An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 202: Pilate and Herod bond over condemning a man to death. How sweet (Luke 21-24)

Luke 21-24
Pilate and Herod bond over condemning a man to death. How sweet.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Luke 21

“For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”

Jesus remains at the temple of Jerusalem and continues His preaching. The bulk of this chapter is given over to one such sermon which I’ll come to in a moment. Before that, there’s the brief interlude of the “widow’s mite”, where a poor widow gives a smaller offering than rich men, but as Jesus points out, to her it’s a much bigger portion of her meagre income, making her the better person. Some unknown interlocutor points out the riches of the temple, and Jesus says that the time will come when they will be gone, which leads Him then to His main lesson, an apocalyptic tale of the coming of the kingdom of Heaven, with wars and earthquakes and enemies around the city of Jerusalem.

So here, the kingdom of God becomes an imminent thing, an age to come, but the phrasing suggests that this will happen during the apostles’ lifetimes: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled”. Which … it didn’t. Not, at least, in the literal sense, although one could argue theologically that the birth of the new religion following the death of Jesus did, in a more metaphorical sense, bring about changes. Gradual at first, but after the conversion of Constantine there were seismic changes to the culture of the Roman Empire. Which was hardly within the lifetime of the Apostles.

Luke 22

“Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.”

A lengthy chapter that covers the Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest. This is pretty much as it was in Matthew and Mark, and it’s not surprising that it remains preserved in all three since its pretty core to Christian beliefs. Some differences in Luke that I noticed – as in the quote above, Satan made Judas do it, according to Luke. I wonder if this is really meant as some kind of demonic possession, or as a metaphor for one’s own worse nature (or if, indeed, to Luke they were one and the same).

Luke describes the “first shall be last” concept in his usual clearer style, making it sound more like a levelling rather than a strange over-turning of fortunes and favour. In other words, all the disciples were equals, there wasn’t one who was “leader” or “best”; perhaps extended to all of Jesus’ followers, although this is not made explicit.

Finally before the episode in Gethsemane (not here named), Jesus tells the disciples to arm themselves “But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one”, which suggests that He’s contemplating the possibility of not going quietly. However, Luke writes that Jesus heals the ear of the temple servant after one of the disciples cuts it off – a more typically magnanimous Jesus gesture. I quite like how Jesus calls out the priests for sneaking up on Him at night rather than facing Him openly in the temple – “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness”.

Finally, with Jesus under arrest, His captors play a spiteful little game where they blindfold Him, hit Him, and ask Him to “prophesy” who it was. I can imagine people doing that.

Luke 23

“And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.”

Jesus’ trial (such as it is) and crucifixion and, as with the previous chapter, this is preserved much the same as Matthew and Mark, emphasising its importance in Christianity. There are a couple of elements that I’m pretty sure are additions from the previous two gospels. One is that Herod (I think a younger Herod and not the one from Jesus’ nativity) also takes part in the trial. Herod also finds Jesus innocent, and there is a strangely incongruous political détente between him and Pilate – political talks over an execution. The second is that one of the two “malefactors” who are crucified alongside Jesus enjoins Jesus to prove Himself and free them all, whilst the other malefactor says that they deserve their punishment, Jesus does not save them with His magic powers, and asks instead just to be remembered (perhaps already a follower of Jesus, perhaps a very late conversion). I also note that here Jesus does not cry out words from the psalms when He dies, but merely says “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”.

Also mentioned here by name – Simon the Cyreane who is forced to carry Jesus’ cross (again, not an act of charity as it is often portrayed), and Joseph of Aramathea who buries Jesus’ body. Absent once again – Mary the mother, despite all those renaissance pietas.

Luke 24

“And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people”

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and Joanna go to Jesus’ tomb to find it empty, except for two men “in shining garments” (obviously aliens…) who tell them that Jesus has arisen. Amusingly, the male apostles don’t believe the women until Peter goes to look for himself. Later, they are heading to the village of Emmaeus when they meet a man on the road who talks scripture at them, and it’s only after they break bread with the stranger that the realise it was Jesus all along, but then He mysteriously vanishes.

However, He turns up again to eat with the other apostles and “opens their understanding”, finally exhorting them that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” This gospel actually features the Ascension, albeit in very brief form – “he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven”, and that’s where we leave it, with the apostles filled “with great joy”.

And that’s the end of Luke, which took a while to get through. Partly because some of the chapters are really long, partly because this is now the third time through the life of Jesus and so repetition is beginning to kick in. It’s an interesting variant, though, since Luke is able to describe things in a clearer and less elliptical fashion, clarifiying some of the stranger passages from the previous two gospels. Here and there are some extra additions as well, so it would seem that Luke compiled from some other (now lost) sources.

Next up is John which, if I recall correctly, is a bit more mystical than the other three gospels.