The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

Christ and his Informant

Christ was staying at an inn at the edge of the city. That evening he ate with his informant, who told him about the incident in the temple. Christ had already heard rumours about what had happened, and he was eager to get the facts clear, so he made notes on his tablet as they ate.

‘Jesus seems more and more angry,’ he said. ‘Do you know why that is? Has he spoken about it to any of you?’

‘No, but Peter is sure Jesus is in danger, and he’s worried that the master will be arrested before the Kingdom comes. What would happen then, with Jesus in prison? Would all the gates be opened, and all the bars flung down? That’s the most likely thing. But Peter’s anxious, no doubt about it.’

‘Is Jesus anxious too, do you think?’

‘He hasn’t said so. But everyone’s jumpy. We don’t know what the Romans will do, for one thing. And the crowds – they’re all for Jesus now, but there’s an edge to it. You can tell. They’re over-excited. They want the Kingdom right away, and if… ’

The man hesitated.

‘If what?’ said Christ. ‘If the Kingdom doesn’t come, is that what you were going to say?’

‘Of course not. There’s no doubt about the Kingdom. But a business like the temple this morning… There are times when I wish we were back in Galilee.’

‘How are the other disciples taking it?’

‘Nervous, jumpy, like I say. If the master wasn’t so angry right now we’d all be calmer. It’s as if he’s spoiling for a fight.’

‘But he’s said that if someone hits us, we should turn the other cheek.’

‘He also said he’d come not to bring peace, but a sword.’

‘When did he say that?’

‘That was in Capernaum, not long after Matthew joined us. Jesus was telling us what to do when we went out to preach. He said, “Don’t think I’ve come to bring peace to the earth. I haven’t come to bring peace, but a sword. I’ve come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and your enemies will be members of your own household.”’

Christ wrote it down just as the apostle told him.

‘That sounds exactly like the sort of thing he’d come out with,’ he said. ‘Did he say anything else?’

‘He said, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” There’s some of us thinking of those words again now.’