One of the students asked him to define virtue.
He thought for a moment. After all, this is everything he had spoken of, in different ways, for weeks. Some heard and understood; he had seen that this was true. Some people were new to the group of followers. Patience, he realized, was a primary virtue that he must continue to practice.
But this is what he told the students:
I’ll repeat: Woe to this world filled with stumbling blocks and snares. It is enough that they exist in the natural world, but cursed is the person who creates them to harm or limit another person from doing what they perceive to be the right thing, in any given moment.
If you fall out with a friend or relative, do whatever it takes to make up. Pay all debts you owe and cancel the debts owed to you.
One student pressed him, What good must I do to have eternal life?
And he said, Why do you ask about what is ‘good’? Why is the word ‘must’ in your question? There is only one sense of good, that done without question or obligation. If you want to fully enter life, observe the commandments.
One young man asked, Which ones?
And Yeshua said, Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not give false testimony; honor your father and mother; care for your neighbor as you care for yourself.
The young man said, I have done all these things. What am I missing?
And Yeshua answered, To be perfect, sell all you have, leave everything behind, and come with me. You cannot enter into life encumbered by obligation to things. Those obliged to love things are beholden neither to other people nor to the holy one.
The young man turned and walked away, for he was encumbered by wealth.
Yeshua was saddened, but did not stop him. As the young man walked away, Yeshua said, It is difficult for the rich to enter into life. Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to carry their wealth and reputation with them through the narrow door that leads to life.
Whatever is bound in life is bound everywhere. Whatever is freed in life is freed everywhere.
© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com
A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:
Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015
Erdman, Bart, various titles
Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991
Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991
Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019
Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html
Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011
Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011
Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings
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