Jesus, a novel by M. C. Ingraham - HTML preview

{1} Mary gave birth only to Jesus.  She espoused her husband the Holy Spirit at the annunciation  and conception of Jesus.  She remained faithful to her spouse the Holy Spirit and would not have relations with any other.  In the Aramaic language “brother” and “sister” included those same generation males and females of one’s extended family, as there was no word for cousin.  The extended family was the norm, and the language reflected this.

      In this novel Jesus is depicted as a foster father — an all too common occurrence in a world in which people often died in their prime and left children needing care.  Jesus is in fact a literal father.  All of creation came to be through him, (Jn 1:3).

{2} Chapters 1-3 depict Jesus as believing that he is called to the office of Messiah.  Later chapters have Jesus growing in understanding, that the Messiah is his own person. He grows also in understanding the purpose of the Messiah, not as a king of the earth, but the means and the ends of salvation.  This novel depicts Jesus as advancing in virtue and soul.  Jesus was unconditionally divine, but also fully human. Every act of virtue and faith advanced his human soul in some way.  A recurring idea that Jesus speaks of in this novel, is that the faithful will become Messiah themselves.  This is the idea that the faithful constitute the literal body of Christ, on earth and in Heaven. Christ is now the entire body of Christ, and not Jesus alone (Acts 9:4).  “Christ” is the Greek translation equivalent of the Hebrew “Messiah”.

{3} The Biblical character Job was scrupulous and perfect in his obedience to the decrees of God, and was richly rewarded.  God sought to advance Job’s soul by stripping him of his good fortune, leaving only faith in his life.  He was to maintain faith and virtue, simply for the sake of God.  Job had no part in sin, now he was tasked with eradicating even legitimate self   interest.  To persevere in faith, in such circumstances could only be done out of love of God.  Job triumphed, was freed of self love and advanced in faith of God.  In the Christian economy of salvation, once a person is free of self, he or she is then available for complete incorporation into Christ.  One cannot become Christ if one remains self, even legitimate self.  See also Appendix, “Spiritual Advancement”. 

{4} It was no scandal in Israel for a person to sell his labor as an indentured servant.  Jesus spends time as an indentured servant in this novel.  In reality, many who are the body of Christ have actually lived as slaves or indentured servants, fathers and mothers.

{5} Pebbles are inserted into the uterus, irritating it, which causes the lining to become hostile to the implantation of the fertilized embryo, which is then expelled.  The modern IUD is derived from this ancient method. 

{6} The Essenes were Jewish ascetic/mystical communities.  At the time of Jesus, the Jewish historian Josephus estimated there to be 4000 Essene monks in Israel.  The duty of a professional religious is the restoration of the world and its peoples to union with God.  Faith, reverence, virtue are the tools which a religious uses to make such restoration.  The core reason, then and now for entry into a religious order is for spiritual advancement and perfection for the entrant.  It is easier made in circumstances dedicated to the advancement of soul, such as a convent.  In the time of Christ, the Essenes and the Jewish temple priesthood had fallen out, and they were not on than cordial terms.  The Essenes still attended the temple, but did not support animal sacrifice as being meaningful.   See also appendix, “Essenes”. 

{7}  Buddhism and Christianity are more parallel than disjointed.  There are many variants of Buddhism, but most do not deny the possibility of God.  Buddhist efforts end at nirvana which is understood as cessation of desire.  If God exists, he will reveal himself only after one has attained the state of nirvana.  Chritianity continues so to speak, after nirvana, when a person once free of selfish or corrupt desire (sin) may join Christ, who is now the entire body of Christ.

{8}  The Sadducees acknowledged only the first five books of scripture ― the Pentatuch ― which did not specifically teach the ideas of a soul or afterlife.  The Sadducees were temple high priests and would have discouraged such mystical ideas as an afterlife.  However, ideas of soul, Heaven and the resurrection were standard teaching among the scribes, Pharisees and the faithful. 

{9} Population estimates of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus vary greatly, 25,000 is a common estimate.  The figure of 100,000 is based in part upon a temple work force of 7,000 — 10,000 people.  Perhaps 80% of this workforce lived in Jerusalem, which makes an estimate of 25,000 too low.  The population would increase several fold from pilgrim ingress during holy days.

{10}  Members of a religious order have as a primary occupation, the praise of God and devote hours to group and private prayer and hymn.  The idea is that our world’s proper functioning is dependent upon union with God, and this spiritual labor is just as necessary as physical labor.  Praise, approval, and devotion to God are first among the commandments because disorder comes about by separation from God.  In praising any person there is an implicit union of wills. 

{11} Time keeping used would have been the standard 12 hour day.  Daylight was divided into 12 hours, with sunrise being the first hour, and noontime the sixth hour.  A summer hour was longer than a winter hour. 

{12} The Great Sanhedrin of Israel had 71 members and was the Supreme Council of Israel.  This full council rarely met; daily government was decided by 23 of the members who constituted the Lesser Sanhedrin of Israel.  Cities had a local Sanhedrin of 23 members; villages had a council of elders.  The Sanhedrin would not only judge, but also proactively rule according to the strength or weakness of the Roman governor or the Jewish king.  In this novel Abida is a member of the Jerusalem city Sanhedrin.  By Roman law, capital punishment was the reserve of the Roman governor, but many exceptions are encountered: the death of John the Baptist, the (near) stoning of the adulteress, the death of Stephen.

{13} John practiced a ministry of baptism for the forgiveness of sin and the infusion of moral virtues of fortitude.  In John’s baptism of Jesus, forgiveness was not required by Jesus and the Holy Spirit offered gifts of fortitude for his upcoming fast and mission. With the institution of the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit would additionally bring salvation via membership in the body of Christ, at baptism.

{14}  Where the word “divine” is used as an adjective, the author leaves it in lower case.  Where “Divine” may be used as a pronoun for “God”, the word is capitalized. 

{15} This is the core of Catholic/Orthodox understanding of salvation, by which the faithful literally become Christ, who is now the entire body of Christ constituted of the faithful.  We are first incorporated into the human nature of Christ, and when we fully purge all traces of self we are able to be incorporated into the divine nature of Christ, (2Pet 1:4).  See also Appendix “Christology”.

{16}  The biblical wilderness trials are usually paralleled to general categories of sin or imperfection to be avoided.  1. Jesus was called by the Spirit into the desert to fast, not to eat stones made into bread; and God not the Devil would provide bread as needed.   2. The vision of the kingdoms: for those seeking the life of the spirit, worldly success must not draw on ones efforts.  3.The temptation to jump from the temple wall would be giving into religious pride.  Jesus is not only entitled to worldly religious honor, but bodily protection by virtue of his divine status.  If Jesus had acted on any of the temptations, it would be difficult to call it sin, but his mission would have suffered in some way from the diversion. 

{17} This novel uses a literal understanding of the faithful as the body of Christ; we attain Heaven as Christ  — the body of Christ.  This is the Catholic and Orthodox understanding.  Other Christian traditions understand salvation as our living alongside Christ  in Heaven, with the purpose of Christ being only the forgiveness of sin, thus allowing one’s attainment of Heaven.  Scripture speaks on the faithful as being the literal body of Christ in Acts 9:4, and Mt. 25:42-45.  See also appendix, “Christology”. 

{18} New Testament usage equates ‘spirit’, (pneuma) to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. ‘Soul’, (psyche) refers to the immaterial elements of a person.  Today, one’s soul is thought to be the totality of one’s immaterial attributes, and in a human all of these have the attribute of immortality.  Traditionally the moral aspects of the soul are termed the “superior” portion; and non-moral attributes which are the immaterial framework of one’s body, are termed the “inferior” portion.  See also appendix, “Spirit”.

 {18} It is Catholic teaching that the faithful are the body of Christ.  Christ is now all members of the body of Christ: Jesus, Eucharist, the faithful, angels.   The Catechism of the Catholic Church states explicitly that we become Christ in at least two paragraphs: (1) CCC 1213, “Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ.”; (2) CCC 795, “…Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself…he and we together are the whole man.”.  The idea and term “Whole Christ”, (which means, Christ is now the larger body of Christ of all members), occurs at least six times: CCC 795, 796, 797, 1136, 1187, 1188. 

{20}  Roman auxiliaries were troops recruited from the local population.  Regular Roman legions were heavy infantry numbering 6000 Roman citizens. 

{21} In an effort to minimize crime and wandering by night time strangers, villages designated some outlying fields as “public”, for overnight use by travelers.  Such a field might be owned by the king or village, or a marginally producing field might be given a tax exemption when offered for public use.  A village could declare itself off limits to non-villagers during night hours, if it cared to enforce this rule. 

{22} Semi figurative speech is used here by Jesus, as he often did.  Jesus is not proposing that Nathaniel kill his body, but mortify his self, then become a member of Christ (the body of Christ).  Regarding the remainder of the paragraph: strictly speaking, every (purely) human life must end in Hell, as a result of original sin which is shared by all humanity.  What saves a person is participation in Christ (God).  For now the world exists as a strange mix of good and evil, but at the end of time Christ will separate from evil, reclaiming all goodness into himself.  All that does not share in Christ will be totally separated from God, which is the state of Hell. 

{23} This incident is from the life of St. Theresa of Avila.  After being bucked from a donkey, God spoke these words to her.  The theology is that suffering and disorder are the raw material that friends of God fashion into virtue, hope, and faith.  Everyone suffers, but those who do so in faith incur the friendship of God.  The muddied man’s observation that such treatment might reduce God’s circle of friends, was the reply of St. Theresa.

{24} By tradition, Dismas was the “good thief” crucified with Jesus.  He was in fact not a thief, but a Zealot revolutionary.  The earliest Greek language scriptures identify him as a “revolutionary” in Mt 27:38, and Mk 15:27; else where he is called a “criminal”.  Over time, “criminal” became corrupted into “thief”, and fails to do justice to good Dismas.  Dismas was zealous for the Law of Moses, he was pious, kind, and generous (to non Romans), and fought the occupiers as a  religious revolutionary.  In this novel Dismas is a disciple of Jesus. 

{25}  The idea of the resurrection of the body was given by the prophets and accepted by most Jews, but this idea was not without opposition.  The Sadducees who were often temple priests, incredibly did not acknowledge an afterlife of either body or soul.  The Pharisees acknowledged both a bodily resurrection and a spiritual afterlife; this and other matters frequently put the two groups at odds.

{26}  When Jesus says that a certain action or disposition will prevent entry into Heaven, there are two specific possibilities for this denial of entry.  The first is a person being detained in Purgatory until free of the selfishness preventing union with God.  The second possibility is condemnation.  St. Paul would later speak of purgation of imperfection as necessary before entry into Heaven. 

{27} Roman names generally consisted of three parts, praenomen (given name), nomen (clan or tribe name), cognomen (family name); in that order.  The name Pontius Pilate uses only the nomen and cognomen.  In this same paragraph the title “Prefect” is used.  “Procurator” was first used in Judaea soon after the rule of Pilate.  A Prefect is a civilian ruler, a Procurator is a military governor. 

{28}  To prove to others that God is intelligent and eternal being can be done, because there is empirical and logical evidence which is accepted even by atheists.  Such evidence is not available in proving Jesus is God made man.  Jesus Christ must be proven to oneself, by oneself; and many have done so.  As faith (participation in God) increases, obstacles to Christ are surmounted, and inclusion of Christ into one’s life becomes more likely. 

{29} Miracles involving “impossible” events of time, physics and logic are recorded in the life of Jesus, the prophets and the saints.   It appears that each entity created by Christ exists in a partial parallel universe. It acts according to the physical and logical laws of its semi-independent universe.  We observe and interact with many of these individual universes. 

     The Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, is one in which the host became five pieces of  human flesh, any combination of them always equaled the weight of any other single piece.  This system of physical laws is different from our own parallel system of logic and physics, where the five pieces will outweigh a single piece.  Other examples are (physical) angels moving instantaneously, rather than requiring time, as our own parallel system requires.  The science of relativity shows that time is individual to every system in parallel.  Theologically it allows God to concentrate on each individual as if he or she were his sole concern.

      Theology textbooks often say that God cannot do the logically impossible such as creating a single ended stick.  God could easily create a single ended stick, he would simply create a parallel universe with the needed physical laws.  The miracle of Lanciano shows that what is logically impossible in our own system may indeed become reality in its own appropriate parallel universe.  

{30} This paragraph recounts the words of Christ to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, an eighteenth century Roman wife and mother of eight.  She advanced in soul as she conquered the numerous daily trials brought on by her coarse husband and large family.  She was given miraculous graces of healing, and her gifts of prophecy and miraculous knowledge are unsurpassed. Her instructive biography is still in print, “Wife, Mother, and Mystic”. 

{31} The Gospel records devils as a cause of illness.  In Luke 13:10-16, Jesus attributes a crippling illness to the Devil.  In Luke 11:14 Jesus drives out a demon causing muteness.  Other examples are the many instances of demons protesting as they are removed by Jesus as he heals illness (Luke 4:40-41).  Here Mary is freed of seven demons causing leprosy, (Lk 8:2).  Regarding, “...advance to your victory.”; Mary’s faithful suffering is likened to that of Job and it is rewarded.  Illness is no obstacle to holiness, but Jesus desires that Mary be cured.  Mary is required by the Law of Moses to shout “unclean” to anyone approaching.    

{32} From Mt 9:1-8, “Which is easier...”, here Jesus speaks of the natures of religious and practical forgiveness.  The forgiveness offered by the temple priests is not challenged, but Jesus notes that this sacramental declaration of forgiveness must have its roots in practical forgiveness.  Forgiveness is more than just a log erasure in Heaven; sin exists within the closed system of creation, and is real and cannot just be written off.  Forgiveness is real reform of the spirits of disorder, (anger made love, greed made moderation, lust made chastity, etc.).  Jesus notes that practical reform of sin is the more difficult task which ends in sacramental forgiveness.

      The priests and Pharisees object to a non-priest, non-Pharisee offering forgiveness.  In a sacramental religious system, sacramental forgiveness is the task of an ordained priest, but the distribution of such forgiveness would not be possible if it were not first practically provided by the common priesthood of the faithful, (1Pet 2:9).  All who constitute Christ (the body of Christ) - Jesus, priests, laypersons − constitute the common priesthood and may provide such practical forgiveness of sin by their acts of faith and virtue.  Just as sin must have its effect, so too must practical spiritual reform have a real effect, even in the absence of a sacrament. 

      In the early Church the assembly of the faithful were encouraged to make such acts, and offer them to the priest who in turn offered them to Christ for the forgiveness of sin. 

{33}  Bilocation is an event in which a person’s body is in two locations at the same time, but is willfully functional only at the distant location.  Non willed bodily functions occur at both locations, but only at the distant location (which is the reason for the bilocation), does the person interact normally.  This type of bilocation is termed “bilocation of personality”.  Many witnesses have reported the saints in two places at once.  St. Martin DePorres was reported in France and Peru on the same day, in a time when sailing the ocean took weeks.  Reliable reports have witnesses not just seeing someone else of similar appearance, but speaking and working with the bilocated person, whom they had personal and detailed knowledge of.

      Another type of bilocation is “bilocation of office”.  In this event, another member of the body of Christ (an angel typically) will assume the appearance and functionality of the person bilocating.  Therese Neumann (1898-1962), would attend physics lectures given by a relative in California via bilocation, while she was at home in Germany.  Angels would take her form at the distant location, and she was aware of what was occurring there.  This is a rare instance of sensory awareness shared between members of the body of Christ on earth, (Rom 12:5).  

{34} This scenario is based on a miracle by St. Martin de Porres, who raised a flock of sheep         from the dead.

{35} This incident is based on the story of a wife who kissed the ring of a bishop, who then retained her hand and asked her why she kissed his ring.  She replied “Out of respect for your high office.”  The bishop then kissed the ring of the wife; the astonished woman stammered “Why did you do that?” to which the bishop replied, “Out of respect for your high office.” 

{36} Because of such cultural restrictions, especially in the baptism of women, the early church ordained women to the office of deacon, (Rm 16:1).  Deaconesses were ordained when their duties included sacramental baptism of women, as the entrant was usually baptized nude.  The office of deaconess within the mainstream church is mentioned by early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa. 

        The Council of Chalcedon of 451 decreed that women should not be ordained deacons until they were 40 years old.  The oldest ordination rite for deaconesses is found in the 5th-century Apostolic Constitutions.  It describes the laying on of hands on the woman by the bishop with the calling down of the Holy Spirit for the ministry of the diaconate.  A fuller version of the rite, as used by Bishop Barberini, is found in the Barberini Codex of 780 AD. 

{37} Crows, raccoons, and other animals are known to take attractive and shiny objects.  The annual temple tax was half a shekel weight of silver per adult male.  Women and children were not assessed. The coins here would have been two drachma coins from Roman Trye, each weighing a half shekel of silver.  No non-Jewish person or coin was allowed beyond the court of the Gentiles into the inner areas.  Roman silver shekels had to be exchanged for temple coins sold by the money changers.  The temple coin was made of bronze or copper, and was not an equivalent exchange for a silver coin.  The first Jewish silver coins were made during the revolt of 66AD.  Jews outside of Israel paying the temple tax might also be required to change their Roman empire coins into temple coins via local money changers, since the destination of the tax coins was the interior of the Jerusalem Temple.  A shekel weight varied but was about 1/3 ounce.  The issuing authority would stamp the silver ingot with its seal to guarantee its weight.  These were the first coins.

{38} At 600 soldiers, a cohort was a tenth part of a Roman army legion.  Up to three Roman legions were assigned to the Providence of Syria, of which Judaea was a territory.  The Jewish revolt of 66-70, which resulted in the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, began in Caesarea over a religious dispute between Jews and Pagans. 

{39} It is a difficult teaching, but a major teaching of Jesus (by word and example) was tolerance toward military occupiers and dictators.  Jesus tolerated Roman rule because they allowed for the means of life, and did not hinder the very purpose of Israel — worship of its God.  Pre-incarnate Christ did however support the overthrow of the Greek Antiochus Epiphanes, because he threatened the souls of the people of Israel.  Epiphanes means “God manifest”, and he attempted to force idolistic religion on the Jews, as told of in the Biblical book of Maccabees. The Maccabee family lead a successful revolt, which largely restored the Jewish faith, and gained Israel a short period of  independent  rule  until  conquered  by  the  Romans. 

      Neither political freedom nor servitude have any effect on one’s soul and were of secondary concern to Jesus.  According to Christian social ethics, a dictator who allows religious freedom, and provides for the basic needs of the people, is not a legitimate object of revolt.  However the use of violent force is justified in a certain set of circumstances.

      Christian teaching on the causes of war is that it is caused indirectly by sin.  Sin is disorder that corrupts the will and intellect of leaders and nations (and all other parts of creation).  Leaders and citizenry operating with a distorted morality may then make willful decisions that lead to unjustified violence. 

{40}  A person sells a bit of his soul (so to speak), when he replaces love of God, others, self, for some other disordered love.   He sells his proper love, for a lesser love.  Love is the item purchased and the currency used. 

{41} “Necessary enemy” —  when our soul no longer projects its imperfections there will be no more enemies. 

{42} “I was present and in union with the decision to put the cities to the sword.“, the book of  Joshua records the conquest of Canaan.  This novel proposes a possible explanation for the violence of the conquest.  When God allows or even assigns evil (generated by humanity), the entire Trinity is in agreement with that decision, and all decisions.  This is the traditional orthodox, (if unpopular) explanation.  This novel proposes that no disorder (war, disease, poverty) can simply happen.  All are caused by pre-existing disorder (sin), and God assigns this disorder (by direct or extended will), for greater purposes. 

{43} 1Cor 5:5 recounts the effects of sin being suffered in body, sparing the soul.  The attribute of justice is real and must be satisfied, either personally or vicariously by Christ. God is free to mercifully assign disorder to the body thus sparing the soul.  The book of Revelation portrays this on a worldwide scale.  As faith and morality is corrupted, calamities increase; but these are suffered in the world, sparing many souls.  In the paragraph that follows, King David’s sin in claiming Israel is told of in 2Sam 24:10-13.

{44} The matrimony Jesus refers to is a spiritual marriage.  Jesus speaks of such a wedding in the Gospels, and nuns become brides of Christ, by taking actual marriage vows.

{45}   The rich young man in the gospel is sometimes presumed to have disregarded the instructions of Jesus, but this is not known with any certainty.  In the gospel, the rich young man had attained a high level of spiritual advancement, and Jesus advises him to free himself from his last constraint.  Traditionally anyone entering into the unitive stage of spiritual advancement must forgo every attachment to this life: family, riches, poverty; every legitimate self interest must go.

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