The earliest works on the Christian godman were simple documents designed for liturgical use. The figure of Jesus had no discernible features, no true biography – merely attributes befitting his messianic status, such as absolute assuredness and “authority” and the concomitant display of anger, irritation and pity of one who expects to be obeyed.
Each worthy tenet of a higher morality, every pithy statement of priestly wisdom, was coupled to the majestic name to give sanction and assurance of its heavenly origin.
“A cycle of lessons, or perhaps a manual for preachers, was drawn up for ecclesiastical usage, and it was upon this liturgical foundation that the Gospels were based.”
But any attempt to reconstruct the timetable or itinerary of the “ministry” of the Christian saviour is doomed to failure because the gospels are both inadequate and contradictory. One moment Jesus is in the Decapolis, receiving word of the death of John the Baptist, the next he is in Phoenicia expelling demons. One moment Jesus is “transfiguring” on a mountain in Syria, the next he is pontificating in Samaria.
The micro-stories (pericopes) of the gospels had a life of their own. Thus the fig tree of Jewish scripture, symbolic of the abundance of the Torah itself (Mishlei 27.18), becomes in Luke (13.6,9) a Jesus parable in which a fig tree does not bear fruit, though patience is urged (Come on Jews!). Then in Matthew (21.19) the parable is finessed into a Jesus miracle in which he summarily curses a fig tree (Too late, Jews!).
The wisdom statements, parables and miracles, all have their origin other than in a walking, talking guru/Son of God.
“Some of the exorcisms attributed to Jesus closely echo Hebrew and other oriental accounts of similar triumphs … Jesus’ parables closely resemble those of Jewish rabbis ..”
– Grant, Jesus, pp 32,90.
He walks, he talks, he moves on. He does not solicit genuine questions, he makes no asides or humorous quips. He never greets anyone in a friendly or familiar fashion. He refers nowhere to contemporary events (the death and deification of Emperor Augustus was surely worth a mention?) nor does he recall incidents from his own life.
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Jesus? No, Leviticus 19.18.
“Cleansing of the Temple”? Nothing more than a midrashic revamp of Zechariah’s “in that day there shall be no more a trafficker in the house of the Lord” (14.21) and Hosea’s “for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house” (9.15).
“Feeding of the Multitude”? The source is 2 Kings 4.42,44, a yarn in which the new man Elisha, with double strength holy spirit, improves upon Elijah, his mentor’s miraculous feeding of a mere one hundred men. The structure of this story is identical to the feeding of the 4000 (and the 5000!), even including small details, such as left-overs and expressions of doubt.
In the supposed “trial” of the godman, the exchange between the high priest Caiaphas and Jesus (Matthew 26.63,64; Mark 14.61,62) is clearly a contrived juxtapositioning, cross-associating “Messiah”, “Son of God”, “Son of Man” and Daniel’s “coming in the clouds of heaven” (7:13) into one pithy mission statement.
“I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old.” – Psalms 78.2
” without a parable spake he not unto them.” (13.34).
Quite a conversationalist, huh?
Paul’s epistles and Mark 8 indicate that no Jesus miracles were circulating in the earliest Christian preaching. The miracles that pepper the Gospels, and helped elevate a Jesus figure into a deity, are nowhere to be found in Paul’s letters.
But competition in the sanctity business soon made “signs and wonders” a necessary ingredient.
Midrashic revision of Jewish scripture and the adaptation of Hellenistic legends rapidly made good the inadequacy.
The Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain top of Mark 9.1,13 actually forged a link between the Christian hero and Israel’s two earlier prophets, Moses and Elijah (Elias). They appear and “talk with Jesus” (what about, one wonders?).
The purpose of this bizarre episode?
It serves to make clear who is top dog in this assemblage of all-time greats. God himself booms out “This is my beloved Son. Hear him!” The whole incident is staged before conveniently present “human witnesses” Peter, James, and John.
When the author of Matthew comes to copy Mark’s little story he actually inserts an extra line at this point, just to make the message crystal clear:
“Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.”
In the miracle of the Gadareen swine Jesus expels a horde of demons from a man possessed into a grazing herd of pigs. The swine “ran violently down the steep place into the sea, about two thousand of them; and drowned” (Mark 5.13).
Not only is Gadara 7 miles from the Sea of Galilee, it sits at an elevation of 1200 feet..
To reach the sea (aka Lake Tiberias) one has to descend into the ravine of the Yarmuk River, cross this major tributary of the Jordan and scale the Golan Heights (2000 feet).
True, the Gospels refer not to the city but to the “land of the Gadarenes”.
“And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.” – Luke 8.27.
And Matthew (who beefs up the miracle to two demon-possessed men) adds:
“And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus.” – Matthew 8.28.
Gadara certainly has rock carved tombs – scattered around the outskirts of the city, as we would expect.
“And He was asking him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said to Him, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’” – Mark 5.9.
The 6th Legion Ferrata (‘ironclad’) had been deployed in suppressing Jewish rebels throughout the 1st century.
After the final defeat of the Bar Kosiba rebellion in 136, it’s legionary base was transferred to Caparcotna (Megiddo) in Galilee, known thereafter as Legio – and is still known today as el-Lejjun.
Legio is 25 miles from Gadara.