THE KING AND HIS FRIENDS

Choosing friends has been a task frequently criticized throughout all times and his friends were not exception. Certainly, his closest friends were the ones called “disciples” and they were chosen from a variety of occupations. There were fishermen, carpenters, tax collectors whom built their own financial status by hard work. They were certainly not counted among the peasants but on the contrary were considered “publicans and sinners” (24) with whom he frequently lied at tables to eat and drink in excess (25). Because of this habit people labeled him as a gluttonous man, and a winebibber (26). This caused a visible disgust among all those who considered themselves puritans and seekers of perfection, the Pharisees. The publicans (because of their preferences and excesses) were on the lowest step on the moral ladder as a result.

He used to attend big parties at his publicans friends' homes, often accompanied by other publicans as his entourage. This, of course, would bother Pharisees a lot (27). It was in one of these feasts that it was required from him to provide wine, his favorite drink, and he offered six water pots of stone, containing from two hundred and twelve to three hundred and eighteen liters each one (28, 29) of "good wine" (30) and they got really drunk from it. He also liked to put on some "shows" while with his friends like the time when Maria, one of his favorites, sister of Martha and Lazaro, from Bethany (31) came to a dinner party and washed his feet, anointed them with a very expensive ointment and wiped them out with her own hair of her head (32). He didn't care that people called her a sinner, she was his friend and that was the only thing that mattered. He was a king, of royal lineage and he said once: "Henceforth I call you not servants...but I have called you friends" (33).

He also added: "Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends" (34)

24. Matthew 9:10
25. Matthew 11:19
26. Luke 7:34
27. Luke 5: 29-30
28. John 2:6
29. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Firkin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firkin)
30. John 2:9
31. John 11:1-2
32. Luke 7:37-39
33. John 15:15
34. John 15:13

A KING IS BORN

The spread of fallacy among the Christians regarding the poverty of Jesus’ family has framed a history that is completely untrue and leads people in paths of thought that should not be traveled in.

Jesus was an heir to the throne of David. His was a royal genealogy, (1) he was a direct descent of David and Solomon (2). His legal father, a carpenter, was well known among the villagers because his was a respectable and profitable career (3). The furniture that filled roman palaces, temple rooms and private homes were made at his workshop; it was also the place where roman soldiers bought the crosses for their executions. People get surprised when they learn he was born in a cave and was laid in a manger (4). They immediately infer that as a sign of lack of money but they forget about what really happened at the moment. Joseph and his family went to Bethlehem because they needed to be censed and taxed. Joseph’s first intention was to take a room at the inn but because the village was crowded with tourists he found no room. Going to a different place was accidental and for just a short period of time.

Jesus was educated, as I was myself, in a highly respectable House and had friendships with his peers, the publicans (5). These publicans were public contractors, in which role they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw public building projects (He himself as well as his step father, Joseph, were in charge of several building projects being themselves carpenters)(5a). He enjoyed company with his group of friends, the publicans, and constantly gathered for banquets and dinner with them. He chose some of his disciples from among them (6). They were men that enjoyed life, who made and spent money. Like Joseph, a rich man, from Arimathea (7), a very prominent and honorable counselor (8) that was also among his disciples. Some members of the Jewish Sanhedrin were among his disciples as well (9).

He and his peers were used to traveling around the villages, and against all present belief, they had enough money to do it. I was told that there was an occasion when he was among five thousand hungry peasants, he was deeply moved by them and asked his friends to “feed them” (10). He knew they had money in the purse to do it. It was completely illogical to think he would have commanded something that was not feasible within their financial limits. This was reaffirmed when they declared they didn’t have enough food at the moment, “except we should go and buy meat for all these people” (11). That was the original intention, to go and buy food for five thousand. They even said: “Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?” (12). (Just a quick clarification, one pennyworth was a full day work payment at the time. Two hundred pennyworth was a seven-month income that would be used to feed five thousand people and they had that amount of money available immediately!) (12a).

You can see what he and his group were used to. Just to illustrate this point a little farther I was also told that once he was at the house of a friend in Bethany (13), a Pharisee (14), and they were ready to participate in a large banquet. It is then that a woman appeared holding a nicely carved alabaster box containing a very precious ointment (15). The woman was his friend, Mary, Lazaro’s sister (16). Because she didn’t fit the life standard of the villagers she was considered a “sinner” (17), isn’t that the normal reaction of low-class people? She anointed his feet with a precious and expensive 300-pennyworth ointment (18). Overwhelmed by the waste, Judas Iscariot decided to leave the group and contacted people to execute his plan (19) (buying that ointment would have meant a 10-month savings to the least).

He was royalty. He walked as a king. He moved as a king and he always dressed as a king. After his betrayal and before he was nailed on the cross the Roman soldiers undressed him and were amazed by the luxury of his robes. They had never seen this type of fabric being worn by simple villagers. Usually they would burn the robes of anyone who was to be crucified. This was not the case; they parted his garments, casting lots (20) because the robe had a binding of woven work round about the neck, as it were the hole of an habergeon, so that it could not be rent (20a). His royal garments were designed to be exclusively worn. So majestic were his garments that people would think they would be healed if they could at least touch the hem of his garments; (21) all decorated with pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about. A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about (21a)

His funeral was prepared to be a royal funeral as well. A sepulcher hewn out of a rock had already been prepared for him (22); his body would be anointed with a hundred pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes (23) and then wrapped up in white linen. A quick comparison, Abraham in a similar circumstance, when he wanted to bury the body of his wife Sarah, paid 10 pounds of silver for a similar sepulcher carved in rock (23a).

He was born great. He was buried great. Great was his life in between.

(Should you want to verify sources):
a. Acts 7: 58
1. Matthew 1:1-16
2. Luke 3: 23-38
3. Mathew 13:55
4. Luke 2: 7
5. Mathew 9:10
5a. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Publican (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publican)
6. Mathew 10:3
7. Mathew 27:57
8. Mark 15:43
9. John 3:1-2
10. Matthew 14:16
11. Luke 9: 13-14
12. Mark 6:37
12a. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Denarii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denarius)
13. Matthew 26:6
14. Luke 7:36
15. Matthew 26:7
16. John 11:2
17. Luke 7: 38
18. Mark 14: 5
19. Mark 14:10; Matthew 26: 14-15
20. Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; John 19: 23-24
20a. Exodus 28: 32
21. Matthew 9:20-21
21a. Exodus 28: 33-34
22. Matthew 27: 58-60
23. John 19:39
23a. Genesis 23:15-16

PREFACE

Years have already passed by and memory is failing earlier than I thought. It might be that my brain is not big enough to record everything I have lived, experienced and seen. Better to write it down before I lose recollection of them.

I never saw Jesus of Nazareth but I am one of his witnesses. My name is Saulus from Tarsus, the same Mediterranean city where Mark Anthony and Cleopatra fell in love. Even though my family is Jewish, from the tribe of Benjamin (and I am circumcised) I am a Roman citizen. My parents used to live in Gischala on the northeastern slopes of Mount Hebron and I recall the white color of that fertile soil tied to my childhood memories. My parents always considered education in high respect and sent me to study Halakha and Jewish Philosophy at The House of Hillel in Jerusalem. I boarded there. I was educated as a Pharisee under Gamaliel, the Elder, a leader authority in the Sanhedrin at the time and grandson of Hillel, the Elder. While at the House of Hillel I also learned the art of tentmaker that helped me gain my living wherever I went.

Well, that’s a very short paragraph about myself. I am not the main character of this recollection but Jesus of Nazareth, the so-called Messiah.

I never had the chance to meet him personally. On the contrary, I was glad I never met him. I felt outrageously furious for what his disciples were doing around the small villages in Israel. Preaching his teachings and what they called “the good news” somehow clashed with my education and beliefs. I had to put an end to all this nonsense! I began to persecute, send to jail, and even put to death to his followers (a)

But then, something happened at noon, on a bright sunny morning, on my way to Damascus, following a lead regarding some of these new preachers, having letters from the Temple Authorities in order to get them arrested and punished. I saw a light, brighter than the sun, above my head. I was blinded by the light and heard a voice... I know our minds might play tricks on ourselves at times… I know for sure I didn’t have a visual delusion, I just heard “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”… I fell to the ground and it was difficult to rise myself up, because all of a sudden I felt extremely tired. There was no strength left in me.

I didn’t know what to think after this experience, it really shook my mind and turned my world upside down. After many days of pondering and reflecting on what happened I decided that I had to know better who this man called Jesus was. The following 14 years I devoted myself to researching his life. I met with almost everyone who knew, lived, and traveled with him. I heard of his deeds and words, and I’m writing about them before my mind distorts them and make the account bigger than what it really was, or it may also be possible that I shrink it and it lose its value.

Here it is. You will be the judge