"seen the kingdom of God come with power" - Handling of the Word Jews in the Gospels

Tokyo Bay

Handling of the Word Jews in the Gospels

There are four Gospels: Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John.  But the former three Gospels are different from the last one John, so accordingly they are called the synoptic gospels.

If an author of a Gospel was a Judaist, he would not use the word Jews when describing people around Christ Jesus or those concerned in scenes in his Gospel, since it is a matter of course that the Gospel tells events in Palestine.

But, when counting the number of the word Jews in each Gospel, it becomes clear that Mark, Luke, and Mathew are very different from John.  Indeed, the results of the search for the word Jews in the Gospels are as follows:

Mark 7:3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
Mark 15:2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto them, Thou sayest it.
Mark 15:9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Mark 15:12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
Mark 15:18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
Mark 15:26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Luke 7:3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
Luke 23:3 And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.
Luke 23:37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Luke 23:51 (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

Matthew 2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Matthew 27:11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
Matthew 27:29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
Matthew 27:37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Matthew 28:15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

John 1:19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
John 2:6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
John 2:13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 2:18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
John 2:20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
John 3:25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
John 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
John 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 5:10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
John 5:15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
John 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
John 6:4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
John 6:41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
John 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
John 7:11 Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
John 7:13 Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
John 7:15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
John 7:35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
John 8:22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
John 8:48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
John 8:52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
John 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
John 9:18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
John 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
John 10:19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
John 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
John 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
John 11:8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
John 11:19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
John 11:31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
John 11:36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
John 11:45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
John 11:54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.
John 11:55 And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.
John 12:9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
John 12:11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.
John 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.
John 18:12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,
John 18:14 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
John 18:20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.
John 18:31 Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
John 18:33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
John 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
John 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
John 19:3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
John 19:7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
John 19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
John 19:14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
John 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
John 19:20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
John 19:21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
John 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
John 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
John 19:42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

Mark uses the word Jews six time; Luke five times; and Mathew five times.  But John uses the word Jews 44 times.

It suggests indeed that Mark, Luke, and Mathew were written by Jewish authors for readers including Jewish people, but John was written by somebody not Jewish or who tried not to look Jewish for non-Jewish readers.

Especially, the following sentences including the wort Jews in John are controversial:
John 19:7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
John 19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

These sentences in John made Judaists enemies of Christians in later centuries.  It is also important that John became the source of Christian theology, which was established a few centuries later after the completion of John, that Christ Jesus was God.

Put simply, there are problems in John because it uses the word Jews so often and it became the source of Vatican's theology that Christ Jesus was God.


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Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

"an herd of many swine feeding" - Anger of Christ Jesus

Tokyo Bay

Anger of Christ Jesus

Christ Jesus showed anger in some occasions when a certain handicapped man asked healing from Him.

In Mark 1:41, a leper has approached Jesus seeking to be healed. Most Greek manuscripts (the New Testament was originally written in Greek), as well as later translations, say that Jesus was moved with compassion and healed the man. A few manuscripts, however, say that Jesus’ anger was kindled before he healed him. So did the verse mean to convey Jesus’ anger or his compassion?
...
This now leaves the other Greek manuscript, the fifth-century C.E. Codex Bezae, as the sole Greek witness to the reading expressing Jesus’ “anger.” Much like the cheese in “The Farmer in the Dell,” Codex Bezae stands alone.

But most interesting of all, the Codex Bezae may in fact have the better (i.e., original) reading. As New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman pointed out in a 2005 article in Bible Review, “one factor in favor of the ‘angry’ reading is that it sounds wrong.”**It is much easier to believe that early scribes were troubled by Jesus’ anger and changed it to his feeling compassion, rather than the other way around. Later scribes also would have preferred the easier “compassion” reading and copied it until it became the more popular reading. (As Ehrman explains, there are other passages in the Gospel of Mark that seem to support the reading conveying Jesus’ anger.) Thus does Codex Bezae now stand as a lonely witness to what is very likely the original Greek text of Mark 1:41.  

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/does-the-gospel-of-mark-reveal-jesus%E2%80%99-anger-or-his-compassion/

So, in this case, we had better think that Christ Jesus got angry when the leper approached Christ Jesus to ask healing from Him.   And His anger must have been so clear that a certain disciple who observed the incident could find it.  But why did Christ Jesus get angry?

First of all, Christ Jesus said that there were no good persons except God who was only good.  Therefore even some handicapped men or sick men could be controlled by Satan to be evil.

If such an evil handicapped or sick person asked help from Christ Jesus, there must have been ill motivation behind the act.  He or she might approach Christ Jesus with an intention to test Him rather than to be blessed and healed by Him.  In that case, although Christ Jesus could heal the person and actually healed him or her, He had to show His mind that He could see through evil in hi or her mind.  So, Christ Jesus must have looked showing anger to a certain disciple who was observing the incident.

Even evil handicapped or ill persons came to ask help from Jesus, though, with an evil intention to test Christ Jesus.  Accordingly Christ Jesus looked or got angry.

But if a disciple or a follower of Christ Jesus had sensed anger in the face of Christ Jesus, he must have put more words to explain why He looked angry when he wrote the original Gospel of Mark, since it was rare that Christ Jesus got angry and the situation was a little complicated.  Indeed, most of those who copied the original Gospel could not understand the situation and the mind of Christ Jesus so that they changed the word anger to compassion.

It tells that there is a strong possibility that the original Gospel of Mark was based on an original document written by Christ Jesus Himself.  When Jesus wrote the document, He must have remembered His own anger when He encountered such a handicapped or ill person haunted by Satan.  Accordingly Jesus used the word anger in describing these incidents, while remembering how He felt on those occasions.  

Mar 1:40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mar 1:41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
Mar 1:42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
Mar 1:43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;
Mar 1:44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

It is very likely a priest with evil spirit tried to test Christ Jesus by using the leper, which Christ Jesus saw through with anger.


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Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
Mat 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Mat 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

"there met him two possessed with devils" - Review on the Success and Failure of the Vatican

Around Tokyo

Review on the Success and Failure of the Vatican

The success of the Vatican has been realized by three elements: the simply-expressed but rigorous theology (the Trinity, etc.), the effective liturgy, and the hierarchical rule by the church.

The Vatican is a religious organization but not an academic one.  So, the Vatican can be more political than academic.  It is not an organization to pursue truth but to practice its religious activities in the human society.  Its organization was established to propagate its theology more than for any other purposes.  And, the Vatican has put the highest priority on protection and expansion of its organization.

However, Christ Jesus did not come to this world to establish Christianity or the Vatican.  He came to this world to save poor people, preach teachings of God, and correct the status of Judaism.  Christ Jesus had not support from any organizations such as the Vatican, though He was supported by God.

But after Christ Jesus ended His mission in this world after the Crucifixion, the Apostles and other leaders of the early Christianity started their missions to propagate His teaching.  As a result, the Vatican was eventually established.  But the Vatican has not been based on the spirit of the mission of Christ Jesus, since its success is based on the simple but rigorous theology, the effective liturgy, and the hierarchical rule by the church.  The Vatican should have been solely based on the teaching of Christ Jesus that does not even need the simple but rigorous theology, the effective liturgy, and the hierarchical rule by the church.

Accordingly, around 600 when this characteristics of the Vatican was fixed after the Roman Empire adopted Christianity for its state religion, the Vatican survived the fall of the Roman Empire, and the Vatican started to pursue territorial power and wield political influence, relying on the simple but rigorous theology, the effective liturgy, and the hierarchical rule by the church, God gave Islam to the Arabs, the people who had been fighting and competing with the Roman Empire.  It tells that God judged that the Vatican failed around 600.

The Vatican should not rely on  the simply-expressed but rigorous theology, the effective liturgy, and the hierarchical rule by the church but allow people and the followers to observe theology, liturgies, and management of the church in a freer manner in their obedience to the words of God and Christ Jesus.

The Vatican has been functioning based on the theology, the liturgies, and the rule formulated by church leaders, namely human beings, for these 2000 years.  It is time to stop it and come back to the words of God and Christ Jesus.  This can apply to all the other church organizations than the Vatican.




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Mat 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?