The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

© 2009 Reverend Elkan V. Kemp. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 5/5/2009

ISBN: 978-1-4343-7205-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-3535-8 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my wife who has been patient with my failure to attack the many honey do tasks promptly around our home. She has also performed the important service of reading the entire text. Priority time was given to this book because of the many people who tell me they are frustrated by the misuses and abuses of the current so-called gospel of John that is so contradictory within itself.

I further dedicate this book to those who helped me to and through the Koine Greek dialect and Bible age history at the University of Iowa School of Religion and Classics Department and at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. This language and its history has helped me considerably to wade around the many translations of the 4 gospels that lead to so much confusion.

Further, I dedicate it to all those serious students in my Bible classes of more than one half a century whose questions and observations have taught me to see the truths of the Bible more clearly.

Reverend Elkan V. Kemp

Contents

Dedication

The Foundation of This Book

Preface

Introduction

Part 1

Origins of This Gospel

Chapter 1

Beginning At The End

Chapter 2

A Family Affair

Chapter 3

Getting To Know Yeshua’s Forerunner

Chapter 4

The Arrival of Yeshua, the Carpenter of Nazareth

Chapter 5

Getting to Know Yeshua

Part 2

The First Year

Chapter 6

Accumulating His Disciples

Chapter 7

Choosing The Twelve

Part 3

Year Two

Chapter 8

A Dark Cloud On The Horizon

Chapter 9

Yeshua Succeeds John The Baptist

Chapter 10

Victim Of Misunderstanding

Chapter 11

Into Troubled Waters

Part 4

A Time Apart

Chapter 12

Evaluation

Chapter 13

Rest And Recreation

Chapter 14

A Return To The World

Part 5

The Third Year

Chapter 15

Good News For The Gentiles

Chapter 16

Return To Galilee

Chapter 17

A Turbulent Experience In Jerusalem

Chapter 18

Seeking A Place Of Safety

Part 6

Approaching The End

Chapter 19

Return To Jerusalem And More Troubles

Chapter 20

Demands For Yeshua’s Arrest

Chapter 21

The Last Flight To Jericho

Part 7

Tragedy Upon Tragedy

Chapter 22

Lazarus Dies

Chapter 23

Our Last Passover With Yeshua

Part 8

The Years After The Crucifixion

Chapter 24

Yeshua Has Come Again

Chapter 25

Getting The Church Under Way

Chapter 26

Problems In The New Community

Chapter 27

The Kingdom Comes With Power

Chapter 28

Paul, The Converted Persecutor

Chapter 29

And The Twelve Grew Old

ADDENDUM

The Foundation of This Book

(1) The orthodox in the Judaeo-Christian religion have made an approach to their religious goals by using the Bible. But some look upon it as literally dictated by God. Others only see those portions that fit their creeds and dogmas as so literal. We are striving for the same truth (Luke 10:25-28)—the sure will of Yahweh—but without forcing the Bible into a literal mode that makes so many skeptics.That is mainly what has caused the many divisions between both Christians and Jews.

(2) This is the gospel of love (ohabh/agape).

(3) In the temptations, Yeshua refused to be Messiah of the Old Testament. (It never worked to bring about at-one-ment with Yahweh, e.g., David, Solomon, Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah, Cyrus or the Maccabees.)

(4) What the world needed was a means to fulfill the Two Great Commandments, (Deuteronomy 6:4f. and Leviticus 19:33f.)

(5)Exodus 34:6 and its refrain throughout most of the Old Testament demonstrated that love alone makes atonement possible.

(6) Therefore, even at Nazareth, it is only natural that Yeshua would be misunderstood.

(7) Some of those so wrong about him among his own hometown folk eventually accepted his role and became his disciples (especially as they began to remember their conversations with the beloved carpenter and the kind person that he was.)

(8)Eventually, his family (his mother first) came to accept him in his new role.

(9) Those who rejected association of the Old Testament Messiah with Jesus, became the Jesus people.

(10) Those who thought of him as the Old Testament Messiah came to be called Christians. (All at first were Jews. Jesus was always a Jew, to the day of his death.)

(11) As creeds and dogmas formed after his death, fragmentation increased, beginning with the separation between his followers and then between Jew and Christian.

(12) This is a pattern that has plagued every association of those seeking God. Each group appears to be seeking to manufacture a god in their own image.

(13) As Yeshua said to the woman at the well in Samaria: Yahweh must be taken as He is—infinite Spirit and Truth [John 4:23], a God who is Love. Only then can we find the peace of at-one-ment.

(14) Based upon these points, the gospel attributed to John is retold by THE DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED.

Preface

There were three men born about the same time during the fifth year before King Herod the Great died. John, son of Zechariah the priest, Yeshua (or Jesus), son of Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth, and Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany. These three men, were thrown together by divine providence. Each of the three, in his own way, served as a transition from the old failed message of a God of hate, wrath and vengeance to one of the good news we call the New Covenant or Testament of a God who is love. (e.g., Exodus 34:6.)

Zechariah, John’s father, was descended from Aaron as was his wife Elizabeth. She and Yeshua’s mother, Mary, were related. They grew up among the priests in a community in the hills north of Jerusalem.

Lazarus and his sisters were orphaned when Lazarus was about 25 years old. Both of their parents died of a plague that took many lives. Martha, the eldest of the three, immediately saw to the keeping of the home. Lazarus had been trained as a scribe to succeed his father as the master scribe who served the high priest. This office carried great honor as well as responsibility. When his father died, the young Lazarus was suddenly catapulted into this highly honored position. His entrance into this great responsibility was eased by the high regard in which his father was held.

It was about this time that Zechariah had bemoaned the behavior of his son John before the Council. John claimed to be driven into the wilderness by the Spirit. He had caused his parents considerable concern because he just could not adjust to or accept the rigid requirements of the priesthood or the ritual approach to worship of Yahweh. So he found his place among the order of the Essenes. Inspired by the sect’s ascetic way of life, John soon found himself moved to go off alone to find the word and will of Yahweh. There would be no Urim and Thumim for him.

Lazarus’ family was drawn more closely to Yeshua (or Jesus as he was known to those who spoke only Greek) than were any others. This closeness of Lazarus’ family to Yeshua is most manifest in the book of the New Testament that we call the Gospel of John. This is especially shown in chapter 11 of that gospel. You will find it established, in the Addendum to this book, that those cryptic references to the beloved disciple or the disciple whom Jesus loved refer properly to Lazarus. This is the true author of the original Fourth Gospel that was really the First Gospel.

Truly, this would be far and away the first gospel to be written down. Since this gospel is the only one to account for the full three years of Jesus’ ministry, it must therefore, have been the earliest. It was likely begun shortly after the Crucifixion. Many of the details of Yeshua’s ministry, being written some 30 years before the first of the other three gospels, would be much more plain, accurate, consistent and complete.

It is reasonable to expect that many of the details recorded in this gospel found their way into the other accounts of his life and teachings with embellishments and twists of interpretation for doctrinal reasons and/or because of the nature of the human creature when repeating hearsay.

It is my purpose in this book to try to reconstruct this gospel in its original form. It will not be an easy task, for what we call the Gospel of John has been violently edited by one who neither knew Jesus first hand nor understood the nature or the depth of godlike love (ohabh or agape) that Yeshua proclaimed by word and deed.

This editor was given to the allegorical thinking of the Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt. He was possessed of the dominant Old Testament view of Yahweh as a wrathful, vengeful and fearful power. His perception of Yahweh was dominated by the word fear.

Yeshua’s perspective, as experienced by the Lazarus family, was dominated by the Old Testament refrain of love begun in Exodus 34:6. These contrasting views, however, give us a sure touchstone with which to test our own judgment as we strive to separate the beloved disciple’s work from that of the editor.

This testimony of the truth of the nature of Yahweh is a refrain that is repeated throughout the Old Testament. It negates the wrath, hate, vengeance and human corruption of the Old Testament. Lazarus’ report of his understanding of the love that Yeshua revealed and taught shines through the contamination by the editorial work done by the Alexandrian writer.

The first person is being used in order to bring out more clearly the depth of love that bound Yeshua and Lazarus’ family so closely. It is this closeness that gives the true gospel its uniqueness. It would be the most accurate portrayal of all that is written about the Second Great Prophet, the one who came out of Nazareth to set the world right.

Throughout this book the tendency will be to use the Aramaic or Hebrew versions of character’s names. E.g., Jesus is Yeshua. Peter is Cephas. Matthew is Levi. James is Jacob. This certainly would be in keeping with the custom of a Hebrew scribe suchas Lazarus who spoke, wrote and used the Hebrew language.

Yeshua was known by several titles such as The Master, our teacher, The Carpenter Rabbi and The Carpenter of Nazareth.All of these are used in the text. The Hebrew name Yeshua is a shortened form of Yehoshua or Joshua. Yeshua was the Hebrew form current in Jesus’ time.

Introduction

I, Lazarus, a Pharisee, was scribe of the high priest Caiaphas and friend of his father-in-law Annas. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were good friends of my family. The latter two were, like Gamaliel, highly respected (even venerated) among our people. All three served on the Council.

I was still reeling from the untimely death of our parents who died only a few days apart. It was about the time that Yeshua, the carpenter of Nazareth, became prominent in Galilee as the Carpenter Rabbi. It is said that he delivered some wonderful thoughts with his carpenter services.

Great sadness came to my sister Martha and me when our younger sister Mary wandered off distraught over the loss of our parents. Our family had been closely stitched together in love. Her grief was too much for her to bear.

I knew the Pharisee, Paul of Tarsus. We both had been taught by the gentle teacher, Gamaliel. But this Paul was such a violent fellow. He was too strongly devoted to whipping people into line. Gamaliel often cautioned him for his impatience. Paul was deeply committed to the teachings of the books of Moses and very intolerant of anyone who tended to stray from that way.

I remember when Paul came to the high priest, after Yeshua had been crucified, requesting letters of authority to arrest those who were proselyting disciples for The Carpenter. It was my responsibility to write such letters at the dictation of the high priest.

We Jews, who took Yeshua seriously, had been divided over whether he was the Messiah or not. Those who took him to be the Messiah (among the 12, only Judas and Simon the Zealot), later came to be called Christians (Christianos, i.e., followers of the Anointed one.) It was against these that Paul directed his ire mostly. Oddly, it was these that he joined upon his conversion.

Those of us who took him at his word (among the 12, the other 10), that he would not accept such a role as portrayed in our scriptures, were called the Yeshua or Jesus people. Yeshua had always been a faithful Jew. Some, therefore, said that his disciples had to be Jews and so circumcised and faithful to the whole law of Moses. The only formal indication that Yeshua gave as to his position in this matter was in his answer given to one of our scribes. The scribe asked what was necessary to achieve eternal life. Yeshua answered that just to keep the Two Great Commandments would suffice. [Luke 10:25-28.]

For scriptural verification of Lazarus as the disciple whom Jesus loved, see ADDENDUM, page 225 of this book.

Part 1

Origins of This Gospel

Chapter 1

Beginning At The End

I observed that the Council was gathered before Caiaphas, the high priest. They were called to discuss what should be done about this Yeshua of Nazareth, whom the Greek speaking Jews and Gentiles called Jesus. He is the son of a carpenter succeeding his father in that vocation. The complainers held that this Yeshua had left his home and had embarked on a rabble rousing tour of the land. He was, they said, upsetting people everywhere. Not only that, but, as the eldest son, he was neglecting his responsibility to care and provide for his widowed mother, four younger brothers and several sisters.

I had known of the Sadducees’ complaint that this Yeshua was threatening the survival of the priests by emphasizing moral purity as the sole means of atonement rather than keeping the ritual law of Moses. The law required the sacrifice of burnt offerings. If the people ceased bringing their offerings, the priests would lose their valuable portions, the main source of their livelihood. Since the Sadducees on the Sanhedrin were of the priestly class, they were certainly concerned.

Yeshua’s teachings were that Yahweh is a god of love rather than a god wrathful, vengeful and with unlimited power. The priests’ method of control of the people depended upon a perpetuation of a fear of this Power Who Deals Violently (El Shaddai). This was a fear, they taught, that only the priestly ritual could relieve. The priests reserved for themselves the right to the role of intercession between Yahweh and His people. Thus, they strove to protect their status and their income.

If the people lost their fear, then the priests lost their control of the people. The priests complained that this carpenter was constantly quoting the prophet, Hosea: For I delight in loyalty and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. [Hosea 6:6.] His teachings that Yahweh is love was washing away the people’s fear of Him.

My friends, among the Pharisees on the Council, had a different concern. They were afraid that this preacher might stir up the Romans and cause them to think that another insurrection was in the making. Then Rome would deprive the Jews of even more of their freedom. So the Council was pressed to act with Sadducees and Pharisees fortuitously united even though each was moved by different motives.

The leaders decided to do away with this rabble rouser as quickly and as subtlely as possible. Some care had to be taken regarding the time and place because Yeshua had accumulated a large, devoted following. Any disturbance would bring Roman intervention and this was to be avoided at all costs, at least until convincing charges could be brought against the man.

The problem of arresting him inconspicuously was soon to be solved. Judas, one of the Twelve chosen by Yeshua for special instruction, was seeking to bring about the Day of Yahweh for breaking the Roman yoke. Since Judas had come to believe that Yeshua was the Messiah prophesied in the Scripture, he was convinced that, if the carpenter’s son could be forced to act, the Day of Yahweh would begin. He offered to lead the temple guards to the man at night when few of his disciples were with him.

Yeshua had been trying to convince us that he was soon to be arrested, humiliated by the leaders in Jerusalem and executed by the Romans. But, although I learned of the intentions of the Council from my friend Caiaphas, I just could not bring myself to believe that anything could happen to our gentle, beloved teacher. How could guilt for any offenses be levied against him? It never occurred to me that there might be those who would stoop to arranging false witnesses to testify against him to attain their end. This was not unheard of in our history. Most remarkable was the slander of Naboth by false witnesses called for by Jezebel, wife of King Ahab. She sought to steal away Naboth’s life and his vineyard for the king. [I Kings 21:8-16.]

Caiaphas had, sometime earlier, said to us that one had to die for the good of the people. We thought that he must be speaking of another insurrection far in the future. We had no idea that he was referring to our master. But now these things began to come together.

Yeshua and some of us closest to him had come late at night to the Garden of Gethsemane to rest and to meditate. About the end of the first watch, we saw torches and lanterns coming up from the Kidron Valley.

As they drew near, we recognized Judas with the leaders of the guard. Pointing to our master, he said, That is the man.

The Master had been expecting this all along. He was the only one among us who was not surprised.

The officers said, We seek Yeshua of Nazareth. Are you that one?

He replied, I am he. You are seeking me, then let these others go.

Old Cephas, always the impetuous one, snatched a sword and, swinging wildly, cut off the right ear of Malchus the slave of the high priest.

But our master stopped the violence right there with his kind, gentle manner and speech. He reminded Cephas that he had told him that this had to be. Cephas wilted and the sword fell from his hand as he realized that he had offended Yeshua.

It appeared that the guards were pleased to have achieved their purpose without further difficulty. They bound our teacher and took him off to be tried before the high priest.

But Caiaphas was not at home. He was away rounding up the members of the Council. This was not an easy task so near midnight.

Peter and I were the only ones of the disciples who did not flee when our master was arrested. So we tagged along when the leaders of the guard decided to take the prisoner to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas.

Annas was a political survivor. He had kept the high priesthood in his family for more than a half century. It was natural, therefore, that the guard would turn to him for advice on what to do with their prisoner.

When the temple guard and their prisoner arrived at the house of Annas, he was pleased for the opportunity to examine the prisoner privately. All that he learned, however, was that no one had been able to lay any charges against The Carpenter’s Son legitimately. He concluded that the high priest would be hard put to gather any charges that would impress the Romans. He instructed the guard to take the bound prisoner to Caiaphas to work out their problems. The Council, he thought, must by this time be assembled at the high priest’s house.

Again, as at the house of Annas, Peter and I were separated. Peter was forced to remain outside in the courtyard. I went with the others into the house of my friend. Both Peter and I were heart-broken at the abuses and false accusations that were being leveled on our master.

During the trial, Peter was confronted and accused of being a follower of The Teacher from Galilee. Each time he denied it more loudly and fervently. Visible across the hall and throught he doorway, Yeshua looked sadly at Peter when he loudly uttered his last denial. Peter caught the suffering love in that glance and was melted with sorrow for the pain he added to his master’s sufferings. He rushed outside and wept bitterly. In those moments he, finally and for the first time, caught the meaning of love as Yeshua taught it. He at long last experienced what my sisters and I had come to know so well of our dear friend.

Badgered constantly by questions from his accusers attempting to get him to say that he was the Messiah, our master patiently denied the role. As he said in his trial before Pilate later: …You call me a king…[But] for this I was born and for this purpose I came into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. [John 18:37.] That is a simple and adequate definition of a true prophet for all time. Our Scriptures teach that the Messiah is to be a mighty conquering hero who will wreak vengeance on our enemies or oppressors as the prophet Zecharaiah prophesied against the Greeks. [Zechariah 9:9-15.] This role was taken by the Maccabees against the Greeks as Saul and David did against the Philistines. The Master would have absolutely nothing to do with such a role for it never achieved the goal of drawing the nation into oneness with our God.

After failing legally to establish suitable charges against him, some of the leaders of the people garnered testimony from false witnesses. So it was that they repeated the despicable sin of Jezebel against Naboth. [I Kings 21:8-11.]

Thus condemned and abused, our teacher was sent to Pilate. The intention was to have him condemned to death. This sentence and its execution Rome