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Jesus & Apostles?
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Is John «The disciple whom Jesus loved»? And what about Simon son of Zebedee?

Indeed, there are some questions that are worth to be asked as far as the disciples and apostles who accompanied Jesus during his life as a preacher are concerned. They are   so well known, and in the other hand, we know almost nothing about them! Judge for yourself:

Simon son of Zebedee. Oh you didn’t hear about him? Well, the Gospels only refer to Simon son of John (John 1, 42…) and Simon son of Jonah (Matthew 16, 17…). Hey, is there not one disciple of Jesus named Simon, called Peter by Jesus? Apparently not: it is clear that three disciples called Simon revolve in the circle of Jesus: Simon son of John from the Book of John (1, 42); Simon son of Jonah from the Book of Matthew (16, 17); and Simon son of Zebedee, John and James’ brother, both famous sons of Zebedee.

Twelve sailors and their captain in the same boat - But they sank beneath their internal storms.

And how do we know that James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, have a brother named Simon? Thhere are no footprints about him in the Gospels… Nevertheless, Eusebius mentions twice thatSimon, son of Zebedee-Klopas was at the head of the Jewish-Christian community after James, Jesus’ brother (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, III, xxxii, p . 273-275, IV, xxii, p. 375). This (calculated?) disappearance certainly reveals many disagreements, many jealousy,  perhaps up hatred between Zebedee’s sons: between the one who had been «called» and those who had not benefited from that honor, according to Luke, who gives many details of this call as an eye witness (Luke 5, 1-11).

 James the Young (not James, the son of Zebedee): What about James the Young? Apparently Jesus was an only son from his virgin mother. But Paul himself calls him «the Lord’s brother» (Gal. 1: 19)! Even in Hebrew, a brother is first a brother in flesh. He seems to be born first after Jesus, and was called the Young, according to a well-established Jewish tradition, who names the first newborn baby according to his grandfather’s name. This nickname distinguished him from James, his grandfather and Jesus’ grandfather (Mt 1: 16), who was called Jacob (James, the eldest). Eusebius describes him as a Nazir (nazirite) and a Cohen (priest): «He was holy from his mother’s womb. He drank no wine or strong drink (according to Lev. 10, 9; Num. 6, 3), nor did he eat flesh; no razor went upon his head; and he did not anoint himself with oil, and did not go to the baths. He alone was allowed to enter into the sanctuary, for he did not wear wool but linen … » (Eusebius, «Ecclesiastical History», II, xxiii, 4-7, p. 171).           

«The disciple whom Jesus loved»: Who is the «disciple whom Jesus loved»? Who is this beloved disciple to the point that (Jesus) resurrected him four days after his death (John 11: 1-44)? No fewer than three times in this passage Eleazar (Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary) is called «the disciple whom Jesus loved» (Jn 11, 3; 5; 36). «And (Jesus) loved Martha, her sister and Eleazar (Lazarus)». (Jn 11: 5). So he sits right next to (Jesus) at the Last Supper. He takes Jesus’ mother with him in his house after the death of (Jesus) on the cross. He comes running to the grave with Simon Peter after the report of Mary Magdalen. But it all started with a simple look: Jesus is talking with a young rich man (Luke calls him «a ruler» Lk 18, 18) on the need to abandon wealth to follow him. However, the rich young man grieves in his heart, for he is really very rich. (Mt 19: 22; Mk 10: 22; Lk 18: 23). Then Jesus looks at him, «and he loves him» (according to Mark 10, 21). Therefore, the rich young man is likely Lazarus, and Jesus loves him. In Hebrew, the word «poor» (עני, ani) can also be translated by «humble» (עניו, ‘anav). This young man may be rich, but he is humble. Jesus loves him for his great humility. The Greek name of Eleazar is: Philip. This is probably «Philip the Evangelist» living at Caesarea and whose four daughters prophesied (Acts 21: 8-9). Indeed, in the apocryphal Acts of Philip, (VIII, 2), Philip is introduced as the brother of Martha and Mary (cf. Jn 11: 1-2): «Marianne, sister of Philip. (… She prepared the bread and salt, and the breaking of bread; Martha, meanwhile, served as the host and struggled a lot)» (cf. Lk 10, 38-42). According to the apocryphal Gospel of Acts of Philip, he, not John and James, the sons of Zebedee, was nicknamed by (Jesus) «son of thunder»: «O Philip… I recognize you! In Jerusalem your master… called you «the son of thunder» (Acts of Philip, II, 9); «Philip, once son of thunder, now, son of Smoothness …» (Acts of Philip II, 17 …).



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And Peter once again did not understand Jesus’ words…

Sometimes, reading the Gospels, I feel that the disciples did not understand much about what Jesus said. Often, «they did not understand what he was saying» («And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?» Mt 15, 16; cf. Mc, 9, 6, Luke 18, 34, John 20, 9…), even during the lifetime of Jesus. After his death, it does not appear that the situation has changed

if we are to believe the parable of the tablecloth laid for the meal (Acts 10, 11-16, 11, 5-10). «And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; immolate, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.» (Acts 10, 11-16) «I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.» (Acts 11, 5-10). It is certain that Peter son of Jonah, who never ate non kosherised animals (not prepared to be ritually fit for human consumption), is therefore in front of a major dilemma: should he eat or not eat non «kosher» as he is sent on a mission to the goyim, the Gentiles? But how will he do, when non-Jews will offer him to eat? This barrier of koshrut is considerable, because now he faces faithful believers who are not Hebrews, neither Jews (Judean from Judah) nor Galileans (Israelites, inhabitants of the former northern kingdom, called Galilee). Peter is troubled: for him, all animals, pure as impure, set up on the tablecloth, are a sign that there are neither pure nor impure animals, therefore, all animals are allowed, which, as it must be admitted, greatly facilitates his missionary work among the Gentiles! As his conscience seems to be troubled, (one does not sweep a lifetime of Jewish food laws: it would mean for him to cut himself from the Jews his brothers), this vision is just right to sweep away all his hesitations… And he chose to eat everything one will propose him to eat. Everything? Everything! Absolutely everything. And yet… And yet, if he had paid attention to the minute details of this parable, he might as well be able to take the exactly opposite decision, and be comforted in his reluctance to leave the cocoon of the Hebrew laws … so that he might have decided to continue to observe them. Let me think for him:this tablecloth, tied at the four corners, is a large «tallit», a Hebrew prayer shawl,which consists of a large piece of cloth tied at the four corners. Already, this tablecloth which looks like a tallit should have a clue for Peter … If the cloth is a tallit, and if both non-kosher and kosher food are in the cloth, he must prefer kosher food, worthy of the tallit, leaving to non-Jews the possibility to eat a non-kosher meal, if they wish… Now, the voice from heaven speaking to Peter said: «Rise, Peter, immolate and eat!». Some versions translate: «kill and eat!» But the verb in Greek, θυω, θυσω (Thuo, thusso) leaves no doubt: it means immolating, offering a sacrifice. The Hebrew word thus restore שחיטה, שחט (she’hitah, sha’hat) which means ritually slaughter meat (for sacrifice and eating). However, Peter understands that Jesus asked him to eat even unclean animals (while the voice from heaven asks him to immolate what he wants, that means, to choose according to his free will: it is to concern the animals declared fit to be sacrificed, let alone fit for consumption according to Jewish tradition). Especially since Peter employs the same verb in Greek: to immolate, to offer a sacrifice, when he verbally describes what he happened (Acts 11: 7). Peter therefore is well aware that it means ritually slaughtering animals to eat their meat, which can obviously be achieved only with kosher animals, that is, they are fit for human consumption! As Peter, being caught in pangs of conscience, decided to postpone everything because he has never eaten anything impure, and therefore he denies at the same time the clean animals that he can eat! wp-monalisa icon Jesus said, «What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.» Again,Peter, interpreting this parable according to the inclination of his desire, understands that he can eat everything. But he could also understand that he must choose to eat «what God has cleansed» that is to say, made suitable for consumption. This vision is renewed three times, as if it were parallel to the three denials of Peter before Jesus’ crucifixion (Mt 26, 58, 69-75, Mk 14, 54, 66-72, Lk 22, 54-62, Jn 18, 16 -18, 25-27). Peter, after this parable, once again denies Jesus… wp-monalisa iconThis inner struggle is comparable to that of Cain, when God said to him: «If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And to thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.» (Gen 4, 7). Simon son of Jonah is called to choose «life and good» (Dt 30, 15) and control himself to get the best of himself. wp-monalisa iconHowever, following the inclinations of his desire (not to be faced with the dilemma of refusing food from Gentiles, among whom he has to go to teach them the Gospels), Peter, in fact, interprets this parable in his own way, which will have fatal consequences for the subsequent history of the Church and of Christian-Jewish relations…



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Are the Apostles bewildered in the aftermath of the crucifixion of Jesus?

Have you noticed? At the end of the Gospels, when Jesus dies on the cross, then resurrected and ascended to heaven according to Christian belief, his faithful disciples who followed him the whole time of his preaching are absolutely not seeking to return to the scene of the events that they lived together. The traditional towns and villages where Jesus and his disciples

are supposed to have gone through before his death, wholly disappear after his death.  The disciples, in the Acts of the Apostles, totally ignore the shores of the Sea of Galilee… and prefer those of the «Great Sea» commonly called today the Mediterranean Sea. Isn’t it a good subject for thought? Especially since, strangely, the archeology of towns and villages around the Sea of Galilee is not conducive to think that there, in this region, Jesus ever set foot… The famous synagogue in Capernaum, which Christian pilgrims visit its remains, was built 300 years after Jesus’ death! … As for Tiberias, at the time of Jesus, it is a very small colony at its beginnings… Could it be that the Gospels’ geographical map would be revised and corrected? Especially at Tiberias, for example, the Christian community has been developed in this center of Christianity only from the fourth century … In any case, any careful reader of the Gospels cannot fail to note the scarcity of defined locations’ names: «the Mountain», «the Plateau»… All the names of places are very vague…

The ensemble Debka Fantasia in his song « Erets zavat halav » (Youtube)

Text: Erets zavath halav – halav oudevash   (a land flowing with milk, with milk and honey)

By cons, the reader of Acts of the Apostles can only wonder: For what reason went the Apostles and the disciples in Lod, Caesarea, Ashdod, Jaffa, all places where Jesus apparently never set foot??? In other words, is it possible that the Gospels’ landscape would be «arranged», «painted» with Roman colors? One must say: the lake of Tiberias region, in the early first century AD, is mainly occupied by the Roman legions, by Gentiles, but not at all by the sons of Israel, as Tiberias is built on an ancient cemetery…

This substantial contradiction in the places names may reflect the fact that since the beginning of the first century, considerable efforts are made to convert the Romans, the «superpower» of the moment, and Gentiles in general. Therefore, one is tempted to blur or change some details to convince the Romans to adopt a religion whose main character has just been crucified by their authorities.

Yet two thousand years after the great quarrels that divided the Jewish communities of the first century, the time is right to highlight this contradiction between the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, to shed light on the real landscape of the events that have affected nearly two thousand years of history and return in the footsteps of Jesus who, with his disciples, has in his time drained the crowds in Galilee as well as in Judea.



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Jesus: this unknown man of Galilee


Did you note? There is a contradiction in the title of the site. No, I’m not talking about «the unknown Jesus». Okay, Jesus is a superstar wp-monalisa icon. Everyone knows him. Yet, since the curtain fell, the superstar remains nothing but a man, a woman

who lives daily in a very restricted family circle. Jesus as the superstar has preserved a part of himself, known to only a handful of those who are lucky enough to live on the same wavelength on this land in his image: illustrious, but just a little unveiled …
So what’s the problem? Where is the contradiction?
The contradiction is in the phrase «Jew of Galilee». Either you are a Jew or you are a Galilean. But not both. It is a matter of semantics.
I speak of Jesus’ time.
And first, we do not talk about Palestine. At the time when Jesus lived, Palestine did not exist. This is so obvious that one can never repeat it enough. This name was forged from scratch, one can say downright invented by Hadrian after the Bar Kochva revolt, from the name of the Philistines who once inhabited the southwest of the country. פלשת in Hebrew (Peleshet, Philistia) has its root: פלש, (Palash, invade). The Philistines were therefore considered as invaders in the eyes of the Hebrews.
So there is no question of considering Jesus as an invader. Sorry, as a Palestinian. This is an anachronism that has no meaning.
Yet, Jesus is no more Jew than he is a Palestinian. Still that famous issue of semantics. Jew is a deformation of the typical English word Judean, a resident of Judea.
Jews or Judeans are exiled from Judea. They traveled the world (yes, they are also in Alaska…)
It’s a fact: for nearly two thousand years the Jews were exiled, and yet they are still called Jews – people of Judea … So one implicitly recognizes that the origin of the Jews is the country of Judea from which they were expelled in 70. The Jewish presence has always been in Israel continuously since then. In the year 1881 or so, started what is called the waves of Jewish immigration to Israel. The rest is a story to follow with passion.
There is therefore no doubt that Jesus was not born in Judea, and so he  is not a Judean. Ah but is he not born in Bethlehem? If Bethlehem is in Judea, so he must be a Judean? It would stand to reason. Actually no. Jesus is not called a Judean. The entire book of John speaks of the Jews, that means the Judeans of Judea. But Jesus is not called a Judean, he is not called a Jew. He is called a Galilean: «And the multitudes said, This is Jesus the prophet, who is from Nazareth in Galilee». (Matthew 21, 11).So everyone knows, when one meets him in the streets and the synagogues, or among his «fans», that he is from Galilee, not from Judea (not a Jew, obviously …).
Indeed, if Judea represents the southern part of the ancient land of Canaan or Judea, Galilee is in the north, and covers the former northern kingdom.
The problem remains unresolved: how to reconcile the fact that Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee with the fact that he was born in Bethlehem? And above all, Nazareth was born as a village in 200 AD + … 200 years after Jesus’ birth.
It seems clear that no serious archaeological and historical evidence confirms the existence of a large village called Nazareth, in Jesus’ time (with a synagogue, since Jesus would have taught in it).
Well, I have good news: Jesus is a Galilean, a native of the former northern kingdom. If born in Bethlehem, he was born in Bethlehem … of Galilee.
While Nazareth was never an important town before 200 AD, nor has been any mention of it in the Bible, in rabbinic literature or even in Josephus, Bethlehem of Galilee is mentioned in the Bible as a city in Galilee (Josh. 19, 15).
In conclusion, Jesus is certainly a Galilean born in Bethlehem … of Galilee. The legend of his birth in Bethlehem of Judea was in the will to make the Messiah to be born according to the prediction of Joel, in Bethlehem of Judea (Micah 5: 1-2).



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