I have always been fascinated by the portrait of Jesus painted by Bulgatov in “Master and Margarita”.
“I was told my father was a Syrian…”
He knows nothing about his father, and does not claim to be God’s living son. When asked if he has any family Jesus replies: “None, I am alone in the world.” Neither Mary, nor Joseph play a role.
When being accused of inciting people to destroy the temple, he replies:
“These good people (…) haven’t any learning and have confused everything I told them. Generally, I’m beginning to be afraid that this confusion may go on for a very long time. All because he writes down the things I say incorrectly.”
The ‘he’ is Matthew Levi, one of the Apostles and supposed author of the Gospel of Matthew.
“there’s one with a goatskin parchment who follows me, follows me and keeps writing all the time. But once I peeked into this parchment and was horrified. I said decidedly nothing of what’s written there. I implored him: ‘Burn your parchment, for God’s sake!’ But he tore it out of my hands and ran away.”
It’s rather delicious that Jesus uses the Lord’s Name in vain.
When speaking to Pilate, who is visibly suffering from a headache:
“I advise you, Hegemon, to leave the palace for a while and go for a stroll somewhere in the vicinity – say in the gardens of the Mount of Olives.. A storm will come (…) later on, towards evening. A stroll would do you much good, and I would be glad to accompany you. Certain new thoughts have occurred to me, which I think you might find interesting and I’d willingly share them with you, the more so as you give the impression of being a very intelligent man.
(…)
‘The trouble is (…) that you are too closed off and have definitively lost faith in people. You must agree, one can’t place all of one’s affection in a dog. Your life is impoverished, Hegemon.”
The Mount of Olives is where the bible describes the arrest of Jesus.
“Incidentally, tell me, is it true that you entered Yeshalaim by the Susa riding on an ass, accompanied by a crowd of riff-raff who shouted greetings to you as some kind of prophet” Here the procurator pointed to the parchment scroll.
“Incidentally, tell me, is it true that you entered Yeshalaim by the Susa riding on an ass, accompanied by a crowd of riff-raff who shouted greetings to you as some kind of prophet” Here the procurator pointed to the parchment scroll.
The prisoner glanced at the procurator perplexedly.
‘I don’t even have an ass, Hegemon,’ he said. ‘I did enter Yershalai by the Susa gate, but on foot, accompanied only by Matthew Levi, and no one shouted anything to me, because no on in Yershalaim knew me then.”
