WHO WAS JESUS?

Freethought Review, Volume I, Issue 9, 1 June 1884, Page 15

WHO WAS JESUS?

By Charles Bradlaugh.

He had no father (Luke i. 34). His mother's husband had two fathers (Luke iii. 23; Matthew i. 16). He was born at Bethlehem (Lukeii. 4), yet accepted in silence the reproach that he was not born there, but was born at Galilee (John vii. 41, 42). He was born in the lifetime of Herod, who ordered all the little ones to be slaughtered, in order to destroy him (Matthew ii). He was not, however, born until after the death of Herod, and the abdication of Archelaus, Herod's son (Luke ii, 2). While a baby he was taken into Egypt, and remained there until after the death of Herod, and was not brought back to Judea even during the succeeding reign of Archelaus (Matthew ii.); yet he never went into Egypt at all, or, at any rate, never resided there for any such lengthy period (Lukeii. 21, 22, 39, 40, 41, 42). When thirty years of age he was baptised by John, who knew him, and forbade him to come to be baptised on account of his (John's) unworthiness to baptise Jesus (Matthew iii. 14); but John did not know Jesus until after the Baptist had baptised the Saviour (John i. 33). John knew Jesus to be "the Lamb of God" (John i. 29); yet some time after sent two of his disciples to Jesus, to enquire of the latter whether he was the real Messiah, or whether they were to look for another (Matthew xi. 3; Luke vii. 19). Jesus was immediately after the baptism led up into the wilderness, where he remained and fasted during forty days and forty nights (Mark i. 12); but before that time had elapsed, he was at a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee (John ii). Jesus cured Peter's wife's mother of a fever before he had called Peter to be a disciple (Luke iv. 39; v. 10); but Peter's wife's mother was cured by Jesus after Peter had been called to be a disciple (Matthew viii. 14; iv. 18). Jesus, when on land near the sea, saw Simon, Peter and Andrew fishing, and called them to be his disciples; and a little further on he saw James and John, and called them (Matthew iv. 18-22); but when he called Simon, James, and John, he was in the ship with Simon, and the ship with James and John in was close alongside (Luke v. 3-10); and indeed neither Jesus nor Peter was at sea when Peter was first seen by Jesus, but on dry land, where Peter was brought to Jesus by Andrew (John i. 41). Jesus fed 5,000 men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fishes, and, even then, the uneaten fragments collected by the disciples after the feast filled twelve baskets (Matthew xiv.); yet these very disciples either forgot or disbelieved the miracle, for they were shortly after terribly puzzled as to how a much smaller number of persons were to be fed with a larger quantity of food (Matthew xv.) Jesus cast an unclean spirit (Mark v. 2), which one spirit was legion, out of a "certain man" (Luke viii. 27), which certain man was "two" (Matthew viii. 28); on the permission of Jesus, the singular plural devil (with a Latin name in a country .where Latin was not the common language), went into two thousand swine, which swine ran into the sea. Jesus, being hungry, looked for figs on a fig tree when it was not yet the season, and cursed the tree because he found no fruit thereon (Mark xi. 13, 14).

Jesus came to die to save the world, but prayed that he might not die (Luke xxii. 42). He said, " I and my father are one" (John x. 30) ; but said, " Father, all things are possible to thee, take away this cup from me " (Mark xiv. 36). Jesus was betrayed to the officers by Judas, who kissed him (Matthew xxvi. 47); but himself answered that he was Jesus, so that Judas does not appear to have betrayed him at all by the identifying kiss (John xviii. 5,6). Jesus was with Peter when Peter denied Jesus the third time (Luke xxii. 61); but Peter was not with Jesus at the cime of the third denial (Matthew xxvi.; Mark xiv). Jesus was crucified about 9 a.m. (Mark xv. 25); yet three hours after he was still on his trial before Pilate (John xix. 14). On Friday evening (Mark xv. 42, 43) Jesus was buried; on Saturday night, towards dawn of Sunday (Matthew xxviii. 1), his body was out of the tomb ; yet Jesus was to have been three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved ; he that believeth not shall be damned."