Light of the World

By Themba Gamedze

At this stage in the series, this book starts connecting the dots as it becomes clear that Y’shua’s main focus during his previous two trips to Jerusalem was to give his still rumbunctious young disciples a revision class, presumably in preparation for his anticipated departure.
As Y’shua leaves his beloved Galilee for the last time and his route takes him down the Jordan Valley past Herod’s Treasury at Alexandrium on the Horn of Sartaba and towards Bethany-Beyond-the Jordan, his premonitions of disaster increase.
Although Light of the World is more interpretative than the previous volumes in Themba Gamedze’s ATOGA Kingdom Series by building on Y-shua’s identikit, my hope is that it does not lose the subtle sense of being with Y’shua.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Themba Gamedze BA Hons, MSc, FASSA

Themba Gamedze is an actuary who seeks to combine his growing interest in the transformative potential of impact investing with a passion for developing a non-confrontational framework for discussing the content and modern relevance of the Canonical Gospels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Themba Gamedze
• Release date: Aug 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005969998

Book preview

Introduction

This is an attempt at what I believe to be a unique approach to portraying the Gospels, in that the events analysed are supposed to be consolidated across all four Gospels and strictly sequential. In fact, the acronym ATOGA arose from the description, A Time-Ordered Gospel Account.

If, instead of basing my research on concepts such as sequential study or consecutive events of the Gospels, I had used the concept of a chronological study, I would have immediately come across the now extensive work already done on this topic. There are several chronological study bibles and even a detailed chronological gospel, with commentaries available to those interested.

I discovered these over three years after I began my study and, in some ways, I regret not having come across them before. Nevertheless, having said that, while the general approach is no longer even remotely unique, I think the way I have presented it still has the potential to inspire the reader in a dynamically fresh new way.

Of course, a number of different time series (i.e. sequential orderings) of events could be established, all of which are consistent with the total Gospel record.

The actual ordering is not important in itself, except insofar as it provides a template for investigating the level of consistency across the Gospels. In addition to that benefit, a disciplined attempt at developing a viable ordering does introduce the extra, and extremely fascinating, dimension of time into a rigorous study of the Gospels.

There are many excellent commentaries written by top scholars and this eclectic commentary by a complete amateur makes no attempt to emulate their exceedingly thorough analysis of scripture. I have focused rather on comparing and contrasting the approaches taken by the different Gospel writers in their narratives in respect of their portrayal of the central figure, who I will refer to as Y’shua, to highlight his out and out Jewishness.

In essence then this could be called a strictly linear, contextual consolidated Gospel commentary. However, the emphasis here is rather on a holistic combination of the content itself; the discernible but nevertheless subtle shadow of the Gospel writer; the nature of Y’shua himself and the implicit timetable over which his ministry was delivered.

In trying to put all this together, it was also critical not to remove these events, even if only inadvertently, from a 1st century Jewish, but politically highly fractious, socio-economic environment ruled from Rome.

I have certainly tried my best, but the reality is that we all live in our times and there must therefore be many potentially very significant occasions when I have embedded a 21st centurism into my understanding of the Gospel narrative.

Special Dedication

I dedicate this volume, which explores Y’shua’s claims, including his claim to be The Light of the World, to my parents, Aaron Bhekithemba and Beauty Nina (nee Mbata) Gamedze.

I shall forever be grateful for my late father’s massive investment in a range of several encyclopaedia and his stock response thereafter to any questions asked by his six children: Go and read!

This introduced me at a tender age to both the importance and the joy of independent research.

From my mother, I believe I have inherited an appreciation for the practical value of recognising that the means of God’s provision is often much closer to us than we may think. I will never forget how she implanted this idea through an examination of God’s challenge to the famous African leader Moses, as he readied himself to lead God’s strategy of freeing the Israelite slaves from the Pharaoh in Egypt.

When God asked Moses: What is that in your hand?, all that Moses could see at the time was just an ordinary walking staff. However, by the end of the story, we find out that it was that very same prosaic, everyday object that became an extraordinarily powerful instrument of liberation.

Structure of the ATOGA Series

The anticipated structure of the complete series is as a collection of five volumes as follows:

Volume I: The Kingdom Awakens: Events 1-51

Preamble to The 2nd Miracle at Cana

Volume II: The Promise of New Life: Events 52-106

The Invalid at Bethesda to The Calming of the Mega Storm

Volume III: The Lonely Road: Events 107-141

The Demoniacs of Gilead to Martha and Mary

Volume IV: The Light of the World? Events 142-190

Y’shua and His Brothers to Y’shua’s Tactical Withdrawal

Volume V: Clash of Empires: Events 191-243

Arrival in Bethany to Explosion of the Kingdom

The ATOGA series is first and foremost a tool for Gospel Study.

I cannot envisage ATOGA without the image of a Bible open, next to it, somewhere in the Gospels, and I wish every blessing and rich new discoveries to all who will take up the challenge to deepen both their understanding and their appreciation of the Gospels.

Acknowledgements

I must recognise a book that I had access to when I began this journey, courtesy of the Begbie-Kloppers in East London in the Eastern Cape, whose lives have been interwoven with ours over many years: Y’shua and the Four Gospels by John Drane.

This has been a very useful primer for a non-theologian like me for looking more closely at the personality of Y’shua in a more structured way.

I also need to acknowledge the input I received from Nadia Bassett about dwarfism.

References

To avoid excessive clutter, I have not explicitly referenced quotations of scripture, which are typically from the NIV translation, as these are simply too numerous to itemise one by one.

In this regard, I need to disclose the liberty I have taken, in this volume, of substituting Y’shua for Jesus in all my Biblical quotations and hope that this will not prove offensive to readers.

Finally, there are two other significant sources of critical importance in my studies that I really do need to acknowledge upfront.

Almost all factual information on the content and timetable of the regular readings of the Jewish scriptures, the timing of the religious festivals in each relevant year around Y’shua’s lifetime and general cultural aspects of Judaism in 1st century Judæa, has come from www.Jewfaq.org and www.Hebcal.com.

Geographical References

The region in which the events of the ATOGA Kingdom Series took place is complex to describe. In part, this is because borders were somewhat fluid in practice, and indeed still often are, even today.

While Y’shua definitely travelled into regions now regarded as modern Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, most of his time was spent in the provinces of Galilee (in the north), Samaria (in the middle) and Judea (in the south).

This region lying on the west of the Jordan river corresponds roughly to what I have previously described as Israel, but which others would prefer to see described as Palestine. The issue is of course a matter of perspective that depends absolutely fundamentally on what one understands to be the starting point.

It is perfectly natural for those who are looking at this issue from the perspective of ancient history, as I am doing, to use the term Israel. However, for those with a more contemporary perspective, this region is simply Palestine, and references to Israel carry with them a huge amount of very painful baggage.

So, in recognition of the bitter suffering of the Palestinian people, tragically intensified once again in May 2021, I have decided that it would be unconscionably insensitive of me to continue to describe this region as Israel.

I have therefore ultimately settled on the use of the term Judæa (with the diphthong, as opposed to Judea, which was a sub-region of Greater Judæa), because this was in fact the Latin name for this region from between at least 300 BCE and 300 CE, and therefore during the time of Y’shua’s ministry.

I have however continued to use the term Israel when referring to non-geographical concepts such as the patriarch Jacob himself (who was renamed Israel by God) or his descendants (in this context, the Jews as a people group are often referred to collectively as Israel).

I have also retained the term in any direct quotations in which it is used geographically and, occasionally, in reference to the modern State of Israel.

Dedication

I dedicate the work as a whole to my wife, Shirley, and my children: Londi, Thandi, Asher, Thuli and Nomsa.

During the initial six months of my research, I remember each of my children asking me, in one way or another, the question: Are you writing a new Bible?

This was such a gloriously abandoned inquiry, given the enormous implications in terms of orthodoxy and heresy embedded so innocently in such a question, that it warms my heart even now as I write.

It certainly re-establishes my faith in the beautiful innocence of children and causes me to smile wistfully about the transience of all things.

And just for the record, I am not writing another Bible at all, although I may perhaps end up with suggestions for a Consolidated Gospel, which I would envisage as an aggregation of the different Gospel records into a single paraphrase-type book, perhaps including the relevant readings in parallel.

However, I would categorically not support any move to regard such a work, or any other like it, as either representing or even complementing the Canon of Scripture, which I believe developed into its present form for very good reason.

For me, the Canon is closed.

I also want to acknowledge the value I place on my wife’s incredible reserves of patience, in allowing me to withdraw even more than I normally do from our shared responsibilities of parenthood.

My hope is that she will see the end-result as having been worth the extra burden this has placed on her.

Thank you so much, Shirley.

Finally, for those as poorly versed as I am in ancient languages of the Near East, the words attached to the image on the front cover are just the Hebrew version of Psalm 16: 10.

Author Themba Gamedze, BA Hons, MSc, FASSA;

Place Johannesburg, South Africa

Time November 2021

Ode to Y’shua

What do you give to the heir of all things?

Fourth movement How could he ever abandon you?

What do you give to the Heir of all things?

What can you offer the One for whom it all exists, in whom it all finds its meaning -

The One before whom myriads of angelic beings fall in ordered rank - in lordly adoration?

What gift is worthy of the Creator of universes -

Planter of floral forest glades – virgin to the presence of man – yet intimately known to Him

Designer of ocean depths, forever to present mysteries to the sons of earth?

How can he ever let you go?

How can he ever abandon his prize, his eternal, his only bride?

You are the reward for which he made his descent from the heights of privilege and glory

To the very depths of pain and lonely despair, the deepest roots of anguish

To taste the bitter cup of abject degradation, of dignity stripped bare of rejection absolute

And betrayal, foul.

You are the joy for which he was willing to be humiliated and yet through that grotesque indignity

To stand tall, totally resolute

So as never, ever to bring any cause for shame or embarrassment to you - the bride for whom he came.

You are the reason for the triumph in his eyes on that glorious morn

That inexplicably glorious dawn - when he arose with electrifying resurrection power and life

With boundless energy and exaltation because, with a growing excitement, came to him the intoxicating realisation

That the first day of a brand-new age of cosmic significance had begun –

And for him, better things beckoned than lying in mummified gloom – there were things to do – plans to complete!

Up He rose to claim his prize - forever won and paid for - fashioned through his own blood

A bride at last for the one who had it all, and yet did not.

How could death hope to hold him captive?

How could such passion, such all-consuming, ancient, incandescent desire, be quenched by even the coldest tomb?

How can he ever abandon you? Surely, he can never forget you!

Could he even for a single moment stop thinking about you - his prize possession

Hard won and for ages, longed for, indeed yearned for from the dawn of time

You, the bride for whom he abandoned those hallowed halls, those corridors of Universal power

Those majestic arches of immaculate proportions, those gentle avenues and murmuring streams

The very centre of authority and rule, the epicentre of all delight,

The source of all that’s good.

How can he ever leave you - the very spring of his longing - You, his laurel wreath - his inner joy?

To him you are that gift desired beyond all things, unimaginably precious - beyond description or measure.

How it All Began

It may be hard to believe, but this document began when, to my delight, and to my wife’s subsequent shock, she innocently bought me a copy of The Da Vinci Code as my calendar year 2005 birthday present. I must admit that the hype had got to me too, and in any case, delving into the facts of a controversy does appeal to the adventurer in me – yes, I know that this adventurer lies very deep down for someone who decided that the best way to cocoon himself from too interesting a life was to qualify as an actuary! However, in recognition of the difficult challenge of buying a present for someone you have known for a very long time, I remember immediately asking if she was so desperate that she now had to resort to trafficking in heresy and then seeing the look on her face at my description of a book she had thought of up to then as just a thriller.

However, having begun as I have, I must apologise sincerely for raising any expectations of huge controversy, because the contents of The Da Vinci Code are not in fact directly a matter for this series of books. Having said that, Dan Brown’s book did make me think afresh about the basis of my faith. … And so it all began! So, whatever anyone else may say, and no matter how incorrect, illogical or distorted I found the content, thanks Dan!

As a result of carrying out the research for the ATOGA series, I have developed a far deeper passion for the Gospels and their focal point, the historical figure of Y’shua of Nazareth than I had before. My hope is that by sharing my thoughts on the Gospels, I may be able to reignite, in all who read these books, the deep hope most of us share for a better world.

My personal interest in such an outcome is based on the fact that I have two brothers who are each regarded by many as authorities in their specific areas of ministry: One is a Christian preacher in the Kingdom Teaching tradition within the Pentecostal movement, ministering in South Africa and the other is a Jewish Rabbi, who has lived in the modern state of Israel since 1989 and converted not long after that.

I find it quite ironic that at any particular point in time, while both my brothers have access to and could find themselves commenting on the whole Bible, the likelihood is that while one brother is teaching from the New Testament letters, the other is expounding the Tanakh (Old Testament scriptures).

My hope is that perhaps in the Gospels, we may all find an area of common discussion and genuine sharing between us.

L

ight of the World!

As unwelcome as the observation is to me, Y’shua’s story, as told in the Canonical Gospels, has unfortunately almost run its course.

And so, here we are at the beginning of this fourth volume of the ATOGA Kingdom Series, with only some six or seven months left until Y’shua’s very sad, and theologically rather complex execution.

Having said that, the reader must not get the impression that there is little more to add to the content of the first three volumes, between now and the beginning of the week of Y’shua’s crucifixion. While this might at first appear to be the case, judging from the brevity of Matthew and Mark’s accounts of the events of this period, there is no doubt that Luke and John, at least, do have quite a lot to say about this penultimate phase of Y’shua’s ministry.

In fact, where Matthew and Mark allocate only between 10% to 15% of their accounts to this half-year, Luke and John have dedicated some 25% to 30% of their Gospels to exploring the events of these critical few months up to the end of March 30 CE.

Nevertheless, there is of course no doubt that the lion’s share of the coverage of the final phase of Y’shua’s ministry is dedicated to a detailed exposition of Holy Week itself. Our exploration of those last few days, and their aftermath, will form the content of our next (and final) volume and no more shall be said about that now.

Looking back for a moment, I would like to believe that the previous three volumes have permitted us to justify a move towards making tentative efforts at establishing our own personal identikit of Y’shua.

My hope is that the journey we have travelled so far has provided sufficient background material to allow us to explore, even if somewhat gingerly, a more interpretive, rather than a merely factual, approach to the events that will unfold before us.

My concern, however, is that moving from a microscopic focus on the content towards developing more of a bird’s eye view of the narrative introduces the risk that we might begin to lose our sense of being there with Y’shua and thereby reduce our sense of intimacy with him in these events.

So, as I transition towards this new approach to the Gospel narrative, in the next two volumes, I am nevertheless still hoping not to deviate too much from my commitment to staying as close as possible to the raw content of the Gospel record itself.

By way of introduction, it may be useful to point out that this volume has been set out as an exploration of the following five themes which I have used to structure the content, in order to highlight the different stages of our continuing painstaking investigation of Y’shua’s life and ministry, as presented in the Canonical Gospels.

1. Book 9: Revolution in the Air! Events 142-149

2. Book 10: Dawn of a New Age Events 150-166

3. Book 11: Turning Everything on its Head Events 167-172

4. Book 12: A Kingdom Not Yet Consummated… Events 173-182

5. Book 13: Final Countdown Events 183-190

Despite the seemingly broad diversity of these themes, there is in my view just one unifying question being answered here, and it relates to the thorny question of power.

Is it realistically even possible to envisage a paradigm in which every vestige of the scourge of the abuse of power by those who wield it over the less powerful has been completely eliminated?

If Y’shua’s Gospel of the Kingdom of God provides a positive answer to this question, then it begins to make sense of Y’shua’s description of his teaching as being "Good news for the poor".

This is surely a clear reference to those at the bottom of the food chain that is established in every society, by means of the often complex, but deeply flawed, social structures that are created by human beings throughout history.

In keeping with his strong focus on the misfortunes of the marginalised, and as part of his preparation for his imminent departure, Y’shua definitely presents a lot of teaching that anticipates the likelihood that his disciples would be persecuted by those who would see them as a threat. So, followers of Y’shua should be well-prepared in that regard, and therefore be ready to experience power being marshalled and used unfairly against them without giving in to fear or the temptation to retaliate.

However, there is equally no doubt in my mind that Y’shua spends just as much time, if not disproportionately more time, warning his disciples about the dangers of success. In particular, this addresses the challenge of dealing with the power that success would inevitably bring to a triumphant church.

My understanding is that the solution to this historically intractable problem of the abuse of power lies in holding tightly to both of the central pillars of Y’shua’s teaching and ministry.

These are, first, to love God (passionately) and second, to love your neighbour (no less than we love ourselves).

I believe that Y’shua challenges us to live lives that are grounded deeply in both of these values. Furthermore, I am convinced that choosing any one of these over the other creates an unsustainable imbalance that is ultimately bound to unravel at some point, for the following reasons.

In broad terms, perhaps as a result of a particular interpretation of Y’shua’s own label of it as being the first (i.e. the most important) commandment, traditional Christianity can be criticised for sometimes having focused almost entirely on that first commandment. The problem from my perspective is that this has often been done with scant regard to the second (equally important) commandment.

In my personal view this apparently innocuous omission has been the ultimate cause of some of the most horrendous consequences for society at large. This includes the callousness of the Crusades, the horrors of the various Inquisitions and many other unspeakable injustices perpetrated by Christendom down the ages - all carried out in pursuit of an (unutterably grotesque) expression of (supposed) devotion to God.

This imbalance must be corrected, by taking on board the fact that Y’shua explicitly introduced the second commandment as being like the first.

My conviction about this fascinating qualifier, like the first, is that it is not simply a hint that the second commandment is based on the same topic (i.e. love), but rather that the two commandments are to be regarded as an inseparable pair.

Said differently, these commandments are twins.

This would place the first commandment in the role of being first among equals, in respect of two fundamental principles that have equal weight.

It is this latter observation, of the non-negotiability of the first commandment, that also persuades me that, from Y’shua’s perspective, any initiative that seeks to correct the historical societal imbalances we have hinted at above will fail, if it focuses entirely on fulfilling the second commandment, and disregards the first.

This alternative type of unbalanced emphasis typically results from regarding the first commandment either as an optional nice to have, or perhaps as being merely metaphorical in nature.

This would be the case, for example if God is reduced simply to a concept (rather than an actually existent, sentient, self-sustaining and interactive super-being), or if God is understood just to be some kind of extrapolation of our best selves.

This subtle hierarchy of otherwise equally-weighted principles exists not so much because the first commandment is somehow holier than the second, but rather because of a fundamental dependency that the second commandment has on the first.

Our ability to draw sustainably from the spring of selfless love that we can express as loving our neighbour in an unconditional way, depends completely on the extent to which we are able to experience for ourselves the love of God and be transformed by it in real time.

Without that constant, or at least regular, access to a deep sense of being loved absolutely unconditionally ourselves, our efforts at trying to love others unconditionally will simply run out of steam, sooner or later.

It would only be a matter of time before we found ourselves reverting to the natural state of tit-for-tat, that is inherent in a paradigm that we can accurately describe as the law of the jungle.

This familiar paradigm has played itself out over and over throughout the ages as an unavoidable consequence of an existence based on the survival (or even the thriving) of the fittest, strongest and most powerful at the expense of the weakest.

In summary, then, any attempt at loving our neighbour as ourselves is doomed to eventual failure, unless it is renewed, replenished and re-energised by an ongoing personal awareness and experience of God’s infinite love, as a means of topping up what we have given away.

However, by the same token, a love of God that ignores the plight of our neighbour is very much like a spring of water that flows into a hollow but is thereafter retained for itself and not released at all.

This ultimately results in what we can best describe as the Dead Sea phenomenon, in which all true life is eventually leeched out of us. This mirrors the reality of the accumulation of minerals in a lake that is life-giving in small doses, but becomes poisonous and, potentially even lethal, when concentrated.

So, ultimately, Y’shua’s approach to dealing with power is built on the concept and practice of selfless love.

As mentioned above, however, this kind of love must be sourced directly, regularly and without limit, from God himself, before being transmitted in the same way to all those who need it. As such it is in effect the dynamo that generates a never-ending flow of giving freely to others what we have in turn received freely from the infinite God.

This sort of love-driven power has nothing to do with any attempt to control or dominate the lives of others towards our understanding of an ideal society.

On the contrary, it emanates solely from a desire to live in the life-giving flow of God’s infinite grace, and then releasing that flow to others, in the form of selfless service, regardless of how they respond to it.

This, for me, is the only possible route to any prospect of experiencing the type of fundamental societal transformation that relies on voluntary acceptance.

The only alternative to this involves the use or threat of force or some form of coercion or manipulation, whether moral, psychological, socio-economic, political, religious or militaristic. That, however, is simply yet another form of the law of the jungle from which we seek final release and as such is, for me, nothing at all to aspire to.

There is no doubt that this holy grail of a path out of the law of the jungle, and the apparently endless cycle of human-induced pain which results from the abuse of power and privilege, undoubtedly forms the bedrock of Y’shua’s Sermon on the Mount. However, I also believe that the importance of those very ideas is explored further in this fascinating penultimate section of the Canonical Gospel record.

Book 9

Revolution in the Air

From the very beginning of his ministry, I believe that Y’shua was very clear about his intentions. This can be explored by asking three very simple questions: What, why and who.

First, the what question: What did Y’shua come to do?

My answer: He came to restore the joy of life by disrupting, subverting and eventually overturning the current socio-political systems by undermining their underlying shoddy spiritual foundations.

Second, the why question: Why did Y’shua come at all?

My answer: Because all these systems are characterised by a pervasive devaluation of life, through the dominance of the rich and privileged over the poor and marginalised. This lived reality has always been accompanied by an implicit or explicit denial of the reality of God’s overwhelming love and concern for humanity, and this cynical presupposition needed to be debunked. However, addressing this fundamental issue needed to be an inside job requiring Y’shua to enter our world undercover.

Third, the (all-important) how question: How did Y’shua achieve his purpose?

My answer: Sorry for you, because that will have to wait until Volume V of the ATOGA Kingdom Series!😊

What I can say now, though, as a broad hint, is that Y’shua’s mission was, at the very least, about subverting all human empires (and not just the temporary Roman Empire into which he was born). This is in fact precisely the mission that Y’shua would later bequeath to his followers. In pursuance of this mission Y’shua’s disciples would therefore also have to avoid falling into the temptation of only addressing society’s all-too obvious shortcomings, if that was to be achieved at the expense of taking on the invisible realities that are the ultimate cause of all visible injustices.

It is therefore critically important for us to take full cognisance of the reality that, while the new way of life that Y’shua was advocating (and bringing into being) was in his own words "not of/from this world", it was always presented, nevertheless, as the Kingdom of God/Heaven.

The meaning is clear: This is a fully-fledged and holistic spiritual, economic and socio-political system that presents itself as an alternative to all human rules!

The difference is that this particular kingdom emanates from and exists under God’s sovereign rule. As such, it is also reflective of God’s very essence and personality, including His unconditional love, for all.

And that includes even God’s most implacable enemies.

This theme of a revolutionary, counter-cultural kingdom intensifies inexorably, in Y’shua’s teachings, as he nears the end of his earthly ministry.

So, right from the opening section of this volume, we see Y’shua beginning to take on the socio-religious establishment and going head-to-head with the power-brokers of his day with a directness that we have not quite seen before.

A detailed description of this particular, and very powerful, political consortium of Y’shua’s day is included in The ATOGA Kingdom Series: Volume II: The Promise of New Life as Appendix B: The Jews of John’s Gospel.

Unusually, all the events of this opening section, Events 142-149, are narrated in John’s Gospel. The reader may also find it of further interest to note that none of these events have any parallel at all in the Synoptic Gospels, so that the record of these events is entirely unique to John’s account of the Gospel.

One possible reason for this could be that the Synoptics took their cue from Mark’s Gospel, which focuses almost entirely on Y’shua’s ministry in Galilee. In essence, apart of course from Holy Week itself, nothing explicit is said at all about Y’shua’s Judean tours. As a direct consequence of this, the Synoptics provide almost no insight into Y’shua’s earlier and eventually life-defining interactions with The Jews of Jerusalem.

This would also explain why virtually nothing is said in those Gospels about Y’shua’s fascinating self-claims, since these were almost all made in the context of those interactions and located principally in Judea.

In fact, the nearest we ever really get to any significant interest in Jerusalem in the Synoptics is from Luke. This interest seems to flow from his conviction about the fundamental significance of Jerusalem, and more specifically, the Temple in Jerusalem, as the historical focus of God’s redemptive initiatives.

I believe that in this powerful religious symbol of Jerusalem, Luke saw a critical link between God’s ancient relationship with the Israelite tribes (through the Jewish priesthood stationed in Jerusalem) and the final chapters of God’s ongoing work of redemption (through Y’shua himself and culminating in Jerusalem).

Whatever our personal view on why John wrote his Gospel in the first place, it surely does not take much to see that, for all their fascinating detail, the Synoptic narratives can be criticised for having left quite a sizeable gap in our overall understanding of Y’shua’s ministry, purpose and essence.

Certainly, as one of the very last survivors of those who were eye-witnesses of Y’shua’s ministry, the Apostle John was uniquely privileged to be able to look back over all the Gospel literature that had been produced, by the time the first century was about to close. So, simply for that reason alone, the need to address this glaring lacuna would probably have left John with little choice but to make sure that a reliable account of Y’shua’s Judean excursions would also be left to posterity.

However, in addition to this, we should also take particular note of a very good personal reason for John’s special interest in events that took place in Jerusalem.

It is now more or less universally accepted that the person referred to in John 18:15 as another disciple is John himself. The clear implication then is that John was known personally to the single most powerful person in the Sanhedrin!

Whether this personal knowledge stemmed from Zebedee, his father, or from his mother’s side of the family, is never made clear. However, I believe it to be important to take note of John and James’ mother’s breath-taking sense of entitlement and privilege, in her explicit suggestion that both of her sons should be appointed as Y’shua’s joint-seconds-in-command, in preference to all Y’shua’s other disciples.

For me, this kind of deeply self-serving request, that we shall be exploring later on in this volume, makes it seem far more likely that it was she who was the close relative of the High Priest, perhaps a niece or even a daughter.

So, given this close familial connection between the Apostle John and The Jews of Jerusalem that he writes so much about, John’s decision to spend most of his Gospel presenting Y’shua’s interactions in Jerusalem should surely come as no great surprise.

Essentially, these Jews of Jerusalem were in a very real sense, John’s people.

Event 142

Reprise of Y’shua’s Penultimate Trip to Jerusalem

Estimated timing: 29 CE, First half of October; Jewish year 3790

Reading: Luke 9: 51-62; John 7:1-24

The previous month or so of Y’shua’s diary has been truly action-packed, and looking back, perhaps the momentousness of its events warrants a brief period of reflection to allow us to revisit what would eventually be Y’shua’s penultimate whistle-stop tour from Galilee to Jerusalem.

For me, the hidden significance of these events lies in the distinct shift in the tone of the narrative, from leaving us with the sense of being in the middle of Y’shua’s ministry towards a growing recognition of the imminence of the end.

The aim of this opening chapter is therefore to emphasise this shift in gear and appreciate that events 136-141 analysed in Volume II, in reality straddle both Volumes III and IV of the ATOGA Kingdom Series.

In fact, with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps those six chapters would have been better placed here at the beginning of this volume, rather than at the end of the previous one.

PART 1

LOOKING BACK - A REPRISE OF THE PAST MONTH

I believe therefore that the best way to provide the contextual background for this volume is to begin with a summary of Y’shua’s itinerary over the course of the six events from 136-141 in the tabular format appearing below, in the hope that it will help to set the scene better for the rest of the book.

One of the more unexpected entries in John’s account includes a very short, but rather intriguing description, of an interaction between Y’shua and his brothers, that I believe to be worth exploring briefly.

So, before presenting the summary of Y’shua’s recent movements, I believe it is worthwhile pausing a little bit to savour this unexpected treat related to us only in John’s Gospel.

SPECIAL INSERT: Y’SHUA AND HIS SIBLINGS

The significance of this private cameo is in the way that it provides us with the closest we ever get, anywhere in the Gospels, to an inside view of Y’shua en famille.

In this special context, therefore, I found myself rather intrigued by four points of detail in the quoted passage that I hope will help to emphasise the object lessons that are embedded here.

First, my sense is that the push by Y’shua’s siblings for him to reveal himself to the world must surely have gained significant momentum from the sentiments, expressed publicly in John 6:14-15, some four or so months earlier.

After the people saw the sign Y’shua performed, they began to say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world. Y’shua, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

This account is clearly suggestive of the emergence of a significant political following, and perhaps even a cult of personality, that was beginning to form around Y’shua at that time.

However, in this family context, we must ask whether or not Y’shua’s brothers (the term could include sisters as well) were simply pulling Y’shua’s leg by their comments. If not, then were they perhaps secretly hoping to gain political power themselves, if Y’shua did indeed become a powerful figure in Judæa?

Whatever their motivation, these few lines definitely serve as confirmation that the quiet whisperings about Y’shua mentioned in John 7:13 ("no one would say anything publicly about him") were based on rumours that had already become quite pervasive by the Spring of 29 CE.

I would suggest that readers who wish to follow this next section closely should consider visiting www.hebcal.com and recreate for themselves the calendar for Gregorian year 0029 by clicking on Customize calendar settings.

TABLE: A POSSIBLE RECONSTRUCTION OF SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 29 CE

Notes: With a Special Emphasis on Time, Distance, Place and Occasion

1. While the dates shown are to be understood as indicative, rather than precise, they have been proposed based on an examination of the Jewish calendar of 29 CE.

In particular, special attention has been paid to the Sabbath day readings and the special religious festivals falling within the chronological window defined by John 7 and beyond. If these happened at all as recorded in the Gospels, then my sense is that very few of the suggested timings can be off by more than about two weeks at most.

2. My assumption is that this interaction between Y’shua and his siblings took place in Capernaum following a visit by Y’shua’s family. My analysis of the timelines involved suggests to me that Y’shua had deliberately been operating under the radar for around five months, from the Passover of that year.

As such, it would surely not be unreasonable to suppose that his mother Mary might have felt it was time to take a trip from Nazareth to spend time with her eldest son, whereupon the whole thing seemed to have turned into a full-blown family visit. The timing would certainly fit in with the calendar of events because Rosh Hashanah (the beginning of the ecclesiastical year) was just over a fortnight away.

3. Following his interaction with his family, I get the impression that Y’shua began to be more and more convinced that, as dangerous as the idea must have sounded to him, there was a need for another ministry trip to Jerusalem.

My assessment is that this trip was in essence preparatory, in anticipation of the final journey that he would embark upon not too long before the Passover of 30 CE, the following year.

The account of Holy Week in the Canonical Gospels is just too full of events that indicate a high level of pre-planning by Y’shua of the sort that would have required arrangements to be made both face-to-face and well in advance.

These include the permission to ride the donkey for his anticipated entry into Jerusalem and the use of the upper room for the Last Supper in a city that would be bursting at the seams with pilgrims requiring such facilities.

Finally, there is also the mystery of Y’shua’s automatic selection of the Samaritan village of Ephraim (modern Ma’ ale Efraim some 40 kilometres from Jerusalem as the crow flies) as his bolthole when things got a bit hot later on.

I suspect that this sense of urgency about his next trip would only have been increased as the Torah readings of Ki Tavo were chanted that week, beginning from the 8/9th September up to the Sabbath on 14/15th September. This is because the Haftarah for that particular set of readings is the whole of Isaiah 60.

The final verse of that reading therefore ends just before Isaiah 61: 1, which Y’shua quoted at his first sermon in Nazareth, just over one year earlier. It might therefore really have begun to feel to Y’shua that his ministry had, in some sense, come full circle.

Perhaps it was finally time for him to try once again to persuade his fellow Jews about the bona fides of his claims: this time not in Nazareth, but in Jerusalem itself, regardless of the risk that, where Nazareth had failed to execute him, Jerusalem would, in all likelihood, succeed.

4. You may recall that when Y’shua commissioned The Twelve, his geographical mandate to them specifically excluded Samaria. Y’shua now takes the opportunity to ensure that his disciples do not get the idea that the message and power of the Kingdom is limited only to Jews, by deliberately straying into Samaria and seeking to reach out to a Samaritan village close to Galilee’s southern border, presumably somewhere near Beit She’an.

However, as he enters the village, he finds himself somewhat taken aback in the face of the type of antagonism that he had as yet only experienced way back in Nazareth. This tiny hamlet in northern Samaria, that might have been expected to be excited to see such a noted Rabbi, simply thumbed their noses at him!

I still find myself wondering about how Y’shua would actually have felt about that.

What is recorded for us