The build-up to Easter often signals a silly season in the media of stories about Jesus. This year is no exception. Excited tabloids report images of Jesus appearing as condensation on a car windscreen and on the floor of a waxing parlour.
A recently released book also offers a different view on Jesus. Roelof van den Broek of Utrecht University has translated an ancient Egyptian text that is said to explain why Judas Iscariot kissed Jesus to identify him to the soldiers who were sent to arrest him. 'Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem on the Life and the Passion of Christ' is a translation of a 1,200-year-old text used by a group of Coptic monks which ceased to exist in the 10th century. It is said to show that this is their account of the events of Easter.
According to this community, on the night before he was crucified, Jesus had dinner with the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, when Pilate offered his own son to be crucified in Jesus’ place. Judas, the monks believed, had to kiss Jesus as a way of identifying him because Jesus had the ability to change shape. Had Judas just described Jesus to the soldiers, so the argument goes, he could have changed shape and avoided capture.
Since hearing the story, a number of websites have hosted discussions on ‘was Jesus a shape-shifter?’
This Egyptian document is another in a long line of apocryphal stories about Jesus that lacked the credibility or historicity to be accepted by the Early Church as authentic. If it occurs anywhere other than in science fiction or fantasy literature, the ability to change shape at a moment’s notice is a deception.
Jesus, however, was always straightforward. He accepted no substitute. He willingly submitted to God’s plan for his life. He willingly laid down his life so that a sinful humankind could be reconciled to its holy Creator.
Jesus was no shape-shifter. But those who follow him know he has the power to change their world.
UK & Ireland War Cry March 2013
Photo credit: ChurchAds.net
