The story of Jesus is extensive and begins far before his birth. There are documents other than the “Gospel of Judas” excavated from the past the ‘church’ never incorporated into it’s foundation. The documents about Mary, the mother of Jesus, were said to be unverifiable to the ‘author’ and therefore considered questionable in their authenticity. Regardless, just as the Gospel of Judas exists so do the others and they tell a story that makes a great deal of ‘sense’ to the circumstances of the people of the time and their beliefs surrounding God. Their religion is what bound the communities, or tribes if you will, dictating the essence of life or culture.
A clear understanding of Mary, the mother of Jesus and the social significance of her birth and life is paramount to understand the life of her son, Jesus of Nazareth. She was born to an older, childless couple. This couple was esteemed among the people of the community and with years of childless status they were becoming a concern by the ‘elders.’ It was felt children were a gift of God and where there was a childless status the question arose as to the validity of the status of a couple. The elder council was concerned this status reflected an inequality of the couple’s right to stay as a part of the community. Mary’s parents were considered wealthy. That definition of wealth included many servants that lived with the household that worked the land and cared for the house and it’s management.
Mary’s father left the household to travel in reflection of his status. It was some time before his wife sent word to his lonely place of reflection or religious contemplation that she was expecting a child. The conception of Jesus’ mother was considered ‘immaculate’ in that she was conceived ‘virginally’ by an act of God. Upon his return home he was greeted with great fanfare and the child was considered the most obvious proof of their diligence profession of faith.
After Mary was born she was treated as royalty. She had servants that never allowed her feet to touch the ground. Her every need was attended to with complete care and reverence to the faith. It was at the age of three she was allowed to walk unattended. Her feet were placed on the temple steps by her father where she immediately ran inside. She lived there and did not emerge until the age of twelve. It was said she was fed ‘manna’ by the Angels of God.
At the time she emerged, which in Hebrew culture/religion is considered the time of “Mitzvah” she was betrothed to Joseph, whom would become the human surrogate father of Jesus. Joseph was an elderly man. When Mary conceived it was again considered a virgin or ‘immaculate’ conception. The ‘special’ status of Mary and her birth of Jesus has a royal implication regardless the impoverishment or enslavement of the Jews. The culture/religion of the people is what separated them from Rome and the ‘heathen practices.
Much of the definition of culture of society today is defined by the very dividing line of the societies thousands of years ago. The ruling class of Romans dominated the entire Mediterranean. It wasn’t until the Romans tried to expand their empire into Europe and met with it's lose of stability. The empire became too large for the Roman armies to enforce. It fell to the armies of the north and not the armies of the Middle East. The so called tribes of the Middle East remained intact for the most part and Roman rule simply stopped dominating their governance. The most persecuted by Rome were the Christians. They became outcasts to most of the societies there simply because Jesus was able to supply a new covenant to ‘his’ people and that covenant set up social mores’ that set them arrogantly apart from their heritage. It was the ‘special’ status of miracles through Christ’s work as a man and more than likely a Rabbi that maintained the significance of his teachings.
Jesus Christ within his community was considered ‘special’ all his life. He was born to a woman conceived of a virgin birth of which conceived him by a virgin birth. At the time of his Mitzvah he was council to the elders of the community. A ‘special’ significance noted in the Bible of Christian faith. They don’t call it a Mitzvah, but, more a counseling of elders at the age of thirteen. A young profit of God was his status from that time forward. It is a well established truth that Jesus was a Jew by birth.
As his following grew over the years of his preaching and ‘acts’ of miracles to prove his teachings he developed a new covenant with people on behalf of them to God. The ‘counter culture’ of Jesus Christ at the time rejected many of the values Rome reflected as acceptable and became more sexually sterile; hence, no Gay relationships, no polygamy and the like simply because Jesus grew to identify the Jewish plight under Rome as a needed cleansing of morality. Those were among the dividing lines of difference between the culture accepted in the tribe by the Romans and those that were not. I believe as time went on Jesus reflected and saw his ‘special place/status’ in authority and demanded different social mores’ to relieve the people of poverty and enslavement through the ‘GRACE’ of God, a rather passive and safe venue of change. As his status grew through his acts as a Rabbi or teacher if you will the demands for a pinnacle, a turning point, grew to an extreme and he finally confronted Rome.
The act of Judas is pivotal to the end of Jesus' teachings ‘in the flesh.’ Judas according to most Christian teachings betrayed Jesus which brought ‘special’ information to Rome and then the charges of blasphemy and the social trial of him resulting in this crucifixion. It was a rare occassion slaves would cooperate or even ask for Roman intervention. The Romans acted on 'The Ceasars' orders.
It is no surprise to me but only delightful revealing that Judas was actually a best and trusted friend to Jesus. It is no surprise the betrayal was a chosen ‘status’ of the handling of this ‘out of place’ Rabbi/teacher in the community. Rome normally did not intervene in societies. They held control with the understanding there would be ‘tribute’ paid to Rome. They did not dominate the society’s culture but did intervene to ‘maintain’ the status quo. In doing so that enforced the understanding as to the ‘status’ of Rome and it’s power over people, hence the regular payment of ‘tribute.’ Rome ultimately did turn the disposition of Jesus back to the community but did expect him to be ‘handled’ and not dismissed to continue his ‘disruptive’ teachings. Rome did not like social descent. It saw ‘it’s place’ within it’s empire as a ‘keeper of the peace’ which maintained it’s authority.
The difference between Judas as a traitor or a friend is huge. Judas' act against Jesus created ‘the christ’ he became. Knowing Judas martyred his friend is a much different and more human understanding of the events leading to Jesus’ death. The rest of the miracles of Jesus life cannot be removed or changed due to the change of the friendliness of Judas. However, it does change the ‘miraculous’ event of the events leading to the death of Jesus. That is hugely significant. It makes Jesus actively involved in his demise which in my opinion changes ‘the map’ of status of the event markedly.
This is more a side note to the debate but a good deal of the ‘suffering’ of people as seen in today’s society and I make example of Gay Men, resulted in this desperate attempt to raise Christians above the status of slave by a single man determined and anointed as ‘special’ by his own birth. Realizing Jesus martyred himself to solidify a different belief system among the Jews is to realize the prejudice held by today’s religions was that of manly and not godly intent. It is wrong.
Much debate will follow this discovery and it is only expected the Christian Churches will dilute it’s authority by calling it fiction, but, in my opinion this is a new pivotal event that lends itself credence to those of faiths accepting ‘lack of authority’ over gender issues of teaching the faith and those considered to have different sexual identity than heterosexual. It dilutes any religious authority in areas of social mores without diluting the ‘special’ status of God’s will.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
The Gospel of Judas
Judas is pivotal to the precepts of Christianity. His gospel is not fiction. If the Christian faith calls him a traitor, betrayor and perhaps inspired by a force outside himself to lead to Jesus's crucifixtion, then the church cannot defame or rewrite the personal text of the man who delivered their savior to his destiny.
There were two defining events this week. One will change the face of the world forever.
Don Miller: More Gnostic secrets revealed in 'Judas'
The news Thursday that scholars unveiled a document at least 1,700 years old that purports to make Judas Iscariot a good guy might be considered one of those "aha" moments we of the modern world like to seize upon.
Kind of like the missing-link fish also introduced this week that suddenly explains human existence and upholds the scientific dogma of evolution.
The Judas document gives a whole new retelling to the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and his wavering disciple, Judas.
In this "secret" relationship, Jesus tells Judas that the man long seen as a betrayer "will exceed" the other disciples. "You will be cursed by the other generations, and you will come to rule over them," Judas is told.
In another passage, Jesus reveals to Judas that to him only will be revealed the "mysteries of the kingdom."
Jesus asks Judas to help him shed his mortal flesh: "You will sacrifice the man that clothes me," he tells him, indicating that Judas is only doing what Jesus wanted him to do: get rid of Jesus' cumbersome, illusory, earthly body.
The story of how this so-called "gospel" — the word means "good news" — came to be declared this week reads like a chapter from a modern-day piece of Gnosticism, the best-seller, soon-to-be-a-a-smash movie, "The Da Vinci Code."
The papyrus was discovered in 1970, later kept in a safe-deposit box, and began rapidly deteriorating, before scholars intervened and began to assemble more than 1,000 pieces. The 26-page Coptic-language text is believed to be a copy of a Greek Gnostic document that was referred to by a Christian church father, Irenaeus, more than a century before.
"They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas," wrote Irenaeus in 180 A.D.
The name comes from the Greek word "gnosis," which means "knowledge."
The most famous Gnostic "gospel""'-- there are many — is the "Gospel of Thomas," discovered in Egypt in 1945, and the subject of best-selling books by Elaine Pagels, a Princeton University professor.
Pagels has argued that the Gnostic gospels show early Christianity was hardly monolithic, and that although the movement was quickly tagged as heresy, "the people who loved, circulated and wrote down these gospels did not think they were heretics."
Gnostics believed humans were fundamentally spiritual beings imprisoned in physical bodies and that salvation was attained through mystical, "secret" knowledge, rather than through Jesus' death and resurrection.
Unlike the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible, all written in the first century, the Gnostic documents were written in the second century and afterward.
Some scholars were saying this week that the Gospel of Judas will be talked about for years to come and that it might reveal some long-hidden truth about the historical Jesus.
The Judas document sheds more light on the Gnostic version of God, that this evil world was the product of a bloodthirsty, foolish lower God, as revealed in the Old Testament, rather than the higher, true God who sent Jesus Christ, who, in turn, was not human, but a divine agent sent to rescue humanity from the tyrant God. There was no need for him to die and be raised up, since the need for redemption, or rescue, was inconceivable.
This, obviously, isn't the place to delve into the history of heresies in the early Church — there were many — but to note that Gnosticism is still with us.
Gnosticism was around in other forms before Jesus, even in the Garden of Eden; many believe it later surfaced in Islam, where the Prophet Muhammad was given new knowledge, that included the startling "revelation" that Jesus did not die on the cross; instead it was, guess who?, Judas who took the ... fall.
Gnosticism is around today in much New Age thinking, including books such as "The Celestine Prophecy" and "Course in Miracles." Conspiracy theories that depend on secret knowledge, such as "The Da Vinci Code," show how pervasive Gnosticism truly is.
Modern-day scholars love the Gnostic gospels because it gives them another weapon with which to attack the Church and the Bible.
Many "Christians" fall under its sway, causing dissension in churches and among weaker believers with their whispers of so-called divine secrets that cannot be revealed publicly.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, dealt with Gnosticism — "a hollow and deceptive philosophy" — in the book of Colossians, where he taught that in Christ, "all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form" Col. 2:9. John in his first letter insists that this Jesus " ... was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands." 1 John 1:1.
And here's the main problem: Gnostics believe that knowledge is necessary for salvation. The New Testament, which many Christians believe is inspired, teaches that grace — God's undeserved favor given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ — is not only the means of deliverance the word means the same as salvation but the beginning of true healing.
Or, as Paul wrote, "Knowledge gnosis puffs up, but love builds up." 1 Corinthians 8:1
Don Miller is the Sentinel's managing editor. He can be reached at
dmiller@santacruzsentinel.com. Please keep responses to 150 words or less, and include a full name and address.
The news Thursday that scholars unveiled a document at least 1,700 years old that purports to make Judas Iscariot a good guy might be considered one of those "aha" moments we of the modern world like to seize upon.
Kind of like the missing-link fish also introduced this week that suddenly explains human existence and upholds the scientific dogma of evolution.
The Judas document gives a whole new retelling to the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and his wavering disciple, Judas.
In this "secret" relationship, Jesus tells Judas that the man long seen as a betrayer "will exceed" the other disciples. "You will be cursed by the other generations, and you will come to rule over them," Judas is told.
In another passage, Jesus reveals to Judas that to him only will be revealed the "mysteries of the kingdom."
Jesus asks Judas to help him shed his mortal flesh: "You will sacrifice the man that clothes me," he tells him, indicating that Judas is only doing what Jesus wanted him to do: get rid of Jesus' cumbersome, illusory, earthly body.
The story of how this so-called "gospel" — the word means "good news" — came to be declared this week reads like a chapter from a modern-day piece of Gnosticism, the best-seller, soon-to-be-a-a-smash movie, "The Da Vinci Code."
The papyrus was discovered in 1970, later kept in a safe-deposit box, and began rapidly deteriorating, before scholars intervened and began to assemble more than 1,000 pieces. The 26-page Coptic-language text is believed to be a copy of a Greek Gnostic document that was referred to by a Christian church father, Irenaeus, more than a century before.
"They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas," wrote Irenaeus in 180 A.D.
The name comes from the Greek word "gnosis," which means "knowledge."
The most famous Gnostic "gospel""'-- there are many — is the "Gospel of Thomas," discovered in Egypt in 1945, and the subject of best-selling books by Elaine Pagels, a Princeton University professor.
Pagels has argued that the Gnostic gospels show early Christianity was hardly monolithic, and that although the movement was quickly tagged as heresy, "the people who loved, circulated and wrote down these gospels did not think they were heretics."
Gnostics believed humans were fundamentally spiritual beings imprisoned in physical bodies and that salvation was attained through mystical, "secret" knowledge, rather than through Jesus' death and resurrection.
Unlike the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible, all written in the first century, the Gnostic documents were written in the second century and afterward.
Some scholars were saying this week that the Gospel of Judas will be talked about for years to come and that it might reveal some long-hidden truth about the historical Jesus.
The Judas document sheds more light on the Gnostic version of God, that this evil world was the product of a bloodthirsty, foolish lower God, as revealed in the Old Testament, rather than the higher, true God who sent Jesus Christ, who, in turn, was not human, but a divine agent sent to rescue humanity from the tyrant God. There was no need for him to die and be raised up, since the need for redemption, or rescue, was inconceivable.
This, obviously, isn't the place to delve into the history of heresies in the early Church — there were many — but to note that Gnosticism is still with us.
Gnosticism was around in other forms before Jesus, even in the Garden of Eden; many believe it later surfaced in Islam, where the Prophet Muhammad was given new knowledge, that included the startling "revelation" that Jesus did not die on the cross; instead it was, guess who?, Judas who took the ... fall.
Gnosticism is around today in much New Age thinking, including books such as "The Celestine Prophecy" and "Course in Miracles." Conspiracy theories that depend on secret knowledge, such as "The Da Vinci Code," show how pervasive Gnosticism truly is.
Modern-day scholars love the Gnostic gospels because it gives them another weapon with which to attack the Church and the Bible.
Many "Christians" fall under its sway, causing dissension in churches and among weaker believers with their whispers of so-called divine secrets that cannot be revealed publicly.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, dealt with Gnosticism — "a hollow and deceptive philosophy" — in the book of Colossians, where he taught that in Christ, "all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form" Col. 2:9. John in his first letter insists that this Jesus " ... was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands." 1 John 1:1.
And here's the main problem: Gnostics believe that knowledge is necessary for salvation. The New Testament, which many Christians believe is inspired, teaches that grace — God's undeserved favor given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ — is not only the means of deliverance the word means the same as salvation but the beginning of true healing.
Or, as Paul wrote, "Knowledge gnosis puffs up, but love builds up." 1 Corinthians 8:1
Don Miller is the Sentinel's managing editor. He can be reached at
dmiller@santacruzsentinel.com. Please keep responses to 150 words or less, and include a full name and address.
"The Martyr" performed by Cursive
And so it's begun
This is year one
The birth of a child in the form of a man
Wrapped in towel
Passed out on the floor
These drunken hours -- graces deflowered
Cast down by an angel
She used to kiss his weeping eyes
Depressed in her bosom
Tears roll off her nipple
Sweet baby, don't cry...
Your tears are only alibis
To prove you still feel --
You only feel sorry for yourself
Well, get on that cross
That's all you're good for...
And thusly it ends
Depression seeps in on a lonely messiah
Now he drinks with the lepers
Losing a limb, his better half
A glass once half full
A head hung half-mast
He claims he's the victim
Strangled by the nine-to-five
And a pattern of stillness
That haunted this still life
Your tears are only alibis
To prove you still feel
You only feel sorry for yourself
And that's how you thrive
Your sorrow's your goldmine
So write some sad song about me
Screaming your agonies, playing the saint
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
Oh....
This is year one
The birth of a child in the form of a man
Wrapped in towel
Passed out on the floor
These drunken hours -- graces deflowered
Cast down by an angel
She used to kiss his weeping eyes
Depressed in her bosom
Tears roll off her nipple
Sweet baby, don't cry...
Your tears are only alibis
To prove you still feel --
You only feel sorry for yourself
Well, get on that cross
That's all you're good for...
And thusly it ends
Depression seeps in on a lonely messiah
Now he drinks with the lepers
Losing a limb, his better half
A glass once half full
A head hung half-mast
He claims he's the victim
Strangled by the nine-to-five
And a pattern of stillness
That haunted this still life
Your tears are only alibis
To prove you still feel
You only feel sorry for yourself
And that's how you thrive
Your sorrow's your goldmine
So write some sad song about me
Screaming your agonies, playing the saint
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
Oh....
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