholars who claim to be Christians argue that no earth-shaking event took place after Jesus' death, except for some compelling visions and dreams. According to them, some of the apostles felt that Jesus was still with them spiritually and over the years the Church came up with a tradition of Him being raised physically. From the beginning of my "journey" towards conversion I felt that this version of the birth of Christianity was just not good enough. Of course I was delighted when I found out that the Anglican bishop N. T. Wright supported my opinion, because I found support in my faith as well.

Wright wrote that the resurrection narratives, had they been fabricated, would have contained "words of the Lord" to explain what happened, or some embroidery from biblical tradition, which is present in all the other gospels stories. Of course he doesn't believe that the gospel stories are fabricated, but he maintains that the evangelists would have tried to be consistent with the rest of their work. Jesus would have been depicted as a radiant heavenly being, like in the transfiguration narratives, or perhaps like He was described in the gospel of Peter. Most scholars believe that this gospel is later than the canonical gospels but it doesn't belong to the Gnostic tradition. It narrates how two men came down from heaven while a loud voice was heard ranging out up there, and how the stone which had been laid against the entrance to the tomb rolled away by itself. Then the two man, whose heads were reaching the clouds, entered the tomb and came out supporting a third man, supposedly Jesus, whose head was over-passing the heavens. They were, by the way, followed by a speaking cross. This is how ancient people wrote works of fantasy. The canonical gospels, on the other hand, sound truthful precisely because they are vague and contradictory, like the account of an inexplicable event would be.

When I make this claim, my son objects that whoever wanted to fool the reader would have used these expedients. What he doesn't acknowledge is that this form of literary subtlety was unknown in ancient times. Back then, writers either did "reportages" or used hyperbolic images to describe fantastic events. The practice of adding details to make an invented story resemble reality came in use only three hundred years ago. If my son were right, the evangelists would represent a unique case in history.
In the gospels, the risen Jesus is sometimes unrecognizable and sometimes He's solidly physical, as if He belonged to two dimensions at once. These properties don't resemble anything in pagan or Jewish tradition, It's like the evangelists are saying: I don't understand what happened, but this is what I was told and I can't change it because it's an extremely serious matter.

Wright insists that ancient people knew as well as we do the difference between visions and reality. "Cognitive dissonance" is the state in which individuals or groups fail to come to terms with reality and live instead in a fantasy that corresponds to their deep longings. He maintains that this can't be the case with Jesus' resurrection because the gospels narratives indicate that something unexpected happened after the crucifixion, something so compelling that the apostles had to turn their lives around completely. This led them to leave their families behind to organize their missionary work. They certainly didn't act like people who live in a dreamlike state.
According to Wright, all the explanations other than the reality of the resurrection mean "to stop doing history and to enter into…a new cognitive dissonance in which the relentless modernist, desperately worried that the post-Enlightenment world view seems in imminent danger of collapse, devises strategies for shoring it up nevertheless".

"The story of Jesus of Nazareth", he writes, "offers itself as…the arrival of God's kingdom precisely in the world of space, time and matter, the world of injustice and tyranny, of empire and crucifixions…But it's the real world…that the real God made and still grieves over…and that was decisively and forever reclaimed by that event, an event which demanded to be understood not as a bizarre miracle, but as the beginning of a new creation".

Can Someone Who Doesn't Believe in the Resurrection Call Himself a Christian?

In Jesus For The Nonreligious, the Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong writes that in the twenty-first century we have to accept the fact that miracles just don't happen and never did. In his opinion, since some of the narratives in the gospels are inspired by the Old Testament, the entire texts are nothing but fabrications. All we are left with is the old Jeffersonian idea that Jesus was a great moral teacher, whose life was so whole that He was fully in contact with the ineffable entity that we call God, a God who did not raise Him from the dead.
Of course Shelby Spong attended the Jesus Seminar (see previous post), where John Dominic Crossan expressed his view of the birth of Christianity, namely that living with Jesus had the most profound effect on the apostles, who after His crucifixion felt that they had to put their own lives on the stake in His name.

My son thinks that this is the most beautiful interpretation of Jesus' story, for it gives Him back his exceptional value as a human being. Yet, to see Jesus as nothing but a moral teacher leads inevitably to a complete distortion of the circumstances of His death. The truth is that a Messiah was awaited and Jesus' disciples thought He was the One. His crucifixion, given their religious belief, could only mean that they were mistaken, for the Messiah was not supposed to die, especially not by the hands of the Romans. This is why any historian who looks at the gospels through the eye of a first century Jew knows that something must have happened to bring the apostles back to their first conviction, namely that Jesus was the awaited Messiah. Love was simply not enough to motivate them, in fact they fled when He was arrested and He died alone.
Jesus was certainly more than a teacher. The historicity of Jesus' healings has been sufficiently established (see my old post titled Miracles) and traces of the Old Testament in the gospels have nothing to do with their basic truthfulness. In fact, if one turns this problem on its head, there are plenty of prophecies in the Old Testament that confirm that Jesus was the Messiah.

As we have seen before, there are historic criteria to establish what is credible and what is not when it comes to ancient documents. For example, the star over Bethlehem could be an embellishment, but the account of Joseph of Arimathea burying Jesus' body is an historic claim. Yet, here is how Crossan comes to the conclusion that Joseph of Arimathea is a creation of Mark: The evangelist describes him as a member of the council that condemned Jesus; therefore Crossan wonders why, after His death, he felt the duty of giving Him proper burial. He reasons that, if it was out of human compassion, he would have buried the other two crucified criminals with him. Even Matthew and Luke, writes Crossan, realized the inconsistency of Mark's story, in fact Matthew does not say that Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin and Luke says that he did not agree with its decision. According to Crossan Joseph didn't act coherently, therefore he never existed.
I must admit, of course respectfully, that it strikes me as ridiculous that a worldwide famous scholar, in spite of the fact that he claims to be a Christian, would dedicate so much effort to disprove the credibility of the gospels and, after many pages of pondering, would come up with THIS: Let's psychoanalyze a two-thousand year old Jew who may or may not have felt regret for the death of the young prophet. And this is only an example of Crossan's way of reasoning.

But let's return to Spong. He writes that after the shameful death of Jesus His disciples weren't able to wrap their mind around the idea that He wasn't the promised Messiah after all. His message was one of love and forgiveness and God had to be His inspiration. He admits that an unresolved inner turmoil such as this one must have required more than three days to develop into the determination to follow up with Jesus' ministry al all costs, so he argues that the three days mentioned in the New Testament are only a liturgical symbol and that it took from six months to a year for the apostles to start spreading Jesus' message. Unfortunately, there is not a shred of evidence that supports this theory, which bypasses the fact that not only the apostles were willing to die in the name of Jesus, but also many disciples who converted to Christianity. After six months or even a year, who could have been persuaded that a man crucified by the Romans was divine? The Jews, even those who had met Jesus, would have by then associated His death with His defeat.

When my faith still didn't have deep roots, another author made me doubt the reality of the resurrection maintaining that Christianity took off thanks to the brothers of Jesus and that the early church destroyed all evidence of their leading roles. Once again, not only there is no historical evidence of such a plot, but it's hard to come up with a plausible reason to justify it. N.T. Wright writes that several movements in the first century were linked through family dynasty, therefore it would have been a natural development for the early Christians to choose James the brother of Jesus as the new Messiah, yet it didn't happen. The Jewish
leaders wrote to James urging him to stop the blasphemous growing belief in the divinity of Jesus, but he did just the opposite and for that he was stoned to death. Even Josephus, the Jewish historian of the time, describes James as "the brother of Jesus the so-called Messiah".

I was silly enough to let myself be troubled by these abstruse theories, but then I realized that what generates them is the fact that even those who don't believe in the resurrection acknowledge the need to find an explanation for the birth of Christianity, Their books are nothing but a confirmation to my faith.

The Resurrection According to Crossan

For decades, Christian historians have refused to investigate Jesus' resurrection on the ground that, if it happened, it was a miracle worked by God and therefore belongs to the field of theology. For example John P. Meier, the author of A Marginal Jew, never wrote about this subject, although he painstakingly analyzed the canonical gospel in all their aspects. Why then not to extend his study to the resurrection narratives, which are their focal point?

At last, the British scholar N.T. Wright published a book titled The Resurrection of the Son of God. He's apparently the first scholar who argues that faith can grow on a rational ground.
In the ancient pagan world, he writes, what came after death was the existence in the form of soul, a sorrowful existence devoid of the pleasures of life. The ancient Jews instead, and precisely the Pharisees, believed that God's people would be bodily raised from the dead at the end of times, either in a luminous body or in a plain human body. Ancient men and women, however, knew that when people die they stay dead. They were not inclined to believe any kind of absurdity they happened to hear. Not only Wright, but also C.S. Lewis before him, wrote that the notion that ancient people believed in magic is false. There had been very little of it even in the Middle Ages, but it grew in 16th and 17th century, right when modern science was developing.

In The Birth of Christianity, John Dominic Crossan holds a different position:
"That the dead could return and interact with the living was a commonplace in the Greco-Roman world…Not only were visions and apparitions accepted…as a possibility in the early first century, they are also an accepted and even commonplace possibility in the late twentieth century….Why, against the first century context, does vision, apparition or resurrection explain anything, since such events were not considered extraordinary let alone completely unique?"
Crossan is arguing against those who maintain that Christianity was born because of the apparitions of a dead man. Of course, he implies that these apparitions lacked certain qualities that would make them equivalent to reality, as if the man in question was alive again. Also, when he talks about the dead interacting with the living he uses as an example the mythical story told by Virgil in the Aeneid. In Italy, kids study that poem in middle school. It sounds like a myth and nobody ever claimed that it was more than that. Furthermore, he reports data from a recent study: Fifty to eighty percent of bereaved people experience an overwhelming feeling of the presence of the lost loved one and these types of experiences can't be classified as hallucinations or delusions. They are, in fact, part of the grieving process.

Crossan admits that grief related visions alone could hardly have motivated the apostles. What did it, according to him, was the powerful effect that the living Jesus had on their lives.
Crossan was co-director of the Jesus Seminar, where each participant scholar put to vote every passage of the canonical gospel to establish their credibility. He's a Christian because he loves the Jesus of history and can appreciate what he accomplished in all its magnitude. Bodily resurrection, for him, means that "the embodied life and death of the historical Jesus continues to be experienced, by believers, as powerfully efficacious and salvifically present in this world". This is beautiful but misleading. I think that there is more than that to be found in the birth of the Church,

It's obvious that when the early Christians spoke of Jesus being raised three days after the crucifixion, they were speaking of an event unknown to any culture or religion. Something unique must have happened to make Jesus and His resurrection become the center of Christianity.

More on "Is it Reasonable to Believe in the Resurrection?" (Part 2)

Since I'm fascinated by this subject, I'm planning to post twice a week for a total of probably six posts. It's going to be my work for Lent!

The New Testament offers mixed information about the risen Jesus: He was unrecognizable, he walked through closed doors, yet he could eat food. Do these contradictory descriptions mean that nothing actually happened except for different forms of delusion? I don't think so. I believe that what happened was real and powerful, but hard to describe. Those who don't believe in miracles explain these contradictions stating that the apostles simply underwent a life changing spiritual experience and that the evangelists translated it into symbolic images. Those who believe in miracles think that everything that is said in the resurrection narratives is true and that the properties described are peculiar to the "glorified body" mentioned by St. Paul.

In my opinion, the less likely explanation for the Easter apparitions is that nothing happened except for a spiritual experience, I have noticed that the scholars who hold on to this theory (at least those I happened to read) mention only in passing Paul's Corinthians 1,15, or they don't report it in its entirety. Paul wrote that Jesus appeared to Peter and then to the twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of them, Paul says, still living. Later he appeared to James and finally to Paul himself. This claim is so vast and precise, one has only two choices: Either Paul was lying or he was describing what he experienced and what the apostles told him. Corinthian 1,15 is no subject for interpretation and it was written no more than twenty years after Jesus' death. Paul was a great mind, respected as a man of culture. He was persecuting Christians before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and he died for his faith. I chose to believe him.

However, we don't know to how many Christian brothers Paul actually spoke. From his letters to the Galatians we learn that he met Kephas (Peter) and James (Jesus' brother) three years after his conversion, and then he went to Syria and came back to Jerusalem after fourteen years. In Jerusalem he might have met some of the people who saw the risen Jesus. Where they all gathered together when they saw him? To find an answer to this question was important to me because my son insisted that they had suffered from a phenomenon of mass hysteria, so I spoke to a priest at my parish. He told me that Jesus appeared to each disciple individually.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Theology teaches that it's a property of the glorified body to be in several places at the same time", he answered.
According with Hinduism, after we die we can be everywhere at once because infinity and eternity stretch in all directions. I strongly believe that Jesus' resurrection in a glorified body is not an oddity, if one looks at Christ as a being who has transcended time and space.

My son says I believe because I consciously made this choice, since there is no rational argument to sustain a belief in the divinity of Jesus. I can understand his point of view; I thought just the same only a few years ago. Then I started wondering if I wasn't rejecting religion because I was afraid to be tricked by my psychological needs. I needed strength, comfort, atonement and hope, but I refused to look for them where I felt I could find them. My son thinks that I'm forcing rationality where it doesn't belong. Or does it? In spite of his reasoning I feel that my faith in Jesus is based on logic. It is rooted in my belief that there is no better explanation for the birth of Christianity than his resurrection.
Here is how Garry Wills describes the apostle's sudden change that took place three days after his death:
"These Christians were not expecting the Resurrection. They did not believe it, even when the women first announced it to them. They had, remember, all scattered and hidden as Jesus was condemned and executed…Yet this band of cowards was suddenly changed into an energetic body of effective evangels, spreading their faith, firmly offering the claim that Jesus lives".

As the risen Son of God, Jesus confronted Caesar and the emperors that followed him until, more than 325 years later, Constantine surrendered to reality: Christianity had won.