Fifth Gospel (31 page)

AN
OINTING

W
hat happened
after that?’ I asked as if finished off the last words.

‘
Well, after his raising Lazarus did not follow his master to Ephraim with the other disciples but remained behind at Bethany with his sisters. He needed quiet, a time to recover. Don’t forget,
pairé
, he had just returned from the realm of death and had to accustom himself to living in the world again.’

‘What did he
see in that realm of death, Lea, can you tell me?’

‘
In that realm he stood before Christ wearing only the loin-cloth of his soul and Christ baptised him with fire and He gave him a new name.’

‘A new name?’

‘Yes…he named him, John…’

‘Why
another John, when there are so many?’

‘B
ecause the finest and most noble essence of John the Baptist would live with Lazarus from that time on, so that the two would be like one, and those who recognised this union called him Lazarus-John, or the apostle John.’

‘The Apostle John! The writer of our Gospel?’

‘Yes
,
pairé
.’

I was astounded, speechless
, overcome! I could not believe it! I took myself to the window to look out at the black night. ‘But Lea, I had always thought that John was little John of Zebedee!’

‘The
difference between John the apostle and John the Evangelist,’ she instructed me, ‘will not be understood for a long time,
pairé
. But you will soon see how little John of Zebedee will allow Lazarus-John to replace him in the circle of followers. Even so, because of his selflessness, he will still maintain his place in the circle, through Lazarus-John.’

‘
So that is how the chain of love was bound between all Manicheans to John and his Gospel? John had once been Lazarus! Lazarus and the young man of Nain, who became Mani, had been united in common purpose by Christ!’

‘Shall I go on?’
Lea asked.

‘Please…’ I said
. Coming back to the bench I took the quill in one hand and put the other hand to my mouth, lest my heart leap out.

‡

Among these strange and awesome transformations, Lazarus-John felt as if a drop of divinity had fallen from out of Christ and had entered into his own being. The prophecy of Photismos, his teacher, had come true after all – the Word that had once overshone his soul from above, did indeed now shine from inside him out to the world so that he could say: not I, but the Christ in me.

It was s
ix days before the Feast of Passover and he was taken with this knowing, as he helped his sisters prepare a supper for Christ Jesus and his disciples. They had only just returned to Bethany from Ephraim. On their arrival, his master had seemed full of exhaustion and had spent most of the day in meditation. Lazarus understood that he was preparing himself for his final entry into Jerusalem and this would initiate all that would come after. And as Lazarus-John looked about him now at the faces of the other disciples, it was plain to see how fear had laid a grip on their souls because of it.

But h
e no longer felt fear, for he had died and had returned to life altered. In particular, his nights and days had lost their meaning. The hours passed unbroken by sleep, so that in the course of an unfolding day he could see, overlayed upon it, the fulfilment of the heavenly pattern he had seen in the night. This understanding of
above and below
made his vision threefold: he could see not only the present moment, but what had led to it from the past and what it would bring about in the future.

This peculiar knowledge cancelled out
any notion of fear.

But Lazarus-John was never more aware
that among his master’s dearest disciples there were varying degrees of understanding. There were those who struggled to see beyond Jesus, the master who stood before them in a body that was crumbling and turning to dust. Then again there were those who had risen only to an imperfect understanding of Christ. In truth, he knew that in the future this would spawn great conflicts and men would argue as to the divinity of Jesus and the humanity of Christ and that many would die because of it. If only those who were closest to him could understand this perfect marriage of God and Man in its fullness, perhaps these conflicts might never come.

However,
Lazarus-John knew he had been raised for this very reason – because those around his master had failed to recognise the God in the Man. Lazarus would be the witness. He would be the only one to tell of both the earthly Jesus and the heavenly Christ.

When t
he meal was over and the women had come into the room to listen a quiet fell over the evening. Lazarus-John observed how Judas’ eye fell upon his sister Magdalena. She was kneeling before Christ Jesus preparing to anoint his feet with pure nard and to wipe them with her hair. The perfume filled the room with a sad blessing and made the air glow with warmth but it cast a shadow over Judas’ face. His blood was boiling, and his anger was poorly hidden.

‘Why does
this wasteful woman not sell that ointment?’ he blurted out. ‘It would fetch more than three hundred silver coins for the poor, that’s enough to feed a farmer for a year!’

Lazarus
-John entered with his spirit into Judas and saw what was made plain by his words: his lustful heart.

Christ Jesus looked
up. ‘Why do you trouble her, Judas?’ he said, gently. ‘You have the poor with you always. Whenever you wish to serve them, you may do so. But you do not have me always! See how the heart of this woman is full of service? Death comes, my brothers, and when it comes I shall be anointed and ready because of this woman. She alone is capable of uniting me further with the God in me so that I may go to my death in the right way. That is why, whenever this day is spoken of, this woman will be remembered for having loved me more than the worth of this costly ointment!’

Judas looked around at the other disciples
, flying daggers from his eyes, but found no support for his outburst, not even from Simon-Peter, who did not like Magdalena. And so it was Judas put a morsel in his mouth and let it go. But Lazarus-John saw how crowded was the air around him with dark shadows and he knew that in freedom Judas had chosen to hate.

THE PUPIL

I
t
was the afternoon of the 12th of Nissan, a time when Pilgrims and natives of Jerusalem were accustomed to come to the temple to mingle happily in the Court of the Gentiles, to partake of its cool airs and to listen to the discourses of the rabbis. Today was a restful day for tomorrow throngs would gather here to purchase their paschal lambs. The next day they would return again for the slaying and the sacrifices, going home afterwards to make preparations for the Passover Feast.

Gamaliel was in the
temple with Saul of Tarsus when Jesus and his disciples entered the court of the Gentiles through a porch.

Two days before
Jesus had made a triumphant entry into Jerusalem and had been welcomed with ecstasy, hope and joy by a people well acquainted with his healings and miracles. Yesterday however, he had overturned the tables of the vendors and moneychangers in the temple, as he had done three years before, raising the ire of the Pharisees again. But the crowds continued, despite warnings against it, to throng to the temple each day to see Jesus when he came to teach.

These years he had followed Jesus’ doings and had grown more and more concerned for him. He had
come today to see for himself what had become of his pupil and friend.

Saul, who was beside him now,
had also been his pupil in those early days. Soon he would be chosen by members of the Sanhedrin for ordination into the office of Rabbi and Gamaliel could not prevent himself from pondering the parallels between the two men. However, among the similarities there were also great distinctions. Saul did not have the depth of feeling and understanding for the suffering of others that had been the guiding force of Jesus’ life. Saul might have a brilliant mind but it was full of stern impatience. He sensed that Saul’s restless heart could either be guided towards the channels of wisdom, love and devotion, or fired up by zeal into a blaze of wrath that was merciless in the judgement of others.

Now
Gamaliel wondered how Saul would judge Jesus.

When
Jesus began to speak the Pharisees entered the court enclosure. Having heard that he was returned to the Temple this day they had turned out in full force against him.

‘You have no authority to teach
, son of a carpenter!’ said a scribe, ‘You are no scholar, you are no rabbi. Who has given you the right?’

From the sea of people one man called out, ‘H
is plumb lines and saws have given him the right!’

Laughter rang out in the
Temple and was reflected from its walls causing a great din.

Jesus waited for quiet. ‘I will tell you by what authority I say these things
,’ he said, serenely. ‘But only if you will answer me one question: Was the baptism of John inspired by a man or inspired by heaven?’

Th
is threw the Pharisees and scribes into turmoil. Gamaliel knew the measure of his old pupil’s wisdom. The Pharisees would be reckoning that if they said that John’s baptism was from heaven, this in itself was an acknowledgement of Jesus’ authority, for John had baptised him and recognised his mission, then again if they said that John’s baptism was not inspired by heaven they would be disavowing John the Baptist, whom the people counted as a great prophet.

They shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders.

‘You don’t answer for fear of saying the wrong thing. You see how dishonest you are?’ Jesus said to them.

The people nodded and smiled to themselves, for they too
had seen it.

‘
For this reason I shall not discuss with you further by what authority I do these things!’

Jesus turned to the people
now and told them a parable, which made plain to all how God would overlook the priests and seek out others who were more worthy.

T
he Pharisees, in their cunning, took another tack. They asked him if a Jew should give tribute to Caesar.

Gamaliel was breathless in anticipation for his answer, for i
f he answered yes he would be going against Judaic law, and if he answered no he would incur the wrath of Rome.

‘Why do you tempt me with such questions
, which are only snares? Give me a coin that I may see it.’ Jesus said. When he had inspected it he returned it to the scribe. ‘Whose image is it on this coin?’ he asked him.

The man said, ‘Caesar Tiberias.’

‘Well then, give unto Caesar Tiberias the things that are his, and to God the things that are God’s.’

There was a great murmur.

One Pharisee said, ‘Jesus son of a Carpenter are you not from the line of Nathan? The Messiah is not destined to come out of the line of Nathan but from Solomon’s line!’

Jesus said, ‘
The Messiah is the son of
which
man?’

The scribe replied,
‘The Messiah is destined to be the son of David!’

Jesus looked at this a moment. ‘Well then…if what you say is true, how can David call the
Messiah his Lord, if the Messiah is also his son?’ He waited for an answer and none came. ‘You do not know how to answer because you do not see that the Messiah is not only a man born of a blood line, but that he is also a God born into a man through the spirit!’ Then to the people he said, ‘Beware of the Sadducees, the Scribes and the Pharisees who are hypocrites and liars and distort the scriptures to suit their means! They tell you to do as they say but not as they do, since they say much and do nothing themselves! They burden all of you with heavy oaths and vows but they do not live by them because they are not concerned with the goodness of their hearts, but only with how good they look in their rich fineries, and whether they are given the best seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts! Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ He pointed to them. ‘You shut up the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven because you don’t want to concern yourselves with it and yet you bar the way for others so that they cannot enter! Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees! You beautify the outside of the cup, but within it is ugly and full of filth…don’t you realise that God can see into your hearts?’

A Pharisee called out
, thrusting his aged head at him, ‘Who are you?’

He looked at the man, ‘
You read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you cannot recognise the Messiah, for whom you have so long prepared! You have prayed for deliverance, you have mourned and called out to God and you have beaten your breasts and ripped at your clothes for a Messiah and now that he stands before you, you do not know him! You do not know how to read this moment, which you have longed for, so how can you escape your own damnation?’

T
here was a thunder in the heavens. All looked up to see if the world would soon end.

Gamaliel’s eyes were opened
then, and for a moment he saw the sky part over Jesus. He saw wings and eyes and thrones and lights and he could taste honey on his lips, a sweetness in his soul. What a mighty thing was this?

He laughed, happy as a child.

‘The Christ in me must die!’ Jesus said then, ‘But when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all men with me!’

‘How can you say that you are Christ and that you must die and be lifted up
, when they say that the Messiah will live forever?’ a man cried out.

Gamaliel
, near overcome with his own visions, now turned to look at the man who had said it. It was Saul.

Jesus regarded him with a grave face, ‘
Life on earth is but a passing moment to you, but life on earth for me shall be eternal and it will only come when I die. I have chosen to make the earth my heaven. I will light up the earth, for I am the light of the world!’

The people were hushed by these words.

‘And while you have the light before you, believe in it, so that you can also one day have the light in you!’

Gamaliel’s eyes were full
of light! He looked to Saul and realised that he was full of stern hatred. He was appalled and said to him, ‘Saul, did you not hear it? Did you not see it and hear it and know it in your heart the voice of God?’

Saul let his dark eyes fall upon his teacher a moment
, before he answered, ‘I heard nothing except arrogance and blasphemy! Look at him! Boasting about being the Messiah! If he keeps up this show he will train the stupid people to forsake the faith of their fathers when they should be preparing for the true Messiah! If I had it my way I would have this pretender stoned!’

Gamaliel held those eyes full of rage
and he remembered Jesus’ words to him on that day of parting so many years ago. He had told him that the Messiah would not be recognised by the rabbis if they continued to create an image of him in their minds that did not fit the truth. Gamaliel could see now the veracity of those words, for Saul would never see the Messiah in Jesus, since Jesus did not fit the image of an awesome, angry God come to pronounce judgment on all those who did not follow the law!

The realisation of this warning, spoken so long ago by his old pupil, made Gamaliel full of despair, for
it made him realise something else – what lived in the heart of Jesus, that light of lights, was the Kingdom that was promised! This was Christ, the hope of all Jews and the consolation of Israel!

Gamaliel remembered cautioning Jesus that the priests could unmake him with just one word
, and his answer resounded now in his heart,

‘The priests may unmake me and perhaps they will…that’s true, but they can never unmake the truth…that, rabbi, is imperishable.’

Gamaliel fell to his knees.