If there is anything of value in what I have to say, it is this: that the most important thing, is that you give your respects to God, and your own self, with the silent prayer. That by being aware of your self, you produce your self as a thing; and that you look after it. The self is encountered by us, in an act of reflexive self-perception, and consciousness therefore, creates the idea of self. And, this is being conscious, is where the idea of our self comes from. And, that it is only your self which is saved by the activity promised by religion. And what I call ‘prayer’ and watching, is the work of being a self.
I think that this is what Christ teaches, and that this is why he healed and spent three years acting, before his crucifixion. The silent prayer is what faith is, and having faith, and purity of heart and mind, so as to get reward of this from God, is what the death and resurrection mean. I say, that the silent prayer and vigilant watching of the heart and mind, is the seed of the kingdom; it is that from which everything else grows, across the entire spectrum of questions and problems, problems of fear, guilt and anxiety, which make the field of our existence and possibility. Everything is solved by watchfulness and prayer. If you believe that this trivialises or reduces the Gospel down to something insignificant, then I would suggest you try watchfulness and prayer, because we can only discuss this, if we both have an idea of what the prayer and vigilance are.
For the avoidance of doubt, listen to what Christ told the twelve, on the day before he fulfilled his greater mission, just before he was arrested and tried. As we find in the other gospels, he gives a prophecy of an apocalyptic end of the world, and tells all followers how to behave until that time:
“Keep watch therefore, because you do not know the hour when the Master will return” (24: 42)
“Keep watch therefore, because you do not know the day, nor the hour” (25: 13)
“Keep watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is ready, but the body is weak” (26: 41)
The Christ of St Matthew, in three places, instructed his followers, at the last moment in which he could speak to them, to watch and pray, right to the end of their lives, and at all times.
I know that there are people, who think that it is possible to also carry out acts, to live a quotidian life, while watching and praying. There is a method of constant prayer which they might teach. Also, there are a great number of others, atheists, Low Church, and archbishops of Canterbury, who have said that this is just a feature of a Christian life: because the main thing you must do is carrying out acts, and to show signs of being a Christian so that everyone can see what you are, by being charitable and so on. I think that these acts and signs of being a Christian are nothing, beside the imperative to watch and pray, that is, to watch over your self, and attain the simplicity and purity necessary for the kingdom of heaven.
The final parables which Jesus told his disciples and the people, indicate, to my mind, over and over again, that you will suffer the judgement, and live or die, because of who you are, and how you proved yourself, not in your outward acts, but in your personal integrity, your consciousness of who and what you are; that’s a wisdom and faith only possible with the silent prayer, and watchfulness. It should be a principle as it were: look after yourself, take care to be saved. And the principle way of doing this, is to watch and pray, and not fall away into sleep and ignorance.
I have done three talks on this Gospel of St Matthew: the first was concerned with the Kingdom of Heaven, the second with being a Son of God, and the third with an analysis of Faith. Each of these I understand as things related to prayer in the heart. Faith is prayer in the heart; the kingdom of heaven is granted, because of prayer in the heart; and one becomes a son of God, by doing prayer of the heart.
The final part of my sequence of talks on St Matthew, addresses the most important part of his Gospel, namely the death and resurrection of Jesus. We have seen that Jesus was described in life, as a teacher and healer; and he showed close friends that he was the divine Son of God. So much, so pagan; so common to the ancient world. I believe that it is here that we retain our friends in the Church of England, among the Low Church, the atheists. A historical figure taught, healed, and founded a church on good principles about how to be kind to one another.
The final end and resurrection of Christ is itself an apocalypse, a revelation of the ultimate meaning of his coming; and this is where most people these days, lose interest. It’s my contention, that they lose interest, and lose faith in Christ, because they can’t relate to the eternity which is in us, the eternal world which is waiting for us, which is the meaning of the death and resurrection. If we want to understand eternal life, and the challenge which Christ laid out to his followers, we have to know how to pray and be watchful. The whole character of the story is, that God’s Son dies alone; after instructing his followers to look after themselves and be ready. If we can learn how to do that again, and thereby regain faith, we can understand what the resurrection means.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
- Arnold
See how when he arose from the dead, nobody says, that Christ raised anyone else from the dead; he does not raise others from the dead, but himself. The self, the individual, is all, and faith in that is what faith used to be, and still is. The self is all, the individual alone gets saved. Not everyone. Not even some get saved; but just one rises from the dead. And I have written these talks, because with the proper approach, we have a chance of following Christ into the everlasting, as the parables on the kingdom have shown. The whole gospel, but especially these chapters, show how it is done: by faith, a silent prayerful loyalty, beyond this world, from the inside of the heart.
It is common to describe Jesus as a healer and teacher of interhuman relations; but he did more than this: he revealed the nature of God, and told you the reason you are alive. He said, in the final chapters of Matthew’s gospel, how it is possible to be selected, how to join an elite. And, it does not matter how other people fare, since the only person who really counts, is the person with whom you personally are familiar. What salvation means, what the kingdom means, is indubitably, that there is another life beyond this one, another world, which is eternal life, and that any body is fit for it, if they are made pure and saved.
Christ doesn’t teach the other life: he does not teach it. Rather, he said that you must believe in the Son of God. That is what we call salvation. So, if there is a church which would like to cast Christ as a kindly teacher and healer, who was sadly put to death by unknowing men, and then rose from the dead in triumph, I would say that this misses the main point: the story and the meaning of Christ is really about you, you yourself, and your place in the final eternal salvation or damnation. It is not about the teacher and healer and innocent victim, so much as it is about you, and what you are going to do, and how you will succeed or fail. Christ is the gateway to heaven, and you pass through it, or don’t. And this is what St Matthew presents to us.
I think my interpretation of the gospel, is like that of St Paul; I don’t think I learned from St Paul; it’s my opinion that we both see the same thing. In his letter to the Romans, St Paul is interested in explaining how you will attain salvation, by faith alone; by loyalty to God and Christ. Not by acts, obedience to the law, or by listening to teaching; but by faith, and because of Christ’s death and resurrection. You are saved not because of the Son of God’s kindness, healing and teachings. But by faith, and the work of the sacrifice.
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As usual, I will describe and briefly interpret the relevant chapters of the Gospel, in this case chapters 22 to 28. And then I will reflect on what I see as the deeper hermeneutic meaning of the work, focused on what I have just said. I will attempt to prove that I am right about prayer. And I hope to encourage you to see prayer and watching as the most important thing you can do with your time. I also think, that this is the most important thing you can do, whatever age you are, because the gifts of eternal life are also available here, in the life of anybody; not just for those who have left this life behind. I would say, that you can leave this life and this world behind before your death.
I must tell you, I will aim at brevity, and at avoiding vain superfluity of words; if my talk lasts more than an hour, this was not intentional. I have tried to explain myself in a concentrated way, and to get straight to the heart of the matter.
Chapter 22 continues where 21 left off, with Jesus in discussion with the authorities of the Temple. He tells them another parable about the kingdom of heaven. It becomes clear that the kingdom of heaven is in the afterlife, and that unless anyone is of a certain type, they will not gain entry. Further, those who live after death, and are not prepared sufficiently, will be called, but not chosen. If you are called, then be ready. Those who were raised and trained for the kingdom, the chiefs and scribes, who were most familiar with ancient Judaic purity rites, were called, but they refused to go; others were called, and even when called, they still were cast out into the darkness. Only a few will succeed. This is the meaning of the parable of the wedding guests.
The assembled authorities ask Jesus whether he respects the Roman authorities, and whether his followers should pay tax. This is a loaded question, since these intelligent men, who don’t intend to go to the kingdom of heaven, but to control this world, were asking him how he would remain a Jew, while co-operating with Rome.
“Master, we know that thou are true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. “Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?”
They are asking him, whether a man of purity and prayer, should neglect his duties to the state and the Pax Romana, which was the ruling authority, or whether he should not rather stand at odds with Rome. This is a very important question, which I will deal with later, as regards the current Church of England authorities, who usually do not collaborate with the state, or the values essential to law and order, war and peace, nation and popular need, the demands of national survival. Jesus answers them by saying that the movement of money from person to person should carry on as normal.
“But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. “And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? “They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” (23: 16-21)
We should remind ourselves of the specific meaning of the word ‘hypocrite’, which Jesus used over and over, to describe the Jewish authorities. A hypocrite is one who professes to have inner qualities, and gives signs of having them, which he does not in fact possess. The hypocrite is one who has the outward, but not the inward, relation to God, when Jesus uses that word.
Jesus returns to this idea of serving the authorities, in a reverse form of hypocrisy; there is a good hypocrisy and a bad, I think. The bad hypocrisy, is to pretend to serve God in an outward way, but inwardly to not serve; to have bad intentions, which manifest in cruelty to the weak. This is the fault of the pharisees. The good hypocrisy, is to give outward signs of serving the temporal and the spiritual authorities, but inwardly only to serve God. In this sense, he tells his followers:
“Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
“Saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
“All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
“For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
“But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.
“And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues.”
You should ask, how is it possible to be a chief priest, and be obliged to be treated as a chief priest, and yet to also be a chief priest in the mind, and the heart? The question is answered, in the same way as anyone else should answer it: a Christian should obey the powers that be, and observe the rules and regulations, and have the ranks which men require; but he should have his own mind, in secrecy, and in his private individuality, and his own relationship to God, which may or may not result in what you might call public actions.
It is hard for me to come to terms with this, but the most important aspect of Christ’s teaching, is not even aimed at this world at all. It has seemed to me, since my youth, that the principle message of any man to another, and any teaching, should be focused on this life; on what you should do in the here and now, in this world. But, the message of Christ is what Nietzsche said it is: prepare for the next life, the after life. And this can only be done in your consciousness, your self, which alone is what you truly are, and which alone can survive physical exhaustion and death.
I have for a while, fought against this notion, that Christianity is about the next life. I wanted it, and still want it, to have an effect on this world here and now. And my practice of meditation is so special to me, because it is a way of feeling eternity in this world, as well as preparation for the next one. But it is clear from a reading of Matthew, and St Paul, that Christ’s principle message is, that the kingdom of heaven is in the next world. The introduction of the next life as the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection, is introduced by a meeting with the Sadducees which is described in chapter 22, and took place in that week in Jerusalem, just after the talk about whether Christians should pay tax. I think it is understood, that the Sadducees, who were a caste of priests who had been blessed by the old Greek rulers of Israel to work with the Hellenic culture, did not believe there was a life after death. And so, these rather non-committal and collaborating religious Jews, approach him with questions about the contradictory nature of the afterlife.
I paraphrase: “Master, Moses said: that is anyone dies without a son, and his brother marries that man’s widowed wife, he can do so. Then, who will be the husband of that woman, in the resurrection? Because they all have a claim to her” (22: 24-28).
He replies that in the afterlife, after the resurrection, nobody will be married, but they will be like the angels in heaven. That is to say, each soul or self, will be perfect in itself. I would like to point out, that this indicates the unfortunate fact, elaborated at length in the following parables, that to prepare for the kingdom, a man must aim to make himself perfect in solitude, and without any benefit in this life. As a man, he must be married, because human beings are a pair, one flesh between two; but as a self and soul, he is like the angels, and perfect in his individuality. That, so to speak, the highest aim of this life, is to become yourself, and to become pure. Something which has no reward, by and large. Men do not even die at all, when they are a proper self, since “God is for the living, not the dead” (32).
As this is laid out, that the world in which the priests live is not what they thought it was, both the Sadducees and Pharisees then seem to form a tag team against the solitary Jesus. The intention of cornering him theologically, so as later to indite and execute him, is demonstrated by Matthew, and for the next several chapters, our horror and pity increase, as he inevitably is successfully prosecuted by these people, while laying out the message, that men are inherently Sons of God, chosen or elected for the Kingdom of heaven, if they have faith in their self and Christ.
“The crowd were amazed by this doctrine.
“However, listening to this, and seeing him make the Sadducees fall silent, the Pharisees gathered together:
“And one of them, a doctor of law, interrogated him, trying to incite him:
“Master, what is the greatest command in the law?” (33-36)
After which, Jesus asks them a question in his turn, which presents them with the fact, that by logic, Christ is not the son of David, but the Son of God. “And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions”. So, the period in which the authorities spoke to Jesus as a free man ended.
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I have already mentioned how Jesus told his followers to respect the authorities in chapter 23. He speaks at length to the crowd now, and gives a kind of anti-Beatitudes, each beginning like this:
“Woe to you hypocrites, because you stop men from gaining entry to the kingdom of heaven” (23: 13 ff.). Each of these anti-Beatitudes is aimed at the Pharisees and Scribes. The burden of each of these curses is that the kingdom of heaven and the afterlife, and the inner life, must be the pursuit of anyone obedient to God, but the rulers of the religious society are like great sepulchres, grand and ornamented on the outside, and dead men and dry bones on the inside. He points out that they kill the prophets. “Serpents, the product of vipers, how will you escape the judgement of hell?”
“And behold, I will send you prophets, and the wise, and writers, and you will kill them, and crucify them, you will have them whipped in your synagogues, and pursue them from city to city: so that the blood of the righteous is on you, which has overrun the earth since Abel, until the time of Zacharias, son of Barachias, who you had killed at the altar” (23: 33-35).
Jesus then says something which brings into question his accuracy as a prophet. He says that “all these things will come upon this generation”. A similar sentiment has confused interpreters, insofar as there are predictions about the end of the world, in this and the next chapter, which seem to be specific, and to announce a particular historical set of events. Earlier in the gospel, Matthew had said that some would live to see the return of Christ, in glory, which is widely interpreted to mean, that the end of the world would happen to all people, to the whole earth, in the coming decades. And in chapter 24, there is an apocalyptic description.
The first point is, there is no question, that Jesus was not so much a teacher, and a healer, an innocent whom history remembers merely as a good man. Rather, there is much more to it that this. For instance, he insists that God intends life in the next world. And that this world will be historically annihilated. And, that those who do not believe in him will not be chosen for eternal life. This is not healing and teaching; it is a very serious religious threat to the soul of the one who hears it.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gatherereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
“For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (23: 37-39).
These final words to the crowd, are followed by final words to his disciples on the Mount of Olives. They are apocalyptic, and describe the end of the world. But to my ear, they are not literal predictions which will take place in calculated historical time. They are meant for the person he was addressing. You could say, Jerusalem has failed; but the person I have in mind to speak to, will not let me down.
What makes me think that the tone of voice of the apocalyptic, and the person who is meant to hear it, is not the whole tribe of people, but the prayerful individual; that the end of the world did not arrive, as everyone knows, is proof that Jesus was not giving you a prediction you could be on, one which applied to a specific point of time. If we consider that the Bible addresses itself to the single individual, then, this prophecy is meant for you alone, and will be realised in your life, at a time yet to be confirmed. In fact, the accuracy of any apocalyptic prophecy is entirely risible, unless it is understood as a message to be heard only by the listener, and not by others.
He shows the disciples the foundations of the Temple, and says that not one stone will remain of it, soon. That prediction was actually confirmed as accurate, when Titus sent his troops to put down the Jewish rebellion of 66AD. But the description of the arrival of anti-Christ, and the time in which it occurs, is not in any specific point of history, but in the mind of the listener. It is as Locke says, the mind has ideas, and arranges them, and configures history, each mind in its own way.
“And then the sign of the Son of man in the heavens: and then every nation will weep: they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and majesty.
“And there will be his angels with trumpets, and a great voice: and he will gather the elect from the four winds, from the height of heaven to the ends of the earth” (24: 30-1)).
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (24: 35).
Jesus gives instructions about how to prepare for this event, the event which I take, to be the moment of death for each man. And the instructions are, to watch and to pray. As I have taken as my theme throughout these talks, I don’t think the gospels are addressed to other people, they are addressed to one person alone, namely, the reader. I think this can be proven, by the parable which Jesus then gives to his follower. I say follower, even if Jesus was talking to many. To me, it is as when we listen to the radio. If a presenter is being polite, he should say, that he is speaking to the listener; since, anyone who hears the radio broadcast, is an individual person. So the presenter should address himself to the listener, not to a crowd, not to listeners. And, when broadcasts are made to several people, or a crowd, they have a certain quality of being disingenuous and impertinent; such irrelevance is common when a presenter merely plays music all day long. But if a man is talking on the radio, and means what he says, he is addressing himself only to one listener.
That is why British films are so poor, by and large. British films are made for a US audience, they are made for ‘other people’, as it were. They are made for a mass market, largely the US, and for this reason, they work in platitudes and cliches, presenting an unreal Britain, as the US consumer would like to see it. In this way, those films are unwatchable, to my taste. And at a grander scale, to speak of the gospels; they are not aimed at a community, or a crowd. They are aimed, if they are valuable as the truth, at the reader. And likewise, Christ spoke to his follower, giving instructions.
The parable which follows the apocalyptic prediction is about how the kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins. Matthew’s phrasing is confusing. When Jesus says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” as he does many times, I suppose it would be right to understand it like this: “The kingdom of heaven is open to you, and here is how it is open to you”.
The parable of the virgins concerns how the ten virgins did not keep themselves ready for the arrival of the bridegroom, who was going to choose only one of them. And the parable teaches, that the follower should be the one who is chosen. It happens, that there are five brides to the bridegroom, and that he might have married ten of them. I suppose that in the nature of things, in the kingdom of heaven, the bridegroom is God, and is able to take care of five or ten wives. So, the meaning of the parable is, be constantly ready for the coming of God, who will select you or reject you, depending on your state of alertness and preparedness.
Another parable is spoken then, about the talents; it says that, a man who has been given great riches in his soul, or in life, will be expected to have worked hard at increasing his riches. And if he has been given little, then he will be cast out to outer darkness. I cannot understand the justice of this parable, which says that God punishes those without talent, and punishes those who are poor, and those who have no daring, in any other way than this: that you, personally, must go out of your way to shine, to do your utmost, to be wealthy and talented, in your spiritual riches. As if to say: do not be the one who has little, and has no daring. It offers the listener the option, and it threatens him with future unpredictable results, if he makes no effort. It is as when the disciples said to each other “Then who will be saved?” when they heard about how to be perfect. Jesus told them, that there is no fixed method of judging who is perfect, but God will decided in the end. The parable informs us, each, to go to the length of outdoing himself, straining to be best, in a race which has only one runner. Those who are not chosen, who are not selected, will be thrown out, into darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth. And so, it is necessary to be prepared for the afterlife at all times, and to increase spirituality. I ask myself, and believe I have the answer, to the question: how do you increase your spirituality, your self, your value to God, your faith?
What perplexes most atheists, in my experience, is that, like people making a British film, they are constantly thinking about what other people will think about their film. They don’t make it for a particular person; but for people. Who these people are, nobody knows. But the film is made for them. And so, when it is complete, it is unwatchable by any individual person in particular. And sceptics, if they take Christ’s message at face value, and assume the gospel is the truth, ask: I can’t believe in Christ’s gospel, because it was addressed to other people, to Jews; what about the Hindus? Why didn’t God speak to the Indians, or the Esquimos? And they ask: I have heard the message, and I could believe and follow the instructions, but what about Africans, who have such horrific diseases? Did God make them, too? Does he care about them? And they ask themselves: How can I answer the call of Christ, if it leaves behind other people who suffer so much more than me, and who are too stupid to understand? Do I want to be saved if these other people are being left behind? These are the thoughts of people, to my mind, who do not care enough about their own self. And their own self is all they have. The message of Jesus applied to them alone, and they confuse themselves by asking about other people.
Nevertheless, as if to blunt the harsh edge of this obviously true situation, that the individual alone matters, the last teaching of Mattew’s Gospel warns against being what the world calls selfish. Jesus says, that God will treat of the individual on his own. However, he will gather the individuals as a great flock, and separate the sheep from the goats. The goats will go into the fire, while the sheep will be saved. “Get away from me, into the eternal fire prepared for Satan and his angels” (25: 41). This last parable says, that God had appeared to the individual during his life, and that God had expected to be fed when he was hungry, to be given to drink when he was thirsty. In the parable, the just and unjust ask God, when were you with us in life, asking for these things? We did not see you.
“Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (25: 45-6).
So, if a man does not feed someone who is hungry, or clothe someone who is naked, then he also fails to help God. For, while the salvation is only possible at the individual level, and the way to perfection is via faith and care of himself; nevertheless, in his activity with other people, he should always have treated them with kindness, because they are God’s property. God made them, and God owns them, these other people. I suppose you could say, that in the afterlife, God will dispose of them, or of me, as he sees fit; but for us, for me, it is a duty to look after other people, as the property belonging to God, because people are made by God.
I should also add, that this, as before, is an inner comportment by and large. The command to do good to others is not a universal injunction, such as the socialist state could put into effect. The command to do good applies from one man to another man; it does not apply to a group of men to another group of men. There are contradictions in the world, which prevent laws of kindness from being effective. The first law is to love God, and, if any law of kindness leads to you being killed, then that kindness must not be practiced, for instance. That seems to stand to reason. As a practical instance, where a community of Christians establishes itself, and is approached by an enemy of its way of life, begging for water or food, when that crowd has no real need of hospitality, but rather seeks to destroy the Christian community, showing kindness to the enemy, in that instance, would be a hypocritical thing to do. In that instance, that community would show kindness to the enemy, but great unkindness to itself, who must suffer the consequences of that foolishness, at the hands of its enemies. There is on the one hand, universal kindness, and on the other, such a thing as treason and treachery, which often seem to be the same thing.
I think we know the situation I am talking about here, and I don’t want to get involved in that.
So, the period of Jesus’ teaching ends. The final three chapters are concerned with the actions surrounding the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, and the resurrection.
The final days of our Saviour before the crucifixion, are known universally, and they only take up three chapters of the gospel of St Matthew. Therefore, I will not belabour them with a commentary and associated interpretations.
There is no teaching, nor parables, and no metaphysical explanation, for why Christ willingly went to his own execution. It is clear that he knew very well what was going on among the scribes and pharisees, and the arrest and trial which was being arranged by Caiaphas. He also knew about Judas, who for some reason, was needed by the authorities, because they were not sure where they could find Jesus. All of these things were in his mind, when Jesus gathered the disciples for the Passover feast, which they shared, before going out to the garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives (26: 30).
That last meal is very important to most Christian churches, and particularly to the Catholic and Orthodox churches. It is liturgically re-enacted as the mass, or the liturgy.
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said: Take, eat: this is my body.
“And taking the cup, he gave thanks: and gave it to them, saying: Drink from this all of you.
“This is my blood of the new law, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
“I say to you: I will not drink from the fruit of the vine until that day, when we will drink together in my Father’s kingdom” (26: 26-29).
It is said, that when the Church carries out a reenactment of this ritual, then the Holy Spirit and Christ are involved. I should interpret this, to mean, that to the extent that God can act in the world, then at this moment he does act in the world, on that individual who takes communion. And that the principle activity of the ritual, is concerned with purity, forgiveness, self-reconciliation, and blessing from God. That person who takes communion is, to the limits to which he is capable, a son of God. And, as Christ has said “This is my body,” and, “This is my blood”, so, in a way which we are not obliged to explain, that is and was the case with that bread and wine. They sang a hymn, and then went to the mountain.
There, Jesus prays, and his closest disciples have a nap. As we noticed, Jesus had certain limited powers of foreknowledge. I think it is important to note, that he did not foreknow everything, and had no use for absolute knowledge. But he knew what related to himself, and his future. So, he prayed alone, as every man must do; and what concerned the nature of his prayer, which in the nature of things Matthew could not have known, was that he came to accept his crucifixion. To some important extent, every man should find himself facing his own death, and being vigilant and in prayer, beside Christ; and every man will fail to do so, as the disciples did. But Christ nevertheless asked them to do so.
When the agents of the chief priest arrived, Judas indicated which of the men in the garden was Jesus by kissing him. St Peter took out his sword, since all men appear to have carried basic weapons in those days, and cut the ear off one of the servants of the chief priest. I would gladly present all the fine details of the scene after that, which has been composed with attention, but it is not to my purpose, and you can see it for yourself. When Jesus was arrested and taken: “Then all of the disciples, abandoning him, hurried away” (26: 56).
He is taken first to the chief priest, Caiaphas, in whose residence the scribes and the officials were gathered. They begin by trying to get a witness to give evidence against Jesus; many were interviewed, until they were happy with witnesses who would swear that Jesus had said he could destroy the Temple. Having established his guilt about that, they moved on to ask him about his claims to be the Son of God, which he refused to deny (26: 64). There follow distressing scenes in which these officials spit at him, beat him, and mock him, in their anger. The narrative simultaneously relates how Peter was in the courtyard outside, and how he told three separate people, that he was not a follower of Jesus, and that he did not know him.
The following morning, which would be what we now call Good Friday, the Jewish authorities, unable to execute anyone by their own means, took Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate. As is well known, Pilate took a nonchalant view of the case, and could not understand why Jesus had to be condemned to death, not understanding the interest that the Jews took in blasphemy laws. His wife told Pilate that she had dreamed about Jesus, and that she wanted her husband to stay out of the business. A crowd had formed outside, and Pilate asked the crowed whether they would like Jesus to be pardoned, even if the chief priest wanted him executed. He washed his hands and told them that the blood of this innocent man would not be on his hands. The crowd responded, as a mass, that he should be executed, and that his blood could be on them and their children (27: 25). They released the thief Barrabus instead.
Jesus was then given to the Roman troop which carried out judicial executions. They treated him as a condemned criminal, by having him whipped, and beaten, while no doubt dealing with their occupation by dehumanising and mocking him, by dressing him up in a king’s costume, with a crown of thorns, while spitting at him, with other indignities due to a malefactor.
The same day, he was led to the hill called Golgotha; the soldiers found a man from Cyrene called Simon, who was forced to carry the cross for Jesus, who was unable to carry it for himself, which would have typically been the case. They then crucified him, and gambled for his relics, and also crucified two thieves next to him, who in Matthew’s account, continued both of them, to abuse him even as he died. The account of these things given by Matthew is clinical, and precise; it portrays Jesus as having died without any sympathy, in a sort of ultimate case of cruelty and punishment, unredeemed by any chance of goodness or solace. Even while he is in torment on the cross, there are no friends nearby, and the scribes and the like are present, laughing at what they take to be his inability to prove he is the Son of God, and to save himself.
At the sixth hour the earth was covered in shadow; at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” Some of those present, hearing this, said: He is calling for Elijah. Somebody among them got a sponge with bitter wine on it, and gave it to him to drink. Others said: Wait, let’s see if Elijah comes to rescue him.
“However, Jesus crying out again in a loud voice, gave up the spirit” (27: 50).
After this, Matthew says that various monuments spontaneously broke open, and the veil of the Temple was torn. A Roman centurion is the first to say, that truly this was the Son of God. Matthew then records that there were various women who were standing some distance from the cross, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, which means Jesus’ mother, and the mother of the sons of Zebedi. In the evening, they arrange for the body to be buried in land owned by Joseph of Arimathea. And after that, Pilate send soldiers to guard the tomb, in case any of the followers should try to reclaim the body for reasons of their own.
On the evening of the sabbath, which means the next day, as the dawn of the third day is just showing, Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ Mother, go to the grave. There is a great noise, and an angel descends and moves the stone back from the grave, and then sits on it. The angel informs the women that Jesus has gone to Galilee. They are told to go to tell the disciples that he has been brought back from the dead. Jesus himself then appears to them, and he gives the same message, that they should spread the news. In a different version, or with additional detail not found in Mark, when the scribes are informed of this, they pay soldiers to spread the word, that the resurrection is a lie, and to spread the news, that Jesus’ followers had simply taken the body in the night. “This message is still told to the Jews up to this day” (28: 15).
The eleven remaining disciples went to the mountain in Galilee where he had ordained them. There they found him, and worshipped him as the Son of God, and he told them that he had received all power over the earth and heaven since his death. He tells them to baptise all people, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “I am with you for all time, to the end of the world” (28: 20).
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To summarise the result of our reading. Christ first appeared in the wake of John the Baptist. He preached repentance, which means a change of heart, a change of mind. Not a change of how to live. The law and the prophets see to how one must live; Jesus did not mean to change how men behave per se, but rather to change them, so that they become perfect. I would say, that the cup must be cleaned on the inside, not the outside; and that when it is clean on the inside, then the rest follows. The kingdom of heaven is announced, which begins with a small seed, which grows into a great tree. We are told how the internal change should be brought about, with peace, silent innerness; this is taught in the hyperbolic impossible instructions of the Sermon on the Mount. And later we find that this inner composure, which gains a man entry to the kingdom of heaven, is faith. One must have faith in Jesus as the Son of God. The disciples see him as the Son of God, but at this point, others do not.
Jesus wants people to be perfect, and to be forgiven their sins. His healings are means to show, that he can forgive sins, and perfect the bodies, and the minds of people, which is required, and which is what being sinless means.
His message of how to attain the kingdom of heaven becomes more insistent: that it is the next life, in heaven, with God. That men must individually work for their own rescue or perfection, for this salvation. He is aware, that his death on the cross, will make the Son of God known to all people, all the people of the earth.
Salvation and the next life, are open to those who believe in Christ. They must work on their salvation with prayer, rather than with outward show. They must recognise that they are sons of God, and when they deal with others, they must extend them the same courtesy, by treating them as equal sons of God. But no matter how they deal with each other as a group, the justice of God will treat each man individually.
Christ encourages his followers to eat his body, and drink his blood, in the ritual practiced by the churches. He is then publicly executed by the Jewish people, and also by the Romans or the gentiles, so that they are all guilty of his death, and so that they all consented to it. He died, as men do, alone, and in a way that can represent any of the deaths which men are liable to face. It is important that, whatever fate a man faces, God himself has also shared it; and that this economic transaction also means, that whatever sort of life a man has, God will be with him. Jesus then rose from the dead, and promised his followers that he would be with them, and with anyone who sought for him. As he had said in his last message to the disciples, you are to watch and pray, and be vigilant about your death, so that you are ready for the afterlife, when the Son of God will come again.
When St Paul, the first important early convert to Christianity, came to explain what had happened, and what the life of Jesus had meant, he did so in work which is added onto the four gospels. At a later time, I will examine Acts, and the letters of Paul. But I have felt, that how St Paul understood the life and resurrection of Christ, is the same way in which I have done so. I think that the work of watching and praying, and faith, is required as the starting position, from which the understanding of everything else, can grow; the simple self-conscious prayer, is the origin of the great tree, which grows into the kingdom of heaven, and makes life after death certain.
We start from the position that we are guilty; we are imperfect, but not always in the outside life in the world; but always we are in sin in our conscious life; Individual men are not perfect; far from it, if we accept the gospel story, then we are also guilty. It would be possible for a rich man to live a faultless life, free of friction; charitable, and kind. But his inner life is something else; he might easily have no self, no consciousness, no faith in God.
Men are imperfect by nature; they are guilty of the sin of being alive, as descendants of Adam; but since the crucifixion, men are also guilty for the death of Jesus. The crucifixion is the one specific instance in which all men can concentrate their fault and guilt. But the crime is also expiated by the same action: for, by condemning and killing God’s Son, they have also been shown the way to forgiveness and to heaven.
This economic deal which God has made with men, is what St Paul offered as the meaning of the resurrection; it is a sacrificial offering of the perfect man, so as to make it possible for any, or all men, to become forgiven and purified. The major religions other than Christianity, share an interest in attaining to purity. The rites of Judaism, and the laws which were prescribed, are meant to give the individual soul, a means of being at peace with God and creation, and himself. Purity or cleanness, and being at one with yourself, is what religion is usually offering.
The life of Jesus, and the death and resurrection, show to me many things with which to be concerned. It should try to answer all questions which trouble a man; that is what a theory of God should do. Political questions, personal questions, social, economic, should have an answer.
But I see it, that all of existential and political problems, the guilt and mystery and the confusion which the individual is liable to, can be answered in the simple watching and praying. Praying and watching can still the mind, and open the heart to God, or the Holy Spirit. That stillness of the heart is precisely what makes faith possible, the faith which is the key to the kingdom of heaven; the silent prayer is what Jesus encouraged in the Sermon; it is what it means, when St Paul, and Jesus, ask for faith. And the main stream of Christianity is, that when you have a self, and it is purified and atoned for, then it is ready to try for the kingdom of heaven, which is in the world after this one.
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I have sometimes made comments on the political implications of a revelation, which puts the individual in charge of his own salvation, and demands that he look after himself first and last. That the crowd is nothing to do with him, and that love is between one person and another; and that love is not between the state and the enemy, or the state and the population. It is outside the scope of my essay, to enlarge on this theme. But, the political settlement which is obviously most appropriate to this revelation, and this practice of existing in a determinate way, is classical Liberalism. And, I would add to that, monarchy. A monarchist liberal state has swayed Britain for five hundred or more years, and is the natural political settlement in a Western Christian nation such as ours. Small state, freedom of conscience and life, no central planning, except respecting national defence or attack.
Totalitarian systems, which have become inevitable across Europe in recent years, whether pink soft totalitarianism, or the contrary, which are largely the same thing, as far as the Christian is concerned, in the spirit of mobilising the populace, and forcing conformity, reducing individual self-reliance, are entirely inimical to the spirit of things, in which Christians can live. Rome, when Christ lived, was a monarchy, which allowed local variations of culture to exist, in a liberal spirit.
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I would like to finish my long analysis of the Gospel of Matthew, under the guidance of the idea of the meditating man, with the comparison of the state of prayerful meditation, stripped of all worldly personality, in silent conversation with the other world and the Holy Spirit, humbled and without time or space, in a simulated state of waiting for death, with the Saviour on the Cross. The spirit in which Jesus lived, concealed the final end of his life; and for Paul, the death was the most significant thing about that life. On the cross, the highest is the lowest, the first is last. God’s rule is the opposite of the world’s rule: in his abasement, Christ defeated death, rose to eternal life.
Prayer, and watching, which I have tried to show, is the heart of Christ’s message, and which is embodied in his death and resurrection, is work. It does not come naturally, and it is not widely spoken of. If I speak of it, it is because I am advising it; I think that it makes a person more Christian. Ideally, speaking from my own poor experience only, I would say, that it should be done daily, with no aim except the praying and watching of the self. The method requires a separate study, but it is known that watching how the body breathes, is a simple introduction, while reciting a short prayer, such as the Jesus Prayer. This should be done for at least twenty minutes. It cures the self of its demonic natural tendency; it brings silence and steadiness which underlies all existence. If ideas alone make us aware of time, and if the body alone is in space, then the absence of ideas and body during the prayer, is also the way in which the self enters into a kind of eternity. In that eternity, that extra-temporality outside matter, I think that in the nature of things, you may be open to God and the approach of the Holy Spirit.
Theologically, I would claim that the crucifixion redeems, by indicating to us our perpetual guilt and anxiety and fear, and locates it for us in one place: we are impure, and we are always wrong, and unredeemed, we die forever. However, what the death and resurrection of Jesus means, is, that with the meditation and prayer, which are faith in Christ, then St Paul speculates that we can hope that the guilt or the sin we are born to, is forgiven. It is a process of purification and concentrating what the self is, into a something permitted to live in the kingdom of heaven, or the eternity after this life. In this sense, Christ is the Saviour. And, in order to deserve and understand this, it is necessary to work: not at acts specifically of social interaction and political justice, or the like, or even at external acts of piety: but rather, work at self-gathering and watching, and the prayer which is conscious of itself as faith, prayer in the heart.
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