Mortals (44 page)

“And it is entirely mad to think that at any minute a giant fatherly presence is going to bring history to an end and set up his kingdom. Jesus was mad.”

“So these evangelical men who say they are born again are becoming born again as Jews, rra. It makes me laugh that they don’t know this,” Themba said.

“Right, and how do we know that this mad belief in the imminent end was held by Jesus?… aside from the clues given in his statements and acts, which are turned around and softened by certain people today who say there will be no Second Coming, no physical kingdom, because in their view Jesus was catering for a spiritual change only … We call them
immanentists
, not the same word, the ones who say that the Kingdom of Heaven was already present in the world in Jesus’ time and forever, and that it consisted of human beings acting charitably toward one another, and nothing more supernatural than that.”

“Em, ah, rra, we say Jesus is mad and expects the end of the world because of what he says and because his teacher John the Baptist tells that this is to come, and Jesus becomes John’s follower. Yes, and as well, Jesus’ closest followers, Paul and James, say this is to come, the end of the world, ordered by God, is to come—although they disagreed on other items. And next in time to follow Jesus came Mark and Matthew and Luke. And in all they wrote is the belief that the end of time is coming soon, as Jesus said.”

“Perfect!”

“Ke itumela, rra.”

“Now, under this kingdom … no, first, what was the name for all the other people of the world?”

“The nations. The goyin.”

“No, goy
im
, with m at the end.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s nothing. And what did Jesus say would become of these goyim, the nations, when God came down?”

“They will bend their knees to Yahweh. For some very long time, up to
a thousand years whilst being judged. And some people from among the goyim nations would be fine as to entering heaven when there is heaven. You see, there is not yet heaven, at that time, though there is hell. Some must be pushed into hell, even from amongst the Jews.”

“Who is likely to be cast into hell?”

“Rra, it is confusing to me, very much. Some we can say with ease will be pushed, such as those who offended Jesus in time past. And if once you have eaten meat with blood, you will be pushed, we can be sure. But as to the gentiles,
most
of them will find themselves in hell. I can study more as to these rules, rra. These rules of Noah by which some gentiles could pass through into heaven after all the judgment is finished.”

“No, you are right to be confused, because in the Bible the text is confused. And it is confused because the original question had to do with Jews, first and foremost. And very little thought was given to the gentiles.

“Now, what else can we say about this age, the age when Yahweh has created his kingdom on earth, the messianic age?”

“Em, well … still yet we do not see Yahweh ruling, I believe. The Christians began to say that in this time it would be Jesus ruling over the world for God. They were the followers of Paul.

“But as we saw when you spoke, it was a Son of Man who would rule, riding on clouds. We cannot say if Jesus was saying
he
was this Son of Man. Very likely he thought, yes, I am that man, because he was saying often to the apostles that he would sit on the right hand of his father, God. So, but perhaps that Son of Man can be Elijah. We cannot say, only that he rides about on clouds at times. But I must study these laws of Noah because to Batswana if you say Rra, Jesus says if you have eaten blood, Jesus of old, in his true doctrine before he was stolen by the Christians, if you taste blood you are going to the pit of hell, well, my word,
all
Batswana have tasted blood, as in puddings of blood, and other ways at the cattle post, expressly when they are ill. So you can see it will raise their eyes on this matter. They will listen.”

“Themba, we have to be very careful with this. I would leave it alone.”

“No, because you see up to this day at the butchery where they say they are halal, ‘we are halal,’ they say, ‘and our meat is drained, you must eat this or you will be condemned someway’ … it is from these same words of Noah and it is a curse on the Batswana … These Muslims say your meat is not clean, rra, except as you eat what is halal.”

“No, but this would be the wrong way to approach it. At the Muslim butcheries … No. Maybe at some future time, Themba. But your point is correct. But just not
now
.”

“Ehe, rra.”

“So we are in the messianic age and they have finished judging. God’s judges have. Then what?”

“Em, ah, oh yes, you must have a new kind of body to last forever and ever. The dead are all raised, I believe, and they, well, I believe they would be most in need. They would be rotten, rra. Ai! E bodile …”

“No, no,” Morel said, to one or two people who were laughing.

“So, but rra, you must have a new body of spirit or electric or whatsohaveyou because it must be such as to let you fly and repose in the blue sky. Em, and as to the dead gentiles, nothing is said, if they are brought up, the saved ones, for new bodies or no, so it is confusing.”

Morel made a reproving sound. Themba was playing to the crowd, which was not wanted. Ray knew what Morel, that asshole, was after—when you destroy some poor bugger’s belief system, become a technician, neutral, like a doctor bringing sad news but not being involved yourself, Ray thought. You had to have the demeanor of a funeral director.

“And then, in heaven, what happens? The Jewish heaven.”

“At all times you are not to work.”

“What else?”

“At all times you must not play after young ladies. At all times you must wear a crown and sit upon a throne. It is one man, one throne …”

Morel was making Themba wait. This last little thrust had earned him a touch of the silent treatment. No levity allowed, Ray thought. Morel was strict.

“And when the Jewish Sabbath comes, Themba, how should we understand it?”

“Ehe, for one day you are to live as it will be in heaven, with no work to do, no amusements …”

“Themba, let me read from our great scholar, Vermes, you have this, page 125 … On the Sabbath ‘abstinence from all work of the occupations of the children of men, and a total devotion to worship by means of offering incense, gifts and sacrifice in the sanctuary, symbolize and mystically achieve God’s reign on earth.’ ”

“Ehe, and you must sit and receive from God his shining forth.”

“See if you remember what we call that, or rather the Jews did.”

“I forget what.”

“Shekinah. Radiance of God.”

“Ehe, and, em, whilst you receive this shekinah you must in no way look straightaway at God. Even if you are in your new body, it can kill you to see his face.”

“Such is the Kingdom of Heaven, Themba. Not much moving around unless there is some scheme to shift thrones so that all can have a chance to sit near God.”

There was a ripple of amusement among the hearers. Morel is not playing by his own rules, Ray thought.

Themba said, “I think the Batswana can never be Jews, if there shall be no cows in heaven.”

Someone in the audience said “Ke dunetse,” meaning he agreed.

“So this heaven you describe is the great, final end that the Jew Jesus was urging all his people to work and die for, we see. And we are talking only about what we can tell were the beliefs of Jesus himself, in the time
before
Paul, and
before
the four Gospels were written—beginning about how many years after the death of Jesus, would you say?”

“We say Mark is written down about the year seventy, rra. Paul was writing earlier but still it was fifteen years after Jesus was killed, but Paul tells nothing of the life of Jesus and he tells only some few words of the beliefs of Jesus, which is strange.”

“Right! This is the important thing to emphasize. Great feats of scholarship have taken place in the last thirty or forty years, so we can now extract and separate, this is the point, the
original
ideas and beliefs and instructions of the Jew Jesus, take them out of the books of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew and Luke, where we find other beliefs and interpretations alongside them, coming from Paul for the most part, added to and plastered across them, obscuring them. And Themba, all of you … it is from these encrustations and superadditions and plasterings that Paul and his followers turned a dead Jew into a God for the gentiles, a new God, at the same time twisting, Paul was
twisting
the sacred writings of the Jews to make them say that they prophesied the coming of a divine Savior for the
Gentiles
 … for everyone. And that way lies Christianity, invented by Paul.

“But we are not coming to that, yet. No. People do not like to hear any of this, really. So we must first make clear to them that we are talking about the original and pure beliefs of the Jew Jesus. And the first thing you must make clear is the answer to the question of how Jesus came to believe that the world was to come to an end at the hands of Yahweh. He thought he knew what had to be done to
make
Yahweh bring an end to the world as it was and create his kingdom. And other Jews of Palestine were
also
seeking ways to make God descend. But they were saying there were other ways to make him come, three ways. You remember the three ways?”

“Ehe, rra. Em, in Palestine the Romans were oppressing the Israelites
very much. And the Jews were saying it must cease. This must cease. And they had from their scriptures stories telling of God coming to their aid, as when they came to the promised land and found it stuffed fat with enemies and vipers, and God helped them to kill their enemies …”

Morel said, “Yes, you remember we said that such a God might be called a serial killer, in fact. But this is among ourselves. When we discuss this, we say only that he killed many opponents of the Jews.”

Themba said, “In Palestine in past times, some victories would come when Yahweh would strengthen the captains of the Jews but would cause the walls and towers of their enemies to fall down. Or he would send angels to aid in the killing. So in their belief they ask how can we make Yahweh come to us once again.

“The Romans were their enemies. So they were saying, if we take up arms against the Romans, Yahweh will come down to help us. But the priests of the temple were saying they must not bother the Romans. These priests were in the pay of the Romans, of course, much as like the Zed CC saying we must not bother the Boers.”

Morel was quick. “Well, but rra, it would be best not to make overmuch of that. We have many Zed CC followers in this country and they would be, well, aggravated if they saw us criticizing their brothers in South Africa when they themselves are blameless, you see. So it would be very much the best not to make such a comparison.”

“They are tiresome,” Themba said.

“I know, but they must not see us attacking them. This is what we must do, remember. We try to enlighten about beliefs, but we must let the holders of those beliefs see for themselves what our criticism means about their churches, you see? Do you see what I mean? And as to taking one denomination and saying you are particularly in error … 
no.”
Morel was being very deliberate.

Themba said, “Still, it is true. They are tiresome. They will listen to you less than anyone else, and when you finish they say if you only will drink salt water you will change and see God. This is what they stated to me, rra.”

“Proceed, Themba.”

Themba said, “The worst were the daggermen.”

“Who were called … by what other names?”

“Sicarii.”

“Yes, and they were called Zealots, also. And they, the daggermen, would assassinate not only Romans but Jews as well … Jews who were helping the Romans …”

Themba said, “And those men were for war against the Romans and they would say that when the Jews made an uprising, at that time God would come down as with Joshua and give them the victory over the Romans.”

“And what ways were some other Jews proposing for bringing divine intervention?”

“Ehe … at the Dead Sea lived some Jews in caves. Essenes they were named.”

“Well, no, rra … They lived in camps, and in regular buildings as well. Their writings were found in caves where they had been hidden, found only in recent years, you remember.”

“Yes, rra. And these Essenes were quite fools, who said if only they might become as clean as angels, God could come. The Zealots believed war would bring God, the Essenes believed cleanliness would bring God. Every rule of cleanliness these men would observe many times over, as to washing and putting women to the side. And in their thoughts they would be pure. As well they would be training as an army at the ready, to join with the angel-army God was sure to send when at last they have become clean enough. And so the Romans would be thrown down. So this way was through cleanliness …”

“Okay, good. But I don’t think we want to call any particular groups we discuss
fools
, do we?”

“But rra, they are long dead. There are none to offend.”

“Just the same, Themba. It’s best to avoid those words.”

“Yes, for fear they will give offense at times. My word, I would not do it. But here we are free, isn’t it?”

“Within these walls, yes. But we must train ourselves here to be always prudent. So. Now. So far we have violence and purity. What other means did Jewish believers propose to bring God to intervene on earth?”

Themba said, “So we come up to the followers of John the Baptist, who is stating God will come only if many Jews repent of past sins.”

“And, if you remember, there was a name for this repentance.”

“It is …”

“You may consult your study cards. And Themba, as I recommended to you, the best place to keep your study cards is in your Bible, as bookmarks, your Bible, which you will be consulting in any case. And that way you avoid having to search your pockets for them. And then as you search out things in the Bible you pass your eyes over this material and are helped to retain it.”