Nexus - 0503 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Jesus that was important: this Church turned Jesus into the reli- gion. In short, the Nazarene Church was the true social Church. The Roman Church was the Church of the Emperors and the Popes; this was the Imperial hybrid movement. Jesus that was important: this Church turned Jesus into the reli- any priestly entitlement to do so. What happened was that Herod- gion. In short, the Nazarene Church was the true social Church. Antipas of Galilee compelled the High Priest of Jerusalem to The Roman Church was the Church of the Emperors and the relent in favour of Jesus—and this was regarded as an unprece- Popes; this was the Imperial hybrid movement. dented miracle! But there was more to the removed section of Mark, because in part from straightforward misunderstandings, misinterpre- telling the story of Lazarus the Mark account made it perfectly At and mistranslations, the canonical Gospels suffer clear that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were actually man and wife. from numerous purposeful amendments. Some original The Lazarus story in John contains a rather strange sequence that entries have been changed or deleted; other entries have been has Martha coming from the Lazarus house to greet Jesus, where- added to suit the Church's vested interest. Back in the fourth cen- as her sister, Mary Magdalene, remains inside until summoned by tury when the texts were translated into Latin from their original Jesus. But in contrast to this, the original Mark account said that Greek and Semitic tongues, the majority of these edits and Mary Magdalene actually came out of the house with Martha and amendments were made. was then chastised by the disciples and sent back indoors to await Even earlier, about AD 195—one thousand, eight hundred Jesus’ instruction. This was a specific procedure of Judaic law, years ago—Bishop Clement of Alexandria made the first known whereby a wife in ritual mourning was not allowed to emerge amendment from the Gospel texts. He deleted a substantial sec- from the property until instructed by her husband. tion from the Gospel of Mark, written more than a hundred years There's a good deal of information outside the Bible to confirm before that time, and he justified his action in a letter. "For even that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife. But is there if they should say something true, one who loves the Truth should —_ anything relevant in the Gospels today, anything that the editors not...agree with them... For not all true things are to be said to all missed that tells us the story? Well, there are some specific things men." Interesting. What he meant was that even at that very and there are some ancillary things. early stage there was already a discrepancy between what the There are seven lists given in the Gospels of the women who Gospel writers had written and what permanently seemed to follow Jesus the bishops wanted to teach. around, and these include Jesus' Today, this section deleted by St mother; but in six of these seven lists Clement is still missing from the . the first name, even ahead of his Gospel of Mark. But when Mark is Apart from straightforward mother, is Mary Magdalene. When compared with the Gospel that we misunderstandings one studies other lists of the period know today, even without that section Aw . g ; which relate to any form of hierarchi- we find that today's Gospel is a goo misinterpretations and cal society, one notices that the "first deal Jonger than the original! One of mistranslations, the canonical lady" was always the first name list- these additional sections comprises ed. The term "First Lady" is used in the whole of the Resurrection Gospels suffer from numerous America today. The first lady was sequence; this amounts to twelve ful the most senior; she was always verses at the end of Mark, chapter 16. purposeful amendments. named first—and as the Messianic It's now known that everything tol Queen, Mary Magdalene would have about the events after the Crucifixion been named first, as indeed she was. was added by Church bishops or their But is the marriage defined in the scribes some time in the late fourth century. Although this is con- Gospels? Well, it is. Many have suggested that the wedding at firmed in the Vatican archives, it is difficult for most people to Cana was the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This was gain access—and even if they do, old Greek is very difficult to not the wedding ceremony as such, although the marriage is understand. detailed in the Gospels. The marriage is the quite separate anoint- But what exactly was in this section of Mark that Clement saw __ings at Bethany. In Luke we have a first anointing by Mary of fit to remove? It was the section that dealt with the raising of Jesus, two-and-a-half years before the second anointing. It does- Lazarus. In the context of the original Mark text, however, n't occur to many people that they are different stories, but they Lazarus was portrayed in a state of excommunication: spiritual are two-and-a-half years apart. death by decree, not physical death. The account even had Readers of the first century would have been fully conversant Lazarus and Jesus calling to each other before the tomb was with the two-part ritual of the sacred marriage of a dynastic heir. opened. This defeated the bishops' desire to portray the raising of Jesus, as we know, was a "Messiah", which means quite simply Lazarus as a spiritual miracle, not as a simple release from an "Anointed One". In fact, all anointed senior priests and excommunication. More importantly, it set the scene for the story Davidic kings were Messiahs. Jesus was not unique. Although of the Crucifixion of Jesus himself, whose own subsequent raising not an ordained priest, he gained his right to Messiah status by from spiritual death was determined by the same three-day rule way of descent from King David and the kingly line, but he did that applied to Lazarus. not achieve that Messiah status until he was actually physically Jesus was raised (released or resurrected) from death by decree anointed by Mary Magdalene, in her capacity as a high priestess, on the statutory third day. In the case of Lazarus, however, Jesus shortly before the Crucifixion. flouted the rules by raising his friend after the three-day period of The word "Messiah" comes from the Hebrew verb "to anoint", symbolic sickness. At that point, civil death would have become which itself is derived from the Egyptian word messeh, "the holy absolute in the eyes of the legal elders. Lazarus would have been crocodile". It was with the fat of the messeh that the Pharaoh's wrapped in sacking and buried alive. His crime was that he had sister-brides anointed their husbands on marriage. The Egyptian led a violent people's-revolt to safeguard the public water supply custom sprang from kingly practice in old Mesopotamia. which had been diverted through a new Roman aqueduct in In the Old Testament's Song of Solomon we hear again of the Jerusalem. But Jesus performed this release while not holding bridal anointing of the king. It is defined that the oil used in Apart from straightforward misunderstandings, misinterpretations and mistranslations, the canonical Gospels suffer from numerous ae 2 nee APRIL - MAY 1998 NEXUS = 23 purposeful amendments.