OUR FATHER
THE birth
of Jesus Christ was thus: His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph. But before
they began to live as man and wife it appeared that Mary was pregnant. Joseph
however was a good man and did not wish to shame her: he took her as his wife
and had no relations with her till she had given birth to her first son and had
named him Jesus.
And the boy
grew and matured and was intelligent beyond his years.
When Jesus
was twelve years old Mary went once with Joseph for the holiday at Jerusalem and took the boy with her. When the
holiday was over they started homeward and forgot about the boy. Then they
remembered, but thought he had gone with other lads, and on the way they inquired
about him but he was nowhere to be found, so they went back for him to Jerusalem. And not till the third day did
they find the boy in the church, where he was sitting with the teachers and
asking questions. And everyone was surprised at his intelligence. His mother
saw him and said: “What have you
done to us? Your father and I have been looking for you and grieving.” And he said to them: “But where did you look for me?
Surely you knew that a son should be looked for in his Father's house?” And they did not understand him,
nor did they understand whom he called his Father.
And after
this Jesus lived with his mother and obeyed her in everything. And he advanced
in stature and in intelligence. And everyone thought that Jesus was the son of
Joseph. And so he lived to the age of thirty.
At that
time a prophet John announced himself in Judea. He lived in the open country of Judea near the Jordan. His dress was of camelhair belted
with a strap, and he fed on bark and on herbs.
John said:“Bethink想一想 yourselves, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He called on the people to change
their lives and get rid of wickedness, and as a sign of that change of life he
bathed them in the Jordan. He said:“A voice calls to you;‘Open a way for God through the
wilderness, level a path for him. Make it so that all may be level, that there
may be neither hollows nor hills, neither high nor low. ’Then God will be among you and all
will find salvation.”And the people
asked him:“What must we
do?” He replied: “Let him that has two suits of
clothes give one to him that has none, and let him that has food give to him
that has none.” And
tax-gatherers came to him and asked: “What are we to do?” He said to them: “Extort nothing beyond what is due.” And soldiers asked: “How are we to live?” He said: “Do no one any harm, nor defraud any
man, and be content with what is served out to you.”
And
inhabitants of Jerusalem came to him, and the Jews in the
neighborhood of Judea
near the Jordan. And they acknowledged their
wrong-doings to him, and as a sign of a changed life he bathed them in the Jordan.
And many of
the Orthodox and conventional religionists came to John, but secretly. He
recognized them and said: “You are a race of vipers: or have you also seen that you
cannot escape the will of God? Then bethink yourselves and change your faith!
And if you wish to change your faith let it be seen by your fruits that you
have bethought yourselves. The axe is already laid to the tree. If the tree
produces bad fruit it will be cut down and cast into the fire.”
“As a sign of a
changed life I cleanse you in water, but as well as that bathing you must also
be cleansed with the spirit. The spirit will cleanse you as a master cleanses
his threshing-floor when he gathers the wheat and burns the chaff.”
Jesus, too,
came from Galilee to the Jordan to be bathed by John, and was
bathed and heard John's preaching.
And from
the Jordan he went into the wild places and
there felt the power of the spirit.
Jesus
remained in the desert forty days and forty nights without food or drink. And
the voice of the flesh said to him:“If you were the son of Almighty God you could make bread out
of stones, but you cannot do so, therefore you are not a son of God.”
But Jesus
said to himself：“If I cannot
make bread out of stones, it means that I am not a son of God in the flesh but
in the spirit. I am alive not by bread but by the spirit. And my spirit is able
to disregard the flesh.”
But still
hunger tormented him, and the voice of the flesh again said to him:“If you live only by the spirit and
can disregard the flesh, you can throw off the flesh and your spirit will
remain alive.”
And it
seemed to him that he was standing on the roof of the temple and the voice of
the flesh said to him:“If you are a son of God in the spirit, throw yourself from
the temple, you will not hurt yourself but an unseen force will keep you,
support you, and save you from all harm.” But Jesus said to himself：“I can disregard the flesh, but I may
not throw it off, for I was born by the spirit into the flesh. That was the
will of the Father of my spirit, and I cannot oppose him.”
Then the voice
of the flesh said to him:“If you cannot oppose your Father by throwing yourself from
the temple and discarding life, then you cannot oppose your Father by hungering
when you need to eat. You must not make light of the desires of the flesh; they
are placed in you, and you must serve them.” Then Jesus seemed to see all the
kingdoms of the earth and all the peoples, just as they live and labor for the
flesh, expecting gain therefrom. And the voice of the flesh said to him:“There, you see, these people work
for me and I give them what they wish for. If you will work for me you will
have the same.” But Jesus said
to himself:“My Father is
not flesh but spirit. I live by him. I am always aware of his presence in me.
Him alone I honor and for him alone I work, expecting reward from him alone.”
Then the
temptations ceased and Jesus knew the power of the spirit. And when he had
experienced the power of the spirit, Jesus went out of the wild places and came
again to John and stayed with him.
And when
Jesus was leaving John, John said of him:“That is the savior of men.” On hearing those words of John two
of his pupils left their former teacher and went after Jesus. He, seeing them
following him, stopped and said:“What do you want?” They replied: “Teacher, we wish to be with you and to know your teaching.” He said:“Come with me and I will tell you
everything.” They went with
him and stayed with him, listening to him till ten o'clock.
One of
these pupils was called Andrew. He had a brother Simon. Having heard Jesus,
Andrew went to his brother Simon and said to him:“We have found him of whom the
prophets wrote-the Messiah has told us of our salvation.” Andrew took Simon and brought him
also to Jesus. Jesus called this brother of Andrew's, Peter, which means a
stone. And both these brothers became pupils of Jesus. Afterwards, before
entering Galilee, Jesus met Philip and called him to
go with him. Philip was from Bethsaida and a fellow-villager of Peter and
Andrew. When Philip had got to know Jesus he went and found his brother
Nathanael and said to him:“We have found the chosen of God of whom Moses and the
prophets wrote. This is Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth. ” Nathanael was surprised that he of
whom the prophets wrote should be from a neighboring village, and he said:“It is most unlikely that the
messenger of God should be from Nazareth.” Philip said:“Come with me, you shall see and hear
for yourself.” Nathaniel
agreed and went with his brother and met Jesus, and when he had heard him he
said to Jesus:“Yes, now I see
that it is true that you are a son of God and the King of Israel.” Jesus said to him:“Learn something more important than
that: henceforth the heavens are opened and men may be in communion with the
heavenly powers. Henceforth God will no longer be separate from men.”
And Jesus
came home to Nazareth and on a holiday went as usual into
the Assembly and began to read. They gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah;
and unrolling it he read. In the book was written:“The spirit of the Lord is in me. He
has chosen me to announce happiness to the unfortunate and the brokenhearted,
to announce freedom to those who are bound, light to the blind, and salvation
and rest to the tormented, to announce to all men the day of God's mercy.”
He folded
the book, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. And all waited to hear
what he would say. And he said to them:“That writing has now been fulfilled
before your eyes.”
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