MATHETΩN

There is an idea in much religion of a metaphysical foundation upon which practical action can be taken. For example, Islam erects the “Five Pillars”

Profession (of the creed),
Prayers,
Charity,
Fasting,
Pilgrimage (to the holy cities).

And ancient Jewish rabbis proposed seven precepts upon which all the world should base behavior; they are the Noachide Laws:

Monotheism,
No murder,
No robbery,
Sexual purity,
No blasphemy,
Kindness to animals,
Just courts.

Another example are the various Catholic religiouses, who generally profess four vows:

Poverty,
Celibacy,
Obedience,
and the fourth varies (e.g., stability, silence, loyalty to the pope).

The Religious Society of Friends has its “testimonies”, which by now have been narrowed to

Honesty,
Simplicity,
Non-violence,
Abstinence from nicotine, alcohol, or recreational drugs.

The Amish – Mennonites among whom I grew up base their copious lifestyle-laws on a three-cornered platform, viz.:

Nonconformity (to American life),
Uniformity,
Obedience.

Perhaps it is my knowledge of these religions that has gotten me thinking: What “pillars” could I discern in Jesus’s and his Envoys’ teaching upon which to base my life’s acts? To list them accurately, I would need to put out of my head all Christian dogma, to read thoroughly but sweepingly, to think systematically. Here, tentatively, is what I propose (roughly in the order the reader can find them):

Slavery,
Poverty,
Love and non-resistance,
Honesty,
Liberty,
Chastity (with a special meaning for the married).

Here are descriptions of a follower of Jesus by two churchmen; I quote rather-randomly from the first few chapters of their principal works.

Rick Warren, ca. 2000

The disciple:

• makes “a difference in the life of a relative or friend”
• will be “remembered after death”
• “owes it to himself” to accept God’s rewards
• will be more physically, psychologically “well”
• anticipates a reward “too good to be true”
• “balances his earthly concerns with his heavenly values”
• becomes “more responsible”, “more energetic”
• “attends church on a regular basis”
• attains a superior “reputation”
• is now “on a team”; “connected”, “comfortable”
• becomes “healthier, more-capable”
• “respects the ruling political system”
• runs a business “on spiritual principles” and so runs “simply a better business”, for “these things work in the real world”
• is “getting the pie right now because he is following an eternal recipe”
• “sticks to a task” and thus “builds character”
• has his “questions answered”
• has “Someone to help him hold on, in life”

John Climacus, ca. 600

The disciple:

• “freely accepts death”
• bears “a chastised heart”, “unrecognized wisdom”, and “an unnoticed life”
• is always “striving to be humble”
• “wishes for poverty”
• “longs for what is divine”
• “pours out love”
• “denies himself empty pride”
• dwells in “a depth of silence”
• endures “hardship, simplicity” in his “chosen route of great grief”
• is “separated from everything”
• is “set on fire, in the darkness”
• “sits like someone of foreign speech among people of other tongues”
• “drives out his love for family”
• “is a fugitive”
• “mortifies his appetites” and “constantly toils”
• drinks “the bitter cup of dishonor: derided, mocked, jeered”
• “denies his will; he must patiently endure opposition, suffer neglect without complaint, put up with violent arrogance”
• “has undertaken to travel by a short and rough road” of “self-mistrust up to his dying day”
• “turns away from earthly concerns, from human ways, from family; cuts his selfishness away”
• must “never grieve the loss” of these things

A query for my Christian friends:

What, according to Jesus, can make a man a son of God (or a woman a daughter of God)?

I just finished studying Francis of Assisi’s first Rule (he rewrote the Rule years later for confirmation by papal bull) and taking notes, and I think I will sum my interpretation of it:

I. Live the whole gospel of Jesus Christ in its most obvious and simple way, all His teaching, all His footsteps. First, sell your property and give all you possess to the poor. Seek out the conversation of the poor, despised, sick, and beggars and show joy in it. Judge none, but judge your own self severely. Observe the Golden Rule toward everyone; love one another, in works and then words, which is Christ’s Commandment; resist no evil fate but accept violence, even from nature, and expect martyrdom. Never become depressed, never complain, but show forth joy, contentment in the Lord, and merriment. Show chivalry and courtesy.

II. Revere all churches, ordinances, and clerics. Study the gospel and pray in a regular pattern daily; seek repentance in a regular pattern daily; fast regularly and during holy seasons. Yet if it become necessary, to further the work of the Kingdom, fasts or any other constraints may be abandoned. Expel a brother or sister who is proved a heretic. Among unbelievers, or in the countries of unbelievers, do not contend but only freely confess you are a Christian. Then, when there is opportunity, explain the gospel of Christ to who will listen. When God is blasphemed, respond with a word of praise of God. Any may preach, but none may call himself a preacher, make of it a career, or preach in an aggrandizing way. Confess sins and faults to one another. Confess all sins before taking the bread and wine.

III. Wear poor clothes and have very few. Neither own nor use private transportation. Own nothing but food and clothing and perhaps the tools of your trade. Work at an honest, preferably manual, trade you knew before you were converted to support your own needs. Do not become a businessman or a manager; do not take a morally-ambiguous job; do not take a job for the money. Do not borrow, save, or invest money. If you discover money or a money-making opportunity, let it lie as though it were nothing but a stone. Ask boldly for donations for the poor, or for your work or yourself if necessary; remember that insults are a shame only for the insulter; remember that every person’s wealth will perish except the wealth of charity. Never claim a space as home, and always welcome any who comes, even if he is a thief. Never be idle, but always be doing a job, your good work, or your devotions. Travel everywhere doing good work; lodge in pious households as you come to them; accept attacks on the way and give to any who asks. Yet, if you become ill, you may instead seek care from your brothers and sisters, and these constraints may be abandoned. Do not let illness make you morose or angry, but learn from it as from the chastisement of a Father.

IV. Do not ogle the opposite sex and do not dally with them alone. Offer them spiritual counsel and encouragement. Expel immediately a brother or sister who is proved a fornicator; afterward, urge him or her to repent.

V. Establish servants who will arrange the brothers and sisters throughout the country to best effect and others who will visit them often with admonishment and comforting. Remember that such servants are not masters but slaves, for the first shall be last. Never shall any among you be called Prior. Let all watch the servants carefully for any wrongdoing, and, after three private admonishments, let nothing prevent you from reporting them. Also, let all watch each other, and admonish wrongdoing three times, and then report it openly. Yet let no such discovery make you angry or sad but at peace with God and apter to judge yourself. All shall obey all. No one who does any conscious sin is being obedient; no one who follows the gospel is being disobedient; and no one shall obey against his soul. All shall hold all in reverence. No one shall argue, be angry, or accuse others, but shall be silent or offer a humble, ready answer. Everyone in the country shall meet yearly, and everyone in the world shall meet tri-yearly. Wash one another’s feet.

VI. [Francis offers a very short benediction and sermon that a brother or sister may use anytime in any company.]

VII. [Francis concludes with a long and beautiful summation of the gospel of Christ, admonishment for the brothers and sisters' souls, and praise of God.]

Doctrine, as it is used in the Bible, means simply “teachings”. “When Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine” (Mat vii.28): Jesus’s doctrine is his teachings and parables and is recorded in the Gospels. When the apostles speak of doctrine in their writings, they speak of these teachings of Jesus’s—as indeed they term it (“doctrine of Christ”: Tit ii.10; Heb vi.1; II Joh i.9). It was, then, the teachings of Jesus for which Paul and Peter and John stood steadfast and to which they would brook no contradiction.

Now the teachings of Jesus (God be thanked in his wisdom) are no more accessible to a theologian than to a twelve-year-old child—perhaps indeed less so. For all that is necessary to grasp them (God be thanked in his mystery) are ears that hear and eyes that see (Mar viii.18). Then “where is the wise? where is the mighty? where is the disputer of this world?” Was not Paul a scholar, trained at the feet of sages? Yet says he: I preach the teachings of Jesus “not with wisdom of words,” for “God has chosen the foolish … to confound the wise; … the weak … to confound the mighty.” (See the first letter to the Corinthian believers, chapter one.)

If there be any merit at all in the argument of so-called religious men, it will show itself in several signs. It will be humble and self-deprecating, as Paul’s, which he termed “foolishness” (I Cor i.21). It will freely admit that the teachings of Jesus are not “of any private interpretation” (II Pet i.20) and thus always yield interpretation of Jesus’s teachings to himself and to his Spirit. It will not deny any who claim Jesus, for (said Jesus) “he who is not against us is for us” (Luk ix.50); nor will it embrace any who repudiate him, for (said Jesus) “he who is not with me is against me” (Luk xi.23). It will not turn the body of Jesus against itself (Gal v.15; Php iii.2) nor recognize another head to it than him (Col i.18). It will not teach “for doctrine the commandments of men” (Mat xv.9; Col ii.22) nor forbid that which God allows (Col ii.21; I Tim iv.3) nor speak in hypocrisy—which things stifle and scar the true conscience, the Spirit of Jesus (I Tim iv.2). It will bring neither titillation to the hearer (II Tim iv.3) nor glory to the speaker (I Cor i.29).

Above all, teaching of any merit will be in the words of Jesus, in the Spirit of Jesus, in the mouth of an imitator of Jesus. “Be you followers of me,” Paul taught, “as I also am of Christ” (I Cor xi.1). Such was not John Calvin, I venture—who confessed not Jesus’s kingdom within us (Luk xvii.21; see also Joh xviii.36: “My kingdom is not of this world”), but assumed dictatorship de facto of Geneva, preaching “[the church] must hold sway over high and low … to accuse and to annihilate the refractory.” Such was not John Calvin—who urged Geneva’s judges to burn alive his theological rival. (“Me auctore [it was my doing],” Calvin wrote a friend when his rival was arrested, “and I pray he is condemned to death.”) Rather heed the martyr than the murderer! (See entries John Calvin and Miguel Servetus in Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge [Baker Book House 1950] for more information.)

The weak soul desires to revere a human person and hear his human words, so that it may handle and gaze upon that in which it believes and so that it may unburden itself of the duties of choice and thought. The proud soul desires to speak arcane teachings and hold contentious doctrines, so that it may contemn duller souls and so that it may gain the Kingdom by words and not deeds. But the wise soul desires to see with a single shining eye (Mat vi.22) and to feel with a burning heart (Luk xxiv.32) and to perceive with Another’s mind (Php ii.5), so that it may hear what cannot be heard and see what cannot be seen—and understand what cannot be explained (Joh v.37; Mat xiii.15), and so that it may learn to love impossibly and die—and live (I Joh iii.16).

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his followers beyond the brook Cedron, where there was a garden, which he entered with his followers.

And Judas Iscariot also knew the place, for Jesus often resorted there with his followers. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

Jesus, knowing all things that would happen to him, goes forward, and says to them, “Whom do you seek?”

They answer him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus says to them, “I am he.” (And Judas also, which betrayed him, stands with them.) As soon then as he has said to them, I am he, they go backward and fall to the ground. Then he asks them again, “Whom do you seek?”

They say, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus answers: “I have told you that I am he: therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way”―that the saying might be fulfilled, which he had spoken: Of them whom you gave me, I have lost none.

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, draws it and strikes the High Priest’s servant and cuts off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

Then Jesus says to Peter: “Put your sword into its sheath: The cup that my Father has given me―shall I not drink it?”

Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him away to Annas, for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the High Priest that year. Now Caiaphas was he who counseled the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

And Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple―that disciple was acquainted with the High Priest and went after Jesus into the palace of the High Priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then the other disciple returned―who was acquainted with the High Priest―and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then the girl who kept the door said to Peter, “Are not you also one of this man’s followers?” ― He said, “I am not.” And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals―for it was cold―and warmed themselves; and Peter stood with them and warmed himself.

The High Priest then questioned Jesus about his followers and about his teaching. Jesus answered him:

“I spoke openly to the world; I always taught in the synagog and in the temple, where the Jews resort―I have said nothing in secret. Why do you question me? Ask them who heard me what I have said to them: Consider: they know what I said.”

And when he had spoken, one of the officers who stood near struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Will you answer the High Priest so?”

Jesus answered him: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?”

Now Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the High Priest.

And Peter stood and warmed himself. They said to him, “Are not you also one of his followers?” ― He denied it and said, “I am not.” ― One of the servants of the High Priest, being a relative of him whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did not I see you in the garden with him?” ― Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crowed.

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the judgment hall. And it was early; and they themselves did not go into the judgment hall, so they would not be defiled and might eat the passover.

Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” ― They answered and said to him, “If he were not a great criminal, we would not have turned him over to you.” ― Then Pilate said to them, “Take him and judge him according to your law.” ― The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death”―that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he had spoken, signifying what death he would die.

Then Pilate returns to the judgment hall and calls Jesus and says to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answers him, “Do you ask this for yourself or did others tell you it about me?”

Pilate answers, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have turned you over to me: What have you done?”

Jesus answers: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight so that I would not be delivered to the Jews: But now my kingdom is not of here.”

Pilate therefore says to him, “Are you a king then?”

Jesus answers: “You say that I am a king.

“To this end I was born, and for this cause I came into the world―that I should bear witness of the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.”

Pilate says to him: “What is truth?”

And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find in him no fault at all.

“But you have a custom that I should release to you one person at Passover: Will you, therefore, that I release to you King of the Jews?”

Then cried they all again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him, and said “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.

Pilate then went forth again and said to them, “Look: I bring him before you so that you may know I find no fault in him.” Then Jesus came forward, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them:

“Behold the man!”

When the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify him, crucify him.”

Pilate said to them, “You take him and crucify him―for I find no fault in him.”

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the son of God.”

When Pilate heard that said, he was more afraid, and he returned into the judgment hall and said to Jesus, “From where are you?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

Then Pilate says to him, “Will not you speak to me? Do not you know that I have power to crucify you and have power to release you?”

Jesus answers: “You could have no power at all against me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore he that turned me over to you has the greater sin.”

And from then on Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend: whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”

When Pilate heard that said, he brought Jesus forwared and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, or in Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation for Passover, about the sixth hour―and he said to the Jews: “Behold your king!”

But they cried out “Away with him, away with him, crucify him.”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” ― The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Then he commanded him to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away.

And he, bearing his cross, went out to a place called Place of the Skull, or in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him, and two others with him―one on either side and Jesus in the middle.

And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross―and the writing was:

Jesus of Nazareth
King of the Jews

This title many of the Jews then read, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do no write, King of the Jews, but, He said I am the king of the Jews.”

Pilate answered: “What I have written I have written.”

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part―and also his coat. Now the coat was without seams, woven from the top throughout. They therefore said among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it whose it will be”―that the scripture might be fulfilled that says: They parted my raiment among them and for my vesture they cast lots. That is why the soldiers did these things.

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, his mother’s sister Mary wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the follower standing near whom he loved, he said to his mother: “Woman, see your son!” and he said to the follower: “See your mother!” And from that hour on the follower took her into his own home.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now completed that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.” Now there was brought a jar of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it on a hyssop branch and put it to his mouth. When Jesus had drunk the vinegar, he said:

“It is finished.”

And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The Jews, because it was the preparation for Passover, and so the bodies would not remain upon the crosses on Sabbath Day (that Sabbath Day was a High Day), requested of Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they did not break his legs.

But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and there burst out blood and water.

And he that saw it bears record, and his record is true―and he knows what he says is true―so that you might believe.

For these things happened so that the scripture might be fulfilled: A bone of him shall not be broken, and again another scripture: They shall look on him whom they pierced.

And after this Joseph Arimathaea, a follower of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, requested of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave.

He came and took the body of Jesus, and Nicodemus also came, who at the beginning had come to Jesus by night, and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds’ weight. They took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as is the burial manner of the Jews.

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulcher wherein no man had ever been laid.

There they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ preparation day―for the sepulcher was close at hand.

—John Apostle

Now before the festival of Passover, when Jesus knew that the time had come for him to go out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

And supper having ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and went to God:

He rises from supper, and lays aside his coat and takes a towel and girds himself. After that he pours water into a basin and begins to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he is girded. Then he comes to Simon Peter, and Peter says to him: “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ― Jesus answers and says to him: “What I do you do not know now, but you will know afterward.” ― Peter says to him: “You will never wash my feet.” ― Jesus answers him: “If I do not wash you, you have no place with me.” ― Peter says to him: “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” ― Jesus says to him: “He who is washed needs no more than to wash his feet and is clean every bit. And you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who should betray him, so he said, You are not all clean.

So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his coat and had sat down again, he said to them: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example so that you should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you: The servant is not greater than his lord; nor he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.” …

Jesus says: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will quickly glorify him.

“Little children, only a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and, as I said to the Jews: Where I go, you cannot come; so now I say to you.

“And a new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, do you also love one another. By this will all men know that you are my followers, if you have love one for another.”

—John Apostle