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Loading...In a previous post I discussed a letter forged in Jesus’ name, written to the king of Edessa, Abgar. Of course we don’t have anything *actually* written by Jesus (I myself don’t think he could write); but there is another writing that he is alleged to have written. This one is even stranger. Far stranger. It is a letter he writes from the cross to the cherubim in heaven. It’s in a (much) later gospel called the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea, an account of Jesus’ Passion allegedly written by the obscure figure in the NT Gospels who buried him. Among other things, it gives us “information” on the two robbers who were crucified with him.
Here I explain what the text is and then give the opening scenes. In my next post I will give the rest of it (it’s a short gospel). All of this comes from the book I co-produced with my colleague Zlatko Plese, The Other Gospels, a book you might be interested in getting! It gives about 40 Gospel texts (many of them only in fragments) from early Christianity.
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The Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea
This apocryphon provides an alternative version of the passion narrative, emphasizing the betrayal of Judas and the events that transpired both at the crucifixion and after the resurrection. Particular attention is paid to one of the two robbers crucified with Jesus–a man named Demas–who is vividly portrayed as having entered paradise after his repentance on the cross. The account is told in the first person, much like the Gospel of Peter, only now by Joseph of Arimathea. This legendary expansion sometimes supplements and sometimes contradicts the canonical Gospels, on which it is partially based.
The first half of the narrative focuses on …
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So if Jesus was on the cross, how did he write a letter? Did he dictate it?
Must have done!
Hands up, all those who don’t wanna be crucified here! …. Next!
Weird! In the second verse, we’re told:
“He tried to rob the multitude…by carrying off the law itself in Jerusalem, stripping naked the daughter of Caiaphas who was the priestess of the sanctuary, and removing the mysterious deposit of Solomon that had been entrusted to that place.”
Do I understand correctly that by “carrying off the law,” the author of this apocryphon means Demas intended to steal the Tablets of the Law which Moses brought down from Sinai? That doesn’t make sense unless the intended audience was unaware that the Tablets had been lost since the destruction of the first Temple in 586 BCE. Indeed, the Second Temple, the one Jesus knew, was missing the whole Ark of the Covenant! The Holy of Holies was empty.
Why would Demas have stripped Caiaphas’s daughter? Is that a euphemism for rape?
I’m also puzzled by her mere presence. In Jewish tradition there is no such role or title as “priestess of the sanctuary.” Is this another indication of a presumption of the audience’s ignorance?
I never heard of the “deposit of Solomon.” What was it supposed to have been and where is the apocryphon’s author getting the idea from?
Yes, that appears to be what it’s saying about hte tablets of teh law. These legendary accounts are not known for their historical accuracy. And yes, it signfies rape.
I heard a Christian respond to your claim that John 3:3 cannot be a legitimate saying of Jesus by claiming that Jesus spoke Greek. He said something about a Greek sign in Nazareth, and some sort of Greek construction project? What do you think about this response?
I”d say I’d like to know what in the world he’s talking about. 🙂